Sherwood (28 page)

Her pale skin and brown
eyes seemed to radiate with strength, Her dress was worn out and
torn in many places. Her long light brown hair flowed down over her
shoulder, although Harlow could see the gray streaks of many
sleepless nights in them. The woman lifted her chin to the two and
heaved in ragged breaths, letting them echo throughout the room.
Harlow couldn't tell why, but something felt almost nostalgic about
the scene before her.

“
Go now,” The
woman breathed, her pale skin and her dirty dress making her look
peasant-like. The woman's face was straight and
V-shaped.

Enders nodded and turned
around, pulling on Harlow's hand, her body refusing to budge. She
stared at the woman, trying to place her face with one of her many
fleeting memories.

Instead, Harlow stared at
the woman who stood doubled over, her hands resting on her knees
and keeping herself up. It was almost as if her body was
threatening to give up on her.

Harlow squinted at her,
trying to fit a name with a face.

The woman looked up and
offered a stern look. “You need to leave. Now.” She warned, still
taking in labored breaths.

Harlow looked between the
woman and The King's body lying on the floor. She found herself
speechless as she set her gaze on the pathetic figure on the
ground. They had the same hair color and texture. Harlow recalled
the color of the tyrannous king's eyes: a light shade of brown. She
looked to the woman, noticing that their eyes matched
exactly.

Harlow took a meek step
forward, words coming out of her mouth before she gave them a
thought. “Come with us.”

The woman shook her head,
her breathing slowing down to a normal rate. “No. I can't. I would
only slow you down.”

Enders gave a small,
impatient tug on Harlow's hand. She knew he was pressured and
scared. He wanted to be done with this place, but how could anybody
simply walk away from a woman who looked so battered and beaten by
all the elements.

“
Harlow!” The
woman said sternly, warning her and putting pressure on her. “Don't
worry about me. I can deal with my own father.” She rested her eyes
on Enders, “Get out of here, the both of you. And don't let her
come back.”

The woman's words finally
hit Harlow, both Enders and Harlow pausing momentarily before they
really understood what was happening.

“
Father?”
Harlow asked, looking down at the body of the pathetic man before
them.

'That makes
you...'

“
...
the
Princess.” Harlow thought, her body becoming stiff and shocked, and
her vocal chords refusing to produce the question in her
head.

Enders grabbed Harlow's
hand as she involuntarily started to move forward.

“
Mom?” The
word came out almost inaudibly at first.

Harlow barely felt the
contact of Enders' arms as he wrapped them around her midsection
and pulled. Harlow laid her eyes on the woman before her. The first
thing Harlow really noticed was her hair, although it had been
grayed slightly, it was obviously a dark brown at one
point.

Harlow looked over her garments, dirty
and torn with age. She'd been imprisoned for a long time, Harlow
knew that much.

Harlow's suspicions and deepest fears
were coming true all at one time. Her darkest threat, her biggest
weakness: her mother.

And she was
alive.

“
Go, now!” The princess
yelled, pointing toward the kitchen exit as the sound of soldiers
armor came clanking down the hallways and echoing throughout the
halls.

Harlow wanted to say something,
anything, but nothing came out. She found herself stuck in her own
body, her words trapped inside of her. There was so much to say, so
much to do, but nothing would be said or done as Enders dragged her
away.

Enders took two or three steps
backward with her raised off the ground, her feet dangling like a
rag doll, before she started struggling gently. He backed away more
and more, and the more he took her away from her mother, the more
she struggled. She made small whimpers and started kicking her
legs.

“
Mom!” Harlow called out,
the word bouncing off walls and curtains, finding it's way to her
mother's ears. Enders continued pulling her back as she struggled
against him harder.

“
Harlow, go!” The woman
shouted again, her pale, weak figure now glowing with strength for
a short moment.

“
No!” Harlow shouted,
pushing against Enders, “Mom!” She kicked, trying to break free of
his hold as he summoned the little strength he had and dragged her
closer to the door.

Harlow held out one arm, trying to
reach for her mother, as if she could extend her body across the
room and embrace the woman. She watched her mother's figure become
weakened and barely able to stand.

This woman stood over King Wesley's
body, disgust written on her face as soldiers ran in and stared at
the scene before them. They didn't advance on her, given that she
was the princess, and if Wesley had died, she would be in power.
The soldiers took glances between her and the king, not knowing
what to do.

Enders dragged her through the
Ballroom archway, taking her away from her mother, for what Harlow
thought would be the last time.

Enders hurriedly pulled open a door,
leading to a stairway in the Kitchen. It was dark, but Enders
ducked into the tunnel, still holding onto Harlow
sternly.

She felt dazed, everything happening
in a blur.

She tried to turn back twice, but
Enders held her steady, finally allowing her to run in front of him
so they could escape. He kept a stern hand on her back as the two
ran down the hallway.

Halfway to the exit, Harlow had
composed herself and knew that she couldn't go back, unless she
wanted to die. She spotted sunlight at the end of the
tunnel.

It took five minutes before they broke
out from the dark tunnel and into the sunlight, pushing open a door
and rushing into the warmth they both missed so dearly.

Immediately they were greeted with the
sounds of battle, screaming, and arrows. Green-tipped arrows flew
around them, implanting themselves in the ground and protruding
from dirt in an almost frightening way.

They tried to adjust to the light from
the depths of the dark castle, but as soon as they were able to
see, they noticed the calvary of outlaws pulling back and
retreating into the forest.

