The Blacksmith's Apprentice Chapter 2-Fugitives
I do really like this story, so hopefully you guys will pick it up. I added this chapter to show that there really will be other characters, hahah, two more are introduced in this section, but I can't promise they'll stay long. That's another thing about this story, there will be a lot of entering and exiting of this party for a while, but you'll see it cement as it draws to a close. Anyways! Yes, here you are, Chapter 2 and I still don't own Glee!
The Three Musketeers
Quinn ducked out from under Coal's arm and sprinted back towards the crowd. Riker stepped up on one side and clothes-lined her, knocking her to the ground on her back. She gasped as he straddled her and slapped her face.
"Don't bother trying to run, you won't get away." Coal said simply, staring down at her.
She stared up at him with tear-streaked cheeks.
"Quinn!" A woman screamed from the back of the crowd. Her mother began to jostle through the other citizens, pushing through them until she had reached the clearing. She was just about to charge forwards when Riker stood up and pointed his sword at her.
"Anybody who interferes will be murdered for crimes against the king." He snarled. Quinn's mom blanched.
"But she's my baby...take me instead!"
"Sorry old woman, you've lived your life, your death will not send as clear a message." Coal said smoothly. Savannah approached Quinn and knelt down beside her.
"Besides, the younger they are the more fun it is to watch!" She cooed.
Riker laughed and shoved Quinn's mom backwards where some other citizens caught her and held her back. Quinn flipped over and tried to crawl away but Savannah grabbed her legs and began to drag her through the muddy ground towards the carriage. Riker and Coal both grinned and turned to follow her.
"No!"
Sam broke through the ranks of people and kicked Riker in the side, pushing him to the ground. As Coal turned, Sam drove his shoulder into his gut and shoved him to the ground as well. Savannah turned with a look of rage and lunged at him.
"Run Quinn!" Sam yelled, jumping to the side and then shoulder checking her to the ground.
"Duck kid!" Bruce yelled from somewhere in the ground. Instinctively, he did, and Riker's sword swept over his head. He turned and kicked him in the gut before grabbing Quinn's hand and pulling her past the horses and down a back alley.
"Get back here!" Coal yelled furiously. Shockingly enough, they didn't listen.
Instead, Quinn and Sam ran as fast as they could, sprinting through the puddles, muscles burning. She could hear the heavy footfalls of the soldiers chasing after them, gaining ground.
"They're getting closer!" Quinn yelled.
"Keep running!" Sam yelled.
"In here!" Somebody grabbed their arms and pulled them into the back doorway of the produce shop. Quinn looked up to find Brittney standing there nervously. "Punch me!" She told her.
"What?"
"Hurry!" She yelled. Quinn hesitated. "Just do it!" She yelled, shoving her backwards. Instinctively, Quinn hauled off and decked him in the face. Brittney hit the ground, and then nodded and ran out the door into the alley.
"Brittney!" Quinn hissed.
"Stay there!" She said and lay down on the ground. Quinn darted towards her out of worry, but Sam pulled her back, closed the door and pressed his back against it, covering her mouth with his hand and closing his eyes.
Brittney had barely heard the door close before the three soldiers were upon her. She made a big show of struggling to her feet as they approached.
"Hey kid! You see two teens run past here?"
"No." She said. "But I felt them when the girl punched me in the face. I know her from school, she was always jealous cause I was so much prettier than her and everybody else...In the world." She rubbed her jaw painfully. Riker approached her, eyes narrowed, examining the wound.
Slowly he circled Brittney, like a predator moving in for the kill.
"You know lying to the King's soldiers will get you killed, right?" He hissed, eyeing the door behind her.
Sam and Quinn tensed up, terrified.
Brittney stepped in the way, meeting Riker's eyes.
"Look, it's not my fault some girls can't handle how pretty I am, she's just a bitch. I'd love to have her out of here." She remarked. "Now she's dating that guy, and I tried to have sex with him once, but he didn't want me to, so I assumed he was gay or in love with animals. But now he clearly just rejected me...so you should kill him too."
Coal pushed Riker out of the way and bent down to examine the point of impact.
"She's telling the truth, that is a nasty hit. You're right, it will bruise."
"I know." Brittney scowled. "They ran that way; take him too for me." She pouted and sat down against the door, leaning her head against it.
"Oh we will..." Riker snarled.
"What's in there?" Savannah asked, pointing past him.
"Sex dungeon, you're losing daylight, the longer you wait here, the better their hiding place will be. It's like that time I hid in a hay bale and nobody found me until the cow ate my shorts..." Brittney scowled.
"She's right, come on!" Coal turned and jogged off further down the alleyway. Riker glared at him and followed, and Savannah lingered a little longer, staring at the door before leaving after the rest of her group.
Brittney stared after them for a while before doubling over with a huge sigh of terrified relief. Sam opened the door and peeked out as Brittney stumbled in.
"I saw my life flash before my eyes." She said. "I have slept with way too many people."
"I thought you were dead for sure! Why would you do that?" Quinn asked, slapping her.
"They would've caught you both if I didn't do something.." She said, rubbing his face. "I thought that was what friends did? Nice punch though..."
"Thanks?"
"You saved our lives." Sam smiled.
"Yeah, I'm awesome, you're welcome." She said seriously. "Now go hide somewhere, because they'll probably come back to check out the sex dungeon at some point..."
"You're right." Sam said. "Come on, let's get to the inn."
Quinn and Brittney nodded.
An hour later they all sat in Sam's room, soaking wet and shaking with cold and fear.
They had stuck to the alleyways as best they could on the way back, and Brittney had stolen two large cloaks for Quinn and Sam to hide beneath when they were walking in the open.
Aside from a close call with Savannah near the fountain, they'd managed to make it back to Sam's home by nightfall.
"Your mom wasn't in the crowd today..." Brittney noted, leaning against the door.
"I know..." He said worriedly.
"Somebody has to tell her what's going on, it's too dangerous for her not to know." Quinn said sternly, surprised that neither friend had done so yet.
