So I've been a real heal about writing. Sorry again. The good news is,
I've got nearly a month between semesters, and since my job is associated
with the college, I've got no work till class start again, so maybe I'll
finish this first draft by them.
This chapter starts off a little slowly, but don't give up on it. There's some good stuff at the end.
CHAPTER 19
By the time she reached the training field, most of the guards were already there. They all looked nervous and impatient. Richard restlessly paced next to the guardhouse. William and Steven whispered quietly to each other and glanced around speculatively at their comrades every few minutes. Walter had removed himself from the rest of the group. He was at the edge of the field, close to the forest, deeply engrossed in practicing sword drills alone. Piper assumed that he was guarding Lady Marian when she ran away. She watched him for a moment as he executed each motion with great intensity, fighting the incompetence that he perceived in himself. She knew that no one blamed him for Marian's escape. It could have happened to any of them. She only hoped that someday Walter would realize that some day.
Ten minutes after Piper arrived, Bear appeared over the hill. Although several other guards were still not accounted for, he was apparently the last person Richard expected to show up. Then the meeting began. Richard did what all good leaders do when they need to get the attention of their charges; he waited expectantly. Whispering ceased and the guards moved in close. Walter, noticing a change even from his place at the edge of the field, joined the group. He stood apart.
"Sometime early this mornin' the Lady Marian left the Manor, likely to consort with the remains of Lord Robert's outlaws." No one looked at Walter. It would have been considered exceptionally rude. "This complicates matter. The last thing we need is fer her teh get caught in the conflict between the outlaws, Prince John's guards and ourselves. I've sent the rest of the guards into the forest teh search fer her. With any luck, the lass will be found by us before she is found by John's men.
"In the meantime, we're expected to help the remainder of John's men with the preparations fer the..." he paused for a moment. Certainly there had been hangings in Nottingham before, but they were always for serious criminals who deserved death. Everyone present knew that the outlaws were acting in the name of the Lionheart. The outlaws were resisting the tyrant usurper, while they, upholders of the law, were defending him, if only in appearance. "...fer tomorrow." He finished rather lamely. No one spoke. The silence hung heavily around their shoulders before settling like fog in their hearts. Richard broke the silence with a sigh. "Right then. Let's go."
The walk to Nottingham was tense. Each man (Piper included) carried himself with stiff formality. They marched with their faces set and their senses alert to possible attack. But Piper knew that each one was plagued with his own thoughts, just like her. It was one thing to tax the people heavily and to send them to prison. It was another thing altogether to hang men for opposing Prince John. Were they doing the right thing? To openly oppose John would mean being labeled as traitors to the crown. They would loose what power they had to operate secretly to bring the Lionheart home. Still, there were doubts.
Piper walked towards the rear of the procession. She carried her sword at her side and her bow and arrows over her shoulder. She was very aware of their proximity to Sherwood Forest's edge. She felt as though they were being watched from the distant trees. She wondered if Much was there, watching them, and planning a rescue attempt. She immediately dismissed the thought. She couldn't be distracted by that right now, so instead she focused on the lingering pain in her knee. It was certainly preferable to the growing worry in her gut.
The rest of the journey was spent stewing over circumstances that couldn't be changed. By the time they reached Nottingham, Piper was in a fighting mood. By the looks on the other guards faces, they all were as well, even Bear she noticed with surprise. She expected him to be in a slightly better mood, considering his earlier encounter with Sarah. Of course, Piper reasoned, he also has the greatest reason to be in a fighting mood. He has something to fight for.
Men and women darted out of their way and seethed from the shadows and the alleys. News of the outlaws' capture had spread quickly, and now the Sheriff's guards were seen merely as extensions of Prince John himself. Piper was relieved when they at last passed through the gates of Nottingham Castle and away from the cold glances of the villagers.
Prince John's guards were waiting inside the castle in a seldom used chamber. Richard seemed to know where they were going, but Piper quickly lost track of the complicated pattern of twists and turns. As opposed to Mark Manor's sensible order, this place seemed to sprawl. Piper decided that she didn't like the inside of the castle. She felt lost and helpless depending on Richard to walk her through. The others seemed to mirror her discomfort. Their collective nerves were reaching a critical point which Richard was all too aware of. "Not one of yeh are goin' teh loose yer heads today. Am I understood," he asked in a low growl.
