The Unknown

1776

It was July 1st of 1776 and Alfred was terrified. He ran down the streets and back ways, climbed building, ran across and jumped roofs, and  made his way across Philadelphia. He was being hunted by his own people and he couldn't understand why.  He just wanted his family back. He wanted peace, not war. Couldn't they understand that he didn't want to fight his father?

The Free Masons had him move the treasure before they had turned on him, learning of his status as a nation six months ago. His young mind understood the need to hide the treasure from the bad people. He had hidden it twice in his life. He couldn't understand why the people he trusted took him from his home seventy years ago. He didn't know that the Free Masons had their suspicions of his importance to his people and had figured out why he hardly ever aged. His vision blurred with tears as he remembered Father's ship leaving for a mission from the Queen and strange men taking him away, hiding him from his family. He didn't understand why they came like thieves in the night and moved him every few months, always guarding him. They had tried to make him forget, to hate his Father. He could never do so. He broke free from the Masons after hearing that they planned to imprison him so that their country would flourish and not fall in the coming war. He wrote a letter to Matthew, delivered by an eagle, before he started running. Yet he was pulled back to Philadelphia by a need to witness the changes, to be in the center of the historic occurrence as all nations are driven. His clothes were in tatters and he was covered in dirt, mud, sweat, and stood out among the masses. The Free Masons spotted him immediately.

Now on the rooftops of Philadelphia, Alfred ran for all that he was. He had to get away. The men were ever closing in on him and buildings were starting to become more scarce. He jumped down into an abandoned alley, sprinting into the busy traffic of carriages and people. People yelled and cursed at the boy as he made a mad dash for the woods, his pursuers hot on his tail. He knew at that moment that he had made a terrible mistake. He never should have returned.

'Just need to get to the woods!' Alfred could lose them in his terrain. A mere twenty feet away from his freedom, he was tackled to the ground. He struggled as hard as he could with his arms and body pinned to the ground. The more he struggled, more pressure was applied to his arms. The men holding him were having a difficult time keeping him pinned down. A pair of boots appeared in his limited sight, the person kneeling to hold his head sideways as the man traced something on his neck. The substance was infused with the magic of his lands and did its purpose of taking his strength away.

"NO! Let me go! You have no right to keep me captive!" Alfred yelled at the kneeling man. He continued to yell at the man, his voice falling upon deaf ears. A gag was shoved into his mouth as his attempts to fight became weaker and the magic stronger. How dare they use magic like this against the very embodiment of their lands. Did they not know that within an hour he would be able to break the binding magic?

The man, George Washington, observed the scrawny, thin, and tiny four year old child with curiosity and a sense of protection swelling in him. He ran his hand through the wheat colored hair in a soothing way, helping the magic to lull the child into a sort of trance. This was his nation? This was the personification of survival in a new land? The Masons were right. This child needed to be protected for his own good, whether or not the boy wanted it. He had sworn to protect this boy and fight for him, dying if need be.

"Is this the one that has caused us such trouble? I expected for the boy to be older. He must be very skilled to evade us for the last six months. Lee, secure him well enough for us to make it back to Ross's house. Use magic only if you must. I fear we have little time before the seal I used is completely gone." The General mounted his trusty horse and watched as the boy was bound and wrapped in a blanket. The sky blue eyes bore into his, anger blazing as brightly as the sun. "America, I hope that someday you will understand why we have done what we thought was best for you." Washington turned his horse away, leading the way to Ross's home. Alfred dozed off briefly, tired from all running his had done for the last six months. He woke to the stopping and dismounting of the men that had captured him.

"Ross, we found America." George Washington stated upon spotting his old friend. He bowed to Betsy Ross as Lee carried the child into the home.

"I was worried that we would never find the boy. Franklin has the chamber ready for the boy's arrival at Trinity Church and the box to seal him away was not sent. we must take him to New York. No, you must take him. Do you believe that we can do all the runes and seals correctly before it is too late?" Ross was pacing as his wife continued to sew a flag in thick materials.

"I will take him. We will succeed Ross. We must succeed. Betsy, what are you sewing?" George had to ask. He also noticed the military uniform that had been made in the boy's size. Betsy noticed him looking at the uniform she had lovingly made for her country.

"Our country deserves a clean uniform and a warm blanket for his long slumber, correct?" Betsy Ross finished the last stitch, gathered the flag and uniform, and headed to the basement. "Angelica, bring the water and rags, we've work to do. We will have him ready in thirty minutes for the ritual, General Washington."

She descended to the cellar where Alfred was chained to a slab in the middle of the candle lit room with only his ripped and stained trousers on. He watched the two women in fear, begging through the gag to be let go. Betsy placed her armful on a chair  by a cloaked person. She was handed a soaked rag and started to clean her nation from the months of grime and dirt that clung to him. She was joined by more cloaked people as others prepared for the ritual to send their nation into a deep slumber. Alfred struggled against them as they cleaned every inch of his body, stripped him of the last of his clothes and left him naked on the slab. Four of the cloaked people tightened the shackles holding him down as two more came forward with brush and bowl. They started to paint strange symbols, seals, and runes unto his body with blood from the fallen soldiers, blood from those who died for him. He felt his tears slide down his face as the symbols continued to be painted in a strange pattern. He felt his limbs become useless, his head began to become foggy. The chains were undone and hands started to guide his body to do something. He felt it when they moved him to his back, covering that side in intricate runes as well. When he was propped up into a sitting position, they painted runes upon his lower arms and hands. His neck was adorned with the runes also. He was a limp rag doll at this point, barely still awake, his face the only place to remain untouched. The cloaked figures dressed him in a uniform and wrapped him up in a warm blanket, or was it a flag? He found that he didn't care as he was carried to a carriage and held by someone. His eyes started to close as a brush painted the final rune.

George Washington watched the young child sleep for the whole journey, head in his lap. Hours upon hours did Washington imagine what the boy would have been capable of in this war, of what this child would become in the future. For a fleeting moment, George felt the need to let the boy free from the slumber he was now a prisoner of to see those fantasies become a reality. It was at that moment that they reached their destination. Many of the Masons gathered at Trinity Church watched as Washington carried the boy to the resting place they had prepared. They sealed America away on July 4th, 1776, hours before the Declaration of Independence was signed.