Sherwood (12 page)

“
Aye.” Harlow
turned around, knives neatly tucked in her right boot and on her
hip.

Her eyes landed on his
tired face, another bruise forming just above his collarbone,
another reminder of how hard rich men fought for their
money.

“
You feeling
okay?” Harlow asked, nodding to his collarbone.

Enders nodded, a hard look
on his face. “Aye.”

Harlow nodded, looking to
the ground as she walked past him and toward the town center to
meet with the others, Enders following in suit.

When Harlow and Enders
found their way to the town center, Elwin and Reggie sat around a
fresh fire, chewing on their breakfast, a luxury that Harlow didn't
have the heart to eat at the moment.

“
Reggie,
Elwin,” Harlow greeted them, hearing their grunting in response.
Reggie was eager and chewed happily on his piece of jerky. He'd
never been on a raid before, but regardless of his teams' loss in
capture the flag, Robin saw his potential and placed him with
Harlow's team.

Elwin, on the other hand,
sat slumped against a log, chewing on his jerky, tiredly and
slowly. His every movement screamed tiresome and
exhaustion.

“
We're
leaving to set up our post in ten minutes.” Harlow said, looking
down at them. Reggie nodded eagerly, while Elwin blinked sadly, his
eyes unwilling to respond anymore than that.

Harlow sighed, looking to
Enders who had grabbed a small piece of jerky and began eating it.
“Enders,” She addressed him, watching as he looking up, his hair
swinging in his eyes at the movement. Her heart skipped a beat at
the sight. “Let's go talk to Hood.”

Enders looked down at the
food in his hand. “I'm eating,” He complained.

“
Take it with
you.” Harlow demanded, trying to sound imposing and
tough.

Enders sighed, walking next
to Harlow as they made their way to Robin's cabin.

The silence was
comfortable, as it was normally with Enders, although Harlow
understood he was preoccupied with his food anyway.

Harlow walked up a small
set of stairs and raised her hand to knock on one of the cabin
doors.

Robin Hood answered the
door within seconds. “Aye?” He answered, tired eyes meeting her
own.

Harlow raised an eyebrow at
him. “Reporting for the Out-Post today. You instructed that we
start early.”

Robin nodded, raising a
hand to wipe his eyes. “Right, that I did.” He stepped aside,
motioning with his hand, “Come in.”

Harlow walked in first,
standing still in the center of the small cabin, Enders following
and continuing to the other end of the room.

Harlow noticed that Enders
stared at the items on the tables and nightstands on the far wall.
To her, it looked to be stacks of papers and letters, but Harlow
forced her eyes to Robin Hood.

“
Right,”
Robin said, walking to the table at the center of his cabin.
“You're going to the East end of Sherwood today,” He said, picking
up one paper. “We were informed of a cargo shipment coming through
Sherwood. It's said that it belongs to the King, or at least it's
going to the King.”

Harlow raised an eyebrow.
“That sounds like it'll be heavily guarded, Hood.”

“
From the
information we've gathered, it seems that they're not too concerned
about the contents.” Robin explained looking through the pile of
letters he had littered on the table.

“
If it's
unimportant, why are you trying so hard to retrieve it?” Enders
asked, a certain degree of malice in his voice. Harlow was taken
aback by the amount of anger in his voice, although she agreed with
the content.

Robin sighed, “Enders, the
items that they're carrying are well over enough to feed the
villages surrounding the forest. Once we get their money and
treasures, we can disburse it around to help the hardworking
families that are being taken advantage of.”

Harlow nodded, “Aye, but
that means higher taxes for the people.”

“
Not to
mention that this supposed cargo sounds like a set up.” Enders
chimed in, crossing his arms over his chest. Harlow turned her eyes
to him, watching as he narrowed his eyes at Robin. She could almost
feel the anger radiating from him.

“
It seems
like a stretch for them to go out of their way to capture one or
two outlaws.” Robin said, looking over the papers in his
hands.

“
The King
knows how greedy the outlaws are,” Enders spat out, placing his
hands on the table. “They know that you'll send some kind of
sizable team to find them and steal their treasures if the risks
aren't too high.”

Harlow stepped forward,
placing her hand on Enders' arm and pulling him back. “Enders, step
down.”

Enders' looked at Harlow
for a second before raising his eyes to Robin once more. He stepped
backward, crossing his arms over his chest.

Harlow tore her eyes from
Enders and placed her full attention on Robin. “Enders is right.
This seems like a set up. If they make you believe that there are
not many men patrolling the goods, they know you'll send someone to
seize it.” Harlow said, “This sounds like fake information to draw
out some outlaws.”

Robin sighed looking up
from his letters. “Some risks are worth taking.”

Enders huffed, turning his
eyes to the side and staring angrily at the floor.

Harlow sighed as she saw Enders in her
peripheral vision. "Robin, this isn't a good idea."

Robin turned his eyes up from the maps
on his desk and stared at her. "Henry, this is my camp and you'll
do as I say."

Harlow nodded, keeping her eyes even
and on Robin. "As you say."

Harlow turned her back and walked out
of the building, following Enders down the cabin steps.

"So we're going to do this raid?"
Enders asked, his hands balled into fists and his eyebrows knitted
with anger.

"We've been given no other choice. The
raid will go as planned." Harlow said.

*~*~*

Harlow stared at the forest ahead of
her. The wind blew slightly, causing the trees to sway back and
forth. She closed her eyes and felt the pit of her stomach knot
itself up.

Something wasn't quite right; she knew
that much.

