The Deed by Lynsay Sands

wince in his voice as he
     watched his cousin push the first stitch through her husbands skin.
    Nay. I left the men still looking and came back with the dead. There were five of them as
     you said. The gruff tone to his voice when he spoke told Emma that he had been distracted
     by watching what she was doing as well. It was odd how squeamish men could be about
     closing a wound. They werent nearly so shy about causing one.
    Rolfe grunted acknowledgment. Then there was silence for a moment before Blake went on.
     Two of the men had arrows in their backs.
    Emma stopped midway through a stitch, her gaze shooting a warning to her cousin. His
     eyebrows rose at the silent message, and he appeared uncertain for a moment. Then he
     sighed and muttered, Aye, I saw that.
    The battle was over when you and Lady Emma arrived? Blakes words startled Emma. It had not
     occurred to her that her husbands men would assume that her cousin and she had left the
     castle together, but then she supposed he just assumed that she had asked her cousin to
     accompany her for protection until she met up with Amaury. Giving one last silencing look
     to her cousin, she turned her attention back to her husbands wounds.
    Aye, Rolfe said finally. Twas well over by the time I arrived.
    She could almost hear Blake frown as he digested that. Then who is it that shot the two
     men?
    Emma held her breath. She did not want it known that the bandits blood lay on her hands,
     and neither did she wish her skill with the bow to become common knowledge. Rolfe was the
     only one aside from the Welshman who had taught her who knew of her skill. Her father had
     known, of course, but he was dead. As was her first husband.
    Emma sighed as she recalled telling him of it. It had been the day after the wedding. She
     had thought to impress him with the knowledge of her skill. She had been desperate to
     impress him somehow. He had seemed hardly to notice her presence either at the wedding
     feast, during the breaking of fast on the following morn, or throughout the day.
    Unfortunately, rather than being impressed, Fulk had appeared quite horrified by this
     knowledge of her unladylike skill. She still wondered if that were not part of the reason
     he had turned away from her. He had left for his house in London shortly afterward without
     a word to her. Perhaps he had not found her womanly enough. Whatever the case, that
     possibility was enough to make her shudder at the very idea of her second husband finding
     out about it. She did not wish to see him turn from her as well.
    Perhaps it was Lord Darion, Rolfe said at last, and Emma sagged with relief.
    Lord Darion? Blake stared at him in confusion. I have not heard of him. Does he have a
     keep around here?
    Emma glanced over her shoulder to see her cousin shake his head. There was a sparkle of
     mischief in his eyes as he met hers. Nay. Darion is a spirit of the woods. And a defender
     of the weak. He has been known to protect unwary travelers who are set upon... always with
     a bow and arrow.
    Have you seen this Darion? Oh, aye. Lord Darion saved my life a time or two. The first
     time I was a mere boy.
    Emma grimaced as she recalled the occasion her cousin was speaking of. It had been a year
     after Rolfes arrival at the castle and perhaps a month or two into their training with the
     bow. They had been running through the woods like ragamuffins, playing at being grown-ups.
     As usual, she had insisted on being the dashing Lord Darion, leaving her cousin little
     choice but to be a dastardly evil villain. They had been pretending that she had come upon
     the villain in the process of being very mean to a small helpless child. Then, of course,
     the chase had begun with the two of them running wild through the woods. Her cousin had
     been in the lead, with her following a goodly pace back, hampered by her skirts, which she
     so rarely wore, her bow slung over her shoulder. Emma had