~Chapter Eleven~

The Forest Empire

It was a dark day. England was always dark, but this day was even pitch black. However this did not stop a little black haired girl to climb after the older boy up a rather large tree.

"Will, be careful!"

His hazel eyes glanced down to her as he grinned, before he returned to climbing.

Her little hand reached out for another branch as she lifted her foot to the next branch. But all her movement froze at a roar of thunder above. Her emerald eyes quickly peered up to the sky to see dark storm clouds spitting down rain droplets.

"Will!" She cried out to the boy.

"What's wrong, Mina?" He heard the fear in her voice but dismissed it. She was always afraid of climbing trees because of the question whether if a branch is good enough to use to pull herself up or not. He had heard the rumble but to him it was just a storm. It would soon just go away.

Her eyes stared unmovingly at the sky, all of her weight on one branch.

Creeeeak.

Scarlet heard this sound and glanced down to the fear stricken girl below him. Quickly, he began climbing down to her, "Mina, hold on!"

Evemina on the other hand was far gone in her own world...

~~~

Thunder rolled in, vibrating the town of Papplewick. Everyone retreated inside in fear of the sound in the sky."Mommy?"

"Yes, sweetheart?" Hee voice seemed nervous as she glanced up frequently between her daughter and the sky above.

"Why did everyone leave?"

Another crash of thunder sounded above their heads, causing her mother to jump. "A storm is happening in the clouds."

"A storm?" Evemina questioned curiously with a slight tilt of her head.

"It is God. He's angry."

"Why is he angry?"

"Every time we hear a thunder it is God telling us that we sinned. With the roar of thunder and the flash of lightening. He seeks to punish."

The emerald eyes of the little girl widened in fear, "Punish?"

"If lightening hits you... you are the one to be punished and well... You die."

Evemina stared unblinkingly at her mother.

Die?

Her eyes quickly flickered upwards to the rumbling dark sky.

"God save us!" a different voice chimed in, causing her to take her eyes off the sky.

A young man hurried to the middle of the street and sat upon his knees before the storm. His arms were spread wide almost to embrace it. "I have sinned, Father. Take me from my place on this Earth." The man called to the dark clouds.

An older grey haired man stalked towards the young man with a cross demeanor, "Get up, boy!"

Evemina kept her petrified gaze on the men.

For a few seconds everything was calm until... a bright white light came from the heavens and struck the older man.

His screams were short as he twitched and struggled. Than suddenly he dropped to the ground... dead.

The little girl watched in horror as everyone came outside to see the one that God was angry about. The thunder above slowly went quiet as the clouds floated away to the next town. All people murmured to themselves or to their families, that they were glad that God did not choose them and they were going to change their ways.

However Mina could not hear the miracle that was caused by the storm, because her mind froze in shock of what she had witnessed.

One who did not beg to God to take their life was killed. However the one who confessed was spared.

God punishes...

~~~~

Slowly the girl returned to realty as rain pelted down upon her face, making her blink repetitively.

Someone is going to be punished.

She had stolen bread... and let someone else take the punishment...

She's the one...

Her eyes whelled up in tears, her body shook violently sending the branch to quiver as well.

"Mina!"

Her emerald eyes flickered to the much closer and still approaching Will Scarlet who held fear in his eyes that startled the girl. Will was never afraid. He's the bravest person she had ever known. Why was he scared?

SNAP!

Her eyes immediately widened at the sound, before she felt that she was falling. Her hand immediately gripped the branch above her, that too was not going to hold her for very long. She began hyperventilating at the thought of this being her punishment... it was a strange one. Why would God want her to die in this way? Why not the heavenly white lightening that comes from his kingdom?

"Will!" Evemina cried as she glanced down below to the ground. She was far up the tree, there was no doubt that this could kill her. Fear coursed through her veins as Will struggled to get down to her.

"Mina, hold on!"

Evemina whimpered and her grip tightened around the branch. Pain shot up and down her arm as she felt her shoulder being slowly pulled out of the socket. She was getting tired and it was happening fast.

