Max and Lewis Walker, the two youngest of the family and twins of only seven, ran in with their toy bow n' arrows and swords. They ran and stood before James Walker the oldest of the children, aged twenty-one, sitting next to him was his younger cousin Ryan Vincent, aged nineteen.
'Can we go play Robin Hood in the woods? Please, please?' They pleaded in sinc.
James looked to Ryan and then to his younger sister Winfred and Ryan's younger sister Jackie, both aged eighteen. They glanced back, not really wanting to, but knew they'd be bullied into it.
'Yeah alright. Come on girls.' James rose to his feet and pulled Ryan up.
The girls followed the boys, slipping on their trainers and boots, and grabbing their keys to get back into the house as all the parents had gone out for the day, they wouldn't need coats as it was midsummer, and this English summer was growing hotter everyday.
When they entered the woods they gathered in a circle. The children had grown up on the legends and fairy tales of old heroes. James and Ryan loved to play Knights and as children when they visited a castle, they would run around playing games and making the others join in. The girls loved the legends to, but now that the boys were older, they didn't make that fun for them.
'Okay, so I'm Robin Hood.' James announced, taking control.
'I wanna be Little John.' Max jumped for joy.
'And I'm Will Scarlet.' Lewis waved his hands around.
'I guess I'm Allan A Dale then.' Ryan grinned. 'So who can they be.'
'Really we can just go back to the house, you have your Merry Men.' Jackie raised an eyes to her brother.
'No, no we can make use of you.' James smirked.
'Well neither of us is being Tuck, so get that idea out of your head.' Jackie crossed her arms, wishing she could be back home reading a magazine instead of standing in the woods.
'Fine then, Fred you can Much and missy there can be Marian, if she don't want to play.' James ordered.
Fred nodded and Jackie huffed. Fred didn't mind playing with them, she wasn't a magazine reader like Jackie, she didn't update her Facebook status every day. Fred preferred to read books, write and draw.
'Grab your weapons men,' James paused and glanced at Jackie and Fred, 'and woman.'
While Ryan watched over Max and Lewis sorting out their bows n' arrows and swords, the other went in search of sticks to play as weapons. Jackie found a small stick to play as a small sword, while Fred found a long stick to be a longsword, James found a bent stick to be a bow, arrows would be imagined.
The game began and they ran through the trees following James to a small clearing they called the Camp. They got down on to their knees as Max and Lewis ran round the clearing twice and then ran into the circle.
'The Sheriff and Gisborne are heading for the field, they have an army behind them.' Lewis puffed in a panic.
'What should we do Robin?' Max said eyes wide open.
James grinned at them, 'We're going to attack. We'll meet them at the field and have done with them once and for all.'
As Lewis and Max began jumping in excitement, Jackie moaned. 'Oh, how fun.'
They all looked to Jackie and Fred nudged her with her elbow.
'Come on guys, lets go to the field.' James glared at Jackie and pushed the boys to exit the clearing.
Fred and Jackie followed a few feet behind.
'Look you don't have to be here if you don't want to Jack.' Fred told her.
'Look, you can see that Max and Lewis are only having fun, because they're imagining it. We're not, into all of this anymore. I'm fed up of being stuck as Marian or Tuck. You and I always get last choice. I'm fed up of following James and Ryan. They just want to lead, might as well make them the Sheriff and Gisborne.' Jackie moaned waving her stick around by her leg.
'Just do this for Lewis and Max, when we get back we can talk to them about it.' Fred paused and smiled remembering a memory, 'Do you remember when James and Ryan first made us play, we were excellent fighters and they always hurt themselves.'
'Yeah.' Jackie laughed.
'Come on Marian, lets see how good you really are. You could alway try to take over and kill your one true love.' Fred laughed.
The girls ran after the boys and caught up to them. With James and Ryan at the front, they climbed over the wire fence and into the field. They lined up. From left to right, Lewis, Max, James, Ryan, Fred and Jackie.
'This is no place for a woman,' Ryan smirked at Fred and Jackie. 'You'll die with in two seconds, probably less. We all know girls can't fight, that was why the men were the Knights, never the silly girls.'
Fred gripped her stick tight and so did Jackie.
'There they are,' James began staring down the hill of the field. 'the Sheriff and Gisborne with their army as you said.' He paused. 'On my command we charge.' The field fell silent for a moment, 'Now!' James bellowed.
