Willow was out collecting early spring herbs. It felt wonderful to be out and about again after being cooped up for months. She hadn't seen Merlin collecting herbs the rest of last fall, and Granny had gotten far too busy with a string of ill patients all winter to make up reasons to send her to Camelot. Willow dearly wished she would see Merlin, though she schooled herself against it. What kind of future spinster longs to see a pretty-faced boy? She told herself she and Merlin were friends and she just missed her friend, but she knew it was a lie. The long winter had softened her toward the idea of romance. Merlin was just so likable.
She was enjoying the fresh air so much she didn't rush through her collecting, but made a nice morning of it. Then she heard voices coming up behind her. She looked up to see four soldiers in the green livery of King Uriens of the Isles, the neighboring kingdom. They were riding through King Uther's territory. Willow didn't know if they were friend or foe, but took no chances and made a beeline for a large tree to hide behind.
A shout went up from one of the soldiers, "Hey, what was that? I think I just saw a girl run behind that tree."
Willow ran as fast as she could heading for low hanging branches that would be a challenge for their horses. Before long she heard the muffled pounding of hooves on the soft forest floor. They surrounded her. She tried to make for the nearest climbable tree, but one of them was off of his horse and grabbed her around the waist before she could reach it.
Willow screamed, "Get off of me! Help! Help! Leave me alone!"
The other soldiers had soon dismounted and were closing in on her, laughing. One said, "Oh lookee here. We've caught ourselves a pretty little thing."
Willow screamed again as the speaker lifted her chin up and moved the hair away from her face.
He said, "Ewww. A real pretty little thing. We can't let her go, or she'll sound the alarm. We'll have to kill her."
The one holding her said, "But we can have a little fun first, can't we Bertram?"
Bertram said, "I don't see why not? She'll be dead soon anyway. It'd be a waste to let her die a virgin. If she even is one."
"Don't you dare touch me?" Willow said through clenched teeth.
Bertram smiled. "Oh, we'll touch you alright, girl. We'll have our fun with you before we kill you."
One of the other two who hung back said, "Bert, we have a job to do. We have to stay focused."
Bertram said, "This won't take but a minute, Turk. But if you don't want a piece this ripe little cherry, suit yourself, but I don't believe in wasting beauty. Bring her over here, behind these bushes."
Willow wished she had strong magic like Merlin, but she did what she could. She called to a bird nearby with a few whistles and asked it to bring help to her. Then she willed the bird to understand and felt the magic work. The sparrow flew away. She knew it wasn't likely to find anyone and bring them here in time, but maybe they'd find her dead body and guess about King Uriens's soldiers. "Why are you here?" she demanded of the soldiers.
"We're a scouting party," the soldier holding her said.
Bertram smacked him in the head. "Don't tell her."
From behind her, he said, "What's it matter? She'll be dead soon anyway."
Bertram told Turk, "Stand guard. I don't want any surprises." Then advanced toward Willow and the man holding her.
Willow screamed like she'd never screamed before.
"Shut her up," Bertram said. A hand smelling of onion grabbed her mouth. She bit it and screamed more. The hand grabbed again, harder in a way she couldn't bite it. Her screams were muffled. Bertram laughed and put hands on her body groping her.
Turk called. "Somebody's coming."
Bertram leaned into her. "Kill them, you idiot."
"Bert, it's two men. They're on horses. They're armed and coming straight toward us. Get out there and fight, you fool." Turk called and horses' hooves pounded the soft forest earth.
Bertram swore and moved away from Willow. "Kill her, you big mouth blabber. She knows too much. And make it quick."
The sound of swords clanging against swords came from the other side of the bushes. Bertram drew his sword and went out to fight.
The man holding Willow tried to keep a hold of her while he drew his sword. Willow stomped on his foot and struggled to free herself by knocking into him. He fell back and she stepped away a few paces. She dropped to the ground in a squat to grab a heavy branch and pivoted to face him. He had his sword out and looked angry.
The sound of fighting beyond the bushes was fierce.
A small sparrow dove at him. Willow cheered. "You came back." She took advantage of the distraction to hit the man in the face with the branch. He fell sideways. Willow grabbed at his sword while he was off balance. She managed to make him drop his sword. As he righted himself and grabbed for the sword she stepped on it and hit him with the branch as hard as she could over his head.
He grunted and fell forward on his hands and knees. Willow lifted the branch to hit him again, but he dove at her legs and bowled her over. She fell hard losing her grip on her branch. The man was on top of her legs and then on top of her body before she could get up. She screamed. He put his hand over her mouth again. She bit his hand again. He got himself up into a sitting position straddling her and hit her in the side of the head with his balled fist. "Stop biting me, bitch."
Pain in her head made her angry. She struggled to get away.
Feet came from behind the bushes and a sword point sprouted from the man's stomach. He fell heavily on top of Willow, bleeding over her. She pushed with all of her strength to get him off of her. His dead weight was too great, but she managed to half slide out from under him, enough to sit up. She saw that her rescuer had fallen against a tree. He was covered in blood and was sliding down the trunk of the tree.
Willow slipped her feet out from under her attacker's body and ran to the man who rescued her. He wore Camelot colors. Then she realized that her rescuer was Prince Arthur. He slipped sideways. She caught him and eased him to the ground.
"Are you alright?" She asked the prince, but he was unconscious. Willow got up and looked around. On the other side of the bushes lay four dead men. One was in Camelot colors. Willow kicked the three enemy soldiers to make sure they were dead. She kicked Bertram especially hard. She knelt beside the soldier from Camelot. He was definitely dead.
"I'm out of danger, but the prince isn't. I can't let him die. I really wish Merlin was here to heal him fast. This is going to be difficult." She returned to the prince's side and unbuckled his armor. "Sorry for the familiarity with your body, my lord, but I must see what healing you need."
Once the breastplate was off, she could see that the largest wound was in his side just below his rib cage. "That's bad."
The sparrow landed on a twig just above the ground.
"Little friend. You've been such a big help so far. Can I ask you one more favor? Can you fly to Granny Mill and tell her I need help." She whistled to the bird then willed her magic to make the bird understand. She felt her magic work. The little sparrow flew away. "I wonder if the little thing even knows how to get to Granny?"