Walter grunted darkly. Richard's double meaning was not lost on any of them. They were to be on their best behavior while dealing with John's men, lest John find an excuse to arrest and hang them. They had all heard stories. John would arrest and execute his own supporters if they displeased him. Richard was not ready to loose any of them because of bad temperament.
Piper balled her hands into tight fists, letting her nails break the skin of her palms to relieve some of her tension. She could hear Bear methodically popping each knuckle of his left, then his right hand one at a time. Walter was muttering something quietly under his breath. Piper only caught a few words, but they were words that would make most girls blush in shame. Finally Richard stopped at a door, turned to make certain his guards were ready to face their next challenge calmly, then opened the door.
The room was large, but in a state of extreme disrepair. Sconces were set up all around its perimeter as it had no windows to let in light. A few worn and splintered benches were strewn around, some with men lounging on them. There were eight men in all. Where the Sheriff's guards were presenting themselves with unpracticed formality, Prince John's men seemed to have cultivated an air of casual disdain. They all turned when Richard opened the door. One man, an extremely handsome and strongly built man with a bored expression walked over to Richard and sized him up. While Richard was still considerably taller and broader than the handsome man, his cold blue eyes made him seem more threatening. "I assume that you are the captain of these..." he turned briefly to Piper and then away again. "...men."
"Aye." Richard was put off by the man's demeanor, which was exactly the point of it, Piper thought. He didn't seem to know whether to shake hands or salute as means of introduction, so he did neither. "I be Richard Smithson."
" I am Captain Avery." He emphasized captain in a way that made it perfectly clear who was going to be giving the orders. Piper ground her teeth, but kept her face impassive.
"I understand," Avery continued. "that you will be providing support during the execution tomorrow. You know this town and its people. Do you expect there to be trouble?"
Richard chose his next words very carefully. He didn't want to make it seem as though they had no control over their town, but neither did he want to appear to be concealing information. "The people have been manipulated by Locksley. He tells them what they want teh hear. Let us say that I have my concerns about tomorrow."
"I doubt that we will have any difficulty if these outlaws do attempt anything, but since you are going to be there, we don't want you getting under foot now do we?" Piper heard a couple of quiet popping sounds from Bear's direction.
"Four of my men will be at the gallows, and two guarding the gate. Six will transport the prisoners and the remaining eight will be watching the proceedings from the wall." The gallows were located just outside of the Castle gate, so that the townspeople could view public executions if they wished. It was an ideal location. It's proximity to the gate meant a short transport for the prisoners and the wall offered a good vantage point to keep an eye out for trouble.
"I want you and your men interspersed throughout the crowd. Keep a watchful eye for cut purses."
"Is she going to be there?" A new voice came from the far corner of the room. Piper turned to face the speaker, knowing very well that he was speaking about her, and not liking his tone in the least. A small angular man rose from a bench. He was only slightly taller than Bear with a frame vaguely similar to Much, but that was where the similarities to both Men ended. His neatly trimmed black hair and beard attested to his attention to personal appearance. Were it not for the disgusting sneer and the vivid scar that ran from his left ear down his jaw into his beard, he might have been a handsome man. Far less attractive was the lecherous look in his eyes as he passed them up and down her body. Piper felt disgusted. She wondered what it was about men, and why this sort always seemed to find her. She wanted to punch the smug rodent in the face, but Richard's warning still rang clear in her mind, so she only met his gaze with her own fearless look.
"I know it seems a bit unusual," Richard addressed his answer to Avery, purposely turning his back on the well-groomed man. "...but Piper is a full guard. She is the best archer in Nottingham and a damned good fighter. Yeh'd do well teh have her at yer back in a battle."
