The Huntress

Chapter 16

I struggle to take a breath as I stand to my full height. With clenched teeth I glare at him. He simply laughs at me as he starts making lazy circles around me. He's eying me in a way that makes me extremely uncomfortable. I try to look courageous as I stare straight ahead of me at the wall, looking at nothing as my eyes slowly loose focus.

"Who are you? You're not from around here...I know, because I've never seen you before. This means you're from another Kingdom." the Sheriff says all this very slowly.

I choose not to answer him as I continue to stare at nothing. My ears get hyper sensitive as I feel him walking closer to me. After a moment, I feel his breath along my neck where my ears used to be.

"So, who are you Pretty Boy?" he whispers. "I know you want to give me some kind of name to make me stop calling you pretty. No man likes that. Especially not one who runs around with the likes of Robin Hood."

His voice slowly gets louder until he's yelling in my face. I wince and lean away from him. Suddenly, something in his eyes change. His eyes widen in shock before narrowing in suspicion. He backs up again before circling me again.

"What are you doing now, Sheriff?" Gisbourne asks from the corner.

My head turns toward him in shock. I'd completely forgotten he was here. How is he so quiet?

"There's something different about this one...almost like he's not what he seems." the Sheriff says slowly as Gisbourne walks up beside him.

They both stop in front of me and continue to stare me down. Gisbourne rolls his eyes and crosses his arms over his chest. Just as the Sheriff opens his mouth a bell starts tolling.

Gisbourne sighs loudly. "Not again!"

I look over at him and furrow my brow in confusion as he scurried out the room. The Sheriff starts yelling a string of confusing words that don't make any sense. It's something about incompetency....not enough biscuits in the world...Prince John...bloody narcissists...and 'that darn Robin Hood.' Of course, together this stuff doesn't makes sense. At least, not to someone like me who doesn't understand the workings of his mind. But I seem to get the point that he's angry because of something my brother has done.

Two guards come running into the room as the Sheriff runs to hide behind his desk. I look at him in disbelief as he starts waving his arms around like a raving lunatic.

"Take that one back to his cell and send more guards in here! I don't want that man anywhere near me." he shouts as hands wrap around my arms.

I don't have time to reflect on what's happened before I'm being dragged out of the room roughly. A thought occurs to me as I stumble and try to yank my arms free. If the bell started ringing, then Gisbourne took off, forcing the Sheriff to go on some sort of weird tirade...then Robin must be somewhere in this fortress. If Robin's here, he's saved Allan and they're trying to find me! I have to get away.

I dig my feet into the stone floor and manage to yank one of my arms free. I pull that arm back and throw a punch into the other man's stomach. He doubles over as I yank free and shove the other one into the wall. I take off down the hallway and hear them start running after me.

"Wait!" I hear a familiar voice and freeze.

I turn and see one of the guards take off their helmet. Tears stream down my face as I run at Will and wrap my arms around his stomach. He holds me tightly and rests his cheek on the top of my head.

"Thank God you're okay." he murmurs.

"Well, we all won't be if they find us...come on Will." I look up and see Mutch.

He smiles at me and gives me a strong hug before turning and running through the halls. Will grabs my hand and drags me through the corridors. We run until we reach a door. Mutch flings it open and hurries over to a little hatch in the far side of the room. He opens it and looks at us expectantly.

"I am not going in that!" I say, shaking my head violently.

"You have to...look, I'll go first." Will says, jumping into the darkness.

I scrunch my nose and back up. I stop when I hear heavy footsteps running our way. I look up at Mutch with pleading eyes. I don't want to jump into a hole that leads to people's waste! It's gross just thinking about it.

"You have to, unless you want to go back in that cell...or back to the Sheriff." he says, knowing exactly which words to use to make me cave.

I heave a sigh and jump into the darkness. I squeeze my eyes shut and brace for the impact when someone catches me. My eyes fly open and I see Will holiding me, smiles in his eyes. I smile at him as he starts walking. A clunking noise tells me that Mutch has made it out as well.

"Time to go." he whispers urgently.

Once we get out of the filth Will sets me on my feet and grabs my hand. We start running until we reach the open square between the castle and its gates. Which just happen to be shut. Great.

Rushing feet make me look up at the main doors. Robin and the others are fighting off guards along with Allan - I breath a sigh of relief when I see him. I'm glad he's okay enough to fight back. Mutch rushes over to s large wheel with Will on his heels as they work on getting the gate open. Robin makes eye contact with me.

"Here!" he says, throwing me a sword.

I catch it in midair and run to help Allan fight off the guards. He smiles over at me in thanks and relief as we fight side by side. I can hear more guards coming and see that the gate is almost half-way up.

"Robin, run and slip under the gate!We'll follow after you." I shout as my sword makes contact with the guard's.

We keep fighting as I hear feet scurrying around me. I notice the others slowly make their way to the gates and knock the sword from the guard's hands.

"Come on, get out of there now Skye!" Robin yells.

"Go for the ropes. The ropes!" the Sheriff yells, running out into the courtyard.

Someone shoots the rope holding the gate open with a bow and arrow. I turn and run as fast as I can and slide under the gate just before it closes. I take a moment to make sure everyone's made it. An arrow shoots past my face and I turn to see about fifty guards with their arrows aimed right at us.

"Shoot them! Shoot them!" the Sheriff and Gisbourne yell in unison.

We all turn and race away from the gates as arrows start flying. We make it to the stables and ride out of town, heading straight for the treeline. Once we get far enough away, we start laughing and jump from our horses. We have a mini-celebration where we all start hooping and hollering with the left over adrenaline in our systems. Several people wrap me up in a hug.

The soft cough of someone clearing their throat makes us stop and turn, facing the girl Allan and I had saved earlier.

"Robin...who's this?" she asks, crossing her arms.

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Yay, two chapters in one afternoon! Enjoy and comment on what you think.

Always yours,

Kera