A Truelove of Turtle Doves

Chpt 4 - Sky meets Sea

With all the commotion going on behind me - shouting, running, talking - and the fact that a neatly dressed nobleman (which it was clear I was) had suddenly started running next to him, I wasn't surprised to see that the pirate did, in fact, look suitably shocked.

I just continued to grin like a maniac, which probably didn't help.

"If you want to not be murdered, I suggest you follow me!" I shouted, running harder in order to get ahead so I could show him where to go before the few policemen who were still chasing us caught up.

"And how do I know you won't kill me?" he yelled from behind me. His accent was definitely French, and almost rang like a bell to tell me that my previous assumption about him being a pirate was correct.

"Well for starters, I don't have a rapier! Or a pistol! So my chances of doing something like that successfully are so low that I wouldn't even chance it!"

We sprinted down the street that led to the docks, carving a path through the throng, people stumbling out of the way as the police shouted and tried to keep up. My eyes darted from house to house, shop sign to shop sign. I was looking for a particular store, one with a small narrow alley next to it that I used to escape down when I was younger and looking for the freedom to roam about by myself. I began to feel more and more agitated the more shops I passed. Was it gone? If so, I wasn't so sure I'd be able to find it. Sure, we could go down other alleyways, but this one was special in the fact that, while it ended with a stone wall after several different twists and turns, you could actually climb over it into a forest. The only way I suspected we'd escape the police is if we went over that particular wall.

"Where are we going?!" screeched the pirate, who I was certain was beginning to feel almost as agitated as me.

Just as the last drops of hope were draining from me, my eyes landed on the exact place I had been looking for - Olde Fishermen's Place. The sign was still there, pale blue and black, swinging slightly in the breeze, advertising the "finest fresh fish around". While I was partial to the breaded cod bites, I was even more partial to not getting thrown in jail before my 25th birthday, so I thought I'd give the cod bites a miss this visit.

Darting into the alley, I didn't stop to see if he was following me, but continued to run at full speed down it and hope that he was. Okay, now I just need to remember what ways to turn. The first time I found the wall, back when I was 8 or 9, was because I'd gotten lost, and the next several times I tried, it was almost as if it had disappeared. After that, I mapped it out thoroughly, and it ended up basically ingrained into my brain. However, several years of disuse meant that the map was a bit fuzzy. Oh well. Gut instinct will just have to do.

Left, right, right, straight ahead until you reach the 4th building's alley, left, left, right, left, right...

Bingo!

There was the wall, dead ahead, only a few paces in front. I would've celebrated the fact that my memory hadn't failed me if the situation had been less dire. The set of footsteps that had been following me stopped as I did, in front of the wall, and I turned to see a slightly disheveled looking pirate watching me with a suspicious look on his face. I suppose I deserved it. I mean, I did just lead him into a dim, cramped alley and straight to a dead end. Or what he thought was a dead end.

We were both huffing slightly from the exertion (of which I wasn't used to - I didn't run often) and so I took the moment to get a better look at him. Although the alley was darker due to the shadows of the surrounding buildings, there was enough light for me to clearly see that his eyes were a deep shade of blue, like the sea, and they almost seemed to have hints of silver in them. Or maybe it was just grey, and the light was playing tricks on me. His face was well structured - high cheekbones, strong jawline - and he had some blonde stubble that was barely showing. He would make an incredible subject to draw.