~xi~
Who's a Heretic Now?
"I'm sorry?"
"For your sake, it would be unwise to stay in Nottingham Castle. Just for this week."
Looking forward as she fastened her grip on her mare's reins, she fought the bristle rising on her back at having him order her such a thing. "Tell me why you brought me with you, again?" It wasn't often he asked for her counsel, especially when he didn't give much of an explanation as to why.
He rolled his eyes and refolded his arms at his chest. "You have a good eye for horse flesh, as well as your… temperament with animals. I am going to buy a horse; simple enough." If she made him openly say that he needed her advice… He hadn't gotten that far just yet.
"And you need me to choose which one she will like." She did not miss the slight tenseness in his jaw when she spoke, and she looked at him curiously, "Non?"
"If I didn't need your advice then I wouldn't have asked you come." He grumbled, looking away and pretending to find fascination with the fence on his right side.
She looked away as well to valiantly hide a laugh, though that was for naught. She shook her head and chuckled. "Whatever you say, love." She mused.
"Don't call me that." He said cattily even as his ears tingled and he hated the feeling on instinct.
"Y'know, coming from a woman, buying gifts doesn't entirely win her over. Jewelry; it might work, if she fancies it more than she does you… Horses; that can either depend if her animal is lame and needs to be replaced, or if it's just a token of love." Ella commented, looking at him once or twice to see he was listening. She patted her mare's muzzle gently and added jovially, "Horses, though, that's where you need a second opinion."
Guy gave her a look before letting his eyes wander to her chestnut mare and asked, "So which unfortunate fellow gave you your horse?"
"Papa did, before he died. Spent what money he had left to buy her from a neighbor whose mare had just had a filly." Ella replied quietly, earning a nicker from her mare that she smiled at and left a peck on her muzzle.
He quieted at the mention of her father and nodded a little; it certainly made sense as to why she always kept her mare well-kept and taken care of.
"So why have you forbade me from entering the castle?" She asked then, pulling him from his observations.
He looked at her with a narrowing of his eyes, "You've heard nothing, then?"
"The chamber maids said something about a foreign friend of the Sheriff… That's all I know." She replied with a shrug.
Give or take that was the gist of things. Knowing she would most likely get it out of him soon, he exhaled and explained quietly, "A Saracen noble has come to Nottingham in the hopes of talking of peace with Prince John. Thinks the Sheriff will agree with him."
Ella paused to look at him with slight surprise, "He's mad if he thinks that is what the Sheriff wants. Prince John is of like mind, no doubt. Hasn't done a thing about the state of England now, has he?" She returned quietly, before another thought came to her and she looked at him again, "Why have you forbid me from the castle while he's here, then?" She asked.
Guy tugged on her wrist to urge they continue walking as she had stopped in the middle of the street, and he replied, "Saracens don't exactly hold women in the highest of regards and no doubt he agrees to that. Much less, I imagine, if he sees you walking about in men's wear."
"And I thought Englishmen were misogynists…" Ella muttered, looking up at him with a wry expression. "If I wanted to parade about in dresses, I might as well have stayed in France… It is becoming of you to wish to keep me from trouble." Her wry expression faltered to be replaced with a sort of softened one, "Thank you, Guy."
Guy noted the softened look on her face and he huffed quietly, smirking a little. "Don't mention it."
"Marian!"
Looking in the direction of the voice, she brought her steed to a pause, surprised to see the archer present. "Ella, I thought you were in Nottingham today." She said.
"Guy's in one of his moods again, and my services weren't needed in the castle… How's our boy doing?" She shrugged, smiling at her and stepping closer to touch the muzzle of her brown stallion.
The younger woman smiled back and watched her new horse nicker at the archer's affection, and she replied, "Doing well, actually. I was going to put him through his paces, in a moment."
"Sounds fun… Would it be too much if I asked to come?" The archer wondered, looking at the stallion's mistress with a raised brow.
A frown slightly pulled at her lips, and Marian glanced away at the forest beyond Locksley, "Well, I had intended to do it alone. I must see to an errand, as well, before coming back home." She admitted.
Ella brushed strands of hair from her brow and nodded. "In the woods? Can't expect to go it alone… besides, knowing Guy, he wouldn't like knowing I let you run off like that." She tilted her head slightly, her blue stare that met her green reminding the younger woman that she knew just who she was intending to visit.
