Young Writers Society

Orvin clicks his tongue, reminding himself to choose his word carefully. He gently hands Polly off to Lucas, assisting in getting her comfortable. She stirs, but falls back asleep when she realizes Lucas is carrying her. Orvin takes a deep breath and turns to look Archibald in the eye.

"My original intention in being near the castle today was to steal from your father. No one pays attention to an extra servant. To prepare for said thievery, my crew and I have conducted a distraction, which will no doubt have been carried out flawlessly. This distraction will keep everyone busy til morning. No one will notice your disappearance til then." Orvin takes yet another breath, near out of air. He straightens out, standing to his full height. "Tell me, Archie, do you truly wish to spend the rest of your days with a father who cares more for the butler and in a kingdom whom doesn't know your name? Or would you take a chance, for once, and come with me?"

Lucas had already been a little hesitant to say yes to the prince's request, but now he felt even more uneasy with the situation after Orvin's response to Archibald wanting to go back to the castle. It had been easy to forget that Orvin had kidnapped him the past few hours. Now Lucas was all too aware of how he was technically an accomplice to someone trying to kidnap royalty.

But he also knew that he had only encountered this two by chance, and that what he said wouldn't mean much to either one of them. The most he could do right now was awkwardly hold Polly and try to figure out how to get out of this mess.

He glanced between the prince and the pirate.

Oh, no. No, no.

It was working. He couldn’t look away. Every word the pirate spoke clicked, it sparked the young prince’s imagination. He had had thoughts like these before of his own accord, but to hear Orvin say them broke something in him. Sense. Denial. One of those. It was impossible to ignore his heart now that he had been recognised like this.

Caution and fear threatened to leave him, and he held onto them by threads. He raced to catch these slippery dreams before they ran too far.

Archibald had been taught that the only way to protect people was to control them, and that weakness must be guarded and bit down at any cost to keep what he had. It was clear to him now that these maxims were completely useless when it came to Orvin. It may not be possible to protect him. The only thing for it was to meet him as he was.

Archibald smiled, and shook his head. He no longer tried to conceal the fear that spilled from the creases.

“There's no negotiating with you, is there.” he said.

Admit it. Say it. We can’t move on until you say it, so say it.

“I want to go with you. I do.”

Too close. Too much.

“You don't know what you're offering!

I shouldn't trust you, and you- you shouldn't trust me. We, we don’t really know each other- You're ready to make enemies of entire continents over this, and you don't know if I'll be worthy of that risk at all-

How can you do this to the crew that already rely on you?”

Archie stopped to glance at Polly, to check that she was still drowsy before he continued. He voiced these last worries in a low voice, just in case.

“My father doesn't take insults. He makes examples. He won’t stop hunting you, until you, and everyone you’re associated with are tortured and publicly executed. Our colonies, allies, neighbours, rivals- their territories won’t be safe, either, they want favour, or leverage- or at least not to upset him, they- That equals how many navies ready to sell you out?”

He began to do the mathematics, panicked, and stopped. He realised he’d gotten loud, again, by the end of that. Somewhere in the middle, he might’ve been shaking. He stopped.

He couldn’t stop any of this. He couldn’t escape by himself. If he escaped with Orvin, he couldn’t trust that he wouldn’t bring death and ruin to him. With any luck, Lucas would agree to come, too, and he’d lose both his new best friends at the same time. He couldn’t protect them at all.
Because if Orvin said his name again, the way he had just now, Archie knew he couldn’t refuse him.

The prince composed himself. He made one last defense.

“If I was someone else, I’d go with you right now. But nobody’s worth the persecution I’d bring to your family.”

Orvin watches him with thinly veiled hope, listening carefully to Archie's speech.

"You criminally underestimate my crew and I, Archie. If you want to be someone else. Then be someone else." He clicks his tongue softly, sparing a glance at Polly, who is mumbling something about Fidget and Nugget in her sleep. His face softens for a moment. He had taken on far deadlier things and survived worse prosecution. No one was worth so little to not help. "You have 30 seconds. Make a choice."

