Scarlet by A. C. Gaughen
I nodded.
“Let’s get to the cave. Scar, take the high road and be a lookout,” Rob told me.
“Rob,” I said, pulling away from John. “Rob, please tell me you and John took the chest to the cave.”
“What?” His head whipped toward the tree, and every muscle he had jumped forward.
“Please tell me you didn’t just leave it sitting by the oak.”
“Of course we didn’t,” John said. He lifted his shoulders and his jaw were tight. “I kind of put some leaves around it.”
Robin swore.
“You lot stay here,” I ordered. “I’ll see if they nicked the chest.” I jumped fast into an old pine tree. I scaled it quick and began running through the crisscross of branches, going toward the thickest bit of the smoke. Major Oak were hidden just beyond.
Close to it, I dropped to the ground. The tree were most ember and smoke now, and there weren’t any guards or Gisbourne’s men. The smoke stung my eyes like a whip and I covered my mouth with my sleeve, coughing hard. I went by our little fire pit, and my stomach wrung out like the washing. The chest—and everything in it—the baubles and riches that were to buy a bare slice of time for the people of Nottinghamshire—were gone.
I climbed back into the trees. My arms felt heavier now, and climbing were fair hard, but I made it back to the lads and whistled.
They looked up, and I shook my head, pointing them on to the cave. I stayed high, watching over the lads as they ran on the ground. The smoke were getting thicker, like it were chasing after me, and it were harder to run ’cross the branches. One snapped beneath me and I lurched forward to grab the next trunk. I looked down, my heart drumming in my chest.
Pushing my cheek against the bark and holding tight, I waited for the boys to catch up before moving ahead.
I whistled twice for the boys to hide as more of Gisbourne’s men came plowing through, and we all met at the cave without running into more trouble, going in and all the way to the back.
“Best for us not to light a fire tonight,” Rob told us. “Who’s injured?”
The cut on my leg already stopped bleeding, but John’s knuckles were torn up and Rob had a slice on his arm. Much were going to have a bright, shining eye the next day; the skin were already closing over. “Sit,” I told Rob, going to our kit to get some bandages and water. When I came back he had taken his shirt off, and it made my mug feel a little hot.
Honestly, it’s not like I’ve ever lied about the fact that Rob’s fair enough to look at. With or without shirts in the mix.
I chewed the skin off my lip while I rubbed the dirt and blood and bits out of the slice with the water, then lifted his arm gentle and tied the torn bits of muslin around the wound. I pressed my hand to the wound when it were done.
“Why do you always do that?” he asked soft.
“What?” I tucked my hands back around myself.
“Put your hand over the wound like that.”
I shrugged. “Habit. Someone told me that hands can heal. I figure if they can kill, it ain’t much of a stretch that they can heal too.”
“Someone tell you that around the same time you got this?” he asked, putting his hand on the scar on my cheek like I had with his arm.
I swallowed. “Yes.”
His hand dropped away. “You did well today. Like a warrior woman,” he told me.
“More like a warrior squirrel,” John threw in. “Hopping and twitching about like that.”
“You saved my life today, you know, Scar,” Much said. His voice were graver than the other two.
I nodded. “We watch each other’s backs.” I didn’t want to fuss about it much more than that. “But we lost the chest. We lost the baubles, the coin, all of it.”
Rob sighed. “It was Lady Luck that put that in our hands in the first place, and she just took it back. It was too much to hope for.”
I looked around. Our stockpile were fair meager. “We won’t make it, Rob. We won’t have enough to pay the taxes, and he’ll string up as many as the gallows will hold.”
Rob looked around too. “We’ll find a way. We have to find a way.”
Later that night, after a cold supper, we all went inside the cave. We kept some mats there for sleeping on, just burlap stuffed with hay and some bits of wool when we could get it. It were dark as pitch in there, and I could hear the boys breathing and the cats scratching around.
