Run

Chapter One

I screamed. I was drowning, the seaweed pulling me down, inviting me to death. I opened my mouth again but the only sounds were the seaweed wrapping around my arms, encaging me in their  hunter green trap. The very same I had fallen for. Help… I thought. This was it. I was dying. Slowly.. Painfully. The seaweed was leaving marks and strangling me. I didn't want to die of course. Not until then. I could only hope it would kill me faster than torture me this way. A hand. "Take it." Were the words I heard through the water. What was I to do? Of course. With much struggle, I grabbed it. I gasped as I was brought back to the land. I wasn't being strangled. I wasn't drowning. The seaweed didn't want me anymore.
"Th-thank you…" I choked out, removing the water from my lungs.
"Don't mention it. Get up." They held their hand out to me and as I stood up, I got a closer look. She had gorgeous brown freckles splattered across her tan skin and a red hood that covered her black hair.
"N-niamh." I stuttered. It got really warm all of a sudden.
"Ally."
"Where are we?"
"This is Morrnia." There was a rustle from the nearby bush.  I heard her curse under her breath. "We need to move. And fast." She grabbed my hand and we ran together, the rustle getting louder every time our feet hit the ground. She took out her bow and arrow.
A figure stepped out from behind the trees. She was tall and slim, her long dress accentuating all of her curves. Her hair was blood red and her skin was just like Ally's.
"What do you want, Meg?" Ally yelled, her fingers pulling back on the string.
"It matters not what I want, sister," Meg spat, "for you will be dead before you find out."
Ally laughed. "Me? Dead? By the hands of who?"
"Me, sweet sister. Perhaps my hands will be around your throat, or you shall be dropped into that lake," she nodded to the lake I had risen from, "or perhaps those trees shall obey their mistress once again."
"Their mistress? Their MISTRESS? Oh Morgana!" Ally chuckled. " You? Be their mistress? Sister you have the wildest dreams."
"They aren't dreams sister. Protectors of the soil, the grass and the flowers, obey me." It was as if the trees had sprung to life, swaying without breeze. "Take them, but don't harm her. Do whatever you wish with the red hooded girl." She pointed at me with long black nails.
"What's going on?" I whispered to Ally.
"That's Meg, my sister. I'll tell you all about it if we get out of here." The trees began to extend their branches towards us. "Duck!" Ally cried as a branch missed her head. Instead of attacking me, the branches went for my foot, dangling me in the air. I screamed again.
"Niamh!" Ally yelled, pointing her bow and arrow at the tree. She fired. The tree let me go . I dropped to the ground in a heap. "Run!" We ran and ran, the trees trying to grab us as we went. "I know you were drowning before, but we're gonna need to drown again! These trees are enchanted but every enchantment causes something else. These ones hate water!" We jumped into the icy cold water. I couldn't swim. Ally's hand grabbed my own. We swam to the nearest mountain.
"What was that?" I cried as we reached land.
"That was Meg's magic! She's a witch, and I mean that literally. "
"So why does she want you dead?"
"It's complicated." She shrugged.
"We've got time."
"Fine. A couple of years ago, we had an argument. Our little brother was there. She went out of control and our little brother went into a coma because of it. She blames me and she's been trying to kill me ever since."
"That must've been really hard for you, I'm sorry."
"Truth is, I'm a witch too. She doesn't know that though so I keep my powers hidden." She made a circle in the air aktn her finger, red dust trickling from it.
"Cool!" I squealed. Her cheeks darkened.
"Thanks." We stared at the sky.
"Wow it's getting pretty late huh.." The sky was now a prussian blue.
"Yeah." Ally began to conjure a tent. "Hope you don't mind. Anything lavish would attract Meg's attention. I kinda have a question."
"Ask away." I turned to her, a puzzled look on my face.
"Do you know why she was after you? She normally kills everyone that gets in the way, but she told her trees not to harm you."
"I actually don't. I mean I've never met her until today and whatnot." Ally frowned as if calculating.
"Are you sure?"
"I'd say so, yeah."
"Oh.. ok." She turned around and crawled into the tent she had conjured for us. "Well, goodnight."
"Night, Ally."