Their stares held for a fraction of a second before she glanced at the forest a second time.
"I imagine you wish to join me for your own reason?" Marian asked, arching a brow.
"Curiosity is a cruel curse sometimes." Ella shrugged, folding her arms at her chest.
"Indeed it is." She exhaled and hoisted herself into the saddle of her horse, allowing the archer to join her, before the bay stallion galloped off into Sherwood Forest.
"What is the real reason you were basically banned from being in the castle?"
"A Saracen bloke is visiting, hoping to find the Sheriff and Prince John will agree with him that peace is needed to end the Holy War."
"He is asking for aid from two people that don't wish for peace."
"Neither is his own; you think they're having tea in the middle of Jerusalem?"
Marian slowed her horse to a halt as she spotted Robin and Alan as they descended the small incline to greet her, and with a whinny the bay stallion stopped.
"Nice legs!" Alan commented just as Marian dropped down from the saddle, and at her wry look, he added, "I meant the horse."
"For a second I thought you were complimenting me." Ella jibed blandly as she hopped down from the saddle, not missing the stiffened glare that both Robin and Alan sported. She rolled her eyes. "Gentlemen."
"Couldn't shake off Gisborne's guard dog for a second?" Alan wondered as he looked at Marian.
Marian blew strands of hair from her brow and replied, "You don't see Gisborne here, do you?" She arched a brow.
Robin kept an eye on the female archer, "So why'd you tag along? We're not accepting French traitors." He asked.
Ella narrowed her eyes and arched a brow, "Before you loose an arrow in my forehead, I didn't come to kill you off… You are an irritant, yes, but I have better things to think on. The Sheriff has a new friend, rather a pawn, in Nottingham who's visiting. Surely you know by now, non?" She folded her arms at her chest.
"Lord Malik, nephew of Saladin." Robin clarified, seeing her brow lift higher at hearing whose family the dignitary belonged to. He nodded his head in the direction of their camp, and she and Marian followed as Alan saw to their steed.
"Saladin's nephew? No wonder Vaisey is treating him like a spoiled child. He won't agree with Malik in regards to peace talks. And he's mad if he thinks Prince John will agree with him." Ella scoffed.
"I thought you said you didn't intend to kill off the royal family." Robin wondered, looking at her.
Ella rolled her eyes, "I don't. Try and forgive a lowly refugee for wanting to know more of the country she flees to… Dunno what it is she sees in you." She muttered the last bit under her breath.
"While you two seem to be getting along swimmingly, there's still one question; how exactly is Gisborne making money out of a visiting ambassador? It doesn't make sense, does it?" Marian spoke up, ignoring Robin's scowl while Ella adopted a thoughtful expression as she listened to her.
"It's a ransom." Robin deduced.
"Malik is under the impression that he's an honored guest." Ella commented.
Marian chimed in, "then it'll be a fat ransom when his people come to fetch him." She took note of the slight paleness in the archer's lovely face and frowned slightly.
"I've had a bad feeling about our visitor since Guy mentioned it…" Ella muttered before she looked away from the camp when distantly hearing a rustle of leaves. It seemed Robin heard it too, as he had noticed the stiff look on her face that had turned in the direction. She dashed off first to the noise, hearing the five men follow shortly, until she came to a halt at the end of the incline that dropped below onto another path that wrapped around the camp.
Dropping down onto her knees to have less of a chance of being spotted, she lifted her head to spot a rather odd carriage that resembled something a royal head would be carried in by their servants with pale blue curtains on all four sides, and a group of four women performing some dance ritual not far from the carriage contraption. Her eyes narrowed at the sight, noting the quartet were dressed in robes that were the same color of blue, and she tilted her head a little.
"Doesn't look like a ransom to me," Alan commented quietly.
Djaqq shook her head when the female archer looked at her, "This isn't a ransom."
Ella watched the fifth person of the group, a man in dark red robes with a turban on his head, step up to the carriage and remove one of the curtains to reveal a black illustration of a Crusader; she briefly recalled that she had used those more often than one would imagine when she was younger… Her face paled.
