The Highwayman
Rei/Jed
Song: Loreena McKennitt – "The Highwayman" (made after the epic poem by Alfred Noyes)
Summary: This story fallows the basic plotline of the poem/song "The Highwayman" with my own twist to it. Rei is named Bess (the same as in the poem) while Jed has been baptized as John. Their love story is what might be called bittersweet….hope you enjoy it! (gah, I suck at summaries)
AN: This fic. Was written for the 2009 Ficathon where the theme was a song based story. For a better understanding of this fanfiction I would suggest scrolling down and reading the poem at the end of the story. If you're the type of person that prefers the element of surprise though just get right into it.
Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi and the song "The Highwayman" to Loreena McKennitt.
I was being dragged up the stairs of my father's inn by the people whose role was that of protecting the English citizens, yet at this very moment they were acting like the scoundrels they profess to hunt down.
At the fall of dusk, King George's man barged into the inn, offering no explanation to my father, but rather choosing to tie him up in our wine cellar and while there they seemed to have no qualm in helping themselves from our storage of ale. As for me, as I said earlier, they decided to take me up to my room where I was bound at the foot of my bed.
I cannot feign ignorance at the reason for them being here. I more than suspect it has to do with the man I love, a man that lives outside the law, a man whose free thinking and unsubmissive spirit has captured my heart.
One of the soldiers bound a musket to the ropes that held me captive, barrel pointed toward me, so that if I may try to escape to meet my end in the process.
So this was the almighty army of Britain, the upholders of morality, it's hard to look at than that way after they broke into my house, locked my father in the cellar and were now planning to kill the man I loved. The soldiers were positioned on either side of my window, with their muskets pointed at the road below, the road that he would ride.
I feel tears stinging the corners of my eyes, they are tears of rage, and although I hate to admit it, they are tears of fear as well. Not so much for myself, but for my poor innocent father and of course, the fear that I feel for him, for my John, my Highwayman.
Flashback
The carriage I was in seemed to fly past the trees in an attempt to escape the thief that was close behind us. The small wooden structure was shaking and jolting on the uneven country road, so much so that I started fearing ending up in the ditch more than the thief pursuing us.
All of a sudden we came to an abrupt halt, and I could hear from above the apologetic voice of my carriage driver.
"I am sorry miss, but there was no choice but to stop, the road only gets worse from here and this old thing will not hold much longer" he said this while hitting the roof for emphasis. He seemed to have wanted to say more but his words were interrupted by the halting sound of hooves.
I was too distracted by the pounding of my heart to pay any attention to the words exchanged outside my carriage.
I thought of how foolish I had been to not listen to the other traveler's warnings about the dangers of the road. I left my aunt's house with only the driver as my companion, a decision I was learning quickly to regret.
When the carriage door opened I came face to face with a man whose features resembled that of an angel's rather than the draconic imagine I had in mind. His blond hair was cut short and his blue eyes seemed to shine with mischief.
"Good day miss, warm weather we're having, wouldn't you say?" Was this man mentally unstable, what sort of robber indulged in such meaningless chit chat with its victims?
"That thick golden necklace must be a burden in this heat, please allow me to rid you of it" he said while his lips parted into an easy smile.
Ah, so that's what he was getting at "how gentlemanly of you" I bite back sarcastically. I sigh and extend my necklace towards him only to have my hand captured within his. He bends his head and places a kiss on the back of it before turning around and ridding away.
The entire ride home I was in a daze, trying to make out what exactly happened today. Father almost had a heart attack when he found out, then started pacing around the room saying how I was to never leave the inn without escort again. I won't argue with him right now, I'll just wait for him to calm down before I start reasoning with him.
That night the inn was filled with travelers so I had decided to lend the employees a hand. While walking between tables to get the orders someone grabbed my hand and spun me around. The person had his hat cocked low above his eyes and in the dimly lit room I could not properly see his face.
"Payment for my order and a little something extra for the trouble I've caused you" he said while depositing a small bundle in my hand, then turned around and left.
Looking through the bundle I found my stolen necklace together with a red rose. Without knowing what had possessed me I ran out after him.
I looked around the courtyard only to find it deserted, and just when I was about to return I heard footsteps behind me. Turning around I was met again by those clear blue eyes and found myself at a loss for words. Was it fear I was feeling or maybe a different kind of anxiety.
"You know, coming out here alone in search of a thief isn't the wisest thing to do"
"And I suppose loitering in the inn yard after making your presents known to me is?" my speaking skills seem to have returned to me when I heard his mocking words.
"If you would have alerted them of my presents they would have gone out to search the nearby roads for me, while I hid in the shadows waiting for things to calm down. People often seem to not notice what is right under their noses."