Two unspoken words hang in the air.

Trust me.

“Yes.” said Archie. Hope swelled in those soft blue eyes, not yet free of fear, but maybe they didn't need to be.

He didn’t need the thirty seconds. This was a choice, was it not? It was his, and no-one else's.

He smiled, elated, spilling over. “Yes.”

He really could become someone else. He’d have to find something new to belong to. Something to pursue. What he had once called emptiness was now a gift; he could fill it with anything.

He could make mistakes.

Yes.

“Let’s go,” said Archie.

Lucas glanced down at Polly.

She was still sleeping in his arms, peacefully unaware of the conversation that had just happened. She was also unaware of Lucas's growing sense of awkwardness. If Archibald was going with Orvin back to his ship, then Orvin could lead the way instead. And if they were going there together, Archibald or Orvin could carry Polly instead of Lucas. There was no reason for Lucas to come along with them. There was no reason to leave this place.

And it wasn't like they had intentionally come to meet him here, anyways. They didn't even know him before this afternoon.

He turned to Archibald.

"Do you want to carry Polly?" he asked. That was who Orvin had been talking to when he said it would be good having help carrying her. It had just been more convenient for Lucas to hold her in the moment.

"Ah, I uh. Wouldn't recommend Archie carry her. She doesn't know him yet or quite trust him fully. She'd freak out." Freak out was an understatement. A farm boy lost a finger when he tried to take her from Orvin once. When she was tired, she had little control over her powers, and startled easily. "Besides, she'd be heartbroken if you didn't let her say goodbye. I'd really like her to get a little more rest too. She doesn't sleep well most nights. If you'd just accompany us there I'd really appreciate it."

Orvin looked at Archie, offering him a soft smile.

Lucas faltered. He hadn't expected that they would actually need him—and wasn't all that sure he knew how to react to being necessary.

"...Okay," he said, voice quieter than before. He looked back down at Polly. He would have felt bad not saying goodbye to her, too.

Archibald let out a little squeak of joy.

"Yes! Come with us!"

Even if it would only be to see Polly and Orvin off, it would be fun to have Lucas with them for longer.

Orvin adjusts the flare at the end of his shirt sleeves before he opens the door and steps out into the night. He takes a moment to re-familiarize himself with his surroundings before taking off in a seemingly random direction. A knife swiftly cuts down some vines. Orvin apparently had it up his sleeve this whole time. His turns make little sense, and he turns around at least twice. It almost appears as though he's lost.

Yet, he still manages. There's suddenly a near a blinding stream of light compared to the dark of night in the trees. Orvin emerges into an enormous cavern through some vines covering the entrance he just walked through. It's a large boat dock, with hundreds of small shops scattered around the edges of the large lake in the middle of it. Torchs, candles, and magic lights make the place look as bright as the daytime. There are thousands of people of various backgrounds; pirates, thieves, adventures, wandering the cramped walkway, trading various possessions amongst each other for whatever they need.

Orvin leads the way through a well-paved path leading down to where the ships are docked. A large old man waits at the entrance of the main dock, rubbing his stomach. The scent of alcohol is on his breath, though he doesn't appear drunk.

"Ooh, Orvin my boy, " He says, chuckling, looking at Archibald and Lucas with open curiosity. "Who's the new friends?"

"Not now, Wilson." Orvin replies, flicking a gold coin at him.

"Understood." Is the only reply, as Wilson pockets the coin and moves to the side to allow everyone easier passage on the docks.

It's not a far walk to Orvin's boat. It's a nice thing, about medium size compared to the other ships around. The wood seems in better condition, and the sails look more maintained. A young girl in her late teens stands at the entrance, eyeing Orvin with open suspicion. She looks a lot like him, though her hair is more curly and her eyes a shade of blue instead of brown.

