Part Five: Sisterhood
Many years had passed since that fateful day and now Rosie was no longer a child. She had grown up fast and now was a young woman, she still took after her father with the purple eyes but now they told stories of the hardship and mourned the loss of a happy childhood that had been stolen from her on that day. Since then everything had changed. William and Rosie travelled by light of the moon from town to town, never staying anywhere for too long and never giving out their names. The Sheriff had spies everyone and one could not be sure who was a friend of foe anymore. But now their travels seemed to come back in a full circle as they were walking back through the great Sherwood Forest that Rosie had played in as a child. The truth was that they had no where to go and now William was close to giving up the fight but Rosie kept him going. It was her who suggested they come back to their roots. William guessed she needed to face up to her past in order to go into the future, he knew she was still grieving for the loss of her sisters but she never spoke a word of it to William. In short the relationship between father and daughter was getting weak, the relationship was now of two companions fighting each day to try and stay alive for each other. William blamed himself for this, Rosie had been robbed of her happy memories and she'd grown up fast in the wilderness but even after all the hardship she'd managed to keep an optimistic approach and William could not have been prouder of her.
Rosie walked slightly ahead of William checking her compass rose for direction even though she knew the layout of the woods like the back of her hand. William had to admit that her mapmaking skills were greater than he could have ever wished for but as he looked up at his daughter he saw her pace was slowing and she was trying to blink away the tired from her eyes
"You're tired little one" He said gently
"Not so little" she grinned back with a tired smile
"We should stop here" he said putting the little he owned down on the forest floor
"In the middle of the forest with who knows what out there?" she said defiantly
"You're armed" he said pointing to her bow
It was true; Rosie was a natural archer and always had been. Her skill had been said to rival that of Robin Hood's but she was modest about this. William knew that Rosie could take care of herself now and she wasn't a little girl. It would soon be time to let go and set her free into the world but William just couldn't bring himself to do so.
Rosie sighed as she knew there was no point trying to argue with him and anyway she was tired "I'll go and get some water then"
"Where from?"
"The stream over there" she pointed "You forget I know every tree in these woods" she smiled and ran off calling back "Anyway I have this" she waved her compass rose in the air and William smiled. Suddenly he felt very sleepy and his eyes began to droop as he fell into a restless sleep.
Meanwhile Rosie was now at the stream collecting water. She smiled sadly as she remembered all the times her and her sisters had played in the stream. She sat down on the bank and looked at her surroundings until something caught her eye. On one of the great old oak trees were compass markings carved into the tree with some an inscription carved at the bottom. Rosie slowly made her way over to the tree and ran her hand over the writing; "We of the Sisterhood carve our names into this Oak to retain an everlasting bond that can never be broken no matter how far apart we are". Rosie suddenly burst into tears as she remembered that day when she was only just able to walk and her sisters had taken her to this tree and finally accepted her into the family through the sisterhood ritual. The sisterhood was a bond between the four girls that was strong and everlasting. Rosie crouched down at the base of the tree and hugged her knees as she wept.
"No matter how far we are apart" she recited "But we are so far apart and I am so lonely" she shouted "I don't know what to do!"
She the bucket of water she had collected into the stream and the splash from the impact got her soaking wet, but this sudden soaking seemed to calm her down and now her head felt clearer.
Rosie turned again to look at the tree and said out loud "But this sisterhood will go on no matter how far we are apart"
She hopped back across the stream and walked back to her father with the water. All of a sudden she heard shouting voices coming from the North road below and Rosie being Rosie went to look what was going on. She ducked behind a tree and watched the events unfold.
A carriage had been stopped by a man wielding a bow who yelled "This is an ambush, my comrades and I will be taking your riches for the poor. Do not resist or we will take everything and leave you with more sharp things in you than a hedgehog" Rosie nearly laughed out loud at his arrogance
The man continued "Will if you please"
A tall dark haired man carrying an axe stepped forward and took the so called riches of the people in the carriage. Rosie watched him carefully studying his body. There was something oh so familiar about him but she couldn't place it. She watched his tall body easily amble about and when he turned she admired his deep soulful eyes that seemed to reach into her very mind. Rosie suddenly came to her senses and realised she was grinning madly and had turned bright red.
She quickly got up and made her way back to her father angry at herself for being taken in like that. Amway why would someone like him ever care about someone like her and it was not as if she could just; go over and introduce herself; she had her father to think of and anyway what is it that he always said "Speech can give away your deepest secrets. Even a name can give away a thousand secrets" and that was that, Rosie had made up her mind that if she ever saw that man again, the one they called Will she would not speak to him, well not until she could trust him anyway. She remembered how the Sheriff had spies everywhere and how one could not be too careful about whom they chose as a companion.
She entered into the clearing where she had left her father and stopped looking confused at the situation that was laid before her eyes. Her father was not there where she had left him, in fact he was no where to be seen but instead stood a tall dark haired man wearing leather who sneered at her. Rosie knew who he was immediately; she had heard her father's stories. This was Guy of Gisbourne, the sheriff's right hand man and then one who had killed her sisters
"Where is my father?" she shouted throwing down the bucket of water
"Rosie Oaks how nice of you to join me" he said pulling his sword out of its sheath
"I said where is my father?" Rosie was alarmed at the sight of the sword but she kept walking towards Gisbourne even though she could feel her whole body shaking in fear
"You should be careful about where you choose to sleep. You never know who's waiting to ambush you. My dear Rosie you see we received information from our spies that you and your father were coming back in the area and since he is an enemy of Nottingham we were about to lay a little ambush. We had it all planed out but when you left to go and collect water, we made our move. You made it so much easier for us"
"Where is he?"
"He's going to be hanged in the next hour" Gisbourne sneered "And I am going to finish what I started all those years ago"
Something in Rosie broke at that point. She had already lost her mother and her sisters and she was not about to loose the only person she had left in the world. She grabbed her bow and before Gisbourne could react she fired an arrow at him. She hit his shoulder and he roared in pain. The arrow had been just enough to distract him whilst Rosie made a head start running to Nottingham. She could hear him running behind her and she picked up the pace. She could feel the stitch in her side but she didn't stop she had to make it to Nottingham to save her father. She clutched at the compass rose around her neck and hoped it would guide her in these dark times.
A/N: and there you have it, Rosie's completed back story. I'm thinking of doing a sequel to Wind Rose with the same characters. Let me know what you think xx