"It's not my back I want her to have at," said the well-groomed man as he took another step towards her. Piper felt the color rise in her face. She felt the rest of the guards stir uneasily. They knew what she was capable of, and they knew what her temper was like. She heard several pair of feet discreetly shuffle away from her. If she decided to act, they weren't going to try to stop her and they weren't going to get in her way. Even some of Prince John's men seemed to sense something wrong. They began to inch away from the current center of focus. Piper felt drops of blood pool in her clenched hand, her nails digging deeper.
"Sir," she directed her comment to Richard, but her eyes never left the well-groomed man. It was clear that she was quickly loosing her control. She was asking Richard for orders.
"Er, Piper it looks like yeh've injured yer hands there. Why don't yeh see if yeh can get them bandaged before we return to the Manor?" Richard sounded nervous. It wasn't only Piper he had to worry about. Every other guard under his responsibility would have beat the man to death for making that comment if they had the chance. He had to fix the situation quickly.
Piper turned stiffly and marched out the door. She had no intention of getting her hands taken care of, but she was thankful for the chance to get away from her current situation.
Once out of the room she stormed down a hallway. She wasn't paying any attention to where she was going, but she made certain to kick an unfortunate suit of armor on her way. She eventually came to an open door that led to another empty room. "Is every room in this place empty," she shouted. She hadn't meant to be so loud, but she was angry. She needed something to yell at. Still, the room was just what she needed. She dropped her bow and arrows in a corner where they wouldn't get in the way and began an intense set of sword drills that Bear had once taught her. She put all of her anger into each rigorous movement, trying to bleed some of the excess energy away. She shouted furiously at each thrust of her sword, imagining that first the well-groomed man was at the end of it, then Scarlett, then Guy of Gisbourne, and finally Prince John for good measure. Soon a thin sheen of sweat was coating her face as she practiced.
She turned sharply at the sound of the door creaking on its rusty hinges. At first she thought that Richard had sent one of the others to calm her down, but it was no friendly face at the door. It was the well- groomed man. It took no effort at all to deduce what he wanted with her. His very posture was predatory.
Piper actually found herself laughing at him. He didn't make her feel at all threatened, only disgusted. "I suppose you are going to show me my place now? Maybe you'll try to overwhelm me with you masculine power, or just beat me into submission?" The man seemed slightly disconcerted by her apparent lack of concern, but no less determined. "It's been a long time since I've been entertained by so...willful a woman. Perhaps this trip to Nottingham was not so wasted after all."
Piper laughed again. She casually walked to the edge of the room and set her sword against the wall. As she returned to the center of the room, she reflected on this most recent turn of events. It was really quite perfect. She couldn't fight in front of all of Prince John's men, so this one had conveniently come to her. She decided to give her opponent a kind warning.
"Scarlett thought the same way you do, right up until I killed him."
Her words wiped the cocky grin off his face. "The murderer," he asked, but was never given an answer. Her foot connected with his stomach, then his knee. He stumbled back in shock, trying to regain his bearings.
Piper didn't waste any time in pummeling the man. She kicked and punched, always darting out of the way as his own balance began to reassert itself. He wasn't a bad fighter, she could tell. He just wasn't expecting such a fierce fight from such a slight girl. He swung a wild, desperate fist which caught her on the arm and made her stumble backwards. His face and body were bruised and he was breathing raggedly, but the look of confusion was quickly being replaced with anger. Piper decided to end the fight before things got out of hand. They were now standing several feet apart and Piper played the wounded bird, clutching her arm defensively. The well-groomed guard decided to take advantage of her weakness. He rushed her, intending to knock her to the ground. She waited till the last moment before stepping to the side and ducking down. She threw her full weight into his waist using his own momentum to throw him over her shoulder. That type of maneuver would have never worked on a large man such as Richard, but Piper had used it on rare occasions while sparring with Bear, and noticed to her satisfaction that this time it had similar results.
The well-groomed man landed hard on the stone floor. Piper took her time in retrieving her sword. She had no doubts that if she allowed it, the fight would continue, but she didn't want to kill the man, and she certainly didn't want to give him the opportunity to injure her. She was sore enough from the past few weeks to last her a life time. So she trained her sword point on his unprotected throat. "I don't like you, but you're not my enemy, so I'll let you go this time," she said to the prone man.