"Orthella," Orvin says when he's close enough for her to hear. "Meet my new friends,"

Lucas nervously shifted Polly's weight in his arms. He hadn't expected for there to be so many people here. If he hadn't already promised to carry Polly back to Orvin's ship, he would have protested going with them. He hadn't been around so many people since he became a vampire.

Even before then, he wasn't sure he had been surrounded by so many people at once.

He kept his mouth closed and hoped that his red eyes would just appear to be a trick of the light.

Archie followed Orvin, head turning in all directions, eyes twinkling with curiousity in the all-encompassing lamplight. His embroidered lilac finery caused him to stand out in the bustling street of grizzled adventurers, but he felt safe enough in present company not to let it worry him.

What was this place? This secret port village, crawling with mysterious traders and ne'er do wells and how did those lights work? They weren't all candle-lights or gaslamps, there was a third category that was clearly something else, so how did it work? How much culture and trade commenced here unobserved? What holes in the censuses could it account for?

And this Wilson fellow- from the interaction, Archie could gauge that Orvin was well-known in this miniature society.

Where was this port village hiding? Archibald wracked his brains trying to place it geographically on his mental map- they'd turned around in the dark so many times, but they could only have gone so many miles from the forest outside the castle, and there were only so many directions that led to coastal areas- and they were all too far out to make sense. What was this secret route? How had it stayed secret from the royal navy for so long?

It wouldn't be a good show of trust to ask Orvin too many questions like this so early on, but Archibald was absolutely going to be taking a lot of mental notes for later.

Like looking out for key constellations once the stars became more visible, would be a good start-

Ooh, there was the ship!

A well-maintained and well-worn sloop, perfect for sneaking into narrow inlets and shallow bays. Perfect for mischief.

"Good evening!" Archie greeted Orthella, genuinely intrigued. She and Orvin looked quite alike- were they brother and sister? She even had his impressive height.

"Lovely to meet you, I'm Archibald." He smiled, and offered her a handshake.

No prince. No Highness. Just Archibald. It felt good.

"I'm Lucas," Lucas muttered. It wasn't meant to come out as so much of a mutter, but he was trying his best to talk with his mouth still closed.

He moved a little closer to Orvin so he could pass Polly off to him. Now that they were at the ship, there wasn't any need for him to be here. Polly would probably wake up when he passed her over to Orvin. He could say goodbye. Then he could slip back out through the overwhelming amount of people at the dock and go back to his home-

Wait, could he go back there? The prince was missing now. If they thought he had run away, they would probably come looking for him at the vacation home. And if they thought he had been kidnapped, they would probably look for him there, too, because it was a conveniently abandoned place near the main castle.

Had he just lost another home?

"Nice to meet you both." Orthella says, her eyes drifting off to the floor as she says something about food costs under her breath.

Orvin leads the two men onto the deck, Orthella staying back at the ship's entrance. Colorful children's scribbles covered the wooden ship's deck, fading as they move towards the back, with several practically gone. A large wooden mast leading up to the crow's nest sits in the center. A figure stands at the top. Their long hair sways over the edge. Towards the front of the boat, near the edge, a large wolf lays watching the newcomers, its head on it's front paws. A young teen boy sleeps next to the creature, using it as a rather comfortable pillow with the wolf's tail covering his torso.

"Thank you for joining us on the journey, Lucas." Orvin says, moving forward to take Polly from Lucas's arms. When his hands make contact, Polly whines, tightening her arms around Lucas's neck. Orvin tries again, muttering some soft words to try to convince her to let go. She whines again, tightening her arms further.

"Please don't leave" comes her soft voice, heavy with sleep and a light sadness.

Out of the corner of his eye, Lucas noticed that there was a wolf onboard the ship. No one seemed to mind. Lucas would have asked about why the ship had a wolf that seemed so tame, but he was quickly distracted by Polly trying to cling to him.

Lucas gently tried to remove her hands from around his neck with one hand, the other still firmly supporting her.

"I'm sorry, Polly," he apologized, voice soft, "but I really need to go. I'll see you again the next time you come into town. I promise."