~Chapter Fifteen~

One Word, One Fear

The dawn came quickly and with it brought a cold, misty air. The people of the forest were already awake and bustling about the camp doing their daily chores, all except three. John, Fanny, and Will were on the verge of panic from not seeing their loved ones safely in the camp. The maiden and the young boy were still out on the forest... or worse... founded by Nottingham soldiers.

The Little parents were not as panicked as the young man. They felt that the two are safe but just taking their sweet time getting back home. Will, on the other hand, was worried to the extreme as his eyes never left the forest line around the camp. Deep within his heart, he was still hurt from the thoughts of her most likely rejection of his feelings however he loved her still and wanted nothing more than to make sure she's safe.

Where is Mina?!

Heavy bags created a pulling weight under his tired hazel eyes. He had not seen her since he disappeared into the forest around noon... or was it in the morning? Will was not so sure since he was not putting his full attention on the sky above.

"Scarlet?"

His eyes slowly glanced over to the giant Little who himself looked worried, but not as much as the young man himself. Will could not say much due to the lack of moisture in his throat so he nodded towards the Little.

"Evemina went to her parents' graveyard last night to think." A glint of light shone to the young man in John's blue eyes, making him very curious on what she needed to think about.

Until hazel eyes widened at the realization, "To think? She knows?!"

John calmly bobbed his head towards the young man.

A whirlwind circulated within Will Scarlet, "What did she say? Or react!?"

The giant shrugged his shoulders, "She left to think but did not know what she had to think about when she left. My boy must've told her along the way." John smiled kindly to the panicking Will Scarlet, "I think she will return your feelings, Scarlet."

Suddenly the whirlwind died down at the words as a wave of warmth washed through his body. It was hope. That too soon died as his sadness returned to him. "No she won't." Will moodily muttered with a swift roll of his eye. His hazel eyes lowered to the ground, "She could never love someone like me."

"She already does, Scarlet."

Will sighed heavily before escaping the giant man and his words that sent waves of hope through his heart.

Some of the men stood around the camp, with nothing better to do but wait for orders to tax the rich again.

Also there was... something about the morning and how the silent fog drifted low along the forest floor.

The land was too quiet.

No birds happily sang their song from the tops of the trees.

No wind.

No movement.

Nothing.

SWISH.

THUNK.

"Robin! Someone's coming!"

An warning arrow was shot from the tress and struck the moist ground below.

SWISH.

THUNK.

Another arrow hits the ground as another spy in the trees spotted the intruder.

Robin runs up the incline of the hill ahead of everyone that included John, Bull, Will, Much, Azeem, and many others.

A hunched over man upon a dark horse approached the camp in a slow trot. His dirty white hair clung to his old, pale face as it hung low. His eyes were sewed shut. Immediately, Bull glanced back to the men running behind him, "All is well! It's Duncan!"

Robin, who jogged in the lead, without hesitation he quickly lead the men to the blind old man. "Duncan!"

Once the rich boy and Azeem reached the old man's side, they helped Duncan off the horse and onto the ground. His face had spots of blood but not his own. The old man coughed feebly, so very weak from his age and the lack of food for many days.

Robin stared at his once dear servant, with eyes of horror. "Duncan, what happened?"

The old man sighed in relief at the sound of his old master, "I found you, Robin." His voice was hoarse and dry from the lack of water. "Thank God, I did it. Nottingham's men attacked us.

The rich boy's eyes slightly widened at this, as if a battering ram of worry plowed his way into his heart, "Marian?"

"They took her."

There was a silence as Robin tried to process this new information.

Marian was captured by Nottingham.

Duncan reached up the rich boy's arm and gasped as of in pain. The old man had been through so much in such a significantly small amount of time. Four months ago he had witnessed his Lord die from being accused a devil worshipper, had his eyes gorged out for not believing the crimes against his late master, he moved over alone without his eyes for those four months until Robin and Azeem came along, and he had been chased by soldiers not once but twice.