I had to admit, he had thought this through, but there was still something that he omitted.
"What if I'm the bait, meant to lure you out of hiding"
"You didn't linger enough after my departure in order to have had the time to devise such a plan" he answered without missing a beat , making me feel rather stupid for not thinking of that, and it must have shown on my face because he continued saying…
"Don't think low of yourself, keep in mind, I had a lot more time to think this through." And at that moment I noticed his voice was so warm and kind that I had to wonder how could this man lead a life of crime?
"Why do you do this for a living? Why do you steal from people? Why are you here?"
"So many questions, so little time" he sighed while looking back towards the inn "I think I shall start with your last question. Why am I here you ask? Well you are to blame for this."
At my confused stare he continued "you see, I believe in love at first sight, or better yet, I started believing the moment I saw you. Also I think you feel the same way, otherwise why would you be here now?" while he said this his eyes never left mine.
"You didn't show any particular interest in me today, not to mention that you stole from me as well, those are not things a man struck be love would do"
He chuckled at my words and answered with a slightly embarrassed tone "while in your presents I felt a little overwhelmed for which reason I departed in such haste. As for the necklace, well, I needed a reason to see you again, didn't I? "
For some reason his explanation and boyish tone made me smile and at the same time I felt my cheeks heating up, it was a strange combination between satisfaction and embarrassment.
"What about my other questions"
"The motive behind me being a thief will have to wait until our next encounter."
"You trust me enough to return to this inn again?"
"Yes, you have proven to me tonight that you do not fear me, on the contrary, you desire my company so much that you came out here on your first impulse" true enough, there was no arguing his logic.
Before the left he bent his head towards mine until our lips almost touched, whispered his farewell then pressed his lips to mine in a chaste kiss before leaving.
I wish to say that we met every day since then, but unfortunately that would have been too risky, so we usually met once or twice a week and always at dusk or night.
He was a pleasant person to be around, very patient and kind. Our conversations continued in the same nature, I would come with all sorts of scenarios that could go wrong during his robberies and he would always counter them with his logic.
When I was with him time seemed to speed up, and though his kisses got more and more deep and heated he always acted like a gentleman and said he was willing to wait till marriage, though I must admit, I wasn't as sure as him of my own self restrain.
He would always promise to tell me why he was a thief next time we would meet and somehow he would always make me agree to wait.
This routine went on for about three months until one night when he came ridding into the yard, it was close to sunrise so nobody had noticed him or so I thought.
He woke me from my sleep be tapping his whip on my shudders. I hastily opened the windows to find him staring up at me.
"Is there something wrong, is someone after you" my concern was only natural since he usually came to the inn as a customer with his hat low above his eyes so as to not be recognized.
"No, nothing is wrong" he answered hastily "and if someone were to fallow me I would never lead them here. I have received word of an important gold transport passing through this area…"
"Please don't tell me you are planning to steal it!" I interrupted him once I understood where he was going with this, the dread evident in my voice "it will surely be heavily guarded".
"I am well aware of the dangers, but at the same time I have a good reason for risking everything" he paused for a minute and I let him collect his thoughts for I could tell he had something more to say.
"Bess, first I need to know, will you ever consider the possibility of marrying a reformed thief?"
His question took me completely by surprise and yet, at the same time it was the perfect answer for our current situation. He desired the money to offer me a financially stable future. Silly man, he should have known better by know.
"There is nothing that I desire more than to marry you John, but for that to happen my future husband needs to have a pulse more than he needs money."
He smiled at my reply, both amused and relieved by my answer. Rising in his stirrups he reached up his hand to touch my cheek in a tender gesture, trailing his fingers to my hair where he undid the ribon letting my hair tumble down towards him.
"Your promise to became my wife is motivation enough to keep me safe from danger tomorrow. Also, I have been through enough in my life to handle this situation, so don't worry yourself too much my love." He said while running his fingers through my black hair and bringing it towards his lips to kiss the tips of my strands before turning around and galloping away to the west.
End flashback
How did they know of our relationship? Could someone have spotted him at the inn one night? How ironic that they were here now, trying to capture the infamous highwayman in his last night of crime.
While struggling with my binds I manage to get a hold of the musket. It is tightly bound to the ropes so I cannot turn the barrel towards one of the soldiers but maybe if I rub the metal against the rope I might loosen it enough to get free.
Tlot-tlot, tlot-tlot. tlot-tlot
No, it cannot be, please don't let it be him. But my worst fears were confirmed when I glanced toward the window. He was galloping towards the inn, his imagine clear under the shine of the moon light, getting nearer and nearer with each pounding of the hooves.
I start struggling harder against my binds, I had to warn him but time was against me as the sound of his horse got louder, the Gods must have been laughing at the futile attempts of this mortal trying to rebel against destiny…and that's when I truly felt it, the cold metal in my hand.
