Sherwood (29 page)

They were getting closer to Robin,
their legs burning along with their lungs. Their breathing became
labored, but Harlow refused to give up and Enders refused to
die.

Just as Harlow was about to make it to
the last ten feet before the Outlaws, a hand grabbed her and pulled
her back. She lost all of the balance she had in her body. As she
lay on the ground, dazed somewhat, she turned her head, searching
for Enders, finding him trapped under another man as
well.

She turned to look at the man kneeling
above her. Why he hadn't been shot yet was beyond her, but she took
the time to try figuring out an escape.

“
A servant running with
outlaws?” He sneered, sickeningly, his breath stinking and
yellowing teeth showing themselves. “I thought you were Parker's
bride,” he sneered again, reveling in Harlow's moment of pure
disgust.

Just as Harlow was about to kick up
her legs, she felt the weight of his body fall on her, going limp.
She felt warm liquid seeping from his neck and leaking onto her.
She felt the presence of a dead man in her personal
confinements.

She pushed the man off of her, turning
her head to Enders, worry and panic lacing themselves together in
her brain and on her face.

She saw Enders covered in blood,
pushing a dead man off of his body as well, his expression
disgusted and disgruntled.

Harlow noticed the arrows coming from
different directions. The one that had saved Enders clearly came
from the outlaws, but the one that protruded from the man that had
straddled her, stuck out from the man's back. She examined the
angle for a split second before knowing that it came from the
opposite direction as the outlaws.

Harlow looked up from the
body and
saw the silence that
fell upon the battlefield, as the soldiers started realizing what
exactly had happened.

“
Up there!”
One man shouted, his blond hair hanging slightly over his eyes as
her pointed to one of the castle windows.

Harlow turned her head,
expecting the worst, although she couldn't fathom what kind of
situation would permit a total stand still on the
battlefield.

While the soldiers were
preoccupied watching the windows, faces confused and concerned. The
Outlaws pulled back, slowly coming off the knight's radar and
rushing back to where Robin stood on the higher bank.

Harlow stood next to
Enders, who still sat bewildered on the grass. She followed the
soldier's pointing finger to a man standing in a large archway, his
bow raised to eye level, dirty blond hair gently swinging above his
eyes. The hair on this figure was the first thing to capture her
attention, the suns rays bouncing off the strands and making them
glisten gently in the light. It made her heart stop and flutter,
panic and worry creeping up her spine. It took a few extra moments
for her vision to focus completely, her hands rising and covering
her eyes. She was fully aware of Enders laying at her feet, but
felt frozen in her place.

The face that she
eventually recognized, in exceptionally great detail, was one that
made her heart ache and her body quiver.

Parker?

She held onto his gaze for
what felt like an eternity, simply staring at him for any sign or
movement. His eyebrows hovered angrily over his eyelashes, his
expression hard and stern. He was furious, enraged, humiliated. All
these feelings made themselves clear on the expression he wore. He
realized that he'd been played.

By outlaws, no
less.

She'd been ready, at that
moment, for a full fledged attack on the outlaw, but instead, she
saw a harsh nod in her direction, his eyes still on her
only.

It wasn't a message of
attack, it was a sign to run back, to retreat. He was giving her
the opportunity to leave in peace.

Harlow stood, still frozen
in time, as she watched his expression turn from anger to complete
and utter pain. The pain only lasted for a split second, before his
eyes flickered to Enders and the complete rage returned.

She broke out of the
paralyzing effect he had on her, and she looked down to Enders, who
stared at the man in the archway, also seemingly frozen in
time.

Grabbing his arm and
pulling him up, the two spun around and darted into the forest
behind them, Enders eyes finally adjusting to the sunlight he'd so
longed to see.

Voices and sounds of
catastrophe rang through her head as they ran, but she couldn't
focus.

She couldn't
speak.

She could only
run.

The group came just a
little farther into the woods, when she spotted her own father,
standing off to her far right, bow in hand and ready to fire behind
her. He offered her an ecstatic and relieved smile, but Harlow
found herself to exhausted and to damaged to offer a smile
back.

Instead, she gave one weary
glance, turning away before she felt pangs of guilt strike her
heart.

Robin shouted for archers
to cover the two as they ran, but before Harlow knew it they were
running alongside all the outlaws on the mission, retreating back
to Sherwood – Or wherever they were headed.

She wanted to look back and
catch another glimpse of Parker as they ran, but she knew he much
to far behind them now. She wanted to see the way his eyes sparkle
in the sun, even if that meant she had endure the pain written all
over his face, which she'd knowingly caused.

She wanted to reach out and
take his hand, confess everything she'd done, make him understand
why she had to do it.

'
I did it for
Enders!'
She'd plead with
him,
'I couldn't let him die!
We're... Engaged...'

She so wanted, in that
moment, to tell him she was sorry for deceiving him, for hurting
him, for ultimately making him believe in a future that would never
be.

'This wasn't
part of the plan! He wasn't part of the plan!'
Harlow found herself angry and her heart struck
with undying sadness.

Instead of indulging in her
sudden impulse to run back and embrace Parker, she kept her eyes
hardened and directed forward. She held Enders' hand loosely in her
own.

Her mothers face, Enders
broken body, and Parker's pained eyes made her feel an anger rising
deep in her abdomen.

She squeezed Enders' hand,
knowing that he was the only reason she had enough strength to
continue running.

