Chapter Seven: Everything Means Something
"Balls, this is just what we need," Walter cursed under his breath as the group of mercenaries moved closer. Their guns were pointed clearly at the Queen and Walter, paying no mind to the soldiers on the back of the small wooden cart. They had already shot the driver and the horse, leaving the Hero and soldiers to either surrender or plan some attack in which they would not get their heads blown off.
"The lady with the crown, step out of the cart now," One demanded, a swish of his gun indicating the direction she was to go. Sparrow sighed, stepping down from the cart and walking around to stand in front of the demanding man.
"Is there something I can help you men with? Maybe we can strike an agreement, if you would just –" She was cut off by a harsh blow to her face. She stumbled back with the force of the blow, supporting herself then by a hand on the cart. Walter had nearly jumped out of the cart then, but she had called him off. "I see you are not one for talking."
The mercenary moved closer, pressing the gun up under her chin. He pulled her close, eyeing her evilly.
"So the Queen goes out into the forests with no more then four guards to protect her?" He sneered, bringing her face closer to his forcefully. "A woman like you should have more then just four guards," He continued, his eyes glinting with flirtatiousness. Sparrow sighed, rolling her eyes.
"I really wouldn't piss her off, if I were you," Walter chimed from the cart. Just then, a gunshot sounded. All cringed, wondering who the victim of the shot would be.
The mercenary in front of the Queen fell to the ground and as soon as she was free to turn to the others that surrounded the cart, they all had their weapons on the ground. Sparrow sighed, pointing her gun towards the line of them.
"I've killed more then my fair share of you mercenaries, so I see no reason I should stop now. Give me a reason to spare your lives," She hissed, moving forward to get into a closer range of them. Walter joined her, the other soldiers pointing their guns at the mercenaries as well.
"We didn't mean you any harm, we swear it your Majesty!" One bumbling man piped up from the end of the line. Sparrow pushed past Walter and pushed her gun in his face.
"Surrounding a carriage and killing off the innocent diver as well as his horse does not give the image of meaning no harm. Now tell me, why the hell did you choose to try and rob us, kill us, whatever your motives might have been?" Sparrow was sneering her words into his face, not paying any mind to Walter. He was trying to get her to back down, but knew she had a wild and uncontrollable temper.
"W-we just followed him, ma'am," The same man bravely sputtered out. Sparrow sighed, pulling back from the group of men. She faced them, one hand on her hip and the other still pointing her gun towards them. In one breath, she started firing. The thin line of men fell to the ground, now limp and lifeless. Sparrow turned around, anger seething from her visibly now.
"Lillian," Walter put a hand on her shoulder, only to have her shake it off.
"Why do I have to do that, Walter? Why should I have to kill men who don't know better then to waste their lives?" She turned towards the man, anger turning into confusion and depression. Her eyes were welling with tears and she still had an angry fist clenched around her gun. Walter sighed, placing his hands on her shoulders.
"Those weren't men. They were humans turned monsters who enjoyed killing because it was fun," Walter reassured. Sparrow sighed, shifting uncomfortably on her feet.
"I've killed so many, Walter. Now, I took family from whoever loved them. I took away their lives, made it so that whomever they promised they would come back… now they have broken promises," Sparrow looked down to the ground pitifully. She pulled away from Walter, turning to start walking down the path that lead back to Oakfield. Walter rushed to follow her, as did the soldiers.
"Lillian, those men knew there was a possibility they would die today when they set foot outside of their houses," Walter stated as he reached her side. She looked away from him, meeting eyes with the forest that surrounded them. Suddenly, she stopped in her tracks. She placed a hand on Walters arm, pulling him to a stop as well. "What is it?" He asked, trying to follow her gaze into the forest.
She didn't reply, simply pulled out her gun and fired a single shot into the thick leaves. Instead of a hollow ring sounding out through the forest, the bullet sounded as though it hit something, though it could have just been a tree. And then the highwaymen surrounded them.
"Today is just not our day," She growled, putting her gun away and grabbing her sword. "Don't shoot, they're too fast for bullets. Use your swords," She called over her shoulder to the soldiers and Walter. She lunged into combat with the nearest one, successfully slamming him against a tree and giving her the chance to go and help the inexperienced younger soldiers. Before she could reach them, two were already on their knees at the mercy of the highwayman. Sparrow stabbed him in the gut before he could finish them off.
She turned at the last second, receiving a blow to the gut as she doubled over. Walter dispatched of his attacker, rushing to her side.
"Lillian!" He shouted as she barely dodged an attack with a sword. She instead got a nasty cut on her thigh.
"Damn it, Walter, pay attention behind you!" She shouted, ducking from another attack as best she could. Walter was pushed to the ground under the foot of one highwayman, Sparrow being thrown to the ground beside him. She gasped, lurching up just in time to see the three soldiers receive their ending blow. Walter pulled her to him, putting his body in front of hers as best as possible.
"Young Queen of Albion, our leader would very much like to have a word with you," One masked man sneered. Sparrow had buried her face in Walters' back, crying over the loss of the soldiers lightly.
"Tell him to go to hell," She growled, standing up only to be shoved painfully back down to her knees. She gasped as the gash on her thigh started pulsating with pain. Walter tried desperately to angle himself in front of her, both as his duty as her personal guard, and as her lover. His eyes were meeting the masked man's fiercely, even though they were both kneeling before the remaining two men.