Her eyebrows knitted together as she
sent up a quick prayer.

“
Henry,” Elwin's voice rang
behind her, the crunching of leaves approaching her and making her
aware of his presence. “We're ready to head out.”

Harlow nodded, keeping her eyes closed
and taking in a deep breath. “Aye, we should go. The soldiers will
be going through Sherwood soon.”

*~*~*

“
You wait until the king
hears of this!” A monk yelled out as Harlow tied his arms behind
his back and around a tree.

She walked around to his front and
looked at him, an eyebrow raised and fake laughter on the edge of
her voice. “Oh yeah? What will he do? Send more goods?” She shoved
a loose piece of fabric into his mouth.

Harlow turned away from the struggling
man and walked to Enders, who held another monk at arrow-point
while Reggie tied his arms behind his back and sat him against a
tree, tying him to the tree as well.

“
Where's Elwin?” Harlow
whispered, asking Enders as she scanned the forest.

“
The trees.” Enders
whispered back to her, causing her to nod her head and scan the
horizon again, searching for anything that could prove his
location. A renegade boot sticking out of a tree made her chuckle
slightly.

As soon as Reggie finished stuffing a
rag in the monk's mouth, Enders lowered his bow and placed the
arrow back into his quiver.

Harlow looked to Reggie as Enders
walked past her and toward the treasures. “Go join
Elwin.”

Reggie nodded turning and rushing off
to get into a good position.

Harlow approached Enders as he knelt
down looking through the contents of their raided wagon. She picked
up an old, mostly dented gold cup. “Not much of any value.” she
said, sighing.

“
No, but it does the trick,
doesn't it?” A menacing voice said, an obvious smirk on the
person's lips. The voice came from just in front of her, holding a
demeanor accustomed to authority and obviously male in
nature.

Harlow froze momentarily, completely
understanding what had happened: They'd been set up.

Harlow slowly lifted her eyes to see
the evil looking man standing just before her. Carefully she rose
herself up and stood in front of the man.

"We don't want any trouble," Harlow
said, her hands floating in the air in front of her.

Enders, she noticed, had also stood
up, and had started surveying the area around him, trying to figure
a way out of this situation.

"You don't want any
trouble?" The man asked, and then laughed, his eyes lighting up
like a child being surprised with his favorite toy. "You outlaws
always cause problems, always cause mischief, always become
trouble.” The man had a smile on the edge of his lips, making them
twitch with every sentence.

The man took two steps
forward, six other men coming out from their left and right
sides.

Harlow's eyes widened, her
pulse sped up and she felt fear rise form her toes and spread
throughout her limbs.

She kept her eyes as even
as she could, although her fear was showing slightly. She felt like
a deer in headlights. She glanced behind her, seeing an
opening.

“
So, what
will happen now?” Harlow asked, taking a small, insignificant step
backward,

She noticed Enders look in
her direction. He saw the step she took. He glanced backward and
knew what she was doing. He took a small, insignificant step
backward just as she had done.

“
What happens now?
” The menacing man mocked. “What happens is that you'll
tell me where the Outlaw camp is and we'll let you keep your lives,
albeit without limbs.”

Harlow nodded, taking
another step backward, Enders doing the same. “What if we don't
tell you a damn thing?” She spat out at the man.

The man pulled out his
sword and let the sun light bounce off the metallic blade. “Well,”
He started, making a show of the sharpness of his blade. “You wont
see the sunrise again.”

“
Oh yeah?”
Harlow asked, raising an eyebrow and taking another step
backward.

The man was getting
arrogant; so much so, that he hadn't noticed how far away Harlow
and Enders had gotten form him.

“
Here's the
funny thing about Outlaws,” Enders said, his voice remarkably
confident. “We never let anyone take us alive.” He turned around
and sprint off as fast as he could in the opposite
direction.

Harlow followed his lead,
barely keeping up with him as her legs wobbled back and forth,
making it hard for her to sprint. As her legs took her away she
heard the sounds of whizzing arrows, although she couldn't tell if
the arrows were fired by Elwin and Reggie or by the
soldiers.

The two outlaws dodged
every tree branch and twig, bobbing and weaving in different
directions.

“
Left!”
Harlow called out as loud as she could, catching up with him. The
two turned and rounded a tree, hearing the faint barking of the man
yelling out orders. The two heard some distant crunching leaves and
twigs breaking, but they'd gotten some ground on the soldiers
behind them.

The two ran in silence,
still hearing faint pitter-pattering of the soldiers far off in the
distance.

It was only when they
couldn't run anymore that they'd decided to stop for a
breather.

Enders slowed, looking
around nervously, an eyebrow raised as he searched the area around
him. “We should head back and find Reggie and Elwin.”

Harlow immediately shook
her head, looking at him. “No, we can't do that. They're smart men.
They'll keep each other alive.”

Enders looked at her,
frustration apparent behind his eyes. “Then what about us? We wont
survive out here, Henry!”

Harlow took
one look at his angered expression and shoved him hard against a
tree. “This is
my
raid. This is
my
team. I
say we go forward, and that's exactly what we'll do.” She
whispered, harshly at him as she kept pressed against the
tree.

Enders
nodded, angrily looking off in the other direction. “Yeah? And
when
your
raid fails, and
your
team falls
apart, it'll be
your
fault.” Enders said, his eyes set
off to his right, his jaw clenching tightly. “But, whatever you
say, captain.”

Harlow nodded her head.
“That's fine. As long as you understand my orders.” She let go of
him and moved backward, surveying the area as Enders straightened
himself out.