"You'll be hanged for this you know. Attacking a royal guard is high treason." He looked at her with malice. He certainly wouldn't grieve her death.
Piper wasn't at all worried about the threat though. The man's own pride and ego would protect her. "You mean to tell me that your fighting skills are so poor that your fellow guards would believe that you were beaten black and blue by an unarmed woman? No," she shook her head with amusement. "The stone work in this old castle is not terribly even. The stairs are quite treacherous. You should really watch where you're going next time you go running after pretty women. You could have broken your neck."
She waited for her words to sink in. She watched carefully, first for understanding, then for resignation. He had no choice but to invent some excuse for his injuries. Of course Richard and Bear and the others would know the truth, but they certainly wouldn't betray her.
"You aren't like any of the wenches I've ever known," said the well- groomed man.
Piper smiled in self satisfaction, collected her bow and arrows, and left the room in search of the other guards. Fortunately, they were just leaving their meeting with John's men. She was glad that she wouldn't have to find her own way out of the maze of a castle. Avery noticed her return. He was taken aback by the fact that she was unharmed. "One of my men, Thomas, left shortly after you. You didn't see him, did you?"
Piper shook her head. "No sir. I haven't seen anyone." She waited till her back was turned to him to smile like a wolf with a full belly. The other guards noticed the change in her as well. Once they had removed themselves far enough from John's men, Richard stopped and turned to her. The other guards did as well, and Piper could see t hat all but Richard were smiling.
"Piper," Richard scolded. "Please tell me yeh didn't kill that Thomas."
She put on her most innocent face. "No, I said that didn't see him." Her smile grew wider.
"I asked yeh not teh get in trouble. Yeh shouldn't fight the likes of John's men. It could get yeh killed." He was concerned for her, but Piper couldn't stop grinning.
"I don't know what to say, sir. Maybe he fell down the stairs." Bear couldn't help but chuckle and Richard smiled as he shook his head. "Just don't do it again. Understand?"
"Absolutely," Piper nodded vigorously. They returned to Mark Manor, their tension slightly relieved and their spirits much higher.
This chapter starts off a little slowly, but don't give up on it. There's some good stuff at the end.
CHAPTER 19
By the time she reached the training field, most of the guards were already there. They all looked nervous and impatient. Richard restlessly paced next to the guardhouse. William and Steven whispered quietly to each other and glanced around speculatively at their comrades every few minutes. Walter had removed himself from the rest of the group. He was at the edge of the field, close to the forest, deeply engrossed in practicing sword drills alone. Piper assumed that he was guarding Lady Marian when she ran away. She watched him for a moment as he executed each motion with great intensity, fighting the incompetence that he perceived in himself. She knew that no one blamed him for Marian's escape. It could have happened to any of them. She only hoped that someday Walter would realize that some day.
Ten minutes after Piper arrived, Bear appeared over the hill. Although several other guards were still not accounted for, he was apparently the last person Richard expected to show up. Then the meeting began. Richard did what all good leaders do when they need to get the attention of their charges; he waited expectantly. Whispering ceased and the guards moved in close. Walter, noticing a change even from his place at the edge of the field, joined the group. He stood apart.
"Sometime early this mornin' the Lady Marian left the Manor, likely to consort with the remains of Lord Robert's outlaws." No one looked at Walter. It would have been considered exceptionally rude. "This complicates matter. The last thing we need is fer her teh get caught in the conflict between the outlaws, Prince John's guards and ourselves. I've sent the rest of the guards into the forest teh search fer her. With any luck, the lass will be found by us before she is found by John's men.
"In the meantime, we're expected to help the remainder of John's men with the preparations fer the..." he paused for a moment. Certainly there had been hangings in Nottingham before, but they were always for serious criminals who deserved death. Everyone present knew that the outlaws were acting in the name of the Lionheart. The outlaws were resisting the tyrant usurper, while they, upholders of the law, were defending him, if only in appearance. "...fer tomorrow." He finished rather lamely. No one spoke. The silence hung heavily around their shoulders before settling like fog in their hearts. Richard broke the silence with a sigh. "Right then. Let's go."