Robin stood at their right, in the far
distance, focusing on protecting soldiers standing just before him
on a lower patch of grass, while an entire unit was deployed to
deal with archers from castle windows. Robin and several other
commanders, including Reggie, stood around the upper bank, shooting
off arrows and downing as many knights as possible.

Harlow quickly searched the area for
her father, but couldn't find any sign of his presence. It
frightened her to her deepest core, but instead of focusing on it,
she turned her attention to the battlefield.

Harlow gave the area one more glance
before she took Enders hand, and rushed quickly to the right,
following along the castle walls. Robin was the only person she
entrusted to keep Enders safe, and if that meant she was going to
protect him while they ran into the middle of battlefield, that's
exactly what she would do.

She ran, keeping Enders' warm hand in
hers, and making sure he kept up with her. She looked to her left,
knowing that large stone walls were all that remain on her
right.

She saw Robin Hood still in the same
place that he was just moments before, still firing arrows
wherever, and into whoever, he saw fit.

Harlow felt her lungs start to burn as
she ran and she knew Enders would be having some trouble keeping up
as well, but she knew he wouldn't give up now.

They were just a few feet from her
goal: to be in Robin's line of sight.

Just as they stepped into his
visibility, he turned around and started off in the opposite
direction.

Robin scanned the area once before
looking forward again.

Harlow cursed mentally, her only hope
was gone, and they were on their own. There was no way to grab his
attention. She couldn't and wouldn't yell out his name in front of
all these soldiers. It would then only take a smart knight to
realize who exactly Robin was.

She looked to her left, seeing the
outlaws push back only slightly, making her stomach twist and turn
violently.

Only a few seconds passed before she
heard a loud, long shout from a far off distance. “Look over
there!”

Immediately, she turned her head in
the direction the shout had come from. Elwin stood, pointing at the
two of them from across the plateau, a huge smile plastered on his
face and his bow in his other hand, watching incredulously as he
watched them come forward form the shadows.

Only the commanders and other leading
men looked up, everyone else knowing enough to keep focusing on the
knights that were progressing on them.

Robin, along with about six other men
turned around and stared in the direction of Elwin's pointing.
Almost at the same time, they all ran toward them on the plateau,
picking up their positions and reading their bows. Harlow
recognized Reggie and Elwin within the group.

Robin wore a huge smile, although
concern was deeply embedded within his eyes as he stared down his
bow and let several arrows fly into the battlefield before
them.

Harlow watched as Robin yelled to
another man, who yelled to several others.

Suddenly, several others ran to help
the six men, pulling out their bows and arrows, sending down a
storm of wood and stone upon the knights.

Harlow bent down, picking up two
renegade arrows, holding them gently in her hand and knowing that
this small piece of wood would soon be the end of someone else's
life.

Harlow grabbed Enders hand, giving him
one of the arrows, and taking a small look at him. He'd seemed to
be relying on his reserves of energy, but he also looked so much
better now that he'd been in the sun.

The bags under his eyes didn't look as
bad and his figure didn't look nearly as weak as it had before. His
face was stoic and determined. He gave her one look, which she
returned. He turned his eyes back to the plateau, letting her hand
drop and nodding once.

Harlow waited for a moment. Any second
now, the knights would realize who they were and come after
them.

She looked over the field and felt a
sense of hope.

She could do this.

She could protect Enders.

They would both make it to the other
side.

“
Now,” She said quietly,
sending the two into the middle of a battlefield.

Chapter
Twenty-three

They ran into the flurry of weaponry,
throwing and shoving people out of their way.

It took about five seconds of absolute
confusion for the knights to figure out that this prisoner and mere
Castle-hand were working together.

“
The prisoner!” One shout
rang out next to Harlow, a little too close for her comfort. She
felt a hand grab onto her arm and paused her running. She turned to
the shouting man, waiting for only a moment before using all of her
force to punch the man square in the jaw. The man stumbled back
only for a second, before anger flared in his eyes and came back
after her. She dodged his first blow, ducking her body low. She
stood back up, turned the man around and, using all of her
available force, plunged the arrow deep into his chest, blood
pouring out from the wound like a waterfall.

The man let out a sickening gurgle
before dropping to his knees at her right. The scene disgusted her,
but she felt she had no choice. She wondered for a moment, looking
at the blood on her hands, whether or not he really deserved to
die.

The battle on the field seemed to be
continuing in slow motion, as she looked to her hands and back to
the body that lay at her feet. She found herself wondering truly if
this image would haunt her in later times.

Then a full second passed, her brain
switched back on, and time sped up to normal. She looked around,
seeing Enders struggling with another man, his arrow against the
man's dull sword.

Harlow reached down, refusing to look
at the dead man's eyes and pulled the arrow out of the man's
chest.

She sprinted forward and shoved the
arrow into this man's stomach, giving Enders the opportunity to
plunge his arrow into the man's chest, making him limp and killing
him, blood soaking their hands as they stood up. Harlow gave it no
thought, deciding that it was better to keep running than to look
at the death and destruction that she was causing.

They were only about fifteen feet away
from Robin, who stood, shooting arrows behind them and killing
anyone who wanted to come after her and Enders. Man after man fell
dead behind them as they tried to pursue them. Disgusting gurgling
sounds, screams, and blood stained her memory. It made her sick of
this place, the outlaws, and herself.