Chapter 1 (of two) from Funniefriend

It was the middle of winter, and the girl was running. She couldn't get caught. Because if she did, bad things would happen to her. She knew all this, and yet she was slowing. She needed a place to hide.

The forest! With its maze of trees and bushes and meandering paths, it would be the perfect place. The trick would be getting there before they did. And to do that, she would have to cut across the large and very well-guarded castle keep. She groaned softly to herself, and then increased her speed—by just a hair.

The bullies had pulled Bailey from her bed in the middle of the night. They had led her to the freezing river, and made her hold a mid-sized rock above her head. That would have been bad enough, except for the fact that they made her stand on one foot. Then they had started flicking her with small pieces of twig and pebbles.

So Bailey had thrown the rock at them and started running. Now they were following her, ready to very badly hurt her. She would have hidden sooner, but her black and grey sleeping shift stuck out like a sore thumb against the whitewashed buildings of the town of Araulen.

And then there was the castle wall. She raced up the hill, at the same time, wishing that she had a fast horse to ride up the steep ascent. Slowly, now, more cautiously, she edged her way around the edge of the plateau that the castle was built upon.

Finally, she reached the spot—her spot—to climb up. The wall had been built with large, rough blocks of plain, sturdy, quarry stone. Bailey had climbed this wall before, and it hadn't difficult. However, she had always done it in the bright sunshine, and it had always been under the patient eye of the guards that she had been friendly with almost since birth. But now, it was a different matter. Now, it could not pass off as a mere child's game. If caught, the circumstances would be severe.

She was at the acme of the wall now. Bailey quickly scrambled down the other side of the wall. Finally, her feet found solid ground. Almost immediately, she took for cover. Here was where her dark clothes would be an asset. She moved with the wind, going from one patch of shadow to the next.
She was almost there now. Only fifteen more feet and she would be on the other side of the castle. Ten... and…There! Quickly, she hurried up the wall…and back down the other side.

She paused there for a moment, catching her breath. Then she headed off into the forest. She sped up, worried. It wasn't like the bullies to allow an easy escape for their prey.

She was almost to the cover of the trees. But that was when she heard them. And then she understood—she was being herded. Her only hope was to reach the trees. She accelerated, finding her final reserves of strength. The safety of the trees was seconds away. Only five more feet and—

"What are you doing?" said a rough voice. At the same time, a hand shot out of the darkness and grabbed her wrist. Bailey was suddenly looking into the cool grey eyes of Bryn the Lancer.

"Please, sir-Marge, Sara, and Beth-they woke me up-I need to hide-" His eyes flashed dark for such a fleeting instant, she wasn't even sure if she had really seen it. Then—

"Here, put this on. Climb a tree and don't move," he instructed her, removing his own green and grey cloak. She did that, and was barely out of sight when the bullies came into view.

In the center was Beth, flanked by Marge and Sara. Bryn stopped them saying, "What are three young ladies doing out this late at night? Shouldn't you three be safely in bed, at home?"

Marge tossed her head of dark curls and said in a clear voice, "It's not your place, forester. We're looking for someone." The girls stared at Bryn with such a glare that made Bailey, in the branches of the nearby oak tree, shiver. Bryn merely stood there, impassive. He had seen far worse in his years as a king's Lancer than three girls, albeit tall, strong ones.

Sara continued in a voice that was a couple tones lower, but just as sweet, "so just go home to the little cabin that you live in. We wouldn't want there to be any trouble, would we?"

"Really," answered Bryn. "Well if I was you, I would start looking. It will only take about four years or so for you three to comb the entire forest. By that time you'll be women. And when the issue of the three grown women storming through the forest comes up, I know that I won't remember the three girls…"

He frowned in mock concentration, staring into each of the three girls' eyes for a span of five seconds each.

"Ah, yes. Marge, Sara, and Beth." He let the threat hang there for a couple seconds.

The girls flinched in surprise. Here was proof of the black magic that the Lancers were supposed to be capable of. He had just read their minds!

In fact, it was laughably simple for Bryn to pull the old "read-your-mind" trick on the girls. Quite easy, really. All he had done was remember their names, and stare into their eyes for five seconds.

Beth, the ringleader of the little gang, was nervous now. But she didn't let it show. She merely cried out to the dark forest, "All right, Bailey. You might have won this round. But don't worry! We can and we will wait for a very long time. See you later." And then they turned and walked away.

Bryn watched them for a minute, to be sure that they kept going. Then a small voice said, "Are-are they gone?" It was the girl. Swaying a little from tiredness, she climbed, silently as a squirrel, out of the tree. The grizzled Lancer marveled at the ability.

If she was a girl, he thought, she would be a spectacular apprentice. "Where do you live, girl? Where's your family?"

A single tear rolled down the girl's cheek. "My family's dead," she said. My parents died when I was just a baby. I guess there was a note pinned to my baby blankets. 'Her name is Bailey, take care of her'."

She was rocking harder now, the Lancer noticed. Maybe this should wait until morning, he thought. No, just a couple more questions. Who took care of you when you were a baby? And where do you live now?

The girl shook her self and answered him "I took care of myself as a kid. When I got older, I did more." she was swaying harder and harder now. Back and forth, back and forth…

"One last thing, girl, how did you live as a baby? Who took care of you? She stared at him blankly for a second; then slowly crumpled. Bryn caught her before she fell.

No more answers tonight, he thought. And then he arranged her limbs into a more comfortable position, and took off into the deep dark forest.