She could not hold on any longer. Her pinkie fingers slipped from her grasp. The bark was digging in deep into the pads of her fingers, making the loss of grip go by even faster.

"Will!!" She screamed as she stared terrified at her fingers holding on so desperately. She could do nothing but stare at the countdown till her death.

Suddenly her next two fingers lost the battle as well.

3...

now 2...

1...

Than she just could not hold on any more, her hands let go leaving the child to face the law of gravity. Evemina screamed as she began to fall down to the forest floor, reaching for anything to hold onto. Her heart jumped into her throat.

ThumpThumpThumpThump.

Suddenly... She stopped spiraling to the ground....

Something stopped her from falling.

A hand... Will's hand.

Slowly, he pulled her up to a safe, thick branch where he had perched himself. Once he pulled the little girl back to the tree, she threw herself into him, crying.

He held her close in his arms and stroked her hair as he whispered calming words into her ear. Little did he know was the relief was to him as well to God for not striking her down as the storm slowly drifted away.

~~~~~~~~

Sore.

That was the one thing the maiden noticed when she came to. Her body ached in every muscle and in every limb especially her ankle. The pain was almost unbearable as it continued to pulse pain up and down her leg. She gritted her teeth as she began slowly moving her limbs.

Her body, weirdly, was not cold as it was when she lost consciousness. She was comfortable at a very warm and cozy temperature... that made questions stir around in her mind.

The forest can not be this warm.

Not in England.

Not ever in the morning.

Evemina tried to open her eyes but... She was too exhausted to barely move a limb a few inches. With a huff of agitation, her cheek nestled into a familiar poking object.

Hay? Why is there hay in the forest? She did not see any piles of hay where she fell.

But then again she did not feel a wind... and she heard... voices. Loud voices as if they were just one step from her.

She has been found?! Relief flooded her body as a smile found itself upon her lips.

The maiden waited and waited... But they would not come no closer.

Confused and desperate for help, Mina forced her eyes to open to see a familiar sight.

She was back in Will's hut.

Was her night in the woods, running from Will in a whirlwind of anger, apart of some twisted nightmare?

But that would not explain why her ankle is in so much pain. It had to have been real... But in her heart she wished she hadn't. What she had said to Will made the maiden feel unbelievably guilty.

Evemina wished she could find out about the happenings of last night but her body refused to move where it laid. Her eyes wandered around the hut to see Will was not there watching over her like the previous morning. Her brows lowered in thought as noises outside sparked her interest. Mina forced her tired body to scoot over to the door and open it.

The scene before her, widened her eyes and left her gaping in shock. The villagers and the men of the forest were building large huts on the ground, making arrows and bows, making swords, building huts in the trees with a wooden walkway to each hut, and women were helping too.

This is what Robin envisioned?

Evemina was rendered speechless, it was... magnificent.

The children even helped by placing arrows into a good number of waivers, perhaps for the men. The women hustled by with them carrying hens, goats, or piglets.

I want to help too.

With a face of determination, the maiden scoot her tired body outside of the hut and grabbed a hold of a tree nearby. Using the tree to support her, Evemina got herself to her shaky legs.

She took one step with her injuied foot and had to bite back a yell of pain. Throughout her fierce urge to continue, Evemina hobbled her way toward an area where a woman who worked to put food away in a hut.

"Excuse me?" Evemina questioned politely.

The blue eyes of the woman glanced over to Evemina with a friendly smile, "Yes?"

"Do you need another hand?"

The woman stared into the hopeful eyes of the maiden , "Of course! What's your name, dear?"

"Evemina."

"Well, Evemina, I'm Fanny and I am in need of another hand. Grab some food and start bringing them into the hut."

A radiant smile flashed across Mina' s face, "Thank you! Right away!"

The maiden hastily turned to the pile of food, bread and wheat mostly, and began grabbing a harmful of bread. When Fanny was not looking, Evemina would hobbled into the hut. She did not want the kind woman to know that she was hurt.

This went on till the food was all stored into the hut... all neatly in sacks to give back to the villagers outside of Sherwood and on the shelves for the people of Sherwood to eat.

