This story is based on "The Highwayman" by Alfred Noyes. If you haven't read the poem before, I would really suggest it. I'm not a big fan of poetry, but that is one that I really enjoy. Loreena McKennitt also has a song that was extracted from the poem. Hope you enjoy!
The bar of the small inn was filled to the brim on this still, winter night. Men drank ale and talk about business while the women tended to their children and shared the newest gossip spreading through the town. Young children laughed, weaving in and out between the tables, but they were very careful to not bump into anyone else or their father's belt would find them later. The innkeeper laughed with his customers to encourage them to buy more of his ale and use the empty rooms for the night if they did want to travel back to their homes. Pretty barmaids slipped between guests, making small talk with the women and casting flirtatious grins to the men for tips.
A stair creaked as an old woman made her way down to the bar. A young barmaid rushed over to place a chair where the old woman would want to sit. She reached the last step, and the children noticed her presence in the room. The woman smiled as she sat in the chair, and the young ones gathered around her on the floor.
The young barmaid perched near the chair and set her tray down on a nearby table. "Grandmother, won't you tell us a story tonight? It's the perfect night for one."
The old woman smiled and looked at the anxious children, alert and ready for a story. "I suppose, my child. What would you all want to hear?"
All of the children looked around, nobody wanting to be the one to name the story. A small, brunette stood up and cleared her throat. "I would like to hear about the highwayman."
The old woman nodded once, leaning back into her chair and took a deep breath. "Well it all began in this very inn on a night like this one…"
It was a still winter night, with no light except the moon. It looked like a ghost in the sky, bright and full. The inn stood alone in a clearing of the woods, the road twisting right up to its doors. The door was locked and the windows were shut tight against the darkness of the night. A lone candle glowed from inside the house, barely visible to the outside.
A lone horse came clattering down the twisting road, a man atop its back. He was dressed in fine clothes that had no blemishes on them, not a single wrinkle. He had a pistol clasped to his side that twinkled in the moonlight. He slowed the horse down as they approached the inn, and he tapped once on the shutters. There was no movement inside the inn so the man walked his horse around to where the faint glow of a candle could be seen from the second floor. He whistled once and only had to wait for a moment.
The shutters opened, and a beautiful young girl was standing there. Her black hair waved in the breeze as she leaned out of the open window and looked down below. "My father is going to be furious if you keep tapping on other windows, you know."
The man laughed and guided his horse closer to the inn. "I am not worried about the landlord. He couldn't catch me if he tried."
A red ribbon caught the light of the moon and the girl brushed her hair aside. "When can we get out of here, Jasper? I'm ready for us to go and have a life somewhere. We don't need much and then we can be good, honest people."
Jasper smiled, seeing the red love-knot bound in her dark hair. "Alice, my love, we will be out of the town before you know it. And then the world will be ours, whatever you want."
Alice looked down at his clothes, a small frown covering her lovely face. "Who is it tonight, Jasper? You're going to rob again, aren't you?"
"Just once more and then we will have everything that we will need to leave and start over somewhere new. The men will probably be too nearby to come back during the day, Alice, but don't worry. Watch for me tomorrow night. I will come down that road and we will get out of here." Jasper looked up at the moon, noting where it hung in the sky. "I have to leave now."
Alice leaned out the window, her hair tumbling over the side. "Be careful, Jasper. I will be here waiting for you to return." Jasper reached up and brushed the ends of her hair with his fingers, smelling her perfume.
He quickly turned and hurried down the twisting road. Alice watched him ride until he was no longer visible through the tall trees. She smiled, laying down on her small bed and sighed. Love was a wonderful thing.
What neither of them knew what that James, the stable hand, was listening to everything from the darkness. He had loved Alice for many years, but she never gave him a second thought once this well-dressed robber appeared in her life. His eyes were crazed with madness as he thought about all that he had heard. James rushed off after Alice had closed her shutters. He saddled up a horse and quickly took to the road to find a way to stop this highwayman.
The next morning, the sun was shining brightly and everything seemed wonderful. Alice danced through the inn, cheerful and bright, helping her father prepare for the crowd that came to the bar every evening. Hours flew by as Alice worked and she retired early to her room to watch from her window. As the sun moved lower and lower in the sky, Alice found it strange that nobody had come to the bar, though this was always their busiest time.