The Moor and Locksley shared a pained gaze as they realized the severity of the happenings around them.

It only got worse.

Hurried footsteps raced closer and closer to the group of men surrounding the old blind man. The men glanced to the crashing noise to see Evemina and Wulf racing towards them with faces of horror.

Will and John simultaneously felt relief at the sight of the pair.

Azeem studied the horror on the beautiful maiden's face, "What is wrong?"

Before either the boy or the maiden could answer, several more warning arrows are fired as something else is spotted on the hill.

John stood to his feet and glanced up at the men in the watch out tower above, "What is it?"

The man had an expression of one that held so much fear, "Over there, look!"

Another man on a different watch tower motioned toward the large hill, "On the hills!!"

The group of men all look towards the hill in the distance and everyone gasped in fear.

Drums.

War cries.

Pounding of feet against the earth.

The hill laid vacant until a line of warriors came into view. An army of men and women dressed in primitive battle gear, mostly furs of sorts. Their brutish faces were covered with war paint and once they reached the crest of the hill they waved their swords around. Their voices carried through the forest to the people of Sherwood, sending fear down into their hearts and very souls.

Robin and Azeem had stood up, watching the hill. The painted man took up his telescope and spied on the lined foreign thugs hollering their battle cries with nasty grins.

Evemina had unconsciously stepped closer to Will in fear of the next visage of the army, Nottingham soldiers came to view heaving a catapult. The young man noticed this fear and completely forgot about what happened between him and the maiden.

Right now he needed to protect her and nothing would stand in his way to do so. The young man gripped her hand into his as his eyes watched grimly at the sight of the army upon the hill.

Evemina simply squeezed his hand as her trembling gaze landed on the two leaders heading the front... the Celtic chief and the Sheriff of Nottingham. The maiden gulped at the visage and scooted closer to Will.

She was a skilled fighter with fencing, archery, and horseback combat, but nothing could have prepared her for this encounter of fate. Fear took over her body and heart as the army on the hill chanted their battle cries.

How could she fight with the knowledge of what could be?

Than her parents came to her mind.

They died because of him.

He was the one who destroyed everything before the maiden had any idea of what her past held.

This was her time.

Her time to avenge her life... her parents... her future... for King Richard... and for England.

Revenge.

Anger fueled in her heart as her once fear filled eyes became dangerous slits.

"Celts! God help us!" A man croaked at the sight.

Nottingham soldiers, the ruthless men after Robin and anyone who dare rebel against the Sheriff of Nottingham... and Celts, the brutes that feast upon their own dead's blood.

Azeem could hardly breathe at the sight, "Allah, be merciful!"

Bull whipped his head back to the direction of the camp, "To the trees!!! To the trees!"

His roaring yell was immediately heard by the people of Sherwood. Men who were skilled archers, women, and children hurried to the ladders and began to climb. The entire group ran back to the camp.

As Robin passes Will, the young man pauses with an Evemina holding his hand. "The old fool let them straight to us."

With that Will began to run down the hill with the maiden.

"AAYYYEEEEAYYYYYEEE"  A low voice chanted, causing Evemina to glance back.

The leader rose his large war hammer, causing his warriors to go into battle.

The battle is on.

Panic rose in the camp.

Chaos ensured.

Everyone was scrambling to get the children to safety in the trees and than it followed the women and the men.

Celts on horseback and on foot came charging towards the camp.

Will swiftly brought the maiden to a wooden ladder and nudged her toward it with his right arm. He held his dagger in his left, not his right like normal thanks to Robin's arrow, as he stood in guard of the ladder just in case the Celts came.

"Mina, head up now!"

Her emerald eyes glanced back to the young man and nodded. She wanted to stay and bash Celtic skulls into their brutish brains, but she did not want to disrespect Will's order. The maiden hastily began to climb without hesitation towards the sanctuary in the trees.

