Chapter 1: Robin Hood I
Sanne stretched when she woke up the next morning and noticed that she was far more soar than usual. She looked around before she froze. "Myrthe, Myrthe! Freaking wake up Myrthe! We're in a forest!"
Ah, Myrthe was waking up, but... couldn't this all be a dream? Sanne wanted to pinch herself, but was afraid she might hurt herself in the process and thus decided to pinch Myrthe. If she yelled Sanne would either wake up or Myrthe would clear up the situation. Yes, perfect plan.
"Ouch! What did you do that for?" Myrthe said while groggily sitting up.
"Just checking if this is a dream. And, is it? Is it?" Sanne asked eagerly.
"And how, exactly, am I supposed to know that? Why would this be a dream anyway."
Sanne sighed and said to her friend "Look around you, idiot."
Myrthe did as she was told. "What are you talking about, isn't-" she then fell silent. Why was there a tree in her room? She stared at the tree some time, in a silent staring contest. Then she shrugged and directed her attention back to Sanne. "Well, that's certainly odd."
"Oh, ya think?" Sanne answered, "Geez Myrthe, we're in a forest, what did you do?"
"What? What do you mean, 'what did I do'? Why would I possibly plant a tree in my room in the middle of the night? Huh?" Myrthe answered.
"Pftt, I don't know, but you sure are the only one who could have gotten us in this situation!" Sanne decided while tsk-ing.
"Well I didn't do anything" Myrthe answered while standing up, "I think."
"Myyyrtttheeee" Sanne said with a threatening voice.
"I really don't know, okay?" Myrthe answered in her defense.
"Hmmppf, I don't believe you" Sanne answered, while standing up too. Suddenly they heard a lot of noise coming from nearby. Sanne hid behind Myrthe while looking around to find the source of the sound.
"What is that?" Sanne asked.
"I don't know," Myrthe answered, "but it sure sounds like a lot of people"
"Ooooh we're going to die!" Sanne already yelled, half panicking.
"Shush! We are if you keep on yelling!" Myrthe shut her up. "Let's climb into a tree shall we?" Myrthe said while trying to climb the first nearby tree. She didn't come very far and after a meter or so, she fell out with a big "Ouch!" and grabbed her back. Sanne started laughing, despite their current situation.
"Never mind that," Myrthe said in a high-pitched voice full of pain, "Lets hide in some low bushes, ugh, shall we?"
"Great plan." Sanne said, while already diving into a bush.
"Okay then, let's go into that- Sanne... Where are you?" Myrthe asked confused.
"In here, idiot!" Sanne said, grabbing the ankle of Myrthe. Because of that, Myrthe lost her balance, tried to righten herself by walking backwards, tripped over a root and fell to the ground. Right in a puddle of mud.
"Oh you've got to be kidding me." She muttered frustrated, but she didn't hear an answer from Sanne anymore, because Sanne had decided to wisely shut up to not give away her location. Myrthe didn't notice that the group of people now were already in sight and kept grumbling.
"What a stupid puddle. It was the fault of those roots. Why did they suddenly decided to pop up, huh? Hey, wait a minute, what's a puddle of mud doing in my room?"
"Who art thou! Speak now and we shall consider not severing your head from your body on the spot."
"Who art me? Well, who art thou?" Was Myrthe's first impulse, while turning around and still wiping away mud from her face. "Say Sann-" she stopped mid-sentence when she saw all the people behind her. Half of them were wearing soldiers outfits, knights in shining armour, sitting on high, strong, huffing horses. Myrthe sat on her knees and closed her eyes, "please don't let this be a cosplay thing that Sanne dragged me too, please dont let this be a c-"
"Silence!" a voice suddenly roared, "You dare to not answer a question from the mighty prince John? You foul peasant!" the voice came from a soldier standing in front of a beautiful, noble carriage.
"Now, now, now, Myrthe started, "no need to act all high and mighty with your prince... prince... Dang, what was his name again?"
While Myrthe, whom could never, ever remember names, was troubling her brains about the name she had just heard, Sanne decided to not do anything and just wait patiently until this was all over.
"You will answer, or answer the torturer on your deeds" the soldier said. "You who wears strange clothes, you must be a spy from our enemies! This is your last chance, beg for mercy by prince John, or suffer the consequences."
