and months because I'm swamped with work and grad school applications and stuff.
It's still missing something...lots of something. If you have any suggestions, please fill
me in. I'd like to hear your comments.
Piper in the Forest
Chapter 2
When Piper turned eight (she didn't know when her
real birthday was, but she used
the day that she was left on the Sheriff's door as a
reference), she decided two things
for herself. One, she was now far too old to confine
herself to Mark Manor. It was time
for her to extend her explorations to Nottingham, and
maybe even the edges of Sherwood
forest. Two, it was time for her to introduce herself
to the Sheriff's guards. After all, she
would be joining their ranks soon, she felt it was only
fair that they be informed.
So, after breakfast and a brief argument with Milly,
who thought that maybe Piper should
help in the kitchen, the little girl marched herself
towards the training field. It was still early,
and training hadn't started yet, but Piper knew that
the guards would be there. Recently
the men began arriving early to talk and jest and have
a drink together before they began
work.
When she crossed over the hill, she saw that this
day was no different. Six of the ten
guards were sitting around a small fire that they built
outside of the guard house, and
drinking pints. Piper hid behind the same underbrush
that she had so often hid behind
before. For some reason, she felt intimidated suddenly. The thought of approaching the
guards seemed foolish now. They would laugh at
her. They would think she was a silly
girl. They would send her back to Sarah and Milly
and then tell the Sheriff what she had
done. It would be too horrible. She pictured
the scene in her head. The Sheriff loomed
over her, an annoyed expression on his face. "I
don't ask much of you, girl." He would
say. "But if I ever catch you disturbing my guards
again with your insufferable...silliness,
I'll have no other choice but to throw you out on the
street where you came from!"
Piper's eyes widened. Would that happen? Could something as simple as her desire to
become a guard end in her ultimate abandonment? With some surprise, she recognized
fear. Fear was something she was usually untroubled
by. This time however, it seemed
to have her by the scruff of the neck. It toyed
with her heart, making it beat far too fast.
She growled at the unpleasant feeling. "I
will not be frightened." She whispered to herself.
"There's no way anything will ever happen if I just sit
here. I'll have to prove myself, that's all."
She drew in a deep breath and marched herself down
to the guard house. The men were
all laughing about something when the first one spotted
her. "Look 'ere. Wha's this now?"
The man was the largest of the guards with wild red hair,
a great bushy beard and mirthful
eyes. The other men looked at her. She could
feel her resolve start to crumble, but she
took another deep breath and balled her hands into fists.
"Richard" said a tall man with dark hair and
dark, calculating eyes to match. "Don't
you recognize the Sheriff's own little ward? You
know..." He whispered dramatically
so that everyone could hear. "The wild child." The other men laughed at the joke.
"Right yeh are Walter." Richard replied. "What do yeh want little 'un. We're very
busy now."
Piper craned her neck to see Richard's face. "I...I want to be a guard!" She was surprised
at how easily the words came out, considering how nervous
she was. Her statement didn't
have a desired effect though. A short stocky man
with a sour expression spit his ale out
and his compatriots began to laugh loudly. "Ah
little 'un." Richard began. "Go back to
yer home an' terrorize the women some more. We've
no time fer yer games."
Piper felt that familiar rage building in her heart,
banishing any feelings of nervousness
that she might have felt before. How dare they
discount her so easily? They'd never even
seen what she could do.
She concentrated her focus on the point behind
Richard's knees as all the guards continued
to laugh. Calling on all her speed and all her
will, she shot forward like an arrow, finding
her mark with accuracy. Piper tackled the large
man, throwing him off balance. As he
began to fall, he kicked out instinctively, catching
the young child in the ribs.
She went rolling away as Richard fell backwards
onto the ground. The wind had been
knocked out of her, but she managed to stand back up,
ready to run if the guards were not
pleased with her demonstration. There was a long,
tense moment of silence. Richard struggled
to his feet. The other guards watched, slack-jawed
with disbelief. Piper clutched her side as
she slowly regained her breath.
Then it happened. It started out quietly;
a faint snicker from Walter. He tried to muffle it
with a hand, but it was heard. Then it spread slowly
from one guard to another. Smiles
cracked their stunned expressions and laughter broke
the silence. Richard was the last to
join in.
Piper watched the large men laughing, not sure how
to take it all. They weren't angry,
which was a good thing, but why were they laughing at
her? Were they not impressed at
all with her show of will? She just toppled a man
at least three times her size, and they
found it funny?