Once she reached the top, the Celts had already infiltrated the camp and began their attack. Will had started to climb to safety after stabbing a Celt in the neck. His climb was more swift and fast than Evemina, however a beast from the North began to climb after Will. When the young man reached the top, he pushed the ladder down with all his strength. Causing the pursing Celt to plummet to the ground, dead at impact.

Arrows flew down hitting the Celts by the Sherwood archers, killing them instantly.

Groans of pain echoed throughout the camp as both the people of Sherwood and Celts get killed.

Evemina stared unblinkingly to the chaos below and could not stand not doing nothing to help. Her emerald eyes spotted an bow and quiver full of arrows, leaning up against the hut and quickly grabbed them.

She loaded the arrow into the bow and aimed to a man after a small child and immediately let it go.

TWISH.

THUNK.

The Celt man collapsed to the ground dead, sparing the child.

"Mina, I did not know you could do archery."

Her eyes momentarily gazed over to a shocked Will at her side and back to the ground, looking for her next target.

"It's not my favourite. I like being in the battle opposed to far away."

TWISH.

THUNK.

Another target fell dead.

Will stood watching her and her archery skills in awe, until she had no more arrows.

The maiden dropped the bow and empty quiver to her feet, than met the eye of the young man.

"Yes?"

Scarlet grinned at Evemina, sending her heart into a frenzy.

Her cheeks bloomed into a blush at the thought of her knowledge of his feelings.

He was just smiling at her... why is she getting all flustered about it?

Well, he loved her and knowing that he had those feelings made this gesture have a whole new meaning that made her heart flutter in this way. His hazel eyes shimmered brighter than the weak sunlight of the dawn and that look made all the difference. Evemina smiled at the young man with a new discovery in her heart.

Her clarification of her own mystery.

She loved him back.

She remembered the closer inspection of his face yesterday and everything came rushing to her.

~~~

When she was distracted, Will tackled her off her feet and flat onto her back with him on top with his dagger at her pale neck. Her emerald eyes flickered open to see Will Scarlet's masculine, handsome face just above hers only a few inches away. Their heavy, warm breaths mingled as their eyes stared unblinkingly into the endless pools of the other.

Will and her had been close to each other many times, but this...

This seemed different to her than the rest somehow. His hazel green eyes stared into hers with an unknown shimmer that made her heart race under the weight of the man on top of her. His brown shaggy hair was disheveled and slightly damp from the intensity of their battles. Up this close she could see the changes from the boy she used to know to the man above her. He had a defined jaw that liked to clench especially when he was thinking or angry. Just everything about the structure of Will's face screamed, 'male'. His Adam apple seemed to move slightly with every heavy breath he took.

His breath smelled of the sweetness of raspberries. The warmth of the raspberry breath was breathed upon her face, making her face a little more warm that normal. The one thing she knows that she had not noticed about his face was how enticing his tanned lips were. They looked very soft and plush like the pillow of the King would be.

~~~

Everything she had felt to the study of his handsome face to the thoughts of his lips were her love for the temperamental man shining with brilliant colors. Her smile slowly became a brilliant lovely one as she stared back to the young man. Will noticed the change and only grinned more.

He needed to know

"Will, I-"

Triumph calls from the Sherwood people echoed, signalling their victory. Evemina quickly went to the edge and eyed the hill in the distance. Celts were retreating back, but in their previous place stood Nottingham archers.

Not just any archers.

But the worst kind, her smile immediately faded into a frightened gap.

Screams echoed throughout the camp as Nottingham soldiers release their flaming arrows. The arrows are shot into the camp and the great forest empire starts to burn.

"Will!" Evemina shrieked in fear as an arrow pierced into a hut beside them, setting it ablaze.

The young man grabbed her hand and quickly brought her to the rope to bring them down safely, because they had no other way of escape besides jumping.

The maiden clung to Will as they hastily reached the bottom. The huts on the ground were in the beginning stages of fire, since the empire above was a raging inferno.

