Does He Understand Flight, the Pale One?

Chapter Four

"We're under attack!" Djaq cried out in fear as she ran to the window to their bedroom to find out why her friends were all shouting and screaming below them. "We have to help them!"

"You go and find Bassam," Will replied urgently as he ran after her down the stairs and immediately jumped between the woman he loved and a Saracen soldier who tried to attack her, taking the man down with a single thrust of one of his axes to his chest, then charged another warrior as he tried to sneak up on another of their wedding guests. "I will help get as many of our friends to safety."

He saw his new wife run off while she fought against another attacker and once he saw that she was holding her own, Will continued to fight himself against the soldiers, attacking anyone who tried to kill Djaq's people, now his own. It was then that he caught sight of one of the servants who worked for Bassam as she was fighting with another of the men who began to set fire to his home.

As he fought a more formidable opponent, who attacked him as Will tried to go to her aid, he heard the maid pleading as she cried out, "Please! This wasn't how this was supposed to be! You were only supposed to send a few of your soldiers here to arrest the Englishman and then leave. You can't burn down our home or continue to kill my friends and family!"

Unaware of Will in the distance, the warrior thrust his sword through the woman's belly as he answered, "We can't allow our own people think that it is all right to shelter one of our enemies. This is what happens to traitors."

"Wh… why?" she asked weakly after Will finally cut down his own attacker, then raced to the dying woman and pulled her into his arms as he looked into her eyes sadly. "Why did you… come here? Why should we have to suffer… because of you?"

"I'm so sorry," Will responded with deep remorse as her eyes closed and her body became limp in his arms.

He carefully laid her all the way down to the ground and charged another of the Saracen soldiers more vigorously, and then another, as Djaq finally appeared again, followed closely by Bassam and his wife, then she called out, "Will! Are you…? We must leave, now!"

Bassam quickly added, "Our home is burning to the ground. There is nothing more we can do here. Come, I know a passage the soldiers will not see us leave from."

"What about your people?" Will asked as he glanced between the woman he loved and the father figure.

"Most of them are either dead or the men have taken them prisoners," the older man replied quickly as he led them both deeper through the house and to a small passageway hidden inside the home's pantry. "If we don't leave now, we will either die or become prisoners ourselves. I will not have that for Saffiya."

Just as they were about to be free, Will suddenly grabbed his wife and kissed her deeply, then ordered firmly, "Keep running and don't look back. I have to free the birds. Don't worry, my love. I will be alright. But if we leave, they will all die and there is not enough beauty in this world to let that happen. I will find you, Saffiya. I promise."

Djaq tried to protest as Will ran away from her while Bassam continued to pull her away from her husband and she eventually gave in and continued to follow the older man. Will ran through the fire to where the white pigeons were caged and without thought, freed them as quickly as he could so that the fire could not consume them.

By the time he broke open the last of the cages and had finished his task at hand, a Saracen soldier tried to sneak up behind Robin Hood's man to attack him. Will was able to defect the first blow, but his back was against the wall behind him and there was no room for him to maneuver in order to break free himself.

When the man had Will pinned against the wall with a blade to his throat, while he struggled to keep its sharp edge from cutting into him, another of the soldiers came in to help his comrade as he swiftly struck Will's temple with the hilt of his own sword, successfully knocking the Englishman unconscious.

Will suddenly gasped as he awoke late into the next day, startling both Djaq and Luke who were sitting beside the carpenter watching over him and Djaq exclaimed fearfully, "Will! It is all right! You are safe again. You're safe, I found you. Will!"

"What's wrong with him?" Luke asked in worry when his brother was unable to focus on anyone or anything. "Tell me!"

"He may be awake, but he is not lucid," Brother Tuck answered as he came to sit between the two brothers in order to help Djaq hold Will down. "I have seen this before, by men and woman who have suffered traumatic experiences. He's terrified and confuse…"

The priest was interrupted as Will started to mutter weakly, "So… sorry. I'm so s… sorry, Hazar. My fault. It's all m… fault. Saffiya?"