My eyes widen in realization, knowing what I must do. For a moment, all that could have been flashes before my eyes: John's smiling face as I say "I do" at the altar, the blue eyes of my newborn as he stares curiously around from the safety of his fathers arms, the graying hair of my husband as he holds me in his arms at night.
I look down at the musket and smile at the power that they unwillingly put within my reach. I know now I will not get to live my dreams and expectations, put I have the power to offer John the opportunity to realize his.
Taking a deep breath and stealing one final glance at my highwayman's approaching figure I touch the trigger "I wish you happiness, good bye my love" ending my life with a bang.
AN: Gah, I made her sound like Deidara in that last line.
Here is where my story stops since it was done from Rei's point of view, and in case you skipped the poem I thought I should mention that what happens to the highwayman is described there. Hope you enjoyed, bye!
The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon the cloudy seas
The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor
And the highwayman came riding, riding, riding,
The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door.
He'd a French cocked hat on his forehead, a bunch of lace at his chin,
A coat of claret velvet, and breeches of brown doe-skin;
They fitted with never a wrinkle; his boots were up to the thigh!
And he rode with a jewelled twinkle,
His pistol butts a-twinkle,
His rapier hilt a-twinkle, under the jewelled sky.
Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed in the dark innyard,
And he tapped with his whip on the shutters, but all was locked and barred;
He whistled a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
But the landlord's black-eyed daughter,
Bess the landlord's daughter,
Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.
"One kiss, my bonny sweetheart, I'm after a prize tonight,
But I shall be back with the yellow gold before the morning light;
Yet if they press me sharply, and harry me through the day,
Then look for me by the moonlight, watch for me by the moonlight,
I'll come to thee by the moonlight, though hell shall bar the way.
He rose upright in the stirrups; he scarce could reach her hand
But she loosened her hair in the casement! His face burnt like a brand
As the black cascade of the perfume came tumbling over his breast;
And he kissed its waves in the moonlight,
(Oh, sweet waves in the moonlight!)
He tugged at his rein in the moonlight, and galloped away to the west.
He did not come at the dawning; he did not come at noon,
And out of the tawny sunset, before the rise o' the moon,
When the road was a gypsy's ribbon, looping the purple moor,
A red-coat troop came marching, marching, marching
King George's men came marching, up to the old inn-door.
They said no word to the landlord, they drank his ale instead,
But they gagged his daughter and bound her to the foot of her narrow bed;
Two of them knelt at the casement, with muskets at their side!
there was death at every window, hell at one dark window;
For Bess could see, through the casement,
The road that he would ride.
They had tied her up to attention, with many a sniggering jest;
They had bound a musket beside her, with the barrel beneath her breast!
"now keep good watch!" And they kissed her.
She heard the dead man say
"Look for me by the moonlight, watch for me by the moonlight
I'll come to thee by the moonlight, though hell shall bar the way!"
She twisted her hands behind her, but all the knots held good!
She writhed her hands till her fingers were wet with sweat or blood!
They stretched and strained in the darkness and the hours crawled by like years!
Till, now, on the stroke of midnight, cold, on the stroke of midnight,
The tip of one finger touched it! The trigger at least was hers!
Tlot-tlot! Had they heard it? The horses hoofs ring clear
Tlot-tlot, in the distance! Were they deaf that they did not hear?
Down the ribbon of moonlight, over the brow of the hill,
The highwayman came riding, riding, riding!
The red-coats looked to their priming!
She stood up straight and still!
Tlot in the frosty silence! Tlot, in the echoing night!
Nearer he came and nearer! Her face was like a light!
Her eyes grew wide for a moment! She drew one last deep breath,
Then her finger moved in the moonlight, her musket shattered the moonlight,
Shattered her breast in the moonlight and warned him with her death.
He turned; he spurred to the west; he did not know she stood
bowed, with her head o'er the musket, drenched with her own red blood!
Not till the dawn he heard it; his face grew grey to hear
How Bess, the landlord's daughter, the landlord's black-eyed daughter,
Had watched for her love in the moonlight, and died in the darkness there.
And back, he spurred like a madman, shrieking a curse to the sky
With the white road smoking behind him and his rapier brandished high!
Blood-red were the spurs in the golden noon; wine-red was his velvet coat,
when they shot him down on the highway, down like a dog on the highway,
And he lay in his blood on the highway, with the bunch of lace at his throat.
Still of a winter's night, they say, when the wind is in the trees,
When the moon is a ghostly galleon, tossed upon the cloudy seas,
When the road is a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,
A highwayman comes riding, riding, riding,
A highwayman comes riding, up to the old inn-door.