"We sure do have a feisty ruler these days," The man pushed Walter aside forcefully, the other man holding him down. The first man snagged Lillian's face in his hand, pulling them closer. "But then, you were the one who killed my father. You were also the one who put our little… organization in the gutters when you defeated Lucian. It really has been hell since you took up ruling this new… peaceful Albion," The man hissed. Lillian withered into his touch, her eyes looking up to him as if she were completely heartbroken.
"I killed your father?" She asked in a whisper of a voice. Walter lurched forward as he realized that she was doing it again. She was slinking back into her silent, Sparrow state. She was letting the guilt eat her away again.
"Yes, but you probably don't remember him. It was on your way to Brightwood, ready to go to Wraithmarsh. You probably also don't remember the small boy hidden in the forest and forced to watch his father die," The man spat, throwing her to the ground after a harsh slap to her face. She fell in a limp heap at his feet, staring up at him through tear-clouded eyes.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry, but you don't have to forgive me. You deserve to kill me, after all that I've put you through," She whispered, still looking up to him as he shoved the blade of his sword in her face.
"Don't you lay a hand on her!" Walter shouted, struggling against the other man.
"Oh, is this your personal guard? Sir… Walter, was it?" The first recalled, changing his glance to lock with Walters'. Sparrow lay still on the ground, not moving from the spot to which the man had thrown her. "Do I also sense something more between you two?" He asked, teasingly slicing a cut across Walters' cheek. Walter hissed in pain, watching as Sparrow tensed.
"What do you want from me?" She asked in a venomous voice. The man looked back to her, sword still pointed to Walter.
"Oh, just the sweet revenge that my father so deserves," He replied dryly, as if killing would be no big deal.
Sparrow slowly moved into a kneeling position, her eyes connecting with Walters' for the briefest second. He saw hell in those eyes, if even for a split second. The next instant, both men were on fire as she stood up, glowing a brilliant blue. Walter lurched away from the flaming man who had been holding him, pulling out of the way of her wild flames.
Eventually, tears started to cascade down her delicate face. She fell to her knees, slapping her hands to the ground weakly as flames pulsated from her still. Walter moved closer, placing a hand on her back to let her know he was there. She stopped the flames, throwing herself against his chest and weeping uncontrollably.
She was a monster, a true monster. How many families had she done this to now? The man had plainly said that she had made him watch his father being killed. She had put a small child through hell and didn't even know it until it was her turn to kill the boy. She was a monster who had been used for someone else's personal gain.
Angrily, she pulled her head off of Walter's chest. The tears were still falling down her face, her breathing heavy and labored. She turned her head to the sky, calling out angrily.
"Teresa! Teresa! I know you're watching this!" She stood then, grabbing her sword from the ground. Walter was watching her, trying desperately to stop her before she went to far. But then, a red-cloaked woman stood behind them both. Sparrow whirled, her eyes on fire as she glared at the woman.
"What the hell did you use me for? Why me? Why did this have to be me?" She yelled at the woman, swinging towards her angrily with her Katana. Teresa dodged the object lithely, moving to the other side of the Hero.
"Sparrow, I want you to calm down. You cannot think clearly like this," Teresa said in a calming voice. Sparrow didn't listen.
"I trusted you! You were like a mother to me! Why the hell would you use me for something like this? I trusted you!" She shouted, lunging for the woman again. This time, Walter snaked his arms around her waist. He held her there with one arm as he moved his other hand to crush her wrist with just enough pressure to cause her to let her sword drop. He held her still, pulling her closer so that he could talk to her.
"Lillian, listen to her. You're not thinking clearly. It's been a rough day –" He was cut off as she whirled out of his arms to glare to him, tears staining her face still.
"A rough day? Can you say that to those three over here who so willingly volunteered to escort us home? Can you tell them that this has 'just been a rough day'? Can you tell their families that they just 'had a rough day'?" She was practically screaming at them both, her frustration evident all over her. She was not the same person she had been two hours ago. She was not collected anymore, and Walter was beginning to see the tormented Hero no one else knew about.
"Sparrow, please, this is all just so fresh. Let's get you calmed down before we do anything else," Teresa spoke calmly again, daringly moving to the Hero's side. She wrapped her arms around the Hero's shoulders, pulling her into a motherly embrace. Sparrow crumpled into her arms, wrapping her arms around the slight woman.
"Mother, I just don't know what to do anymore," Sparrow whispered as she went completely limp and both women fell to their knees. Walter moved up behind the Hero, putting a hand on her back and rubbing reassuring circles.
"My dear Sparrow, it will all be alright in the end. Everything has a purpose, even all of this killing you so despise. It was all for a greater cause, was it not? And now, you are living the life that you wished for with your sister. You wished to live in the castle. Imagine how jealous Rose is right now," Teresa smiled under her hood, pulling the Hero into her lap just like a mother would. Walter could see that the ten years they had spent together in a gypsy camp had forged a strong bond between them.
Sparrow pulled away, wiping her eyes with the back of her hands. She turned to Walter and pulled him into a gentle hug.
"I'm sorry you had to see me like this," She apologized softly, letting him cage her to his chest and kiss the top of her head lightly.
"If it means that you got it out of your system, so be it. I really do hate seeing you like this, though," He whispered, kissing the top of her forehead again. She smiled slightly, looking back to Teresa from his arms.
"I'm sorry I was so angry at you," She smiled weakly, letting the blind seeress know she really meant it. Teresa jus smiled, laughing a bit.
"Oh, I've been through worse, my dear Sparrow," The seeress leaned in and pecked the girl's cheek, then vanishing before their eyes.
Everything means something in the end, Hero.