“I can still smell the smoke,” Much murmured.
“Me too,” I told him. “Can’t believe they killed Major Oak. What did the tree ever do to them?”
“Several,” John said. “Looked like a few around it caught light too.”
“It were our home,” I said, soft as I could manage. I didn’t know if the others heard.
“She’s a tough old tree,” Rob said, his voice rough and farther away. “She might last.”
“Unlike that guard that tried to grab Scar.” John laughed. “You know, I’ve heard all the sayings about the wrath of women, but whew, Scar, you have a temper.”
The others chuckled.
“Keep it in mind, John Little,” I warned him. I didn’t feel much like chuckling.
He laughed. “I’ll be sure to inform Jenny Percy,” he said.
I rolled my eyes, but this time I heard a small laugh come from Rob’s distant corner. “So she really kissed Scar?”
“Should have seen it, Rob! Scar’s right in the middle of giving her a talking-to, and Jenny lays one on her,” Much crowed.
“So that’s how we shut her up,” John said.
I knew he were fair close to me so I tried to kick him. It took a few attempts, but one finally hit something and I heard him whine, “Ow, Scar!”
“And none of you jumped in to defend—her—her honor?” Rob asked, but it got broken up with laughs.
“The lot of you are stupid blighters,” I snapped. “It ain’t for laughing.”
This made them crack apart with howls. After a day where another home got ripped away from me and the smell of smoke were still wrapped around us, I could play at being fair grumpy—but honestly, it felt better to hear them around me. Their laughing even made me smile a small bit, and it felt like a gift.
We piled up all the blankets we had and turned in for the night. I don’t know what it were; I were used to sleeping outside, which should have been much colder than the cave, but I were shivering cold. The scent of smoke had snuck into everything—the blankets, my hair, my clothes—and it made me feel colder, hollower. I called for the kitten, but even he wouldn’t go near me, like death and sin were hung round my neck. The shivering got worse, until my breath started coming in harsh shudders.
An arm with an extra blanket wrapped around me, dragging me back against John’s chest. I went stiff.
“Easy, Scar. You crying?”
He thought my shakes were for tears? “No,” I snapped, offended.
“Then you’re cold, and I’m warm, so just hold on to me and go to sleep, all right?”
He were warmer than sitting next to a hot fire, and I felt him like a blaze all along my back. His arm wrapped over my arms and held me tight against him. It were passing strange, but I stayed still and warm against him. The shudders began to ease. I felt his breath on my neck, his nose against my head.
“Your hair’s longer than I guessed,” he said.
I killed a man today. It were the first response that bubbled up out of my head, but I didn’t open my yap. I didn’t know what that had to do with my hair or him pressed against me, all warm and alive and very much not dead, but it were all I could think. I couldn’t say it, and it settled down like a rock wall between my head and his, even though his breath were on my neck and his nose were against my head.
I woke up feeling warm, but my head were ringing with alarm. I were still tucked against John, both my arms behind his one like it were some shield, and the light were snaking into the cave. I looked around, trying not to move till I knew what were wrong. I saw Rob, sitting up
He met my eyes, his face grim and his eyes stormy blue black. He didn’t say nothing and stood and walked out of the cave.
I pushed away from John and pulled the blanket around me, cold again but for my cheeks, which were blushing hard. He were walking away fast, and I moved faster to keep up.
“Rob,” I called. “Robin.”
He stopped.
“I just—” I stopped, and he turned to me, his eyes dark and hard. I felt shaky again. “I killed that guard yesterday.”
He nodded, like he got why I just blurted that out. Which must have been fair hard, since I didn’t know, myself. His ears were red and his jaw were clenched, but he nodded again and turned away from me, walking deeper into the forest.
I turned back to the cave. I couldn’t go back to sleep, but it were right enough; it were Sunday, the Lord’s day, and I went deep into the cave, looking for the small parcel I tried to keep hidden.