The walk to Nottingham was tense. Each man (Piper included) carried himself with stiff formality. They marched with their faces set and their senses alert to possible attack. But Piper knew that each one was plagued with his own thoughts, just like her. It was one thing to tax the people heavily and to send them to prison. It was another thing altogether to hang men for opposing Prince John. Were they doing the right thing? To openly oppose John would mean being labeled as traitors to the crown. They would loose what power they had to operate secretly to bring the Lionheart home. Still, there were doubts.
Piper walked towards the rear of the procession. She carried her sword at her side and her bow and arrows over her shoulder. She was very aware of their proximity to Sherwood Forest's edge. She felt as though they were being watched from the distant trees. She wondered if Much was there, watching them, and planning a rescue attempt. She immediately dismissed the thought. She couldn't be distracted by that right now, so instead she focused on the lingering pain in her knee. It was certainly preferable to the growing worry in her gut.
The rest of the journey was spent stewing over circumstances that couldn't be changed. By the time they reached Nottingham, Piper was in a fighting mood. By the looks on the other guards faces, they all were as well, even Bear she noticed with surprise. She expected him to be in a slightly better mood, considering his earlier encounter with Sarah. Of course, Piper reasoned, he also has the greatest reason to be in a fighting mood. He has something to fight for.
Men and women darted out of their way and seethed from the shadows and the alleys. News of the outlaws' capture had spread quickly, and now the Sheriff's guards were seen merely as extensions of Prince John himself. Piper was relieved when they at last passed through the gates of Nottingham Castle and away from the cold glances of the villagers.
Prince John's guards were waiting inside the castle in a seldom used chamber. Richard seemed to know where they were going, but Piper quickly lost track of the complicated pattern of twists and turns. As opposed to Mark Manor's sensible order, this place seemed to sprawl. Piper decided that she didn't like the inside of the castle. She felt lost and helpless depending on Richard to walk her through. The others seemed to mirror her discomfort. Their collective nerves were reaching a critical point which Richard was all too aware of. "Not one of yeh are goin' teh loose yer heads today. Am I understood," he asked in a low growl.
Walter grunted darkly. Richard's double meaning was not lost on any of them. They were to be on their best behavior while dealing with John's men, lest John find an excuse to arrest and hang them. They had all heard stories. John would arrest and execute his own supporters if they displeased him. Richard was not ready to loose any of them because of bad temperament.
Piper balled her hands into tight fists, letting her nails break the skin of her palms to relieve some of her tension. She could hear Bear methodically popping each knuckle of his left, then his right hand one at a time. Walter was muttering something quietly under his breath. Piper only caught a few words, but they were words that would make most girls blush in shame. Finally Richard stopped at a door, turned to make certain his guards were ready to face their next challenge calmly, then opened the door.
The room was large, but in a state of extreme disrepair. Sconces were set up all around its perimeter as it had no windows to let in light. A few worn and splintered benches were strewn around, some with men lounging on them. There were eight men in all. Where the Sheriff's guards were presenting themselves with unpracticed formality, Prince John's men seemed to have cultivated an air of casual disdain. They all turned when Richard opened the door. One man, an extremely handsome and strongly built man with a bored expression walked over to Richard and sized him up. While Richard was still considerably taller and broader than the handsome man, his cold blue eyes made him seem more threatening. "I assume that you are the captain of these..." he turned briefly to Piper and then away again. "...men."
"Aye." Richard was put off by the man's demeanor, which was exactly the point of it, Piper thought. He didn't seem to know whether to shake hands or salute as means of introduction, so he did neither. "I be Richard Smithson."
" I am Captain Avery." He emphasized captain in a way that made it perfectly clear who was going to be giving the orders. Piper ground her teeth, but kept her face impassive.
"I understand," Avery continued. "that you will be providing support during the execution tomorrow. You know this town and its people. Do you expect there to be trouble?"
