Twisted Justice

Chapter 2… A Noble Deed

Robin had reports of enemy movement from every scout she sent out. Worried for the incoming force, but afraid more for her own men than she was for the men-at-arms, Robin had one man wait at High Falls for the expected force to arrive.

Having heard the sound of a battle a day ago, she wasn't surprised when the man came back alone.

"You weren't followed?" She asked him. Her golden, hawk like eyes watching him intently.

"Don't insult me." He said, with a lopsided grin.

She tried to return it. Failing, miserably, she turned away. "John!" Her cry rang through the camp, no further.

"Hold your horses." John muttered, coming forwards. "What's wrong?"

"They didn't show." She said bluntly. "Do we search for them or wait at Rocky Hollow?"

"Neither." His own face hardened. "If they're still alive, and if they make it to Rocky Hollow, then they'll be tracked. We can't be found."

Robin ran fingers through hair. "And looking is too dangerous." She put hands on her hips, looking up towards the canopy above. "I can't just leave em." She said finally. Turning, she looked at John. "We've been living like outlaws for how many months? Seven?"

"Nine." He told her quietly. "Almost ten."

Lips curling a little, she shook her head. "In that time we've lost more than thirty strong men. We're weakening each day. We need the force that's coming in. Every able-bodied man is another back, another set of hands."

John blinked. "Nice speech. Doesn't change anything though."

Robin looked at John. She had known him since she was ten. He was the hunt master's son at Fief Avonsleigh.

But he didn't know her as anything but Robin, the scrawny, boy-ish looking youth with good eyes, quick hands, and a quicker mind.

No one did.

"I'll go." She said after hesitating.

"Hmm?" John turned back to her. "Go where?"

"I'll go to Rocky Hollow." She hadn't spoken in haste. She rarely did. It was one thing that had made the older men listen to her.

"You're insane." He told her flatly, frowning, not sure if she was serious or not.

Robin shrugged. "I know the valley. If anyone can save their lives, then keep em safe, its me." When John opened his mouth to argue, Robin lifted an eyebrow. Though she might be the leader, without John to back her up, she felt vulnerable. So she now chose not to pull rank. Knowing John, he'd probably shrug it off anyway. "Do we, or do we not need every pair of hands we can get?" She asked him, sharply.

He nodded, not looking pleased.

"And am I, or am I not the best tracker and archer?"

Again, John nodded.

"And do I, or do I not have the best chance of keeping a group of men safe in this forest?" She continued ruthlessly.

"By the Black God! Robin, send another, if you must. Don't tell me you're fool enough to leave us?" John looked both surprised and…betrayed.

"Only for a few nights, until I think its safe to return." Robin told him. "No more than three, I dare say."

"Do I have a choice?" John asked her bitterly. "What happens if we're attacked?"

"We haven't been attacked at our campsite in…" Robin squinted. "Three months."

"Then we'd be about due to slip up, wouldn't we?" John asked her angrily. Suddenly he shook his head. "No, you're right…" He turned to face away from her, composing himself. "Get yourself killed and I'll never speak to you again, d'you hear?" He told her.

"I'll try my best not to die." Robin told him with a small smile.

"Well, get going. I'll tell the camp tonight. It's a good days walk to Rock Hollow, if my memory serves me."

"Stay safe." Robin told John, taking up her bow and quiver. Onto her back went a lightweight pack. "And try not to do anything I wouldn't do."

"Hurry up. I won't rest easy until we have you shooting for our side again."

Robin made excellent time, reaching Rocky Hollow with moonrise.

Finding her way to the hidden hollow that had given the area its name, she pushed her pack in front of her, going headfirst into a hollow in an old tree.

Her bow caught, and she had to wiggle a little. When her pack slid forwards, landing with a thump on the ground before her, she had the weirdest urge to grin. Following it, she landed on the soft dirt. Standing, she brushed her hands and knees off, looking around.

Rocky Hollow it had been called. A cavern said to once house Weiryn, god of hunt. A tree grew before the hole, planted their by the god himself, to guard his home. Someone had carved through it, so it was the only way in, or out. A good hiding spot, if the enemy didn't know of it.

Robin was certain the mercenaries didn't.

She set up her meager camp, spreading her bedroll, setting her provisions to the side. Taking her bow and quiver, she turned towards the tunnel, and began the wiggle up again.

She would await the party, watching from the tree.

Robin slept nestled against the strong wood, body draped easily across a thick, strong branch.

Instincts she had lived on for the last—what had John said? —Ten months, almost eleven, made her look down.

Two figures, shadowed by the gray light of dawn, were moving slowly to her tree.

One she knew, the other was unfamiliar. As she watched, the familiar figure…the slightly forgetful messenger she had sent for aid, fell.

She had seen enough of death to know he wouldn't be getting up again.

Climbing down the tree with such haste she almost fell—and odd thing for her—Robin ignored the other man and grabbed the messenger.

"Travis!" She hissed. "Damn you! What happened?"

"Robin." He opened one heavy eye. She saw the hasty attempt at a bandage was soaked through with blood. "Git to safety. We're bein' followed."

"The others." She said insistanly. A cold hand was curled around her heart. The Black God was fast approaching.

"Ambush." He told her. It was so badly slurred she hardly understood it.