"Robin, this isn't right; Muslims are not permitted to worship a human image…" Djaqq commented quietly.
"It's not a portrait." Ella agreed softly, somehow surprised she could find her voice after recognizing what this was.
Alan scoffed in the same tone, "Obviously not; it's not a masterpiece, is it?"
Ella kept her eyes on the quartet, ignoring the outlaws with her, as their movement remained fluid and slow like the river… right before their formation broke, and the quartet scrambled into another formation to then chuck several throwing knives at the wooden target. "Assassins." She broke away to leave the edge of the incline, returning to camp at a stride. If she didn't warn the castle of what was to come, there would be bloodshed… and she didn't sit well with that weighing on her conscience.
"Where're you going, Ella?" Marian asked as she watched the archer nearly sprint past her to the edge of the camp that led to Locksley.
"Saracen assassins, they're on the way to Nottingham. I've got to warn Guy, and Malik… It would be best if you stayed with Robin for the meantime, Marian." Ella answered as she stopped when hearing her name, seeing her green eyes widen slightly at the grave news.
"Ella if you go there, there's a chance you'll die… Don't you realize that?" Marian asked as she approached her, seeing the archer knew what she was implying.
She sighed quietly and flexed her knuckles absently, looking at her friend, "I go because of the same reason you linger with him." She nodded her head in the direction of the camp. At seeing her gaze lower as she recognized what she meant, she stepped closer to clap a hand on her shoulder. "Stay safe." She gave her a brief smile before turning away to take off at a sprint in the direction of Locksley.
A neigh sounded from the stone courtyard as both men were stepping out of the castle to welcome their guests. The chestnut mare skidded to a halt with the familiar archer on her back, who had a look of relief on her face as she jumped off her back to land on the cobblestone as the mare was escorted from the courtyard by one of the stable hands.
Blue eyes having briefly widened at seeing the female archer present, they narrowed as he stepped away from his employer to greet her as she seemed to be regaining her breath. "I told you to stay away from the castle." He reminded pointedly as she straightened from having gripped her knees.
"Saracens… they're not here for ransom." She breathed as she straightened up, seeing a glint of confusion in his eyes, and she added after taking a gulp of air, "Malik, they've come for him… To kill him." She reported.
He frowned and shook his head a little, trying to make sense of her words. "What are you talking about, Ella? The Sheriff is expecting to be paid for our imprisoning the prince, I just sent him to the dungeons not ten minutes ago…"
"Guy!" She snapped, watching him stiffen at her tone, and a grim look fell on her lovely face as she stated slowly, "They're Saladin's assassins… They'll kill the prince to silence him, and for all I know, us as well." A pleading look began to show in her piercing eyes. "You've got to believe me." She whispered.
"Ella…" Guy began quietly as he soaked it in, and he started to say something when the gate doors opened again for their visitors. He looked in that direction and distinctly heard her growl a curse, before he looked at her, "you're armed, then." He was not referring to her bow.
Ella nodded, meeting his gaze to see there was a likewise grimness in his blue orbs. "Be on your guard." She replied, watching him return to the Sheriff's side, and she shortly followed, keeping a bit behind him out of a vain effort to keep unseen.
The five foreigners brought their carriage to a halt as Vaisey nearly spirited to the supposed ransom they held in their possession for the prince. Guy followed the Sheriff as Ella was at his heels, the lattermost shooting a glance at the man in the turban as he had greeted the Sheriff only to be brushed off as his mind was not on formalities. She quickly looked away and clasped her hands at her back as she sidled to the nobleman's side when the foreigner glanced back at feeling her gaze.
"You don't have an, erm, key for this, do you?" Vaisey asked after taking a closer look at the black box holding the ransom inside.
The man seemed to pretend he was clueless, instead replying, "A sample of the treasure, perhaps?" He withdrew from a small pouch a diamond the size of a button to show to the Sheriff, watching his eyes glitter with greed at seeing the gem.
"Ooh very lovely… but I'd much rather have the key!" Vaisey said pointedly, practically absorbed with trying to see if he could open the box that he didn't see the mildly disgruntled look on the Saracen's face.
"We must see our prince, first." The Saracen stated plainly.
