Sorry it has taken me so long to get up the next chapter, I have been busy with University, and other things, who knew there was a life outside writing? Anyway I hope you enjoy this chapter and leave a review for me, they do help me upload faster :P
Chapter 5,
In a Pillar of Smoke,
He looked around the house it was familiar, and then he remembered this was Mafayu's house, but what he didn't know was what was he doing here, and then he noticed he wasn't wearing his boots, and he wasn't wearing his tunic. Had he left it behind? What was he doing in a bed? Her bed? The softness of the bed enclosed him in warmth, it had been so long since he had slept in a real bed, as poor quality as this was.
Panic washed over him and he could hear his own heartbeat, as if he held a heart in his hand and had lifted it to his ear; he tried to relax and then heard his heart beat returning to what he considered to be normal. Finally he rose into a sitting position and pulled back the covers, grabbing his boots and pulling them on before he continued to his feet, a dizzy spell washing over him before it cleared, and he continued out the front door to where Mafayu was.
"Dove possiamo trovare la luce in un mondo così buio…"
Her singing was interrupted when she turned to see him standing in the doorway leaning against the frame; she nearly dropped her basket of small plants.
"You're afraid…please don't be, I'm not going to hurt you." He assured, as he heard her heart beat increase to what his had been like a moment ago,
"I'm not afraid of you Sir Guy; I was just startled by your presence." She said, with a smile as she rested the basket on her hip,
Guy studied her eyes and saw that there was truth in them, she really wasn't afraid of him; "May I enter my own house?" She asked,
"Sorry." He then side-stepped out of the way so she could enter,
"You should stop apologizing to me Sir Guy." Mafayu stated, as she set the basket down and turned to look at him,
"I'm so...of course." He corrected,
"How's your arm?" She asked,
"Minor discomfort it will be fine." Guy answered,
"I had to mend your sleeve it was ripped, and your arm was cut." Mafayu continued,
"How did I get here?" He asked,
"You were exhausted when you got here, you collapsed on top of me, and nearly knocked me to the ground, so I let you sleep in my bed for the night, as for the cut on your arm you caught it on the door frame when you collapsed, and you must have caught a splinter on the way. But as for how you got here, I assumed you had taken a long walk in the forest, I figured you needed time to think, you were quite distressed when you left yesterday." She explained,
"I apologize for leaving but I had somewhere that I needed to be, and with my memory lapses I didn't want to do something that I would regret later." Guy said,
"No memory is lost, it's in there, and you just have to find a way to find it." Mafayu stated, as she retrieved a piece of fruit from a bag hanging over a chair, "Here it's late and you haven't eaten, your friends might get worried if you don't get back to your camp." She tossed it towards him, and with incredible speed he grabbed it with his right hand,
"Thank you, I should get going." He agreed, as he darted out the door happy to take the sweet smelling fruit with him, to munch on during his journey back to camp,
After he had eaten the fruit and made it a considerable way into the forest, he heard hoof beats in the distance a horse was coming and fast, and judging by the breathing the animal was being ridden hard. He swiftly mad it onto the road and waited for the horse to come, luckily he found that his sword like dagger was strapped to his waist even if he didn't have his preferred weapon something was better than nothing.
"In the name of Robin Hood stop where you are." He ordered, as he took out his dagger,
The man on the horse then reined it in hard and they skidded to a stop in front of Gisborne, "Please you…have to get…a message to Robin." He begged breathlessly,
"What's the message?" Guy asked curiously,
"A beast…tore apart…Clun last night…we need his help." The man continued,
"A beast, what manner of beast?" Guy asked,
"A wolf."
"We are hardly pest controllers; if you have a feral wolf problem then you should take care of it." Guy dismissed,
"This was no ordinary wolf." The villager continued,
"Explain yourself?"
"He was larger, above hip height, he was a monster, red eyes, completely black and on a killing spree." He explained,
"Very well get off your horse." Guy ordered,
"Why?"
"The sooner I get Robin the sooner we can solve your problem." He explained, as the villager then allowed Guy to take his horse, "Follow me and I will kill you." He threatened, before he rode off at a steady pace towards the camp,
Moments later and the gang was startled by the sound of hoof beats, as Gisborne came riding up to the camp on a bay horse, with a rope bridle and no saddle.
"Where have you been all night?" Robin asked suspiciously,
"That doesn't matter right now, we need to get to Clun and fast there's been an attack." Guy dismissed,
"Isabella?" Kate asked,
"No, a wolf the size of a bear, completely black, red eyes, and out for blood." Guy answered,
"I'm not be'n funny but all the wolves I've seen aren't even knee height." Allen chipped in,
"I don't think you've ever seen a wolf Allan, it sounds more like you're describing a fox."
