A Tale of Love and Woe (Fanfic)

Chapter 16

After a while of walking Will suddenly pulled me down so we were crouching behind a bush.

"What is it," I whispered.

Will didn't respond but put his finger to his lips. I stared into his deep brown eyes for a moment, something inside of me began to stir. Embarrassed, I quickly ripped my eyes away and peeked through the branches of the bush.

There was a small fire burning, it's bright orange flames welcoming us to it. Three men were silhouetted against the flames so we couldn't make out their faces. Before I could stop him Will made an owl call. It was obviously in some kind of pattern which must've been a code. No answer was made. That's when I felt Will grab my hand and heard him whisper into my ear,

"We need to get out of here. Quietly."

I nodded my head to signify I understood and I allowed him to slowly and quietly back us away from the warm deceitful flames. Then through the silence of the night a deadly crack echoed through the air. I looked down to see a broken stick beneath my foot.

One of the three men shouted to the other two and before we knew it we were being chased.

"Run!" Will shouted at me without letting go of my hand.

I obeyed and felt my legs go numb as we ran and ran and ran. The men behind us seemed to refuse to tire and continued to pursue us. My chest burned and my breath was scarce as
I was forced to run faster than I ever had before.

Out of nowhere came a log and I stumbled over it landing hard on the ground. I felt Will fall with me for we were still holding hands. We quickly scrambled up and continued to run. That's when I noticed Will was limping. I began to panic more and started yelling at myself for falling. It must've been when I dragged him down that he hurt himself.

In the dark we ran and ran blindly unsure of where we were going. The men adamantly pursued us and did not let up the chase. I felt branches of low trees scrape past my face and heard the leaves below our feet crunch loudly.

As quick as lighting we ran and ran, the men hunting us like bloodhounds after a fox. Without warning I felt myself being dragged down onto the ground as Will's injury finally bested him and caused him to fall to the ground.

"Go without me!" He shouted at me as he tried to haul me up.

"No! I won't leave you!" I shouted back like a kid as I tried to help him up.

I managed to get him into a standing position and put his arm over my neck as I attempted to support his weight. We were much slower and the men were closing in on us. I frantically looked around for anywhere we could hide. The search was useless there was not a single place in sight. My body finally gave out and I fell, crushed by Will's weight. We were soon surrounded by the three men.

"Well, well, well, what have we here?" The biggest one of them asked nastily.

His breath smelt of alcohol and his figure was bulky.

I had managed to pull Will off of me and had drawn his sword and held it defensively before me. Sword fighting was not my forte and my hand shook as I grasped the cold metal in my tiny fists.

"Hey lass you may wanna put that down before yee hurt yeeself!" The big man laughed.

I refused to respond and I refused to lay down my weapon. This sword was the only thing between me and this barbarous man.

"Yee deaf lassie?" He sneered, his stench strong enough to wilt daisies.

"No," I said as roughly as I could.

"No eh? Well then lassie you heard me，why don't yee put that sword down, it's not a toy. You could hurt someone," he laughed again.

"No," I said more firmly than the time before.

"No?" He laughed before drawing his sword. "Last chance lass, would be a shame to mark up such a beauty," he said creepily.

I felt shudders run through my body and grasped the sword tighter. Without warning he lunged at me with his sword. I heard metal clash on metal and my hand vibrated upon impact. I inhaled deeply and carried myself back to my sword fighting lessons. I heard my instructor's voice in my head as I blocked, parried, and jabbed.

My arm began to grow tired for Will's sword was much too big for me. That's when I felt the sword fly from my hands as I was disarmed. My mind flooded with panic and I bit my lip as I pondered what to do next.

"Do yee yield lass?" The man asked as he held his sword to my throat.

"I yield," I said, defeatedly as I hatched my plan, assuming the man before me was like the ruffians I heard about from my father, Bellflake.

He smirked at me as he withdrew his sword from my throat and moved his disgusting being closer to me. He grabbed a strand of my hair and smelled it. I fought back the urge to vomit and pulled back slightly as his hand moved towards my cheek.

Upset by my movement away he grabbed my arm and pulled me close to him. His breath reeked and his beard was a grizzly mess.

With no time to react I felt him smash his lips onto mine I attempted to pull away but felt his hand keep my head there. I reached for my knife and rammed it into his heart. He fell backwards, leaving it bloodied in my hand. I quickly spat onto the ground, re -sheathed my knife, and grabbed Will's sword once more as his two goons came towards me, swords drawn and ready.

I felt my heart pound as my two challengers drew closer, their blades flashing in the moonlight.

"Oh dear," I muttered as I readied myself for the hard blows I was about to receive.

I took a quick glance at Will's still body on the ground, he must've passed out from the pain, I thought as I continued to back up until I felt my back hit the hard rough bark of a tree.

"Help," I mumbled meekly to myself as I gulped, watching the two goons still coming at me with their swords drawn and ready to draw blood.