Richard chose his next words very carefully. He didn't want to make it seem as though they had no control over their town, but neither did he want to appear to be concealing information. "The people have been manipulated by Locksley. He tells them what they want teh hear. Let us say that I have my concerns about tomorrow."
"I doubt that we will have any difficulty if these outlaws do attempt anything, but since you are going to be there, we don't want you getting under foot now do we?" Piper heard a couple of quiet popping sounds from Bear's direction.
"Four of my men will be at the gallows, and two guarding the gate. Six will transport the prisoners and the remaining eight will be watching the proceedings from the wall." The gallows were located just outside of the Castle gate, so that the townspeople could view public executions if they wished. It was an ideal location. It's proximity to the gate meant a short transport for the prisoners and the wall offered a good vantage point to keep an eye out for trouble.
"I want you and your men interspersed throughout the crowd. Keep a watchful eye for cut purses."
"Is she going to be there?" A new voice came from the far corner of the room. Piper turned to face the speaker, knowing very well that he was speaking about her, and not liking his tone in the least. A small angular man rose from a bench. He was only slightly taller than Bear with a frame vaguely similar to Much, but that was where the similarities to both Men ended. His neatly trimmed black hair and beard attested to his attention to personal appearance. Were it not for the disgusting sneer and the vivid scar that ran from his left ear down his jaw into his beard, he might have been a handsome man. Far less attractive was the lecherous look in his eyes as he passed them up and down her body. Piper felt disgusted. She wondered what it was about men, and why this sort always seemed to find her. She wanted to punch the smug rodent in the face, but Richard's warning still rang clear in her mind, so she only met his gaze with her own fearless look.
"I know it seems a bit unusual," Richard addressed his answer to Avery, purposely turning his back on the well-groomed man. "...but Piper is a full guard. She is the best archer in Nottingham and a damned good fighter. Yeh'd do well teh have her at yer back in a battle."
"It's not my back I want her to have at," said the well-groomed man as he took another step towards her. Piper felt the color rise in her face. She felt the rest of the guards stir uneasily. They knew what she was capable of, and they knew what her temper was like. She heard several pair of feet discreetly shuffle away from her. If she decided to act, they weren't going to try to stop her and they weren't going to get in her way. Even some of Prince John's men seemed to sense something wrong. They began to inch away from the current center of focus. Piper felt drops of blood pool in her clenched hand, her nails digging deeper.
"Sir," she directed her comment to Richard, but her eyes never left the well-groomed man. It was clear that she was quickly loosing her control. She was asking Richard for orders.
"Er, Piper it looks like yeh've injured yer hands there. Why don't yeh see if yeh can get them bandaged before we return to the Manor?" Richard sounded nervous. It wasn't only Piper he had to worry about. Every other guard under his responsibility would have beat the man to death for making that comment if they had the chance. He had to fix the situation quickly.
Piper turned stiffly and marched out the door. She had no intention of getting her hands taken care of, but she was thankful for the chance to get away from her current situation.
Once out of the room she stormed down a hallway. She wasn't paying any attention to where she was going, but she made certain to kick an unfortunate suit of armor on her way. She eventually came to an open door that led to another empty room. "Is every room in this place empty," she shouted. She hadn't meant to be so loud, but she was angry. She needed something to yell at. Still, the room was just what she needed. She dropped her bow and arrows in a corner where they wouldn't get in the way and began an intense set of sword drills that Bear had once taught her. She put all of her anger into each rigorous movement, trying to bleed some of the excess energy away. She shouted furiously at each thrust of her sword, imagining that first the well-groomed man was at the end of it, then Scarlett, then Guy of Gisbourne, and finally Prince John for good measure. Soon a thin sheen of sweat was coating her face as she practiced.
She turned sharply at the sound of the door creaking on its rusty hinges. At first she thought that Richard had sent one of the others to calm her down, but it was no friendly face at the door. It was the well- groomed man. It took no effort at all to deduce what he wanted with her. His very posture was predatory.
Piper actually found herself laughing at him. He didn't make her feel at all threatened, only disgusted. "I suppose you are going to show me my place now? Maybe you'll try to overwhelm me with you masculine power, or just beat me into submission?" The man seemed slightly disconcerted by her apparent lack of concern, but no less determined. "It's been a long time since I've been entertained by so...willful a woman. Perhaps this trip to Nottingham was not so wasted after all."