Vaisey replied off-handedly, "Very well, then; Gisborne, show him to the dungeons…"
"I cannot leave the women to fend for themselves can I?" He asked as the Sheriff straightened when not hearing footsteps leading away from the carriage, earning both Guy and Vaisey to share a glance, whereas Ella remained silent and kept her eyes on him.
"And here I was hoping to not deal with formalities…" Vaisey muttered with a rueful scoff, stepping away from the box and away from the carriage, "If you would leave your weapons here; Gisborne, Ella, have the prince be brought to my office." He instructed as the Saracen handed his curved blade to the nobleman.
It was not long before all were soon in the Sheriff's office; Ella took a glance at the four women from her place next to Guy's right and then at their leader to note the group of five were silent almost like the grave. She was beginning to feel the tension seep into the room as they awaited the prince to be brought forth from the dungeons.
No sooner did a few minutes pass the doors of the office opened and Malik was shoved into the room by two guards. His eyes and the eyes of the Saracen bloke met, and a look of recognition seemed to pass between them.
Malik's face paled, "No…"
"Take him to the Great Hall," Vaisey ordered the two guards who proceeded to drag the prince out and close the doors behind their leave.
"You have yet to hand him over to me." The Saracen clipped as he addressed the Sheriff.
"And you haven't given me the money, yet." Vaisey returned with a gesture to the box.
The Saracen's gaze took on a steely glint for a second before it fell away, and he nodded, "You leave me no choice then… Here is the key." Showing a thick key, he proceeded to place it on the same small table that the box stood on.
Guy earned a nod from Vaisey to open the box, but before he moved forward he caught the worried glance from Ella before her eyes flew to the box as he then approached it to open the box with the offered key.
Ella looked from the near-immobile women to the box with narrowed eyes, watching the lid be lifted just as a small contraption slowly popped up, making a small sound of gears grinding; a puzzled look shone on Guy's face and Vaisey straightened up from his chair as their eyes watched the contraption emerge from the box.
A small 'ding' sounded as the four women simultaneously pulled a shawl to cover their mouths and noses, and whatever liquid was inside the vial of the contraption poured into a small plate; smoke began to come up from the poured liquid as the female archer lifted part of her hood to cover her mouth and nose, watching a small blast of fire pop into the air that caused the ones who hadn't covered their faces to begin coughing and hacking as it served for a diversion as the women proceeded to cut down the guards near them with their blades.
Inhaling on the clean air lingering on her cloak's hood, the archer narrowly ducked as the woman near her cut down the guards to then round on her; drawing one of her longer daggers from her back, she parried a sharp swing from the assassin, the blades clashing and screeching vainly. Her eyes started to sting and her enemy seemed to take note of that as more smoke billowed into the air, punting her blade away only to send her own sailing where the archer's chest had been before she had leaned back enough so the blade narrowly missed her nose; her left leg shot out to kick at the assassin's stomach and knock her back just long enough for her to grip her dagger and straighten, the cloth of her hood in her free hand as she inhaled the clean air again only to hold her breath and lunge at the assassin, parrying swiftly with one hand and keeping one eye on the other assassins in the room.
Having enough of the archer's defensive blows, the assassin gave an undulation that made the hair on the archer's neck and arms stand on end, as she swung her blades in a crisscrossing motion that sought to take off her head.
A loud 'clang' sounded as Ella caught her two blades with one dagger; their eyes held and there was a fierce clash of anger and steel in their caught stares, before the archer's free dagger rammed into her chest.
The assassin's shocked brown eyes held the archer's stone cold blue for a second before the blade was yanked from her sternum with a sickening 'squelch' as she fell.
The other three assassins, having noted the death of their sister, soon charged at the archer who proceeded to book it out of the room at top speed, ducking and running around their thrown knives and other sharp weapons as she raced in the direction of the hall. Once out of the office she was free to breathe again, and she wheezed as she scrambled into the hall. Throwing the door open, she nearly flew down the staircase to the hall and was surprised to see the outlaws present, along with Vaisey and Malik.
"Ella!" Robin said in mild surprise as she skidded to a halt and gripped her knees to regain the breath she had lost.
"Problem; big problem!" Ella panted, straightening as she heard the undulating of the assassins that were on her tail, and she groaned as she drew both daggers from her back.
"You've led them right to us, you stupid girl!" Vaisey snapped at her.
