Once Upon a Time...

~Four~

5 years later...

I sprint, moving my limbs as fast as they will go, my panting breaths blending in with those around me, my men, my Spiders. We move in synchronised movements, turning corners at the same angles, dodging trees in time with eachother, all in black, all in silence. Well, not all in black, the back of my black jacket is painted with a bright red 'X'. The blood of the men I kill, I smear onto this jacket, forever ensuring I carry the weight of my crimes with me, the weight of Cedric.

"No" I hiss to myself in my mind. "We can't focus on Cedric, focus on the mission".

I run ahead of the others, according to the plan.I find the trees that we located weeks ago, planning for this raid. I scarper up the tree closer to the wall, moving nimbly and professionally. I swing from branch to branch, then, precariously balanced on a thin branch, I leap, throwing myself across, not up. I calculated it perfectly just slipping over the top of the high brick wall, landing silently on the ground on the other side.

I throw the rope that was wrapped tightly around my stomach over the wall and tie it to the small pine on this side of the wall before giving it to sharp tugs and then running into the supply barn to see what is inside.

As planned, the merchant had placed this months stock inside of his barn to hide it, little did we know, we paid off his son to tell us this. I sent to of my Spiders to 'persuade' him to tell us.

Soon, all 13 of us are inside, silently picking our way through his goods, split into predecided groups, each searching and gathering different things; food, weapons, clothing, money, things that are valuable to sell, maps and so forth. I stand near the door with a bow and quiver full of arrows I picked out before everyone else arrived, looking out the door, alert, to make sure no one is coming.

I wave my left hand at the others without turning around and they silently line themselves up, people with the lightest items first and heaviest last. After hundreds of raids like this, we are efficient, practically reading eachothers minds, knowing when and where and how to do things. I set up this system after the second time one of our raids failed, making sure we had a set plan that everyone knew has been well worth the time and memorisation.

They, one at a time, slip out of the barn, dash across the moonlit grassy patch and climb over the wall. The people with the heaviest items toss theirs over, the others catch them silently then they too flip themselves over the wall. Before I go, I hear someone groan as the weight of several large hunks of dry and aged meat hit them when they failed to catch it adequately. I grind my teeth frustrated, guessing who it would of been to make a potentially life ending mistake for the rest of us.

I untie the rope and drag it back in front of the shed, using a discarded machete to hack it in half. Then, I place the 2 halves diagonally, intersecting in the middle in the shape of a large 'X', my symbol.

I jump up the wall an waiting on th otherside is Chanter, a six foot six giant of a man, who is broad and strong. He stand with his back against the wall like he always does and I step from the wall, onto his shoulders before sliding down is back and dropping onto the ground.

I scoop up a sack of supplies and start a quick jog back, allowing for my fellow Spiders who are carrying heavier items. We make it back to one of our temporary camps and I drop the bag not bothering to be quiet now, we are so far into the woods, no one but us ventures here, this is our territory.

"Who did it, huh?" I say in a deadly quiet voice, I will never allow myself to yell again, not after Ella.

"Who did it?" I say slowly and clearly in a low voice , staring at the fire.

"Which one of you measly little cowards couldn't take the weight of a leg of beef?" I raise my voice slightly as I look up.

My crew have split in half, moving to the side to expose the smallest and knewest recruit, Tibs.