Prologue–Dancing Flames
As I bid Marian goodnight and made my way to the door, a cool breeze hit me as her servant opened it. The sweltering heat of the hot summer's day had finally been blown away by the cold night air. I smiled and said goodnight to the servant, declining the offer of taking a horse from my friend's stables to aid my journey home and began my walk. The refreshing breeze seemed to have lulled my mind into a false sense of security, but as the lights of the house behind me began to fade into the distance I realised my mistake. It was dusk, and I was completely alone. The small dagger that I sometimes carried with me was lying in a chest of linen under my bed and although Locksley was within walking distance, it was still three miles away. Suddenly I was uneasy, looking all around me for signs of danger as my pace quickened. I did not quite know what I was scared of, having walked this same route perhaps hundreds of times in my short lifetime, but every noise made me jump.
It seemed the further I walked the more scared I became, but as the acrid smell of burning reached my nostrils, all of these thoughts were blown from my mind. As I reached the top of the hill that overlooked Locksley, I froze. Everything was ablaze. Houses, workshops, vegetable patches, everything. Looking down from the hill, as the realisation washed over me, I realised that the manor, my home, was the only thing that was burning. Everything else had appeared to be burning because I had seen a wall of fire. The flames were glowing, giving the impression that all of the buildings surrounding the manner were burning as well.
Before I knew what I was doing I was running down the side of the hill towards the house, colliding with women cradling their children in their arms, and men running to and from the lake with buckets and barrels fetching water to douse the flames. I coughed as the ash filled my lungs but I didn't stop running. I had only one thought running through my head; stop the flames. My beloved home was burning and I intended to stop it weather I had help or not. I was only a few yards away from a crowd of people, who were all barking orders at each other when an arm was flung out in front of me and wrapped itself around my waist, stopping me in my tracks. Will Scarlet, the physician's son stared down at me as I struggled against his hold on me.
"Ruby what are you think-" But he was cut off mid-sentence as a sharp cry filled the air and we instinctively turned around as Robin broke free of the crowd and ran towards the house. Will glanced back down at me and then again at Robin as he continued to race towards the house. "Oh God, he thinks you're in the house!" he yelled and then his arm disappeared from around my waist and his hand grasped my wrist. The next thing I knew, I was being dragged through the crowd with Will in front of me yelling at the top of his voice.
"ROBIN! ROBIN SHE'S HERE!"
As the crowd parted to let us through, Much the miller's son, upon seeing me, gave out the same cry as Will and then suddenly Robin was no longer running towards the house, but at me. He collided with me and wrapped his arms tightly around me, hugging me tighter than I had ever been before. He was breathing heavily and he stank of a very strange mixture, of which I was almost certain was the smell of burning and ale, but my arms stayed tightly wrapped around him none the less. We stood there for an age, just holding each other, with not a word said between us, all feuds and disagreements forgotten. In that moment, we were simply brother and sister again.
A shout from the crowd standing between us and the house woke me from my stupor and I looked over Robin's shoulder just as the roof of my home was beginning to give way ever so slowly. Then suddenly it was collapsing and bits of burnt timber were falling, taking our whole world down with them. Robin turned to watch as the horrible crashing noise told us that the roof had finally been laid to rest. Robin slipped his arm around my waist, and we moved silently towards the house past the crowd, who stood watching us in silent sympathy. The closer we got to the house, the worse the smell became. We stood and watched as our home became barely recognisable. The villagers had given up trying to douse the flames of the main house a while ago, and were now trying to stop the flames from spreading any further.
Everything was lost. Everything we had, everything we were was just a grey dancing whisper floating towards the heavens. We stood and watched, transfixed. Neither of us spoke as the house continued to burn.
As the sun rose from behind the trees I sat on the ground, unable to stand any longer. Robin knelt beside me and I rested my head on his shoulder, breathing deeply. I then stood again and walked towards the house. As I neared it, a sticky, bittersweet smell wafted over me in the breeze and I gagged as the realisation hit me. I bent double, retching sounds rattling in my throat as Robin's hand fell lightly onto my back.
"What is it? What's wrong?" he asked urgently.
"Can't you smell it?" I said between gasps.
He turned towards the house again and I heard the sharp intake of breath as he let the foul stench invade his airways. "Oh lord no," he whispered and then abruptly he was facing me again. As I stared into his green eyes, there was something there, behind them and I suddenly didn't want to know any more. He cupped my ashen covered, tear stained face in his hands and stared at me, as if he were trying to read my thoughts. "All of the servants are accounted for," he said lightly, "And you and I are here, so, so only one other person is-"
I didn't hear the rest of his sentence. Someone was screaming, a terrible, terrifying, traumatic bloodcurdling scream that cut me like a knife. Then I realised. It was me. Robin's arms slipped around my shoulders but I shrugged them off, pushing him away from me. He tried to hold my hand in his but I punched him feebly. Then I punched him again, and again. Then I was pummelling him with weak little arms, sobbing uncontrollably all the while. He grabbed my wrists holding them firmly in front of him. I struggled and his grip tightened. My sobs grew louder and more painful as my whole body trembled. I was crying too hard to fight him and he let go of my wrists, enveloping me in a hug. The sobs turned to sharp cries and wails, and I clung onto his shirt as I sank to the ground, pulling him with me. He cradled me in his arms, gently stroking my hair out of my face as I continued to cry. The world passed me by as I sat there, sobbing into his shirt, trembling all over, but what I didn't see, as the sun continued to shine, and the flames continued to burn, was that not a tear dared to dance across my beautiful brother's face.