"Mina, quick!"

The two sprinted towards the safety of the forest around them. In their path, remaining Celts came sprinting towards them with Nottingham soldiers at their side. Will takes his dagger into his left and slashed a hired beast down.

Evemina unsheathed her sword and joined the battle beside Will. Sinking her sword in  the belly of a Nottingham soldier, she pulled it out to meet another in battle.

The two eliminated a lot of soldiers and Celts but they kept coming as if from thin air. Will knew this would only end badly and knew Evemina would be safe in the forest.

"Mina!"

Her emerald eyes flickered over to hazel briefly, "Yes?"

"Run!"

His order came to a shock to the maiden, causing her to stare at the dagger wielder.

He wanted her to run?

Her concern quickly went to his safety.

"But what about you?!"

He dismissively flicked his head towards her as his dagger drove itself into the neck of a Celt. "Do not worry about me, Mina! Run!"

It took a few seconds for the maiden to move, however she did not move away only closer to the young man. She hastily slashed down a soldier down that was coming behind Will before looking at the hazel eyed man.

Without a second thought or hesitation, she placed a soft kiss on his dirty, sweaty cheek. "Be careful, Will."

The young man gave her a quick nod before the maiden took off into a sprint out of the battle and away from her only true love.

~~~

Out from the hill, the soldiers of Nottingham launched fire balls into the forest empire, causing more devastation. The fire balls came soaring from the sky before plummeting to the ground, killing innocent people or setting the homes of the forest people ablaze.

Will Scarlet continued to protect the path where Mina had disappeared off too, killing off the soldiers and Celts one by one. The Celts had moved on to a different opponent or were already killed, leaving the Sheriff's men. He quickly made a quick jab into the body of an attacking soldier from behind and shoved the soldier's body down to the ground.

Quickly, soldiers with crossbows surround Will. The young man glanced around and dropped his dagger, knowing his defeat.

Robin has made his way up into the trees and to the “money tree house”. He begins tossing the money down onto the ground.

Celts on the ground, see the glimmering money on the forest floor and dive down to gather as much as they could, "It's gold! Gold!"

Elsewhere in the trees of the burning empire, John was searching for his missing wife and newborn. His blue eyes than spotted a burning hut other to his left. In front of the hut stood his frightened wife holding their child closely to her chest. They were trapped with the fire. A bridge connected the giant and his wife, however flaming arrows continued to rain from the sky.

Easily she could get struck by an arrow and John knew this, becoming even more worried for their safety.

"Fanny?!"

His loud voice immediately was heard by his distressed wife who glanced at him with some sort of hope and relief in her eyes.

"John!" Her gaze went to the flaming bridge just before her, that connected to where she was to her husband.

"Fanny!! Come on!"

Clutching her baby close, the woman timidly placed her foot onto the bridge testing out its strength before putting her full weight onto it.

Her terrified eyes met her husband's and he quickly stepped over the barricade from the bridge. John stepped onto the bridge, immediately the bridge collapses from her side.

She screams as her husband clings to the platform to keep himself from himself from falling. His strength kept him from plummeting as he pulled himself up, making his wife sigh in relief.

John and Fanny stare at each other sadly as their only connection to each other broke.

An arrow zooms by Fanny's head, making her gasp in horror.

"Fanny!" John's voice roared throughout the forest,  Robin hears this from where he is and goes to see what’s wrong.

The Littles' baby cried from the distress in his mother and the noises all around him.

"Go, flee John, save yourself!"

"No, Fanny! I won't leave you!"

"Go on, John!"

"Never!"

"Oh, John!"

Robin takes a deep breath and then launches himself at a nearby rope that’s hanging between where he is and where Fanny is. He catches the rope and swings to where she is, startling the woman from her yelling to her husband.

Quickly, Locksley prepares the woman and her baby by wrapping the rope around Fanny for the swing across to the giant. "John, you'll have to catch her!"

Robin swings her over to John. The giant stretches out his hand to his wife who catches her hand as soon as she’s close enough.

"I've got you girl!"

A soldier spots the couple up on the platform and aims his bow to them. As soon as he lets go of the string, the soldier drops dead from an arrow through heart from behind. From the forest, Wulf appears and begins to load another arrow to take down Nottingham soldiers and Celts.

However he gets scooped up by a Nottingham soldier, "Fight fair!"

In the trees, John gets Fanny untied from the rope and prepares it for Locksley

"Quick, quick!!" Fanny whispered to her husband as he finally gets the rope ready for Robin.

John pushes the rope over to the rich boy who grabs it easily.

The couple beam over to Robin, grateful for his bravery and kindness to bring them back together safely.

"Come on!" The Littles holler to the rich boy who was taking his dear old time to swing across.

Arrows from Nottingham soldiers whizzed by, causing the husband and wife to quickly kneel down.

John became antsy, "Robin, come on!!"

Robin shook his head, "Go on, don't wait for me!" The look in the giant's eye clearly told the rich boy that he did not want to, "John, go!"

Reluctantly, John and Fanny head for safety leaving Locksley behind.

As soon as the Littles were heading to safety, Robin finally launched himself to swing over to safety, but the rope has burned and it snaps in between the trees.

"Noooooooooo!" The rich boy cries as he falls to the ground into a burning pile of hay.

His cross lands in a pile of hay as flames consumed the hay all around.