"I know that too." Sam looked up at Brittney. "Will you do it?"
Brittney nodded and opened the door, pausing momentarily to look over at Quinn.
"I'm glad you're not dead or anything." She said and Quinn smiled tightly, nodding.
"Me too." She said.
Sam sighed and leaned against the wall near his bed, looking down at the floor, resting his head on his knees.
"They'll come for you now..." Quinn said, looking out the window from where she sat at the foot of Sam's bed.
"I know." He said, looking up. "But you're my best friend; I couldn't let anything happen to you."
"Sam..." She frowned, blinking back tears.
"Yeah?"
"I'm scared..." She whispered.
"Me too..." He said.
"What's going to happen now?" She asked.
"I don't know." He said honestly. They both looked up as the door clicked open again.
"What don't you know?" Brittney asked, entering.
"What's going to happen now." Sam said. Brittney frowned and sat down against the door.
"Oh..." She frowned. "Well, we survive. Duh." She said.
"You make it sound so easy." Quinn laughed.
"Well...hopefully it won't be that bad." Brittney frowned. "You guys are like, my best friends; I don't want you to die..."
"I don't want you to die either." Sam said dejectedly.
"Guys, I'm so scared..." Quinn repeated.
"You're safe now, right? Focus on that." Sam said, standing up and pulling her to her feet. He hugged her tightly and beckoned Brittney over to join their group hug.
"You're right." Quinn nodded as they broke apart. "I'll be fine, just as long as I have you guys." She smiled tenderly. "At least we're safe no-" She broke off into a scream as a flaming bottle of rum shattered the window.
It hit the floor and the rickety wooden inn was immediately overcome with flames. Brittney lunged for somebody, anybody, but a pile of piping tumbled to the ground and landed in front of her. She cried out as they tripped her up, twisting her ankle.
Through the smoke Quinn yelled for her, but she was trapped in the corner of the bed, flames greedily licking up the bed dressings. She braced herself and leapt off of the bed, landing in the doorframe. She froze as movement caught the corner of her eye and she turned to find Riker standing there, looking thrilled.
In the smoke, he didn't see Brittney as he forced Quinn back into the fiery room.
Sam leapt for her, but a wooden beam came crashing through the ceiling and separated them.
"Quinn!" He yelled. Riker turned to glare at him, shoving Quinn against the wall beside the door leading onto Sam's balcony.
"You thought you could escape us didn't you? Well now we get two sacrifices, so I just wanted to say thanks." He snarled. He drew his sword and pointed it at her. "It means I get to kill one, and keep the other." He said.
Quinn screamed and ducked as he drilled his sword towards her. It passed over her head and through the wall. She tried to lunge away but he grabbed her leg and pulled her to the ground, cutting her jaw on the floor.
She screamed again and turned as Riker pulled his sword out of the wall and advanced on her again.
"Hey!" A booming voice sounded, and Riker turned in surprise as Bruce the Blacksmith stepped into the room through the balcony, swinging his sword magnificently. With a well placed kick, Riker was sent sprawling across the room. "Kids, get out of here!" He said.
Riker leapt at him, but Bruce countered the blow. Bruce lunged, but Riker dodged it and brought the hilt down on his back. Bruce grunted as he hit the ground. He looked up and barely managed to roll out of the way of Riker's plunging sword.
Sam launched himself at the red-haired man, shoving him to the ground, and they all watched as another flaming ceiling beam came down on top of him.
"Run! Now's our chance!" Bruce yelled as the flames licked at Riker's skin. He grabbed Brittney and lifted her into his arms, before taking off into the hallway, Sam and Quinn hot on his heels.
As they passed through the doorway, Brittney's eyes locked with Riker's and she saw the evil man's face twist in fury before he was out of sight.
They ignored the panicked cries of other guests at the inn and instead sprinted down the stairs. Sam paused as they all sharply turned towards the door to the back alley. His mother was locked in combat with Savannah nearby, and off to the side, he could see some of the other guests teaming up against Coal.
"Sam!" Quinn yelled.
She ran back for him and grabbed his arms, just as Savannah and Coal caught sight of them.
"Where is Riker?" Coal growled, stabbing one of the men fighting him.
"Run!" Sam's mother yelled, not taking her eyes off Savannah. The evil woman tried to run past her, but she whipped around and drilled a frying pan into her face, knocking her to the ground. "You need to get out of Ostvale! Hurry!"
Sam swallowed deeply, and blinked back tears brought on by the smoke. He nodded and turned, allowing Quinn to pull him towards the back door where Brittney and Bruce had disappeared. Part of the ceiling fell through just in front of them and Quinn screamed again, but before they knew it, they'd escaped into the cool night air.
"Come on!" Bruce yelled from farther ahead. "We don't have much time; those people won't keep them forever!"
Quinn and Sam ran after him, feet pounding against the pavement. Sam looked over his shoulder to find the flames of the inn lighting up the night sky.
He hoped that his mother would be okay. If not...well it would've been all his fault.
"She'll be fine." Quinn panted, practically reading his mind. "She's strong!"
"The gates!" Bruce yelled, cutting to the left and running up another alley onto the main street. They passed by the Blacksmith shop and he looked at it with barely concealed worry, but he didn't slow. "Get to the city limits!"
They passed by the King's carriage and ran directly into the gate.
"It's locked!" Quinn yelled in a panic.
Bruce set Brittney down and paused, pacing back and forth, grabbing and rattling it. A chain lock rattled half-way up. They'd locked them all in the city.
"We have to climb it!" Sam realized suddenly. "It's the only way out of this place!"
"Yes!" Quinn nodded.
"Alright, hurry!"
"Umm..."
They all paused and looked at Brittney. She sighed and looked down at her wounded leg.
"I can't."
They fell silent for a moment. That moment was all the time it took for Brittney to muster up her courage. Looking more aware of herself and the situation then she might ever have before.
"Then we'll find some other way!" Sam started.