Fanny approached the maiden with a gleeful smile, "That's all of it. Thank you for your help."

Evemina smiled, "It was no problem."

"I haven't seen you in town nor in the forest before, where did you come from?"

"W-well... I-"

"Watch it! Wood going up!"

The women's eyes glanced over to a two men with their backs turned to them pulling a load of lumber into the trees for the men above to build the huts.

One of the men on the ground had no shirt on probably due to the work of the swear that he was getting from heaving lumber to the trees all day. From Evemina could tell... He was well fit and cleanly muscular. Not too much to think that he spent every minute focusing on his appearance, but rather he worked hard when he was needed. She continued to admire the muscles in his back when her eye caught something familiar with the man next to him. The other man Evemina immediately recognized as John Little. That curly brown hair would never be too hard to miss in a crowd, plus his size helped.

Fanny grinned at the sight, "John!"

The giant glanced over his shoulder to see the two women standing there, watching them. A great grin swept across his face, "Fanny, you got the food in the hut, already?"

The blue eyed woman smiled, "Yah with the help of Evemina."

The shirtless man, at the name, instantly turned around to the women and to Fanny's right there was Mina. Her emerald eyes moved to him than immediately glanced away with a hint of a red tint to her cheeks.

Oh God... Evemina cursed herself over and over. She was admiring Will Scarlet's back. It was wrong... God she had just a day ago avoided looking at Will shirtless till now. Only this time it's even more awkward since Will and her had not spoken since she ran off.

Will studied her face quietly before turning back to hoisting up the lumber. He did not want to help Locksley and his plans but John needed him to help with this. He would never deny a need for help especially if the giant Little asked him.

"Evemina?" John's eyes flickered over to the black haired maiden. "Ah... Thank ya lass. Me wife needed a hand since the bloody other six kids cannot simply follow an order."

The maiden's eyes grew large as she stared at Fanny, "You are his wife?"

"Yes'm"

"And you have given birth to seven kids?"

"Yes and eight pretty soon." Fanny patted her large stomach that Evemina now noticed.

"Wow." Evemina whispered breathlessly as she thought about the pain of giving birth to that many kids. So Will was not joking like he usually did.

The maiden nodded before smiling, "It was nice meeting you, Fanny. But I have to get going."

Evemina quickly walked away, trying to walk as normally as she could without causing any commotion. She could see Fanny going into her motherly instincts and scold the maiden before tending to her ankle. Thankfully her escape worked, it was getting more and more harder to keep her screams in.

She needed to find Azeem... and fast. Her emerald eyes carefully studied the bustling forest fort, looking for the dark skinned man.

Out of the luck of the damn white stag she spotted him not too far from her. "Azeem!"

His dark brown eyes sought out the pain filled emerald ones and quickly rushed to her side, "What is the matter?"

"My ankle... I hurt it again last night...  it hurts so much more than a sprain."

Azeem quietly nodded at her words and swiftly guided her to a hut nearby with a crescent moon hanging above the doorway.

It was a hut built to house a person if they decided to stand. He rushed her to sit down in a chair while he scurried to a bag. He lugs the bag to her feet and began to feel her ankle, causing tears to stream from her eyes ans bit her lip tightly so she won't scream out.

"You have a fracture, Evemina."

"A fracture?" The maiden questioned with pain thick in her throat.

"Its a tiny crack in your bone."

"So... that's why it hurts so much then?"

Azeem nodded before glancing outside, "I'll get Will in here to carry you out."

The dark skinned man stood up to leave but the maiden caught his arm. "No!"

His brow rose at this, "No? I thought you were friends from youth."

"Y-yes but I do not want him in here."

His dark brown eyes calculated her expression, "What happened?" When she did not answer after a while, "Evemina?"

That was when she broke down in tears and told him that happened last night. Azeem listened quietly and asked a few questions as she went about her story. After she finished, the dark skinned man took a second to gather his thoughts.

"You need to talk to him."

"But I-"

"No. You have to... do not let a friendship that you cherish crumble."

"F-fine."

"I will get him. You stay put and think about how you will approach him."

The maiden quietly nodded,

Not like she could move from her spot with a fractured ankle.

Evemina placed her head against the hut wall and thought of her words...