"John!" Myrthe suddenly exclaimed, "That was his name, prince John." she murmured to herself, content that she now had heard the name again.
"How dare you! Leave right now!"
"Leave? Right, good idea. I will be going then, my er... greetings to that John person." Myrthe decided and was already starting to turn around to get away from these people. She was halted,however, by a strong, armored hand on her arm.
"How dare you! Speaking of his majesty in such a way! You will be coming with us, you scum! " the soldier that had grabbed Myrthe spoke. Myrthe wanted to give a loud sigh, but decided that such a thing wouldn't be helping her case so she didn't and instead asked "Where am thou- I mean, where am I going?"
But nobody answered her and she was roughly taken to the back of the group.
Sanne, in her bush, was now facing a great dilemma. She could help her friend, but that was way too dangerous. And what could she do anyway? So, staying where she was,was the better option. Then she would find Myrthe later and rescue her!
No, wait, now that she thought about it, that was way more dangerous for her. And that would mean she would be left alone! Another wave of panic settled over her with that thought, and she quickly scrambled out of her bush to yell "Mi-chan, don't leave me!"
Myrthe's brain worked quick in a situation like this. First of all, she couldn't let Sanne fall into the hand of a 'torturer', so she had to avoid tagging along with these weird people. A plan arose. She practiced a lot with coming out of messy situations, so it might work.
"Oh, Sanne! Dear sister!" Myrthe ran dramatically back to her friend.
"What? What? What's happening?" Sanne asked, utterly confused.
"Oh, what must become of my little sister, whom needs my constant help to function?" Myrthe exclaimed.
"Hey, I'm older tha-"
Myrthe interrupted Sanne before she could even finish one sentence. She grabbed Sanne and made her fall on the ground. "Oh, dear prince!" she said (she already forgot his name) "My sister can barely stand without my help. Our mother died and our father is never there, I must take care of her!" The guards looked at each other in confusion. Myrthe saw the glance of pity in one of the guard's eyes and quickly made use of it.
"My little sister will die without me!" When she saw she had a few guys pity, she turned to the carriage and fell on her knees, dragging Sanne down with her, although she kept her hand on Sanne's mouth to prevent her from saying anything.
"Oh dear prince! Can you please forgive my utmost foolishness, treat them as the actions of an ignorant child, only worried about her little sister? Please wise Prince, please." she bowed deeper, dragging Sanne along. When finally after a long pause, Myrthe got hit with a stick on the back, and the guards and the carriage followed the way. Sanne and Myrthe could only hear the words: "Boring, stupid, filthy peasants. I'll kill the next one, but this one talked too much."
Myrthe looked angry at the carriage passing, but didn't say anything and pulled her hand back from Sanne's mouth.
"What do you think you were doing?!" Sanne yelled towards her, "You didn't know that would work!"
"Nah, I didn't, but hey, it worked didn't it? We could've both died too due to my insolence, but hey..." Myrthe said while turning around, followed by a wild "What?!" from Sanne.
After some bickering about their encounter, they finally decided to focus on their present situation again.
"So, shall we follow the carriage or go to the opposite direction?" Myrthe asked.
"Oh, er... Well, a prince doesn't really leave his land often right? So ehm... What was he doing in a forest... Gah! I don't know!" Sanne whined. Myrthe rolled her eyes and began thinking.
"Wait a minute!" Sanne suddenly exclaimed. "I have a perfect idea. Myrthe, which way do your guts tell you to go?"
Myrthe looked bewildered from left to right and finally decided hesitantly "Left?"
"Okay, then it's decided! Let's go right!" Sanne said, happy that they had came to a decision.
"Hey, is that an insult?" Myrthe asked.
"No, no, not at all." Sanne said. "It's just that you always go to the wrong direction, so I figured if we would go to the opposite direction we would get where we're supposed to get."
"Oh..." Myrthe fell silent and then decided with a nod "Good thinking, let's go."
Sanne began to laugh, because her friend didn't even try to defend herself and she began to explain her laughter to Myrthe while they began walking. All the while they both didn't notice two pair of eyes following them from a tree branch.