"No, you'll climb it!" Brittney protested. "They don't know I'm your friend, I'll be fine, you guys have to go." She averted her eyes. She knew that Riker had seen her...but they needed to get out of the city, and she wouldn't hold them back.
"But Brittney...we might never see you again!" Quinn frowned.
"That sucks for you." She tried to joke. They didn't laugh. "I'd rather not see you, and know you're alive, than see you for fifteen more minutes while they hold off the soldiers, and then have all of us be killed."
"She has a point." Bruce said. "Get to climbing!" He turned towards it and grabbed at the wooden bars separating them from the outside world. Using cross beams and lots of upper body strength, he soon made it to the top.
He looked back down, scowling when he found that neither Quinn, nor Sam had followed him.
"Hurry up!"
"Brittney, are you sure this is what you want?" Sam asked. He sighed.
"Yeah, we were like the three musketeers back there, so you guys go keep being epic and I'll just be that third musketeer who nobody knows about when they put us all in history books."
"Brittney...we're serious." Quinn said and Brittney sighed.
-Musical Cue-
-Wicked: For Good-
"I'm limited." She sang, she looked down at her injured ankle, then up at the gate. "Just look at me... I'm limited...And just look at you; you can do all I couldn't do! I know..."
She smiled at her friends, catching their eyes.
"So now it's up to you, for all of us..." She nodded. "Now it's up to you."
"I've heard it said..." Quinn sang, smiling and stepping forwards. "That people come into our lives, for a reason...Bringing something we must learn."
She hugged her friend and then pulled back, holding her hands and smiling.
"And we are led, to those, who help us most to grow...if we let them! And we help them in return!" She sang and squeezed her hands. "Well I don't know if I believe that's true, but I know I'm who I am today, because I knew you!"
Brittney smiled fondly at her as she went on, looking up into the night sky.
"Like a comet pulled from orbit, as it passes a sun!" Quinn sang. "Like a stream that meets a boulder, half-way through the wood..." She squeezed his hands one final time and then moved towards the gate. "Who can say, if I've been changed for the better...but...because I knew you, I have been changed, for good." She smiled fondly at him before turning and scaling the structure.
Brittney turned to face her best friend as Sam approached her, wrapping her up in a bear-hug. He stepped back and clasped his hands behind his back.
"It well may be that we will never meet again, in this lifetime...so let me say before we part." He looked away down the street and Brittney thought she saw him blink back tears. "So much of me...is made of what I learned from you, you'll be with me, like a handprint on my heart!"
Quinn paused at the top of the gate and looked down at them, touched.
"And now whatever way our stories end." Sam sang, looking back at his friend. "I know you have rewritten mine, by being my friend." He smiled at her and Brittney walked him to the fence. "Like a ship blown from its mooring, by a wind off the sea, like a seed dropped by a sky bird in a distant wood."
He paused and swallowed deeply.
"Who can say if I've been changed for the better...But..." He looked back at Brittney. "Because I knew you."
"Because I knew you." Quinn sang, smiling teary-eyed at Brittney as she dropped to the ground on the other side. As he placed his hands on the gate, Sam joined her."I have been changed for good."
"And just to clear the air, I ask forgiveness..." Brittney sang as Sam began to climb beside. "For the things I've done you blame me for..."
Quinn reached through the gate and grabbed her hand in hers.
"But then I guess we know there's blame to share..." She sang. Sam dropped to the ground beside her and turned, grabbing Brittney's other hand and nodding to her. He then turned and grabbed Quinn's hand with his free hand, making a triangle. He joined her in song. "And none of it seems to matter anymore!" They split into harmony, Sam belting out the higher part and Quinn shaking her head, smiling sadly at Brittney.
They stayed silent for a moment, staring at one another and smiling through their tears. Quinn opened her mouth and sang the rest of the song with such strength and promise in her tone, that none of them could help but cry tears of determination. Sam joined her, overlapping with the higher harmony.
"Like a comet pulled from orbit!" She belted.
"Like a ship blown from its mooring!" He harmonized triumphantly.
"As it passes the sun."
"By a wind off the sea."
"Like a stream that meets a boulder, halfway through,"
"Like a seed dropped by a bird, in," They fell into perfect unison. "the wood!"
They fell silent once again and Brittney squeezed their hands once before letting go.
"Who can say!" Sam and Quinn belted, voices blending in perfect harmony. "If I've been changed for the better…I do believe I have been changed for the better…" The power that had built up throughout the song faded to a fragile tenderness.
"And…because I knew you." Quinn whimpered, smiling teary-eyed at her friend.
"Because I knew you." Sam nodded, grinning, almost laughing in resignation.
"Because I knew you…" Brittney sang. They both nodded and finished the song with her. "I have been changed…for good…" They held the last note much longer than it was supposed to be held, all three trying to put off their goodbye, but as it faded, Brittney pulled away from them and turned, leaving them with one final smile.
Sam sighed as he and Quinn turned back to where Bruce was waiting patiently.
"And then there were two..." He mumbled.
Quinn frowned and took his hand, squeezing it tightly.
"We'll be alright..." She said.
"How do you know?" He asked.
She blinked and looked up at the moon.
"I can feel it."
Sam nodded and looked back at the gates that were shrinking in the distance. He couldn't help but wonder...what was to become of their families? What would happen to Brittney? Mrs. Fabray? His adoptive mother? Brittney's father?
Sam was afraid, and not just for himself. He was a fugitive. He hadn't been one that morning. He'd simply fallen into a lifestyle where he would be constantly running for his life, where his only goal, his only motivation, was survival.
However, Sam also worried for Quinn, and for Brittney, and their families, and even Bruce! These people were in danger, and the blame was up in the air. Was it his fault for intervening? Quinn's for speaking up? Their parents for not warning them of the king?
Whatever it was, Sam knew that if he had to make the same decision again, he would not hesitate to repeat his actions. As scared as he was now, he still had a friend by his side, and maybe with that, he could make it through.