Staying in the darker bits, and watching John and Much, I changed quick into the gown, untwining the muslin that I used to pin my bits back. Couldn’t very well be running for your hide with bits jiggling all over the place, could you? I combed through my hair, tying it out of the way, and pulled on the hooded ladies’ cloak. Looking very much like a girl, I went out of the cave.
I know it’s fair strange for a girl who turned her back on the wishes of her father and mother (fourth commandment) and steals (seventh commandment) and lies a fair amount (eighth commandment) and even killed a body (fifth commandment) to feel so particular about going to church. But I went every Sunday I could, and I figured that, black as my soul were already, the one person I shouldn’t be making falsehoods to is God—and most times, that’s what wearing my usual clothes felt like. Besides, I couldn’t wear a hat in church, and I couldn’t very well wear my hair down and look like Will Scarlet—that way were faster than wildfire for trouble.
There were a small little abbey in the middle of Sherwood run by the Franciscan friars (it’s where Tuck got the name for his house), and they always let me come in to their masses and confess to their priest. They weren’t much popular with the local folk, but that suited me just fine.
“My dear lady,” Brother Benedict greeted. He and I were friends, I think. I handed him some money I had collected that week, and he pressed it to his chest, treasure-like. “As always, your generosity astounds me.”
I looked down. “Well, you know how I come by it,” I reminded.
“Come, daughter, and walk with me before the Mass.”
I nodded, and we walked over to the animal yards. The Franciscans loved their animals dear, and they had the oddest collection in the shire. A spaniel that favored Benedict bounded over to me, leading a baby duck and three kittens like a piper. “Gisbourne is here,” I told him.
“Ah,” he said.
“He’s going to make it worse. He’ll kill people. He’ll gouge their hearts out to get what he wants.”
“Is it you he wants?”
“If there’s such a list, I’m more than like on it. He doesn’t know I’m here yet.”
“And can you stop any of this bloodshed?”
“Yes. We’ll stop as much as we can. We protect our people.”
“And if you turned yourself over to him?”
I shook my head. “I can’t. It wouldn’t stop him, and it won’t help me any.” My mug filled with shame, and I searched the sky. “Besides, I reckon he’d kill me.”
“You and your fellows are charged with a most difficult task, my lady. You protect the people, and no one will imagine it to be easy for you, or your souls.”
“I killed a man, Brother,” I told him. “Yesterday. He attacked me.”
He sighed. “These are strange days. I’ve said to you before that if there were any time the Lord might forgive our darkest transgressions, it may well be these equally dark times, but we both know the peril your soul is in.”
I nodded. “I don’t have much hope for my soul.”
“You’ve sinned, my lady, but if anyone ever did it for the right reasons, it’s you and your fellows. It will be for God to judge such a tangled web, not I.” He touched my hand. “And as for Gisbourne, stay far away from him. If he knows you are near, he won’t stop until he possesses you. We would all be loath to see that happen.”
I bent and let the spaniel lick my hand.
“Come. You must pray, and confess, and cleanse your soul if you have any hope to defend its righteousness.”
I nodded and let him lead me back to the small chapel. I started to move toward the back, but he tugged me frontward.
“A lady of your caliber does not sit in the back, my dear.”
Chapter
Six
I walked back to the cave, feeling jittery with every step. I didn’t like looking like a girl, and without my knives—you certain can’t bring knives to church—I rather felt like a girl. If I came ’cross a guard, I wouldn’t have much of a chance. And worse, I weren’t sure if the lads would be back at the cave or off and about. Robin never went to masses since he came back from the Crusades, but he still seemed to feel like Sundays were for reckoning anyway, and he were fair hard to find come Sunday mornings. John and Much tended to go over to Worksop to go to church with Much’s father, and it were passing rare for us to be at the cave instead of the oak. I never had to risk them seeing me in a dress before, but with all the muck about the tree burning and such, I knew Robin wanted us sticking together; I just weren’t sure where they would be.