Clenching her jaw so tightly the bones creaked, she felt all traces of hope for the future disappear. Her small band of outlaws could never live until reinforcements came. "Rest, Travis." Her eyes were dry, hands gentle. "You've earned it."

"Say goodbye to Joel for me." Robin remembered Joel…Travis' twin. He had died while Travis was on his way to the capital, an arrow clean through his throat.

"I will." She told him quietly. He smiled at her, and she watched his eyes glaze over.

It never got any easier to watch…just easier to hide.

She looked around. A body by the tree would give away their position. As much as she would want to give him a proper burial, she had neither the means, nor the time. Picking him up…not a small feat, as he was fully grown, she carried him to the river near by, walking into the water until she was thigh deep.

Placing his body into the warm, fast flowing water, she had barely let him go when the sound of footsteps made her heart miss a beat.

Looking up, she waded out of the water as fast as she could. "Into the tree." She told the other man, tense, knowing the people following weren't far off.

"What?" He was tired, muddled.

"The tree!" She hissed.

A shout of discovery made her want to blister the air with curses. Instead she strung her bow, halting only for a moment. They didn't have time now. She'd have to hope there were only a few men.

The other man had his back against the old tree. "Some rescue." He muttered, grim, drawing a sword.

A bloody sword.

"You're supposed to be the rescue." She told him, fitting an arrow to the string, waiting for the men she knew were in the trees to show themselves. "How many?"

"Travis said more than five." He was looking around warily.

Robin fired into the gloom. Something fell.

"Four." She corrected.

Three men appeared, hard faced men that had seen too many battles and too little love. Robin tried not to think as she shot each down.

They waited for some time, their back to the tree, until the sun was almost up. "He must've been mistaken." The man said, lowering his sword. Robin lowered her bow, but didn't stop searching the shadows.

She didn't see anything, didn't hear anything. The fist she knew of the fifth man was a red-hot pain in her back.

Surprised more than anything, she grunted, being thrown forward from the impact and stumbling as the world tilted. She hit her head hard, but not hard enough to black out. The other man spun, moving so fast his blade seemed to be in two places at once.

The last man fell, his head a few meters from his body.

Robin tried to get up. The world swam. The man dragged her roughly to her feet. "In the tree." She told him. Her voice was light, and she couldn't seem to see straight. "The hollow. There's a cave…" She stopped speaking as he began to haul her towards the tree.

"What?" He asked her. "Show me!" Later Robin would recognize the command in his voice, know he was noble born from that alone. She put her head into the tunnel, but couldn't seem to make her arms work. Using her legs against the rough inside, she shoved her way down.

She never remembered hitting the bottom.

"Ah, gods." She opened one eye a crack. She felt like death.

Nope, definitely alive. She thought dryly. No way death would hurt like this.

"Are you the only one left?" Her eyes flew open and fixed upon the man's rough face.

"I hope not." She told him, sounding more than a little miffed.

"Where are the others, then?" His voice was cool, eyes flat.

"About a day's walk away." Easing herself into a sitting position, she sighed at the pounding at her temples eased. "We could only risk one man. We knew you'd either be dead, or followed."

He raised an eyebrow, something she had always found incredibly annoying.

"What?" She didn't feel like arguing with him. He was supposed to be helping them, not contradicting her! She expected something about safety in numbers.

"Men?" He asked silkily.

Oh no.

She shut her eyes. He had to remove her shirt to bandage her back. She frowned a little, moving her shoulders. Feeling no bandage, she wondered if she's imagined the cut.

"You're lucky I'm a healer." He told her.

Well, that explained it. "Why didn't you heal Travis?" She asked suddenly.

"I tried." He told her. Looking away, she thought she saw a flicker of shame.

Not knowing what to say, she grasped at a straw. "What's your name, then? We never got around to introductions."

"Lord Kale." His voice was flat. "Of Avonsleigh."

Not yet. She thought savagely. Something about him just rubbed her the wrong way. "I'm Robin."

His brow quirked. "Well, Robin, when do we leave?"

She didn't have to think about that. "Nightfall." She said. "There might be more men."

He sighed. Settling back against the rocky wall, he turned his head ever so slightly to face her. He wasn't a handsome man, but he had a certain something about him that she was sure would have the ladies falling at his feet. "Why, then, Robin. It seems we have a few hours for you to explain to me why, exactly, you are dressed as a man. Or, disguised."

Robin's golden, hawk-like eyes hardened. Because people know me as a woman. Because I was running scared. Because I can't face my heritage any more. "Safest." She told him shortly. "Would you care to be the only woman in a group of men?"

"So no one knows?" He looked surprised.

"No." She told him shortly. She felt like doing anything but speaking. "And I'll be keeping it that way."

"Is that a threat, mistress?" He asked quietly, a dangerous gleam in his eye to match her own.

"Yes." One word filled the silence, reverberating.

He gave her a guarded look, one she either couldn't, or wouldn't decipher.  

AN: oops, sorry, it appears I uploaded the wrong document last night. I'd blame it on the time but I wasn't late, so my only other excuse is I'm distracted. More than normal. Hrmmm.

So, um, yeah, read, review, and I love all you reviewers (especially whoever pointed out my mistake. Thanks!!) next time I'll do individual thanks, not I gotta run.

 Elisse.