Your Father's Eyes
Sam scowled as he trudged through the forest, batting branches out of his way, Bruce's canteen in his hand. He'd been asked to fetch water from a 'nearby' stream.
Apparently his boss' definition of nearby was not quite the same as Sam's because he'd been walking for almost fifteen minutes already.
Just as he was about to give up and turn back he heard the trickling of water nearby. He sighed and turned, walking for another few minutes before stepping out onto the riverbank. The stream was more of a river, really, with a dock for small water vessels further up. With a scowl, Sam crossed to it.
He unclasped the leather canteen and knelt down on the wood, dipping his hand into the refreshingly cool water. He paused and grinned, it had been at least two days since he'd had a good wash and he was fairly certain he was starting to smell.
Without a second thought he had hopped into the river, fully clothed, and began to scrub at the particularly muddy patches on his clothing and skin.
He was almost finished when the sound of a snapping twig caught his attention.
He looked over at the riverbank and saw the rustling of branches nearby. Slowly, cautiously, he knelt down and backed underneath of the dock. Minutes later he heard several footsteps just overhead.
"You idiot, there's nobody here." Coal snapped.
"Uncle, I swear, I really thought I'd heard somebody." A female voice said.
"We're looking for three people; they would not have split up this early on." Coal said plainly. Sam clasped a hand over his own mouth, trying to cover up the sound of his breathing. "If we don't find them soon we'll have to enlist the help of the King's right hand man and woman, and you know they won't be happy about it."
"I'm not working with them! The last soldiers who worked with them were murdered for eating when hungry." The girl said worriedly.
"Well stop leading me on mindless goose-chases and you won't suffer the same fate! They are not people to be trifled with and they will not like being disturbed..."
"Yes Uncle Coal."
Sam didn't breath as their footsteps faded away into the night, and he didn't breath for several minutes after they were gone out of sheer paranoia. His heart was beating like a war drum, and his blood felt like ice in his veins.
He knew exactly how close he had just come to a certain death.
"Ready?" Bruce asked, staring his apprentice down, sword held high. Sam gulped and crouched nervously.
"Not really, no..." He said nervously.
"If you're backed in an alley with members of the Imperial Guard like Savannah or Riker on your tail, you won't really have much of a choice." The older man said.
Before Sam could respond, Bruce ran at him, moving with surprising swiftness for such a bulky fellow. He barely had time to raise the stick that was functioning as his own sword before Bruce had side-stepped and elbowed him into the ground.
"Come on kid! You've got to think faster than that!" Bruce said, whipping out a rag and dabbing at his sweaty forehead.
"It's hard to think at all when somebody's rushing you with a sword!" Sam moaned, laying back and shielding his eyes from the harsh glare of the sun.
"Well you'd better get used to it, you're a fugitive now, remember?" Bruce remarked.
"I'm a hungry fugitive..." Sam responded, squinting up at his boss. Bruce scoffed and shook his head.
"I somehow don't think that would've stopped Coal from killing you." He said. Sam scowled at him. "Alright, fine. You'll get more training later. You're off the hook too girly, for now, but don't think I'm going to go easy on you either." Bruce nodded at where Quinn was sitting off to the side of the small clearing, back pressed against a tree.
"Oh joy..." She said dryly. "I can't wait."
"Hey, it's not my fault you were chosen to die, I'm just trying to keep you alive." Bruce said indignantly.
"It's not my fault I got chosen either!" Quinn responded with just as much incredulity.
"Well maybe if you hadn't opened your mouth..."
"Well maybe if the adults in town had the common sense to warn their children that they were possible dragon bait!"
"Guys that is not the issue right now!" Sam said seriously, stepping in between them. "The issue, is that I am really, really hungry!"
Bruce rolled his eyes but nodded and turned towards the brush around them. Quinn stood and followed him, Sam at her heels.
"Where are we anyways?" She asked.
They'd been walking for almost two days straight, trying to put as much distance between themselves and the river as possible.
When Sam had burst back into their cave that night, they'd been delivered a harsh reality check. They could be ambushed at any minute, and with Bruce as the only one with any combat training, that did not put them in a promising position. They'd packed up their few belongings right away, cleared up any evidence that they'd been there, and run off into the night.
Since then Bruce had been on a training kick. The prospect that neither of them knew how to fight scared him, especially after Sam's close call. He'd been working them to the bone on endurance, promising that once he found them swords, they could work on that too, but waiting for a weapon had proved too taxing for Bruce, and he'd decided to start training them with whatever he could find instead.
"We're near a large area called Redrock. It covers a lot of the South-Western part of the Kingdom. It starts before the Ostvale River and continues all the way to Fayhaven." Bruce explained. "The going gets really rough once we get out of the forest though, then we get to the mountainous terrain and it's a killer."
"Is that where we're going than? Fayhaven?" Sam asked.
"No, that'll be one of the first places they check. We're going on a day to day basis right now; our only goal is to get away from Ostvale." He said.
"So we'll have to cross the river than right?" Quinn asked.
"Right...that's what worries me." Bruce frowned and paused, turning towards a large berry-ridden bush alongside of the path. "Here pick a few of these, they should hold you over."
Sam and Quinn nodded and got to work, but Sam was confused.
"Wait, why does it worry you that we'll have to cross the river?" He asked.
"There's only one bridge across; Falcon Bridge." Bruce said. "They'll have to be expecting us, but we can't stay here because these woods will be crawling with the Imperial Army soon enough." He worried.
"Why don't we just swim across than?" Sam asked.
"Because...I uh...I can't swim..." He mumbled embarrassedly.
Quinn stifled a giggle and stepped around the bush to get at the berries around the back. Her hand brushed a brilliant pink flower and she grinned, plucking it from the ground.
"What's this?" She asked. Sam looked at it with intrigue and crossed behind the bush as well, quickly discovering another lone flower. Bruce looked at them both with surprise.