Piper laughed again. She casually walked to the edge of the room and set her sword against the wall. As she returned to the center of the room, she reflected on this most recent turn of events. It was really quite perfect. She couldn't fight in front of all of Prince John's men, so this one had conveniently come to her. She decided to give her opponent a kind warning.
"Scarlett thought the same way you do, right up until I killed him."
Her words wiped the cocky grin off his face. "The murderer," he asked, but was never given an answer. Her foot connected with his stomach, then his knee. He stumbled back in shock, trying to regain his bearings.
Piper didn't waste any time in pummeling the man. She kicked and punched, always darting out of the way as his own balance began to reassert itself. He wasn't a bad fighter, she could tell. He just wasn't expecting such a fierce fight from such a slight girl. He swung a wild, desperate fist which caught her on the arm and made her stumble backwards. His face and body were bruised and he was breathing raggedly, but the look of confusion was quickly being replaced with anger. Piper decided to end the fight before things got out of hand. They were now standing several feet apart and Piper played the wounded bird, clutching her arm defensively. The well-groomed guard decided to take advantage of her weakness. He rushed her, intending to knock her to the ground. She waited till the last moment before stepping to the side and ducking down. She threw her full weight into his waist using his own momentum to throw him over her shoulder. That type of maneuver would have never worked on a large man such as Richard, but Piper had used it on rare occasions while sparring with Bear, and noticed to her satisfaction that this time it had similar results.
The well-groomed man landed hard on the stone floor. Piper took her time in retrieving her sword. She had no doubts that if she allowed it, the fight would continue, but she didn't want to kill the man, and she certainly didn't want to give him the opportunity to injure her. She was sore enough from the past few weeks to last her a life time. So she trained her sword point on his unprotected throat. "I don't like you, but you're not my enemy, so I'll let you go this time," she said to the prone man.
"You'll be hanged for this you know. Attacking a royal guard is high treason." He looked at her with malice. He certainly wouldn't grieve her death.
Piper wasn't at all worried about the threat though. The man's own pride and ego would protect her. "You mean to tell me that your fighting skills are so poor that your fellow guards would believe that you were beaten black and blue by an unarmed woman? No," she shook her head with amusement. "The stone work in this old castle is not terribly even. The stairs are quite treacherous. You should really watch where you're going next time you go running after pretty women. You could have broken your neck."
She waited for her words to sink in. She watched carefully, first for understanding, then for resignation. He had no choice but to invent some excuse for his injuries. Of course Richard and Bear and the others would know the truth, but they certainly wouldn't betray her.
"You aren't like any of the wenches I've ever known," said the well- groomed man.
Piper smiled in self satisfaction, collected her bow and arrows, and left the room in search of the other guards. Fortunately, they were just leaving their meeting with John's men. She was glad that she wouldn't have to find her own way out of the maze of a castle. Avery noticed her return. He was taken aback by the fact that she was unharmed. "One of my men, Thomas, left shortly after you. You didn't see him, did you?"
Piper shook her head. "No sir. I haven't seen anyone." She waited till her back was turned to him to smile like a wolf with a full belly. The other guards noticed the change in her as well. Once they had removed themselves far enough from John's men, Richard stopped and turned to her. The other guards did as well, and Piper could see t hat all but Richard were smiling.
"Piper," Richard scolded. "Please tell me yeh didn't kill that Thomas."
She put on her most innocent face. "No, I said that didn't see him." Her smile grew wider.
"I asked yeh not teh get in trouble. Yeh shouldn't fight the likes of John's men. It could get yeh killed." He was concerned for her, but Piper couldn't stop grinning.
"I don't know what to say, sir. Maybe he fell down the stairs." Bear couldn't help but chuckle and Richard smiled as he shook his head. "Just don't do it again. Understand?"
"Absolutely," Piper nodded vigorously. They returned to Mark Manor, their tension slightly relieved and their spirits much higher.