William Stafford, Mary Boleyn's husband, watched as the red-feathered arrow flew with precision, almost as if in slow-motion, towards the former Queen of England. Her body convulsed as the arrow struck between her shoulders.
"Oh my God!" Edward screamed, running over to her. Anne slowly collapsed to the ground as the peasants gathered around her bloodied body.
"Edward." She gasped.
"Oh my God, oh my God. Is there a doctor here?" Mary asked, frantically. Her husband was frozen, eyes wide and tilted up towards the clock tower. There. Movement.
"WHO DID THIS?!" Edward roared. His eyes were wild and he kept turning around and around, mad with anger and grief.
"Edward." Anne repeated, her voice strained.
He turned towards her and flew to her side, kneeling in her blood. "Oh my God. Lord have mercy, please." He whispered as a man pushed his way through the crowd, a young girl following.
"What happened?? Where was she hit?" The man, whom Edward supposed was the physician, asked. Edward could only point at the wooden shaft protruding from her back. The doctor knelt beside him and ordered the girl with him to hold the bandages at the ready to staunch the unending flow of red. Then, in one swift movement, he yanked the arrow out. Anne let out a bloodcurdling, high-pitched scream that stabbed through Edward's heart. Anne, please, please survive. I believe in you. You can survive. Edward thought.
"AAAAAGHAGHAAAA!" A man at the front of the crowd screamed as an arrow speared through his chest. He fell to the ground revealing Mary standing distraughtly behind him. What did she do?! Edward mentally screamed.
"He- He saved me. Why?" She gasped.
Anne moaned, bringing reality crashing in on him. The blood was quickly staining through the thick rags pressed against her back. Her dress, too, was covered in red. Her body thrashed over and over again as it tried to find release from the pain.
"Fetch me the green bottle from my bag!" The doctor ordered the Stafford boy.
He quickly ran to the black duffel bag and pulled out a variety of green bottles.
"Um, which one?" He asked.
"The one labeled Piercing Wounds, you idiot!!" The doctor screamed, nerves fraying. William carried a flask over and handed it delicately to the man who would save Anne's life.
"Never thought I'd be treating a Queen. And certainly not Anne Boleyn." The doctor mumbled as he gently rubbed a salve onto some bandages and then switched them out for the soiled, blood-soaked ones. Anne let out a grunt as he wrapped another bandage around her and tightened it.
"Are you her... associate?" The doctor asked, looking up at Edward.
"Yes, I mean, no. Not in that way. But she has been taking residence in my house. Er, at least since she arrived." Edward trailed off as the doctor gave him a long stare, "Yeah, I can take you there, if you want?"
The doctor just about snarled at him and Edward hurriedly led him to his house, leaving the townspeople behind, except for Mary and William. "You can... Do whatever you need to do there." He said, waving vaguely in the direction of his room."
Edward, Mary, and William watched with worried faces. All of them had the same thought. Will she survive?
YOU ARE READING
Anne Boleyn Again
Historical FictionHenry VIII has annulled his marriage to Anne Boleyn and sent her to the Tower to die. But, much to his displeasure, the people of England are revolting. They are fighting for the life of a Queen they never truly loved. Now, Henry is forced to make a...