"That's actually a very rare flower! It's called Cupid's Rose, I've never seen one, let alone two!" He eagerly rushed past the two, but was disappointed. There weren't any more of the Cupid's Rose.
"Do you want mine?" Sam asked uncertainly after witnessing his boss' distress. He held it out but Bruce laughed and shook his head.
"No, no, it's fine. There's just a legend about Cupid's Rose. Apparently, if you find a Rose, it means that you're destined to find true love."
"I wish..." Quinn sighed. She looked at the flower once more before tucking it behind her ear. Sam jokingly tucked his there as well, but it fell out, so he stuck it in the pocket of his shirt.
"Do you think it's true?" Sam asked.
"No." Bruce laughed. Sam frowned. "But it's a nice story, and they are very rare. You could probably sell them for quite a sum!"
Sam noted this and moved forwards as Bruce left the berry bush behind. Quinn paused, looking up at the flower in her peripheral vision. She touched it tenderly, stroking the petals before shaking her head and moving off after the rest of her group.
"This looks like a good place to set up camp." Bruce said as they reached the top of a large hill. The hill was barren except for a massive oak tree that stood at the center. "We should reach Falcon Bridge tomorrow; you should both get some sleep." He said.
They'd had a full day of failed combat training and only slightly better wilderness experience. On several occasions Sam had almost eaten poison berries, and Quinn had stumbled through a bush of poison ivy that the others had stepped over. She was wearing long pants, so the damage was minimal, but it didn't really give Bruce much hope in their survival skills.
Sam was just settling down to sleep when he noticed Quinn sitting against the tree, crying. He approached her cautiously.
"What's wrong?" He asked.
She shook her head and pointed. Slowly he followed her gaze. There, in the distance, was Ostvale.
"It looks so calm from this far away..." She whispered. "Like nothing has changed."
"Yeah..." Sam agreed sitting down next to her.
It was true; Ostvale looked the same as it always had. From this distance, Sam couldn't even see his mother's burnt down inn. He hoped that she was okay; she'd risked everything to give him a chance at freedom.
"I miss my mom..." Quinn whispered.
Sam nodded and grabbed her hand, holding it tightly.
"I know...I miss my mom too...and Brittney..."
"I miss her too." She agreed. "Do you think she's okay?"
"I'm sure they're all perfectly fine." Sam swallowed sadly. Did he actually believe that? Not really...he wouldn't be at all surprised to find that they'd all been taken by the King, that Brittney's father had betrayed them all and given up his daughter, that...any number of things had happened.
As long as he didn't have a definite answer, however, he would choose to believe that they were all totally okay, because his hope allowed him that much.
He frowned and looked at his best friend.
She was all he had to remind him of the life he'd led, only a week before...He didn't regret saving her, and he never would. Yes, the life of a fugitive didn't really agree with him, but life without one of his best friends agreed with him even less. At least he had hope of, one day, seeing Brittney again...if he'd let Quinn go, he knew he would've lost her forever.
He looked to the side to find that Quinn had fallen asleep, tears still streaming down her face, blonde hair riddled with twigs and leaves. He frowned and blinked back tears of his own.
Slowly, so as not to disturb his friend, he withdrew and unfolded the crinkled up piece of paper in his pocket.
"Take care of my son... he'll be great someday." Sam whispered, tracing the curling letters with his index finger. "I don't know how great you think I am now...on the run from the law...a fugitive...hunted."
He laughed bitterly and slipped the note back into his pocket, making sure to fold it carefully. He stood up and stepped out of the shadow of the tree to stare up at the moon. He'd wished for a father that night, and now there was a good chance he didn't even have a mother.
He silently cursed the moon, letting his tears slide down his face. He wasn't ashamed of his feelings; he knew how unfair the world was now.
So he cried.
Sam sank to his knees and cried for everything he'd lost, and for everybody else who had lost something as well. Quinn and her family, Brittney and hers, Sam's own, and Bruce. What about those other adventurers who had held off Coal while they escaped? Did they have families? Had they survived long enough to make it back to them? They might've lost their lives for somebody who had never done more than deliver them breakfast...
When he was finished crying he rose up off of the dewy grass and turned back to the tree. With a start he realized that Bruce had yet to go to sleep. He was sitting on the hill, looking back towards town.
"I have a wife, you know..." Bruce said, not taking his eyes off of Ostvale. "And two kids; a boy and a girl."
Sam felt his heart break for this man. In all of his time working for him, he'd never known anything about his family; he'd never thought to ask...
"I'm sorry..." Sam said, approaching and sitting down next to him.
"Don't be."
"Why did you help us?" Sam asked.
"You would've died otherwise." He said.
"So? We still might, we weren't your problem."
Bruce sighed and finally took his eyes off of the town.
"Kid, do you know why I offered you the job? Not Brittney, not Quinn, not any of the other kids in town; you." He asked. Sam paused, he'd never considered it.
"I...no, I don't...why?"
"I saw you run through that square every day, always so happy. Even when you weren't in the best mood, you still tried to help everybody else, to be nice to them. You've got a good heart, Sam, and that's why I offered you that job."
Sam paused, looking back at the town.
"So that's why you helped us? Because I have a good heart?"
"Not just good Sam, the best. I couldn't let a heart as pure as yours be touched by darkness." He sighed. "I owed it to your father."
Sam froze.
Bruce looked at him with tired eyes and Sam stared right back, mouth agape.
"You've got his eyes, you know?" He said.
Shell-shocked, Sam watched the Blacksmith roll over and go to sleep. Hard as Sam tried, he refused to wake up again that night. Sam sat there for hours, staring at the sleeping man. After all these years...somebody knew his father. This man held the answers to so many of the questions that Sam wanted to have answered.
He pulled out the crumpled up note one last time, and stared at it until sleep claimed him.
A Touch of Magic
Sam was happy in his dream. He was smiling and laughing and looking around a smoky, joy filled room. Eventually his eyes caught Quinn's.
Her face was flushed with excitement, not fear, and in her hand was a mug which she kept happily taking sips from.
