Sherwood (16 page)

"When is the next raid?" Harlow asked
as the two walked down the pier, Harlow's bowl in her hand, her
eyes pointed to the cabins ahead.

"None of your business," Enders said,
smiling as he looked toward the ground.

Harlow laughed, nudging Enders' arm.
"Come on, tell me," She looked toward her feet, feeling a slight
pulsating in her midsection.

Enders was silent for a few seconds
before he spoke, "Tomorrow night is the raid for our
unit."

Harlow nodded, a small smile playing
on her lips. "Be careful, then."

Enders smiled deviously, "I'm not sure
I know the meaning of that word."

Harlow started chuckling as they
reached the end of the pier. She raised her eyes, as the sound of
Enders laugh echoed in her memory.

That's when she saw him.

Her heart froze. Panic and fear
resonated throughout her stomach and threatened to spread through
to her limbs.

A man stood before the two outlaws,
staring angrily at Harlow, although due to Enders' presence, seemed
to hold back the rage he had held. His short brown hair gleamed in
the sun, although gray strands had invaded the color. His strong
physique suggested he'd been healthy and active in her
absence.

Harlow felt her blood run cold:
"Father."

Chapter
Fourteen

The man stood, his arms crossed, his
eyes filled with rage as he stared down at Harlow.

Harlow could feel Enders tense up
beside her as she stood in the older-looking, sad, angry eyes of
her father.

"Henry?" Her father asked, trying to
seem as if he was just capturing his child's attention.

"Yes?" Harlow answered, her heart
beating a million beats a minute. Her eyebrow raised as she acted
nonchalantly. “What brings you to Sherwood, Father?”

Harrison McBride's lips twitched
gently, as if he'd thought she was being funny. “I was simply
passing through Sherwood and heard that my son was doing quite
well.” He said, anger apparent in his voice, “Except for the run in
with King Wesley's General recently, that is.”

Harlow felt her face blush red with
fear as her hand instinctively hovered over her wound.

"Can I speak with you privately?" He
asked, motioning for her to enter the cabin behind him, which had
been her sleeping quarters since her arrival.

"Don't you need to speak with Robin
Hood first?" Harlow asked, trying desperately to prolong the death
sentence she faced.

"I already have," Her father said,
impatiently, "Now if you don't mind." He motioned again to the
cabin.

Harlow looked backward at Enders, and
forward again to her father. "My Unit needs to be briefed on the
next raid tomorrow afternoon," Harlow said, trying not to lie, "I'm
afraid this matter is a very pressing one."

"Ah," her father had said, crossing
his arms and looking at her, "That's odd. From what I've been told,
you haven't been involved in any raids for eleven weeks
now."

Harlow sighed, silently cursing at
Robin Hood in her head. She nodded and turned to Enders. "Excuse
me, Enders," she said almost inaudibly, before sulking into the
cabin.

Her father paused only for a moment
before storming into the cabin and slamming the door shut behind
him.

*~*~*

"What the hell do you think you're
doing?" Harrison McBride shouted at his daughter as she leaned up
against the door frame. He placed his hands on his hips as he
stared at her.

"What a
m
I
doing?
What are
you
doing?" Harlow asked, leaning back on the door
post.

Harrison raised one hand to his
forehead and rubbed his face. "Take off the hat. I want to speak
with my daughter, not my son."

Harlow stood silent for a moment. "No.
I can't," she shook her head, "I wont."

Harrison McBride shook his head at her
defiance. "Why are you here? Don't you understand how dangerous it
is here?!" He exclaimed, unknowing where to put his
hands.

Harlow stayed quiet, looking at her
arms folded across her chest.

Harrison sighed, exasperated. "Why,
Harlow?"

She turned her eyes upward. She
shrugged, biting the inside of her cheek. "There were a lot of
reasons."

Harrison again sighed, "Like what?
What could possibly make you want this?"

Harlow found her blood begin to boil
in frustration. "You'd already been in one war. You shouldn't have
had to do this again. How could Robin ask you to do this again?!
That was the main reason. No one liked me in the village, anyway.
They all wanted me to leave, but that would mean you would leave
too, and they couldn't risk that. They would say things, talk about
me. I was a failure to them. I had no life there."

"That's no reason to leave. You had
another option!" Her father exclaimed.

"No, Dad! I had no other options! What
would you possibly have done with me? Send me off to marry Enders?!
He's here too! That was it! That was the last line for me in the
social order." Harlow shouted at him, feeling her fists clench and
unclench with anger. "Thank you for telling me that I'm engaged, by
the way. How long have I been engaged? I had to figure that out on
my first raid as Commander." Harlow said sarcastically, looking out
the window as she leaned against the wall.

Harrison looked somewhat taken aback
by the statement. He left the words hanging in the air.

Harlow knitted her eyebrows together
as she looked to her side. "How could you do that? You planned to
marry me off without my consent. I wont do it. I wont marry him."
She said, looking to the side and letting her eyes fall to the
floor.

Harlow shook her head and pushed
herself off of the door post, feeling a strike of pain in her
abdomen. She refused to show the pain. "What are you going to do
then? Send me back home?"

Her father sighed. "No." He rubbed his
eyes tiredly. It was the first time Harlow had noticed how tired
he'd looked.

Harlow looked at him, an eyebrow
raised and her eyes looking skeptical. "Why not?"