Movement in the trees caught her attention, and she saw red-coats coming down the road. Alice's heart stopped in her chest, for she knew that these men caused damage everywhere they went. They marched right up to the door and immediately demanded ale from her father. Alice stood on the top step, listening to what was going on downstairs and praying that Jasper would stay away long enough for these men to drink their fill and then leave. She froze as one of the men locked eyes with her and then motioned toward the other two. The men, ignoring the landlord, headed straight for the stairs up to her room.
Alice turned and ran to her room. She tried to lock her door, but the men were faster than she had been and flung the door open wide. One man grabbed her and pinned her arms while another used a strip of cloth to gag her. One man with dark brown hair grabbed her waist, smelling the perfume on her. "I'll be coming back for you later, girl." He reached around her and tied her wrists together, using the advantage to press his body close against hers.
Alice cringed as she hit the floor, and the men bound her to the foot of her bed. The angle made Alice sit up very straight, and the men smirked at her full breasts on show for them. Alice glared, unable to move, and the dark-haired man came to her with a musket. He bound one of the muskets beneath her breast, laughing at the sight that it made for the men. With her held firmly in place, the man leaned in placing a forceful kiss onto her red lips and using the chance to brush a hand over her breast. "Keep watch for us now," he said, and they turned to the window to kneel by the open shutters.
Alice stared out of the open window and felt the tears growing, for she could see the twisting road leading out of the woods where her highwayman would be coming at any moment.
Alice's hands twisted in the ropes tied behind her, but nothing made the knot loosen. She knew that she would only have moments to get free and try to save her beloved. Alice struggled against the restraints, a tear falling down her face from frustration and pain as the rope cut into her skin. She could feel blood running down her hand, but there was no time to be wasted. Alice struggled with the rope as men moved in the yard outside of her window, and she knew they were preparing for his arrival so they could kill him. Finally, Alice felt the knot give just enough to slip one hand far enough to touch the trigger.
Alice stopped moving as she heard the horse's hooves sounding through the night. The men raised their muskets, but they didn't move. She heard the horse getting nearer, but still nobody moved. Had they not heard the sound? Did they not realize he was almost here? Alice's heart pounded in her chest and she fingered the trigger beneath her breast. With the men in her room focused on the road outside, Alice slowly stood, bringing the musket up with her. She knew how close Jasper would be to the clearing now, and she took two quick steps toward the window, and pulled the trigger.
Jasper heard the gunshot just before he came to the edge of the clearing. His heart pounded fast, and he looked around him quickly, slowing down his horse. He could barely see Alice's window through the moonlight, but he saw a form slumped over and bloody against the shutters. Jasper turned his horse quickly and took back off down the path. He yelled a curse into the night sky for his beloved Alice, and pushed his horse faster. He heard the horses behind him on the road, but faster and faster he went.
He heard the gunshots seconds before he felt the bullets. Jasper fell from the horse and looked down to see the blood already coloring his coat. The men grew closer, but Jasper had no more reason to live. He closed his eyes and let himself give in to the darkness closing in around him
The grandmother leaned closer to the children and whispered softly. "Still they say, on a still winter night like this one, pay attention children. When the wind whispers in the trees, when the moon shines bright in the night sky, when the road is lit as it twists out of the trees and up to inn, pay attention for the sound of the horse's hooves. If you listen carefully, you might just hear the highwayman whistle his tune as his lovely Alice opens her shutters for him."
The young barmaid smiled, wiping a tear away. "Thank you for the lovely story, grandmother."
The old woman nodded once and began another story, something happier for the young children. The young girl stood from her seat and made her way outside.
She immediately wrapped her arms around herself to block out the chill in the air. The girl walked around to the side of the inn where the window sat with a candle faintly glowing through the shutters. Closing her eyes, the girl stood still in silent in the moonlight.
Tlot-tlot. Tlot-tlot.
The girl's eyes flew open at the sound of a horse's hooves, and she stared into the trees down the road. She thought she could almost see a man standing there with fine clothes, arms wrapped around a pretty woman with a red love-knot tied into black hair.
Please give me some feedback and let me know what you thought! And if you haven't read the poem, I really suggest doing so.