"I think this is it Sam, our new home, we won't have to run anymore!" She said. "We're safe here!"
"I think you're right!" He laughed. "This is great!" He punched a fist in the air.
Quinn laughed, nodding, and turned away from him. She stumbled slightly and the mug from which she'd been drinking fell.
Sam watched it fall, as if in slow motion. It hit the ground, shattering, just as a set of heavy wooden doors burst inwards and somebody, somewhere, let out a terrified scream.
He was running through another forest, branches whipping at his face, Quinn's hand in his. He tripped over a tree root and turned as somebody loomed over them.
He saw something silver blur through the sky.
The petals of his Cupid's Rose began to fly away.
A girl with long brown hair, just the blurry image of a figure, turned to face him.
Chickens.
Wolves.
A scar-faced man with a sword in hand.
The mouth of a dragon.
"Sam!"
He sat bolt upright, almost knocking Quinn over in his haste. She let out a sigh of relief and crouched next to him, but there was fear in her eyes. "Sam, we're being followed, we've got to get out of here now!"
Sam was on his feet immediately, running around helping to collect the few things that Bruce had thought to bring with them.
"What?" He asked, though he didn't doubt her. "How do you know?"
"Bruce went out to get some firewood and heard somebody stumbling about through the forest."
"That could be anybody." Sam reasoned.
"They said your name." She said.
He froze and looked up at her, the firelight catching his face, emphasising the sudden fear.
"We have to go." Bruce yelled, dumping his thermos of water onto the flames. "They'll be here any minute!" He hissed.
As soon as the fire was out, they were gone, sprinting down the hill as quickly as they could, Bruce muttering about how stupid it had been to set up camp in such an open location.
"Wait!" Sam yelled. They all skidded to a halt and he ran back up the hill, ignoring the protests of his campmates. He reached the tree and looked around, frantic and short of breath.
"Come on!" Bruce grabbed Quinn's arm and pulled her towards the trees.
"We have to wait for him!" Quinn protested.
"My priority is to keep as many of you alive as possible; I'm not throwing you both to the wolves." He snapped. Before she could protest further, he tossed her over his shoulder and ran off into the woods. "He'll know where to go, he's smart."
Sam spotted it, nestled against an uprooted section of the tree, his Cupid's Rose. He didn't know why, but something told him that it wasn't something to lose. He grabbed it and stood up.
As he turned he caught sight of a figure darting out of the tree line on the other side of the hill.
Sam swore and sprinted back down the slope. He lost his breath when he realized that Bruce and Quinn weren't where he left them. They'd gone ahead.
He heard yelling behind him and his blood chilled. He sprinted into the forest, and the branches whipping against his face almost froze him in place again. His dream came back to him in a whirlwind so fast that his head spun and he tumbled to the forest floor.
He hit the ground hard and pushed himself right back to his feet, half-expecting to be tackled yet again.
He could only pray that the dream had not been some sort of premonition, because the image of the dragon attacking his face was imprinted in his mind, and it was not something he expected to live through.
"Where are we going?" Quinn's called out, crying out as another branch tore at her hair.
"Falcon Bridge, it's our only option."
"I thought you said they'd be guarding it!" She protested.
"They may be."
"But they're following us!" Quinn realized. "They can't be waiting to ambush us at the bridge, if they're chasing us from behind!"
"They can if they've split up, and we already know that they have." Bruce said.
Quinn swallowed deeply, nervously, and she looked back into the forest, hoping beyond hope that she hadn't just lost her best friend.
The river! Sam realized as he slowed to a jog. He could hear it trickling along off to his right. As quickly as he dared, he picked through the foliage until he found himself back at the bank of the Ostvale River.
Quinn and Bruce had to be trying to get out of the Ostvale area. The region was surrounded by the river, and Bruce couldn't swim, so they had to be moving towards Falcon Bridge, which meant that if he just followed the river, he would eventually meet back up with them.
The problem was, he had no idea which way the bridge was, and if he went in the wrong direction, than he'd be further from them than ever.
He started off one way and then paused, balling his hands into his fists, pivoting back the other way. He walked for a few minutes before stopping and turning back the other way with a frustrated growl.
He didn't have time for this! With each moment of indecision he was losing the ground he'd built up between him and his pursuers.
"Upstream!"
Sam froze. He looked around nervously, crouching low to try and hide from the unseen communicator.
"Hello?" He whispered.
There was no answer.
This however, didn't surprise Sam particularly, because the voice had come from within his head.
Ostvale was a mediocre town where nothing special happened. The citizens were all hard-working, hands on people. Sam had heard rumors of magic, in stories that adventurers would tell, but he'd always dismissed it as something that he'd never experience.
Now there were three options; there was magic in the air, there were spirits in the wood, or he was going insane. None of these made him particularly comfortable.
He looked at the river, rushing past him with a rapid ferocity; rushing past him...to the east.
He looked to the left; upstream. There was a good chance that the decision he made next would decide his future, whether he walked back into the arms of his friends, or the blades of his enemies. It all depended on whether or not he followed the voice in his head.
Upstream it was.
Bruce dropped Quinn to the ground as they burst from the tree line. She looked up to find a wide bridge made of cobblestone and wood frame.
They both froze.
They froze, because standing in the center of the bridge, illuminated by the moon, was a figure.
Slowly, they approached.
Sam couldn't help but break out into a grin as the bridge came into view. He ran forwards with new vigor, he'd made it! They were finally going to make it out of Ostvale!
His smile fell away as he spotted Quinn, Bruce...and the person advancing upon them.
His friends stared at the person, so close to freedom, but still so far. Sam gritted his teeth; they would have to fight their way out. He had the element of surprise, and he was going to use it to his full advantage.
He crept slowly into the underbrush, approaching the group as swiftly as he could, and when he felt he was close enough he darted out from the trees and tackled the other person to the ground.
"Ooh my butt!"
Sam paused, fists raised to punch the boy beneath him in the face.
