R&R please! I wanted to make you guys wait longer, just to build up the suspense, but I decided against being a meanie-butt... at least, too much of one.
"Help, Halt! Gilan!" Will yelled at the top of his lungs as he shot the other two men. "HELP!" he dropped his bow, and sprinted the few meters to his apprentice. Robin's face was pale, his eyes closed, perfectly still, his hand lose around the knife in his side. But he was breathing. Will curled his arms around the boy and stood easily enough; Robin was small, and Will was in perfect shape.
Will ran back towards the inn, yelling all the while. "HALT! GILAN! HELP! ANYONE! HELP!" He slammed through the door of the inn, bolting up the stairs and kicking open the door to the room he and Robin shared with Mauch. Mauch was sitting, sleepy eyed.
"Will, what- oh my god," Mauch said, jumping to his feet. Halt and Gilan sprinted into the room, their hair wild from sleep. Will put Robin on the bed, and dropped to his knees beside him. Robin's eyes fluttered weakly as Will ripped his shirt up to the rib cage away from the knife.
"No, not the shirt..." Robin mumbled, trying to push Will's hands away. Will swatted his hands away, looking in confusion at the thick white padding around his midsection that the knife stuck up through. He didn't hesitate for long, and pulled the padding away from around the knife. He blinked in surprise at Robin's stomach; his- or her?- sides curved, in a very un-masculine way... a girl? Will pushed it away, and looked at the dagger sticking from his apprentice's side.
It wasn't too deep; the padding had seen to that. But it had hit a major artery, and Robin was losing blood fast. Already the bed was crimson, and the torn fabric around Robin was much the same. Will reached into the bag on his hip and pulled out his sewing equipment and sterilizers.
He carefully removed the dagger, and Robin's eyes rolled up into his- her?- head and he (she?) blacked out. Will padded down the wound, pouring sterilizers and rubbing alcohol on his apprentice's side. Quickly, he stitched it together, applying as much pressure to the cut as he could to try to get the blood to thicken and stop flowing so freely from the artery. To his relief, the flow of hot blood from under his hand slowed, and he slowly released pressure and bound Robin's side tightly with gauze.
The whole process of stitching it and pulling away the shirt took only around three minutes. As Will pulled the knot in the gauze tight, the inn-keeper walked in, somewhat sleepy eyed.
"What's wron- oh my god, what happened?" the innkeeper said, walking quickly to Will and Robin.
"Some thugs had a knife, you giant twat," Will snapped, the tension from everything building up. He thought that his apprentice would live... but he couldn't be sure. His stomach turned at a thought: what if the knife was poisoned, like the arrow that had hit Halt a couple years back? He shuddered and swallowed.
"I thought she was a boy," the inn-keeper mused, looking down on Robin's unconscious body. Wrapped tightly in the bandages, the part of the shirt that remained across her chest, Robin was obviously a girl.
"So did I," Will said, uncertain how to deal with the new information.
"Well, that's unfortunate. I had come to like your apprentice," Halt said mildly, putting a hand on Robin's forehead to take his- her, Will reminded himself fiercely- temperature.
"What?" Mauch asked, confused. "What's unfortunate? The whole stabby deal, or that she's a girl?" Robin's eyes fluttered and her fingers twitched with the fabric, then she lay still once more.
"Well, both. But I'm afraid there can't be a girl in the corps," Halt said, sitting back on his heels. Robin coughed for a moment, blood staining her lips, before she lay still once more. Will frowned, worried; was a lung punctured, or just a cut in her mouth? He knelt, and listened to her breathing, and decided that she must have just bit her tongue.
"And why not?" Mauch said, totally confused. Halt blinked.
"Well, there just hasn't ever been one. It's...tradition," he explained.
"Halt, you of all people should know tradition means precious little," Will said sharply. "Be more open minded, Mister Banished." Halt flinched, and Will regretted his harsh words immediately; Halt had been banished on purpose in order to be able to track down Will when he was held captive by Skandians, and had probably saved his life in doing so.
"Perhaps..." Halt said reluctantly.
"I'm not going to tell him- her- she can't be my apprentice because of her gender. Considering Alyss, I know gender means nothing when compared to capability," Will said. "If Robin lives, she will still be my apprentice-" Will broke off suddenly, realizing just who Robin was, as the name Alyss floated around his head... Alis. Alisandra. "My god."
"What?" Gilan asked gently, looking at Will with some concern. Will quickly explained to them about Alis, from the drawing of the rabbit in the woods to last seeing her with Joshua. Robin, hearing her real name, stirred and opened her eyes sleepily as Will finished the story.
"What happened?" she mumbled, moving to sit and gasping, laying still abruptly.
"You were stabbed," Gilan said softly.
"Stabbed-?" she started, then looked down and jerked in surprise. She pulled the blanket up as though suddenly hiding her body would prevent them from knowing she was a girl. Her face burned red, and she pulled the blanket up to her shoulders. After a moment's thought, she looked up at Will with horror in her eyes.
"You- no, please," she started, a begging tone in her voice. "You know who I am? Don't take me back. Please, don't make me go back. I'll- I'll leave, you've never heard of me or from me never seen me. Just, please."
"I'm not taking you back," Will said firmly. "And, if you want, I still want you as an apprentice." Robin's eyes widened.
"Really?" Robin said, surprised. Will nodded. Robin smiled, but the effort was ruined by another cough and blood covered her hand. She grimaced, and put her head down. After a moment, her eyes closed and her body went limp.
Will thought she was just unconscious again, until he realized she wasn't breathing.