"Only because I killed one of them, yes!" Ella snapped annoyedly, glaring at him for a moment, before she flexed her grip on her daggers as the sounds of swords clanging and men's pained cries resounded from outside of the hall.
"Get behind me," Robin instructed the prince who proceeded to shuffle behind him.
"Got any bright ideas?" Vaisey wondered blandly.
Ella snorted, "Save the banter for another day, shall we?"
"Djaqq, John, Much, over there," Robin gestured to the stairwell and the trio went as told; he looked at the remainder, "Alan, Ella, Vaisey, with me."
Vaisey scoffed as he moved to the outlaw's left, "Me?"
"Would you rather die first?" Ella wondered as she stood near Alan and cocked a brow when earning a glare from her employer.
The odd group waited for what seemed an eternity before the doors flew open and the trio of assassins barged in, pausing to shrug off their outer garb to then descend the steps with more undulating, their attention focusing on Malik and then on Ella as she defended the prince.
"Oi!" John tapped his staff onto the floor, causing the women to turn about and brandish their blades as a method of intimidation.
Ella brandished her daggers as their three sets of eyes drifted to her now and then, "Parry their blows and then strike, gentlemen." She advised bitingly.
At last their intimidation method ceased as the tension was near electric in the room, and the rag-tag group of seven advanced as the assassins were ready for their attack. Blades sang and clashed and screeched as they collided in a flurry of movement.
One of the women swung in an arc at Ella's neck, missing as the latter skirted away only to swing her own dagger at her enemy's briefly open back. The archer and assassin's blades met with a vain screech as the latter had blocked her attack, twisting about to stab at the former's chest; stepping back, Ella lunged with a growl and twisted on her heel to block and swing at the assassin, being punted away sharply so her left dagger went flying from her grasp.
The assassin made to deliver a fatal blow only for her enemy to twirl out of the way on the balls of her right foot and then stab her blade into the assassin's belly from behind.
Panting softly, the archer dug the blade deeper before yanking back as the assassin fell to the floor; she exhaled and then spat to the side, distinctly hearing the sound of air hitting a blade that was coming from her blind spot.
Ella swerved out of the way of the third assassin's dagger that had almost severed her head, backing away to the front of the hall near Robin and Malik; she bared her lone dagger defensively as her lip curled, her eyes locking on the third assassin's brown glare. At hearing a different undulation, she looked to see Much was the one who did it, and looked up at the staircase to see another of the outlaws –poor man looked like he had been through hell and back if she were to wager—having hopped onto the railing before he dropped down to land nimbly on the floor with two swords on hand, facing off against the remaining two assassins.
The strange outlaw brandished his blades as the two assassins followed suit, before the fighting commenced again.
The archer watched the flurry of movement between the stranger and the assassins, and she was in awe of how quick and deadly his strikes were, much more accurate than her own had been. For a moment she envied him, before she was pulled from her observations with a slight yelp as she was pulled along with Malik and the others by Robin's grip on her arm as they took the diversion to make for the stairwell.
The stranger cut down one of the assassins with a quick stab at her chest, and shortly disposed of the fourth assassin by slitting her throat; both women fell to the floor with a 'thud'.
"Jesus, Mary and Joseph…" Ella whispered in awe.
"Get him, that prince, far away from here!" Vaisey snapped, still trying to regain his breath, as he emerged from where he had been hiding under the table.
Malik scoffed, "the sentiment is mutual."
Vaisey added as the outlaw was escorting his comrade to the stairwell, "And Locksley, business as usual tomorrow, yeah?"
"I look forward to it… We should do this again, Ella." Robin nodded, looking at the archer as she stepped away to retrieve her fallen dagger from the floor.
Ella looked at him and huffed, nodding. "In another century perhaps." She flicked her blades free of residual blood and proceeded to return them to their sheaths strapped to her back.
Another century worked just fine for her… She was exhausted.
an: riveting chap, wasn't it? so yeah i'm going to try and update this every other day. like i updated on the 21st, so this'll be.. two days later? i'll post on tumblr if the next chapter takes a bit longer to post, okay? the link to my blog's on my profile, fyi. most of the crap on there is scattered but there's some pretty cool stuff too. feel free to check it out! ^^