It was for him that she
infiltrated the castle.

It was for him that she
risked her very existence.

She fought the thought
every time it entered her mind, but she let herself, in this one
moment, indulge in the thought: She loved Enders.

He was the center of
everything she'd done for the last four months.

And, it was for him that
she simply kept running.

Chapter
Twenty-four

Harlow stood on a
flattened, weather-eroded piece of gray stone, her elbows propped
up on a piece of burnt wood that sat horizontally, overlooking the
village lake.

It wasn't Sherwood Lake,
but it would have to do for now.

She spotted the destroyed
marketplace on the other end of the lake, buildings torn to pieces
and fire-burnt wood scattering the walk ways.

Dozens of people walked
around, picking up and repairing the destruction that was Lincoln
village.

She was home, but the feeling was
far more unpleasant and bitter than it was sweet. The whole reason
she'd left this home was to keep her father from fighting. She left
home to preserve this town and it's people, which proved impossible
anyway.

It had been a whole year,
and regardless of the slight amount of comfort she felt, she
couldn't shake the feeling that this fight wasn't over, and the
worst was yet to come. Until then, though, Harlow just wanted to
relax and rebuild all that once was.

She closed her eyes,
feeling the wind on her face, and lasting about five minutes before
the pale, mistreated, and malnourished face of her mother invaded
her brain and forced her eyes open.

That one memory brought
others to the surface, including Enders.

'It's been
two weeks,'
Harlow thought,
still leaning over the railing,
'since I've seen him.'

Harlow sighed, staring out
over the lake and flipping through the memories she'd wished she
could forget.

Two Weeks
Earlier

Harlow felt a cold breeze
touch her cheeks as she stared out over Sherwood Lake. The water
glistened carefully in the sun and the trees swayed with the gentle
breeze. It was the only peace she'd felt in the last few months and
it was so refreshing that she'd already been on the pier for two
hours. Harlow had pulled off her boots and set them aside, reaching
one of her feet down into the water while she laid back on the
wooden bridge. She stared up at the horizon, thinking about
everything and nothing at the same time.

She sat that way for about
five minutes before the pier creaked gently under her, footsteps
approaching her slowly.

She didn't have to look to
know that it was Enders who sat next to her. She kept her eyes
pointed toward the blue horizon above, looking over the small
clouds that sat in the midst of her vision.

The two let the silence
sit comfortably between them.

Enders leaned back on his
palms, raising one of his knees up and taking in a deep breath of
air. “I told her about you.”

Harlow turned her eyes on
him immediately, her eyebrows furrowed. His hair swung gently above
his eyes as he spoke, staring over the lake and off into the
distance.

Harlow found herself
temporarily stunned, half because of what he'd said and half
because of the way he looked at the moment. “What?” She finally
wheezed, trying to ease the pain of seeing her mother's face burned
into the backs of her eyelids.

Enders shrugged, a sad
smile on his lips. “She saw you visit me and started asking me
questions,” He sighed, “Something made me trust her, so I told her
very simple details until she told me who she was.”

Harlow felt her eyes
widen. She stared at Enders who kept his eyes out over the
lake.

“
She thinks
you're brave,” Enders said, finally turning his head to look at
her, “like your father.”

Harlow hung
on every word Enders spoke for the rest of the conversation, as he
detailed every expression and word he'd shared with Harlow's
mother.

“
She thought
it was hysterical when I told her that you disguised yourself as a
man to get here.” Enders smiled, a chuckle coming out from deep
within his chest.

Harlow could only muster a
smile, wanting to hear more.

Minutes turned into hours,
as eventually all of Enders' stories had been told.

Again, the two let a
comfortable silence fill the space between them, deciding to look
back over the lake.

“
I,” Enders
coughed, an almost awkward expression taking over his face as he
turned to Harlow, “I told her about our engagement.”

Harlow turned her eyes
away from Enders, an awkward, weary feeling rising within her. She
looked down at the water before turning them back up, feeling
guilty.

Harlow cringed, trying to
block the memory from her mind.

She shook her head, ready
to turn around and walk back to the tent she'd set up for herself
as she helped rebuild the homes and marketplace that was once her
home.

That's when she heard the
gentle sound of a horse far in the distance.

She raised an eyebrow,
turning her head to see the commotion of voices and animal
noises.

Harlow saw the horse first,
before realizing that the man riding it had been a man she hadn't
seen in two weeks, a man she missed with every fiber of her
being.

She turned around and
walked a few steps, before she started jogging toward him as he
stepped down off the horse and lead it to a bucket of water and a
stack of hay.

She stopped just a yard or
so away from him, her jaw slightly slack and her eyes widened and
relieved.

The man removed his hood, a
mop of light brown hair showing itself as it swung gently above his
eyebrows.

“
Enders,”
Harlow breathed as she took another, cautious step
forward.

He nodded,
“Harlow.”

His physique had intensely
improved since his rescue from the castle. He'd gained all his
muscle back and more. His face and hair looked more grown up and
stronger, but under all of that Harlow knew he was the same caring
person he'd been before.

“
You came,”
She said when she found herself at a loss for other
words.

“
I didn't
come because you asked me to.” Enders said, his voice harsh and
brash. He held the reigns of his horse in his hands, tying the
ropes to the small wooden post they had placed at the entrance of
the town.