The kids ran as fast as they could down the hill, waving their sticks and pretending to kill and shoot. Half way down the hill, thunder cracked above their heads, Jackie and Fred ground to a halt and turned their gaze to the sky, no clouds, but thunder cracked and lighten flashed, as they turned to look back at the woods behind them dark grim clouds were rolling in.
'Fred!' Ryan called out as he hurtled towards her, unable to stop himself he collided into her, knocking her off her feet and crashing to the ground, hitting her head.
Jackie ran to Fred and hoisted her up right, James and the others then ran to the girls as Ryan turned around and got to his feet.
'I didn't mean to, I couldn't stop.' Ryan panicked.
'Fred you alright?' James asked, helping her to her feet.
'I'm fine really.' Fred said, feeling almost sick to her stomach, with a headache growing.
'Come on we better get back home before it rains.' James announced.
They all turned to go back up the hill and over the fence. James climbed over the fence first to help his sister, Jackie held her as she climbed over, next was Jackie, the twins and then Ryan. Fred insisted that she needed no help and stumbled behind at the back of the group as they ran thru the wood to the clearing and home. They had just left the clearing when Fred felt weak, everyone was ahead of her, Fred sat down as the trees began to blur and move.
She took a seat on a log and shook the feeling off and looked around, in search of the others. She held her hand to her head and shook the feeling once more, as she rose her head up once again to look around she noticed a strange light in between a perfect square box made by four trees, with a large grey rock in the middle. She pushed back on the log and stood up straight, dropped her hand to her side and wandered toward the light.
A strange light hovered over the rock, like broken fabric pieces of the light flowed around it, the light was as taller than Fred. She squinted and tilted her head wondering what it was, she then looked around her once more, no one had turned back, no one had probably noticed she wasn't there. She stared back at the light, and held her hand out to it. Hoping she was hallucinating, she reached for it. Feeling a strange warm heat and cool breeze coming thru the light, she beckoned closer.
Suddenly she felt a force grab hold of her hand and then her body as she was tossed into the light.
Fred opened her eyes, only to be blinded by bright sunlight. She covered her eyes and sat up, as she took her hand away from her eyes, she noticed that she was no longer in the same woodland. She looked around, seeing no strange light, no rock in the middle of the four trees.
'Hello? James? Ryan? Jack? Anyone?' She looked around again, 'Hello?' She shouted as loud as she could and then quickly covered her mouth. 'How stupid can you be Fred. Don't draw attention to yourself.' Fred took another look and squinted when she saw movement in the bushes. 'Crap.' She whispered to herself.
The sound of a twig snapping caught her attention and she spun round to see what it was only to be greeted by a longsword, a real longsword in her face, held by men in black and knight wear.
'On your feet.' One commanded.
Fred stumbled to her feet, unsure of what was happening.
'Why are you dressed as a boy, peasant?' The same knight asked.
'I'm not.' Fred frowned.
Three knights walked to the back of her, blocking any escape route.
'You will answer me.' The knight raised his voice.
'I'm not wearing boys clothes.'
The knight put his longsword away, 'Grab her.' Two of the knights took hold of Fred's arms. 'An Outlaw no doubt, tie her to the horses, the Sheriff and can deal with her. Maybe a good hanging will loosen her tongue.'
The knight pushed Fred toward the horses. Wether Fred had hit her head that hard to dream all this, or not, she wasn't going to end up dead. She took a deep breath and stopped herself, stamped on one of the knights' feet and then elbowed the other in the stomach, she then turned and ran.
'After her.' They shouted, as she ran.
Running as fast as she could in the direction of god-knows-what, she only wanted to escape. She had had no idea where she was going, so she stopped and hid behind a tree for a few seconds, wondering where she was going.
'Find her.' They echoed behind her.
She took in another breath and began to run again, but it wasn't long before she was tackled by one of the knights. They bound her hands and tired her to a rope attached to one of the horses, and led her through the forest onto a dirt road. Fred watched as the trees became grass and the grass soon turned to a huge stone wall across a moat. The wooden gates in front opened as they approached and she was led through a town, with old fashioned buildings, market stalls, bakeries, blacksmiths and more.
She was no longer in her own time and she knew it.