"There's no home to go back
to." Harrison said, sitting down in a chair that had been pushed
aside earlier. He raised his hands to his eyes and rubbed them
again, slouching forward and propping his elbows up on his knees.
“The kings men came through the village last week.”

Harlow felt her jaw go
slack as she stared at him in disbelief. “The village is
gone?”

Harrison nodded.
“Practically.” He said, closing his eyes and letting his head hang.
“There were only four survivors. They refused the refuge of
Sherwood. I stopped by here to let Robin know. Then I was headed to
the next village over to check for survivors there.”

Harlow took a step closer
to her father. “Why did they come? What are they looking
for?”

Harrison raised his eyes to
look at her. There resided sadness in the speckled bronze color.
“They were looking for outlaws. Apparently, someone had tipped them
off.”

Harlow took an uneasy step
forward. She was left speechless.

Her father sat almost
still, rubbing his tired eyes again. “They came in looking for
Robin Hood, but under the threat of torture and death, my name came
up and they started searching for me. I fled before they lit the
place on fire.”

Harlow wanted to say
something but found nothing to say.

“
They know
that I have a daughter, but they haven't any idea where you could
be.” Her father's voice finally shook.

Harlow had never seen her
father so shaken.

“
I want to be
mad. I want to yell at you and send you away from here, but,” He
sighed, feeling burdened, “honestly, the best thing you could have
done was leave, and that's what you did.”

Silence hung in the air as
Harlow realized her almost fate.

“
You're a
brave girl, and I'm proud of you and the courage you have.” He
said, looking up at her, clasping his hands together under his
chin. “You're so much like your mother.”

Harlow nodded and shifted
herself to lean on her other leg. “I'm sorry I've caused you so
much heartache in the last few months.”

Harrison chuckled and
closed his eyes. “I'm sorry I didn't tell you that you were
engaged.”

Harlow wanted to smile, but
kept her face even. She looked backward at the door and then to her
father, who'd opened his eyes and looked at her, an eyebrow raised.
“Are you going to tell Robin who I am?”

Harrison laughed. “You
mean, am I going to tell him you're not my son?”

Harlow nodded, trying to
make her eyes hardened.

Harrison shook his head,
his lips still turned up in a smile. “No. Not yet,
anyway.”

Harlow nodded and turned
toward the door ready to leave.

“
Although,”
Her fathers voice stopped her. “You may want to be careful of
Enders. If anybody is going to connect the dots, it will be
him.”

Harlow raised an eyebrow at
her father but nodded regardless. “Aye,” she said, the masculine
undertone coming to the surface as she tried to regain her
disguise.

Upon exiting the cabin, she
noticed the sun had gone down some and the grass didn't seem so
bright anymore. The sounds of normal operations surrounded her as
she walked carefully to a secluded lake front area. She watched the
lake from a new angle, hoping to see things anew.

The village was attacked.
Everyone she'd known since she was young were now gone. The King
was getting to cruel, to drunk with power. King Wesley was cruel
and spoiled. He was used to having his way. He would never rest
until Robin Hood and his outlaws were captured or dead.

She watched as a small girl
walked around, her hand in her mother's hand as the two approached
the lake. For the sake of all these people, Harlow knew she had no
other choice. The King had to be stopped. She'd rested long enough
and now it was time to return to her unit.

She turned her back on the
lake and headed toward the cabin to the far right side, where her
unit would be briefing.

She raised one hand to the
brim of her hat as she walked, all the strands of her hair tucked
neatly inside.

Chapter
Fifteen

Quietly, she entered the
cabin, capturing only the attention of Elwin who had been
positioned looking at the entrance of cabin from across the
room.

He smiled brightly as she
entered the cabin.

“
We're going
to enter from the west side here,” Enders had directed to the three
other men in the room as he pointed a place on the map in front of
him. “Then, Elwin, you'll go around with Candor and catch them off
guard.”

Ever since Harlow had been
injured, Robin saw Enders as a fitting leader, allowing him to pick
his fourth member. Harlow smiled, seeing Candor in the room among
the men.

“
Is the plan
understood?” Enders asked, looking everyone over.

Harlow took a step forward.
“One question,” Harlow said, capturing Enders attention, his body
moving to see her at the doorway, “Where do you want me to
be?”

Enders looked worried for a
moment before letting the emotion go. “Are you sure you can do
this, Henry?”

Harlow nodded.
“Aye.”

Enders looked her over for
a moment before he looked down at his map. “You'll be with me,
raiding the items while Elwin and Candor take out the
opposition.”

Enders spent the next
fifteen minutes going over battle tactics and
strategies.

*~*~*

Harlow laid silently on her
cot, staring up at the ceiling. The window to her left let the
moonlight flutter into the cabin and shine on the floor next to
her. It was one of the most beautiful sights she'd seen in
days.

It had been three days
since her father had come to Sherwood after the village was
attacked. War had been started by the King, it had been for a long
time now, but nobody had ever wanted to step up to the plate and
the outlaws were no match for an entire Kingdom.

Word was going around that
since the attack on Lincoln village, the other villages around
Sherwood have been in constant and utter disarray. The citizens
were in a panicked frenzy about whether or not their children would
be safe from the terrors of the king.

Harlow laid still for a
full hour before deciding she couldn't sleep.

She sat up and looked
around her cabin. There were eleven other men sleeping in the long
building, the door residing on the other end.

She spotted Enders sleeping
peacefully on his cot, just as the rest of the men were.

An idea sparked in her mind
as she silently stood up and grabbed a change of
clothing.