Robin knelt down to become eye level with his friends as he looked over at Djaq and asked, "Do you have any idea what he might be talking about?"

"No, I… It doesn't make any sense," she responded worryingly. "Hazar was the name of one of the women who served in Bassam's house. I do not know why he would feel any guilt toward her or for anything else."

Flashback…

"Come Saffiya, we must go from here," Bassam said sadly. "He will find us. And then once they are gone, we must tend to the dead."

She looked on at the remainder of the attack on their home from a rooftop in the distance, then when it appeared that the men were leaving, Djaq watched in horror as two of the soldiers carried her husband out between them and she attempted to run to him until Bassam swiftly pulled her back, spinning her around to look at him as he spoke again saying, "There is nothing you can do for the pale one now, Saffiya. I am so sorry, but he knew what he was risking when he went back."

Djaq struggled within the man's grasp as she sobbed, "No! I cannot just let them take him. Let me go, please!"

"If I do, I will lose you too and you know that Will would not want that!" Bassam replied angrily in order to get her to stop fighting him. "We will find him, no matter how long it takes. I will help you find him, I promise, but now is not the time. Those soldiers have taken him prisoner, which gives us time. Please Saffiya."

Back inside what little was left of Bassam's house…

"Ahmed, Munier, Hazar, and Jessamyn… all dead," Djaq whispered reverently. "And many more. Most of our friends, those who worked for us, all dead on mine and Will's wedding night. And my husband was captured. How did this happen, Bassam? Why did this have to happen?"

The man of the house answered, "Only Allah knows all that, little one."

She shook her head and then responded, "That is not good enough for me. I will seek the truth, no matter how long it takes."

End of flashback…

"I never did learn much more, other than where Salah ad Din's men had eventually taken Will and their other prisoners, as well as why they had attacked our home, but something must have happened between the time Will had split from us to save our birds to when he was taken prisoner," Djaq spoke again after she took a few minutes to try to think about what could possibly be tormenting her husband so deeply, that he would mutter these words in his current state. "Hazar was among the dead. As far as we could tell, she died in the fire. And as for what else he might be feeling guilt over…"

"It is doing us no good to speculate what might be troubling him," John replied after he took Tuck's place at the young man's side as he and Luke gently settled the older Scarlett brother down as he slowly fell back into unconsciousness. "We won't know anything until he truly wakes up, if he wakes up. His fever is worsening. If it does not come down soon…"

All of a sudden Luke cried out angrily, "Don't you give up on him! You have to save him. Our mother and father both died. I can't lose my brother too!"

Robin walked over to stand in front of Luke as he answered remorsefully, "I assure you Luke, we are all doing everything we can for Will."

"Did you kill the monsters who tortured him?" the young man asked coldly as he turned toward Djaq, glaring at her as Robin and Much held him back to keep him from striking out against the woman he saw was responsible for his brother's suffering, despite knowing it wasn't really her fault. "Did they pay for doing this to the man you claim you love or did you spare them because they were of your own kind?"

"Luke!" she called out after him as she started to go after him when Will's brother stormed out of the shelter until Robin stopped her. "I have to go talk to him."

Their leader shook his head as he responded calmly, "He's just angry and needs some time alone. Luke doesn't really believe that you're responsible for Will's condition, Djaq, but you're the only one here he can be angry at."

The woman nodded and stated, "I know. I am a Saracen after all. Right now, all Luke sees is the color of my skin and hears the accent in my voice, therefore he sees and hears the people who are really to at fault. I don't blame him for hating me. And the truth is, those men did not pay for their crimes. They weren't at their camp when Bassam and I found Will and the others. It appeared as though they simply abandoned the site and left their prisoners to die. Will needed me and I was far more concerned with making sure that he was safe. When he returns, reassure Luke that I will not give up on Will. If he wishes to speak to me, I will be happy to listen."