~~~

Will flicked his head back at the sound of Evemina leaving. His mind began spiraling with demands... Go after her! Let go of the rope and go after her! You do not want to lose her for the third time!

His eyes lowered to the ground as he kept the lumber still so the men above could take the wood.

Her words rang in his ears as if she had just said them,

"At least you have someone in your family living!" She screamed at his face as tears streamed down her pale cheeks. When he saw her eyes staring up at him full of sorrow and anger, his rage instantly melted away. "Being alone is the worst thing you could ever wish for. You of all people should know that! If you want to be alone than I can help you with that!"

Than she ran... Will tried to go after her but his body was stiffened in shock of her words. Instead he tried screaming her name. Over and over and over.

She kept running...

That meant that she was more than angry or sad.

She was hurt.

He was angry at himself for saying stupid stuff that hurt her...

He had promised that he would never do such a thing yet that was what he had just done.

Finally his legs began working and he took off in the direction she disappeared.

Over and over in his head he kept apologizing to her.

Telling her that he was the stupid one and please do not go.

Please... do not leave...

Will couldn't bear the thought of losing her again.

His eyes watered from threatening tears ready to spill and his heart ached.

He searched the forest... high and low... watched the ground for her tracks and pick up her trail.

Than Scarlet found a sloping hill and stopped exactly where her tracks did... But when he glanced down his eyes widened so much.

"Mina!"

He expertly sprinted down the slope toward a sleeping form near a tree. Will lift her chin and saw it was her. Immediately he wrapped his arms around her in relief that she was right there in his grasp.

Without hesitation he scooped her up into his arms and carried her to the camp.

Her words of being alone awoke some sense in him. He vowed never to push Evemina away. She was more of a person he could call family. But now... that seemed weird to say somehow. Yes in the past he thought of her as a little sister and he was her older brother who would always protect her. But after seeing her 'death' and now... He saw her as someone greater than that. He cared about her just as much as he cared for himself... and that was a huge privilege. At the moment, Will just did not understand what these feelings were. Maybe it was that he wanted to protect her or...

"Will Scarlet."

His hazel eyes glanced back to see the dark skinned man, "Yes?" He answered with a moody tone and an expression clean as slate.

"Evemina has hurt her ankle more than she already had."

Will's eyes widened at those words, "When?"

"Last night. She explained she stepped into a hole and tumbled down a sloped hill. She could not get back up after that."

Scarlet listened intently, "Why are you telling me all of this?"

Azeem remained calm, "She cannot walk and I advise that she will not be able to walk for a week in order for her injury to heal."

"Why would you need me?" Will questioned boldly with a hint of an attitude.

"You are her friend... whatever happened between Evemina and yourself are going to have to resolved by you talking to each other, but you need to bring her to your hut. She's safer that way."

Will moodily rolled his eyes and grumbled, keeping the facade of a tough guy as his hazel eyes went to John who had been listening. "Can you handle the lumber by yourself?"

John chuckled and grinned, "Of course."

Scarlet gave Little a nod before carefully tying the rope to John.

With that Will followed Azeem to the hut that housed Mina.

~~~~

Her thoughts were jumbled. How on earth was she going to talk if her mind cannot find the words. The maiden grumbled loudly and placed her hands over her eyes.

It felt like hours as she tried to piece a speech in her head. Nothing came to her mind.

He's going to be hating me.

Her voice of fear piped in, spreading the nerves of this subject all round her body.

No he's not! Do not let your fear get to you!

Her voice of reason fought against the fear.

Now it as just a battle between reason and fear.

"Mina?"

Her emerald eyes glanced over to see Will Scarlet standing in the doorway. Evemina gulped as her body tensed up in nervousness.

He's here...

Fear won.

(End of Chapter Eleven)