"Right everyone get your things we're off to Clun, there's no telling how many are dead or wounded so Tuck bring your medicine." Robin ordered, as he grabbed his bow and quiver slinging them over his shoulder,
Guy grabbed his tunic, and sword, buckling up before jumping back on the horse, and making his way to Clun faster than Robin and the rest of the gang would, he wanted to see the devastation first hand, and pick up the stranded villager. After helping the man onto the horse they then cantered to Clun, a pillar of smoke signalling that they were close.
"Why is there smoke?" Guy asked,
"We burnt a house down trying to kill the creature while it was inside." He answered,
"Did it work?"
"No, it ran away and killed two more people." The man explained, as Guy then kicked the horse into a faster pace,
When they finally arrived they were greeted by what looked to be a makeshift hospital, something that he had seen only in the Holy Land while he used to fight for the King. There were only a few people on the beds though, with multiple bandages and blood stains, most of the villagers that fought against the beast must have died.
They both dismounted and Guy continued over to the beds, to look over the villagers, on the way there he examined the house that was burnt down in an attempt to kill the monster, unsuccessfully. There was blood all over the ground, but there was a villager who was working on brushing the dirt over it, and there were multiple sheet covered bodies, both adults and children, when he made it to the beds, he saw that Mafayu was here to.
"Mafayu, what are you doing here?" He asked,
"Guy…I heard that there was an attack after you left and so I gathered my things to see if I could help." She answered, as she wiped the blood off her hands with a cloth, "Are you here to see if you can…"
"Madam I think she's dying!" A woman called out, so Mafayu swiftly made her way to the woman, with Guy following,
She had deep cuts and the bleeding wasn't stopping, Mafayu knew there was nothing she could do for the woman, she was going to die, the woman knew this as well and so she made a dying plea.
"Please…my husband is dead, and so is my son, I'm dying too…all that's left is my daughter, please take care of her." She asked, her eyes welling with tears,
"Yes I'll take care of her." Mafayu agreed,
The woman then weakly handed Mafayu her daughter, before she fell limp, but Guy's extra senses kicked in and he could still hear her heartbeat, she wasn't dead she was still breathing, so after alerting Mafayu she quickly handed the baby to him, and he gingerly cradled it like it was glass.
"Maybe I can still save her, if I can get the bleeding to stop." Mafayu said, as she reached for various medicines,
"She has no one, would it really be a kindness to save her?" Guy asked, as if speaking from experience,
"I don't want her daughter growing up alone…I grew up that way, and I don't want that for her." Mafayu explained, pausing for a moment before she continued her work,
Guy happily overshadowed her until he looked around and saw Robin crouching, studying the ground, he handed the child to a woman who was tending to the wounded and walked over to where Robin was.
"Since when did you become a nurse-maid Gisborne?" Allen teased,
"Very Funny." Guy dismissed,
"It looks like the man was telling the truth this paw prints there too big for an ordinary wolf." Robin explained,
"Then we are dealing with a beast?" Guy asked,
"Yes, how are the casualties?"
"See for yourself, we have someone caring for the wounded." Guy answered, pointing to the sheet covered bodies,
"Good, we should start tracking the beast, Kate, Allan, Little John, you start following the tracks as best you can, Guy, Tuck and I will do what we can here." Robin ordered and explained; as he rose stepping to the side so that he didn't disturb the prints,
The prints that the group followed were deep, but the stride was about a metre and a half, so following them was going to be tricky, while in the village Robin lifted the sheets that covered the dead bodies. They had large gashes in them, and most of the injuries where to the throats of the beast's victims, however the small boy that was attacked looked like he had served as a food source, as he was hardly identifiable.
Guy found himself tearing up and feeling guilty, he had seen many dead bodies, had even killed countless people, so he couldn't understand what was causing him to feel for these villagers more than usual. And after seeing the small boy's body, that was enough, he soon left Robin's side and returned to Mafayu's side to see if there was anything he could do.
Timed slowly passed by and eventually the woman Mafayu had poured all her effort into who had died, and remembering her promise she took the baby into her care. The sun was setting and Kate, Little John, and Allan had no luck trying to following the beast's prints because they had disappeared into the forest.
So Robin had sent them to warn the other villages that there was a beast on the prowl, and to look out for it, meanwhile he and Guy had come to the conclusion that they needed to join forces with Isabella to take it down. So as they walked towards the castle their weapons sheathed, Guy feeling uneasy about it turned to Robin.
"You realize how risky this is?" He asked,
"Yep."
"She could just have us jailed and executed, and then deal with the problem." Guy continued,
"She could, but she knows Prince John won't be very happy when all his tax payers start dying." Robin explained,
"True enough, I suppose we'll find out in a minute." Guy agreed, as they walked over the drawbridge and into the courtyard,
What will happen to the two now that they are in the castle, will Isabella see reason or will she imprison them? Find out in the next chapter! Review!