A/N: I know it's been awhile, but I hope you will still enjoy. Constructive criticism and reviews are always welcome. :)
Chapter Four: In which Adventures Wax Dangerous and Uncomfortable.
As Titty regained her balance, she saw three men leaping down from the rocky slopes above them. A bow twanged, and someone cried out from behind her.
"Down! Get down!" Robin yelled. "Tom, get the girl and the child!"
"Titty!" John hissed as he pulled her down next to him under the very gorse bush Bridget had just escaped from. "Where are the other two?"
"I don't know—DICK!"
Titty finished with a shriek as another man stabbed at Dick with a spear. Dick jumped backward and tripped again, landing on his face, his feet snarled in one of the bags. The man sneered and drew a long dagger.
"Oh, no, he'll never make it!" John muttered, shoving a sobbing Bridget at Titty. "Here! Stay back!"
He fumbled with his knife, finally getting it free as he crawled out of the bush. "I'm coming, Dick!" he shouted, wondering what on earth he could do.
But even as he got to his feet, an arrow whizzed past his ear, and the man fell with a thud—right across Dick.
"John?" a shaky voice asked.
It was Nancy, and it was her arrow that had saved Dick.
John swung around and saw Robin grappling with three men at once. Little John had two men after him, and Tom had disappeared. Nancy stumbled towards him, her face pale. She looked like she wanted to throw up.
"Are you all right, Nancy?" John asked urgently.
"Yes. No. I don't know!" Nancy scrubbed a hand across her face, smearing dirt and...tears? together. Her face crumpled as she looked at her bow.
John stood there awkwardly, wondering what to do. Was it all right to pat her on the shoulder or on the back like he'd do to a school friend?
"Um, John, and um, Nathan...thanks." Dick broke the awkward silence. He had one of the bags under his arm. "What do we do now?" he asked, looking around.
They followed his eyes. Five dead men lay about them and Robin, with Little John were collecting arrows and daggers off the dead. Nancy shivered as she looked and John's stomach turned at the sight.
"We run," Little John said shortly, coming over to them. "One got away and he's bound to spread news. Come with us; we'll set you up in no time."
He slapped Nancy on the shoulder. "Good work, lad. First kill?"
Nancy winced.
"Aye, it's always hard. But you saved the other lad's life. Come along." He began to walk down the slope again at a fast clip.
"Wait! Sir, where are my sisters?" John asked, hurrying after him.
"Tom has them," Robin answered, thrusting the other bag into Dick's hands. "Follow me!"
They stumbled after Robin, footsore and weary.
SA&D-SA&D-SA&D
Some time later, in the thick of the forest now, Robin stopped.
"All right, lads, we've got to blindfold you now. T'won't be for long."
He fished three dirty strips of cloth from out of a small bag and tossed one to Little John. A look of disgust swept over Dick's face as he reluctantly took off his spectacles. Nancy let out a strangled giggle, and John rubbed his forehead, suddenly overwhelmed.
Little John and Robin had definitely done this before, for within a few minutes, all three were blindfolded and were being led quickly through the forest.
It was hard going, and more than once John almost fell, but someone always caught him and they pushed onwards in silence. He was very tired, and after the first five minutes or so stopped trying to figure out what was going on. It's not like we know these woods anyway.
He had no idea of how much time had past, but finally, the blindfold was whisked away and he could see that they had reached the entrance of a cave. Robin whistled, a high, two note call as Little John straightened up from pushing a bush away from the opening.
"Nanc—Nathan? Dick?"
"Right here, John" "Over here!" they answered him from behind. Nancy came over by him and Dick ducked around Robin's elbow, clearly more eager to get near the others.
"In you go, lads!" Little John's voice boomed out from inside.
Surprisingly, Dick was the first to scramble in, head first. Nancy followed, muttering to herself about billygoats. John hoped Little John and Robin couldn't hear what she was saying as he followed hard on her heels.
It was dark and stuffy inside the cave, making it hard for him to see anything. A small fire flickered in one corner, and three shadows hovered over it.
"John! Dick!" Titty's voice came out of the gloom, followed by her hand landing on John's arm.
"Are you all right? Where's Bridget?" John asked, blinking.
"We're fine. She's asleep."
"Good." John sat down on the floor, feeling very tired. Nancy bumped into him and sat down hard.
"I say, is anyone else hungry?" she asked. "It feels like hours since we ate on..."
Titty pinched her. "Ow!" Nancy scowled, but a look from John silenced her.
Dick loomed out of the shadows and settled himself between Titty and Nancy. "I found this," he said, setting down a skin bottle, four apples, and a loaf of bread. "There's another two loaves in the bag I had, some more apples, a little bag of something and something that I think is cheese, but I'm not sure. It smells."
"What's in the bottle?" someone—John thought it was Titty—asked.
"Just pop it open and find out!" Nancy said, munching on an apple.
"I think it's just water," Titty said, passing the bottle to Nancy.
John accepted a piece of bread from Dick and looked around. Tom, Little John, Robin, and someone else were talking in low tones at the far side of the cave.
"What do we do now?" Nancy muttered to him.
"I don't know. Titty?"
She swallowed a mouthful. "I think we should get our backstory in order first. I have most of one planned out, if you'd like to hear it."
"Go on," John encouraged.
"Well, so, Dot and I have done a lot of thinking about this time in history—she wanted to make up a story and I like the history part of it—and we thought that we'd probably be peasants or merchants in this time. Right now, we're peasants, and Dick is our cousin. I think we should still say we came from York, our father was an inventor, he and mother died, and we're on our own now."
"And what sort of work are we looking for?" Nancy asked.
"Anything, really, but maybe something scribe related? We can all write, and you know at least I can use a quill pen.* And John, you and Dick are still young enough to be apprentices, I think." Titty chewed her lip. "I don't know what to do with Bridgie though. She's so little."
Nancy yawned. Dick was already asleep in the corner. Titty ended her sentence with a little sniff. John knew they were all exhausted. Good luck getting anything else done now.
"Let's get some rest, crew," he said.
"Aye, aye, commodore!"
Thank you for reading. Review if you like?