"Excuse me?" Sam paused.
"You like, broke my butt!" The boy said, contorting his face into an accusatory gaze. "I use that."
"I...I was trying to protect my friends..." Sam stammered.
"Well you didn't have to hurt my butt... It's not like I was gonna use it as a weapon." He said. "Wait, can you do that?" He beamed with childish excitement.
"You don't work for the King?" Quinn asked, approaching them.
"No I do not work for the King, do you know why I don't? Because the King, is a fucking asshole!" He nodded affirmatively. "Now c'mon man, get off of me."
Sam paused.
"Uh...please?"
Sam clambered to his feet, wiping his hands on his pants and looking down at the larger boy who clambered to his feet immediately, brushing himself off and mumbling something about peasants. He was wearing very loose trousers, sandals, and a yellow jacket made of wool.
"Who are you?" Quinn asked.
"I am Finn Hudon." He said. "I was waiting here for you, for like, a really long time, and I got really hungry, but I just kept on waiting, and then you broke my butt...so you're welcome."
"Wait, you were waiting for us?" Sam asked, backing up to stand next to Quinn. Finn nodded.
"Yeah man."
"Why?" Quinn asked. "How did you know we were coming?"
"Because I'm magical." Finn said, waving his fingers around as if that would prove to them the extent of his magical abilities.
It didn't.
"How did you really know?" Bruce asked.
"Dude I'm totally serious, I'm magical."
They looked doubtful.
"I am!" He insisted. "My friend wanted a word with you."
"Your friend?" Sam asked, looking around. There was nobody else nearby.
"Yeah. Just so you know I'd totally have more friends if they didn't exist in my head too..." He said seriously. He reached out and grabbed Quinn and Sam by the hands. "Now you should come with me...cause...just, cause I said so."
Sam opened his mouth to respond, but stopped short as blades of golden grass tickled his hands and brilliant sunlight shone down upon his face. He turned in a slow, stunned circle, taking in his new surroundings.
"Where are we?" Quinn whispered beside him. He turned to face her, noticing that he wasn't alone for the first time. Finn stood between them, looking quite pleased with himself.
"You're in my domain, the Golden Meadow." A new voice said smoothly. They turned to find a beautiful woman with long brown hair that fell in waves past her shoulders. She was wearing a simple yellow dress that fell to her knees and was belted with honey-coloured branches. She wore a necklace of chestnuts, and wore no shoes.
"Who are you?" Sam asked.
"My name is Marley." She smiled. "I'm a sorceress, and this is my world."
"How did we get here?" He wondered.
"Magic, the same way you knew which way to follow the river." She smiled teasingly.
"That was you."
"Yes it was!" She smiled again.
"Umm...I don't mean to interrupt, but why are we here exactly?" Quinn laughed nervously. "And where's Bruce?"
"I have something I need to talk to you about." Marley said seriously. "It doesn't pertain to your guide, so I didn't bother bringing him. Plus Finn only has two hands." She said.
"He could've just grabbed my...never mind." Finn spoke up. They all paused and looked at him blankly. He gave them a look and they turned away again.
"Anyways..." Marley laughed awkwardly. "It's about your destination. You've got a huge journey ahead of you...but you're not the only ones."
"What?" Sam asked. "What do you mean?"
"The King has wronged many people in this Kindom, his rule is one of discrimination, bloodthirstiness, betrayal and abandonment. I'm a powerful sorceress, but even I can't see how your journey will end...I do know one thing, however..." She paused and looked at them both. "Your paths are intertwined with the paths of others. Head to Violetedge, the things you find there...the things you learn...I have a hunch they'll stay with you forever."
"Violetedge..." Sam said. This was a destination; it was something to go on at the very least, and that was more than they'd been lucky enough to come across thus far. If they went to Violetedge...they would be working towards something, instead of just running away.
"Yes, I'll help you in any way that I can, but I'm afraid I'm a little...held up, right now. I'm sure we'll meet again...goodbye!" She smiled and the Golden Meadow began to vanish, fading away to reveal the dark forest of Ostvale and the Falcon Bridge.
"Goodbye..." Quinn called out.
"Oh, and Sam?" Marley said as she faded into nonexistence.
"Yes?"
"Your father was the greatest swordsman I've ever known."
And then she was gone.
"There you are!" Bruce grabbed Sam and shook him out of his revere. "I thought I'd lost you both!" He rounded on Finn who tilted his head and furrowed his eyebrows.
"No...we're fine." Quinn said hastily, resting a hand on Bruce's arm.
"My father..." Sam whispered. "Why does everybody know my father but me?" He growled in frustration.
Bruce looked away awkwardly.
"I shouldn't have said anything..." He said, turning away. "We should go."
He started to walk and Sam looked around in astonishment.
"Bruce, you have to tell me, I mean, it's my father!" Bruce didn't stop, so Sam stormed after him. "Hey!" He grabbed his shoulder and spun him around.
Bruce grabbed him by the collar and lifted him off the ground.
"Bruce!" Quinn cried.
"Hey!" Finn yelled.
"Listen kid, I like you, but I don't owe you anything so stop acting like I do. If anything, it's you who owes me. If I hadn't shown up when I did, you would be dead right now, all of you." He looked at Quinn.
"Well, I wouldn't be, because I have no idea what you're talking about." Finn said, shrugging awkwardly. "So..."
"Put him down..." Quinn said cautiously, trying to diffuse the tension of the situation and completely ignoring Finn.
"I've spent seventeen years trying to figure out what happened to my parents, if you know something, I deserve to know it too." Sam said, grabbing Bruce's hand in both of his and flailing his legs.
Bruce dropped him and he landed roughly in a crouch. He dusted himself off and glared at his boss.
"I don't want to talk about it." Bruce said.
"I don't really care." Sam smiled coldly.
"Listen you-"
"Guys!" Quinn stepped between them. "Shh..." She held a finger to her lips and they all paused. She tapped her ear and they listened.
Cracking branches.
