Sherwood by S. E. Roberts Page A

to his front and
looked at him, an eyebrow raised and fake laughter on the edge of
her voice. “Oh yeah? What will he do? Send more goods?” She shoved
a loose piece of fabric into his mouth.
    Harlow turned away from the struggling
man and walked to Enders, who held another monk at arrow-point
while Reggie tied his arms behind his back and sat him against a
tree, tying him to the tree as well.
    “ Where's Elwin?” Harlow
whispered, asking Enders as she scanned the forest.
    “ The trees.” Enders
whispered back to her, causing her to nod her head and scan the
horizon again, searching for anything that could prove his
location. A renegade boot sticking out of a tree made her chuckle
slightly.
    As soon as Reggie finished stuffing a
rag in the monk's mouth, Enders lowered his bow and placed the
arrow back into his quiver.
    Harlow looked to Reggie as Enders
walked past her and toward the treasures. “Go join
Elwin.”
    Reggie nodded turning and rushing off
to get into a good position.
    Harlow approached Enders as he knelt
down looking through the contents of their raided wagon. She picked
up an old, mostly dented gold cup. “Not much of any value.” she
said, sighing.
    “ No, but it does the trick,
doesn't it?” A menacing voice said, an obvious smirk on the
person's lips. The voice came from just in front of her, holding a
demeanor accustomed to authority and obviously male in
nature.
    Harlow froze momentarily, completely
understanding what had happened: They'd been set up.
    Harlow slowly lifted her eyes to see
the evil looking man standing just before her. Carefully she rose
herself up and stood in front of the man.
    "We don't want any trouble," Harlow
said, her hands floating in the air in front of her.
    Enders, she noticed, had also stood
up, and had started surveying the area around him, trying to figure
a way out of this situation.
    "You don't want any
trouble?" The man asked, and then laughed, his eyes lighting up
like a child being surprised with his favorite toy. "You outlaws
always cause problems, always cause mischief, always become
trouble.” The man had a smile on the edge of his lips, making them
twitch with every sentence.
    The man took two steps
forward, six other men coming out from their left and right
sides.
    Harlow's eyes widened, her
pulse sped up and she felt fear rise form her toes and spread
throughout her limbs.
    She kept her eyes as even
as she could, although her fear was showing slightly. She felt like
a deer in headlights. She glanced behind her, seeing an
opening.
    “ So, what
will happen now?” Harlow asked, taking a small, insignificant step
backward,
    She noticed Enders look in
her direction. He saw the step she took. He glanced backward and
knew what she was doing. He took a small, insignificant step
backward just as she had done.
    “ What happens now? ” The menacing man mocked. “What happens is that you'll
tell me where the Outlaw camp is and we'll let you keep your lives,
albeit without limbs.”
    Harlow nodded, taking
another step backward, Enders doing the same. “What if we don't
tell you a damn thing?” She spat out at the man.
    The man pulled out his
sword and let the sun light bounce off the metallic blade. “Well,”
He started, making a show of the sharpness of his blade. “You wont
see the sunrise again.”
    “ Oh yeah?”
Harlow asked, raising an eyebrow and taking another step
backward.
    The man was getting
arrogant; so much so, that he hadn't noticed how far away Harlow
and Enders had gotten form him.
    “ Here's the
funny thing about Outlaws,” Enders said, his voice remarkably
confident. “We never let anyone take us alive.” He turned around
and sprint off as fast as he could in the opposite
direction.
    Harlow followed his lead,
barely keeping up with him as her legs wobbled back and forth,
making it hard for her to sprint. As her legs took her away she
heard the sounds of whizzing arrows, although she couldn't tell if
the arrows were fired by Elwin and