"Ah Richard!" A small weaselly looking man
managed through his laughter. "Bested by
a little girl! Perhaps it's time for you to retire." This sent the men into another fit of laughter.
Piper was beginning to understand. They weren't
laughing at her exactly, they were laughing
at Richard. In relief, Piper cracked a weak smile. She was feeling unusually self aware.
Never had this much attention been directed at her by
so many people at once.
Richard looked at Piper with a piercing, intelligent
stare. "Lass, do ye really want to learn to
be a guard?"
Piper nodded enthusiastically.
"I can't promise that you'll ever be one. In fact, you'll more likely get us all in the dungeons
or worse, but be here early tomorrow morning. We'll
teach you a little about being a guard."
Piper smiled brightly. Without a word, she turned to leave.
"Oh lass!" Richard called out to her before she ran away.
Piper turned towards the large man's serious face. "Don't tell anyone what yer doing.
It's improper for a girl like you to fight. The
dungeons are no jest, and that's where we'll
end up if anyone finds out."
Piper nodded again and left without comment.
**********
Piper cautiously crept along the side of the manor. She listened very carefully for any signs
of approaching people. In the distance, she could
hear two crows laughing bitterly. No one
was around. There might have been someone looking
out of one of the front windows, but
they would hardly have time to stop her from making her
escape.
She took a deep breath and smiled. With
the front entrance her entire focus, Piper darted
across the lawn. She watched in fascination as
the front entrance, and whatever adventure
lay beyond, came nearer. Her breath came out in
short, quick puffs of cold, white autumn
air. Somewhere far away, she thought she heard
the furious voice of Milly calling her back
with empty threats.
It was far too late. She was already past
the entrance, running down the long dirt road
towards town. A breathless laugh escaped her lips. As a child of eight, she had explored all
that the manor had to offer. It had been years
since she had experienced adventure. It had
been nearly that long since she had seen someplace new.
She had run so swiftly that very soon, she could
not see the manor anymore. It was there
that she stopped. She breathed in the foreign air
and began to walk casually in the direction
of town.
**********
The town was congested with people come for market
day. The Nottingham market was
always one of the busiest around. People from three
towns over came to buy and sell winter
vegetables, eggs, cheeses, meats, chestnuts, breads,
flour and dried goods.
As Piper wormed her way through the throng, she
was overwhelmed by the noise and the
smell. She was so accustomed to the smell of the
Manor and the quiet of the fields surrounding
it. Here, with people pressing in at her from all
sides, the sensation was overpowering. Next
to her, a very large woman with an obnoxious voice was
arguing with an equally large wool
merchant. Ahead of her, a waifish young girl was
calling to passersby to buy her freshly baked
bread. Several unpleasant looking men passed her
smelling very strongly of horse manure.
Piper tried to back away from them to escape the stench,
but only managed to bump into a
bickering old couple.
"Watch where you're going, child!" The old man shouted.
Piper once again tried to back out of the way. Just as she took a step back though, a hand
grabbed her by the arm and pulled her off to the side. "Hey! What the..."
She was clear the mob. More specifically,
she was in a small alley off the main road through
Nottingham. The hand that had led her here was
attached to a boy that could only be a
couple of years older than her. He was small and
wiry, with short, dark blond hair and clear,
intense hazel eyes. He smiled at her lopsidedly. "You looked like you were in a bit of trouble
there." He said. "I thought that I would
give you a hand. You're not from Nottingham, are
you?"
Piper wasn't sure she liked this boy. He leaned
up against a wall, arms folded across his chest.
He seemed very relaxed and confident with all of the
commotion. She didn't like it when
someone had the upper hand.
"Actually, I've lived in Nottingham all my life." She replied airily. The strange boy took in
her appearance, from her dirty skirts to her wild hair. "Well, you're not a nobleman's daughter,
not dressed right. I guess you must be an outlaws
daughter. Outlaws rarely come into the
city, so that would explain why I haven't seen you." He held out his hand. "My name's Much,
the Miller's son."
Piper regarded his hand suspiciously before taking
it. "I'm Piper. And I'm not an outlaw. I'm
the Sheriff's ward, and someday, I'm going to be one
of his guards." There, she thought. That
should impress him.
He didn't seem impressed at all. "Well, I'm
going to be a miller like my father. I'm going to
the Farmer's Dog for a pint. Do you want to come?"
"Alright." She agreed and followed Much back
into the crowd.