Hushed voices.
The clanking of metal shin guards.
"Oh shit..." Finn turned to them. "Quick! Under the bridge!" He waved his arms wildly, rushing at them all and shoving them backwards.
Quinn almost screamed as she fell into the river, but caught herself. She flailed wildly, trying to smother her coughing. Her hand caught Sam's arm and he dragged her onto a thin natural ledge between the underside of the bridge and the river. The area was marshy, cold and wet, but it was hidden from view.
Bruce held a finger to his lips on the other side of Sam, all three of them looking like the terrified prey that they were. All squabbling from mere moments before forgotten as they heard voices approaching above.
"You there!" Coal boomed.
Finn turned from where he'd perched himself on the edge of the bridge.
"Who, me?" He acted confused.
"Who else would he be talking to?" A snide black haired girl beside him sneered. "Can't we just kill him and be on our way."
"Patience Regina."
"Uncle Coal, I told you my name is Ree." She pouted.
"Patience Regina." Finn said seriously.
"Now is not the time." Coal said, cutting off the girl's angry retort and approaching Finn, who hopped down from his perch. Ree scoffed and crossed her arms, flicking her bangs to the side. She stared at Finn with angry, prudish eyes.
"Why are you sitting on a bridge?" She asked judgementally.
"Why are you not sitting on a bridge?" He retorted. She narrowed her eyes at him but Coal held up an arm.
"You'll have to excuse my niece, she's fairly bloodthirsty. It runs in the family." He said coldly. Finn swallowed nervously. "Now, have you seen a small group of fugitives run past here?"
"What does a small group of fugitives look like?" He asked.
"One is a girl with long blonde hair by the name of Quinn, and the other, her friend, is a taller more muscular blonde boy. Sam. They might be among others, but we can't be sure."
"Do they run like this?" Finn flailed his arms wildly and sprinted off in the other direction, wailing. Coal and his niece stared after him until he'd disappeared.
"Is he gonna come back...?" She wondered aloud.
"I...I don't know..." Coal stammered.
Sam, Quinn and Bruce froze, clinging to one another as more footsteps approached.
"Find anything of interest?" Coal asked.
"The remnants of a fire, they have to be nearby." Riker's voice responded.
"The wood was still warm, they moved fast." Savannah added. "Real fast, we heard somebody fleeing the campsite as we approached."
Sam froze under the bridge. He'd been the last to leave camp. They'd heard him.
"We chased them, but when we got to the river we didn't know which way to check. If they went downstream, they had to have circled back; we scoured that area to death." Riker scowled.
"There was a mysterious man here, but he flailed off in that direction before we could really get any information out of him."
"Why didn't you kill him?" Riker asked.
"Well...to be honest, he was kind of weird...I wasn't sure how to respond to him! If I'd been thinking straight I would've killed him, but you know how these things are."
"No...I usually kill first, ask questions later. We've been working together long enough that you should know that." Riker snapped.
"That's why I like being paired with you." Savannah crooned.
"Uncle Coal, can we go now, I'm bored and tired and I didn't get to kill anybody. This was a waste of my time." Ree whined.
"Fine. They're clearly out of the Ostvale area..." Coal sighed.
"That means..." Riker started nervously.
"We have to call in the big guns." Savannah cackled. "The captains of the Imperial Army..."
"They won't be pleased..." Coal frowned.
"They never are." Riker scoffed.
"That's what makes them so fun to play with." Savannah smiled crazily.
"Whatever! Can we go?"
Quinn, Sam and Bruce crouched low to the ground as the soldiers trekked off overhead. They stayed that way until their ankles felt like they would break, and then they stayed that way a little longer.
"Boo!" Finn yelled, popping up on Quinn's other side.
She screamed and fell back into the river.
Five minutes later, a soaking wet Quinn stood glaring at a cackling Finn, as Sam and Bruce looked on, still with racing hearts from their close encounter.
"How did you get back here so stealthily?" Quinn panted. "Are you some kind of ninja?"
"I'm a wizard!" He posed beamed.
"Alright than!" Sam nodded sharply.
"Yeah, anyways, you guys...should...go to...Violetedge." Finn nodded, pursing his lips.
"Violetedge?" Bruce asked. "Why Violetedge? That wasn't a part of my plan."
"Well, your plan isn't a good plan!"
"Hey!" Bruce gawked.
"Are you the most powerful magical sorceress in the whole kingdom? No? Then shut the hell up about your plan, because, I said so. Done. There. Goodbye." He turned and ran off into the forest.
The other three looked after him with a mixture of awe, confusion and...well, mostly just confusion. Sam decided that Finn was the type of man who took a whole lot of getting used to.
"So...to Violetedge?" Quinn asked.
"I still don't understand what's so great about Violetedge...my plan was well thought out." Bruce pouted.
"Call it a hunch." She nodded delicately.
Bruce looked from Sam to Quinn and then back again.
"Fine..." He said.
As one, they turned and walked across Falcon Bridge, and out of Ostvale.
Sam looked back into the forest behind him, and couldn't help but wonder about life back in Ostvale, how his family was doing, how his other best friend was faring, how Quinn's family was managing.
They'd been thrown into this new life, and it scared him, but at the same time...he couldn't help but feel as though this journey was for more than just survival. Maybe Marley was right, maybe their path was intertwined with the paths of others, other people with problems just like theirs, who needed somebody to help them out.
His mind touched on the pretty brown haired girl from his vision.
Maybe this path would lead to death. He'd accepted that. But maybe it would be alright if he could help somebody else along the way...and maybe...if he was really lucky...somebody would come along who could help him back...
So there you go! Chapter 2! Finn and Marley both exist in this world, but it looks like they'll both be getting left behind as Sam and Quinn keep on keepin' on! Is Sam's dream a premonition, and what exactly waits for them in Violetedge? In the next chapter, some big characters are bound to be introduced, including a certain soulful diva who has been lacking from the show of late! And maybe a few other fan favorites as well.
Please Review!