~~~~~

The fight was long over and the soldiers of Nottingham had claimed their prisoners. Eleven men in all, including Wulf and Will. They were dragged to a prison, a torture chamber realistically, where other 'traitors' of the rule of the Sheriff of Nottingham were held.

Wulf was chained by his hands to a wall, his little body weakly leaned against it as his sad brown eyes stared off at the ground. His thoughts were glued on his parents. He missed them beyond everything else and Evemina. She was always kind to him and his personal little angel who he came to know.

His eyes glanced around the room, spotting the other ten men of Sherwood either tied up or chained to a wall. Than his brown eyes narrowed on a certain person hanging upside down a few feet from: Will Scarlet. The young man's hairy but built chest was showing due to the position he was in and the man wore a scowl as he tried to get some blood to his body and not all to his head.

Startling the boy from his intense stare was the loud slam of the prison door. 

The boy had to keep in a gasp of fear.

The Sheriff of Nottingham.

The man himself burst through the doors with a dark scowl upon his lips, "Now I have heard that Robin Hood may still be alive. Either tell me where he may be hiding, or you'll be hanged and well find him anyway and we'll do the same thing to him."

"I'd love to kill him for you."

Wulf glanced over to the man who spoke, "Will, no!"

Nottingham immediately stalked over to the upside down man, "So he's alive then."

"I'm not really sure."

"Then why would I need you?"

"Because, my Lord..." The young man moved his shirt that was close to his mouth before continuing,"-if he is alive, I could get close to him. I'm one of his men, he would never suspect me."

Wulf grew extremely angry at this, "He knows you always hated him, traitor!"

Will and the Sheriff glanced to the boy, "Shut up!"

"He's a trusting fool." The Sheriff eyed the young man carefully, "He'll believe me and if he doesn't he'll kill me. And you have lost nothing."

Nottingham tilted his head to the side as he sternly glared at the hanging man, "If you fail I will personally remove your lying tongue."

Will tries to smile at this, "And if I succeed?"

"His friends will.." The Sheriff turned to a nearby guard who was torturing a man previously before the Sheriff stormed in,  "... torture him!"

Scarlet's eyes widened at this, as the Sheriff turns to the young man with a smile of mock apology, "It will look better."

That night, the prison was full of Will's screams of pain.

Echoes of terror.

Echoes of torture.

Echoes of a new and dark future coming fast to England.

(End of Chapter Fifteen)