I got back to the cave and halted as I saw Much and John talking to each other. They stopped and turned to me.
Much looked confused, and John stepped forward. “Wait . . . Scar?”
My mug got hot. “Stop gawping, John. Let me pass.”
“I’ll tell you one thing, Scar—Miss Percy wouldn’t be after you in that getup.”
I scowled at him.
“Where’d you get that dress? And when’d you start filling it out?” John asked, following me into the cave.
“Bugger off,” I told him.
He didn’t; he kept coming closer. “You look good in a dress.”
“Go, John.”
He grinned at me and turned, going back out to the front of the cave. I didn’t like his eyes on me like that.
I changed quick as I could, sliding the dress back into my hiding place and going out front to the lads. I sat on the ground and tucked my legs up.
“I could get used to you in a dress,” John told me.
“Don’t.”
“You looked nice,” Much told me.
“Thanks, Much,” I said, even though I didn’t really want him thinking I looked any which way. Better him than John, though.
“So where were you going in a dress? Meeting someone?” John asked.
“Leave off, John,” I said, scowling.
“Can’t. Who were you meeting?”
I stared at him.
“Fine, maybe I’ll guess. Secret love? Lad from one of the villages?” He studied me, then shook his head. “Are you running something? Show ’em some chest and they’ll let you get away with anything, I’ll bet.”
I snorted. “Please. If it were so easy, I’d gussy up every day.”
“Trust me, I think you’re not putting enough faith in how you look in skirts. Now, who do you think Scar would actually want knowing she was a girl?” John asked Much.
I looked away. “This is why we near get pinched; you lot pay too much attention to the wrong things.”
“Like what?” Rob asked, coming down over the ridge above the mouth of the cave.
“Scar was in a dress,” John reported.
“Looked pretty, too,” Much added.
Rob didn’t look at me. “She’s right—there are more important things to discuss.”
We all looked at him.
“Someone told Gisbourne we camp at Major Oak.”
<
“Hey,” I interrupted. “Settle back. If someone sung, then I reckon they had real good reason.”
He shot me a look.
“She’s right, John. I’m worried that whoever it is, Gisbourne has some heavy leverage on him. Or her.” He sighed. “It also means that we can’t put that burden on the people. If no one knows where we are, how we work, Gisbourne can’t torture anyone to get to it.”
“He can torture anyone, knowing or not,” I said.
“Well, we can’t risk it either. We can’t help the people if we’re dead.” He rubbed the narrow bit of his nose. “Much, you go into town today and talk. Take John with you. I’ll go with Scarlet. No one goes anywhere alone today. We need to find out who told and if they’re all right. Meet up at nightfall at Tuck’s.”
John held out a hand to help me up. I looked at it but stood on my own. He frowned.
“You two cover Worksop; we’ll go to Edwinstowe,” Rob said. We all nodded. The lads set off, and Robin started walking in the opposite direction.
“You know who told, don’t you?” I asked him as we went.
He nodded. “I knew John would react like that, but I wanted you to come with me.”
“Why? Who is it?”
“Edward Marshal.”
That weren’t good. Edward Marshal were the marshal for Edwinstowe, a position that came with some land and money and reported to the sheriff. Edward himself had always been an ambitious man, but folk made sure they didn’t tell him nothing. I also reckoned Lady Thoresby were in the habit of protecting us, for she talked fair often to Marshal and whenever he had some misinformation that I couldn’t account for, she’d been to see him fair recent. There weren’t too much she could do as the wife of a weak lord, but I liked to think she tried best she could. Anyways, for someone to tell Marshal something meant less helpless motives. He wouldn’t torture no one, so that left a volunteer.
“What do you need me for?”
“He’s clever; I need you to cover me with those knives.”
I looked at my hand, still a little swollen. My aim were just a lick off, but we’d be in close quarters. I nodded to Rob.