Archer

Chapter Six

Ari ran after the horse, arms pumping furiously at her sides, her legs ahcing from jumping and dodging things in her bath. She could just barely make out the tail of the horse, held high as he ran for his life. For some reason she thought if she lost the horse, she would lose everything she had left. A way to escape, a wa to run from her past. All she needed was the horse and she would be free. She pushed herself faster, not allowing her eyes to be torn away from the horse or her mind to be drawn back to Flynn.

Then the horse was gone. She could no longer see the high black tail, or hear the thudnering beat of it's hooves on the forest floor. To her, the last chance she had of escaping her past was gone. Ari stopped running, legs shaking beneath her until she collapsed, knees smaking the ground with a sickening thump. Her head hung low as she stared at her hands in her lap, a few tears escpaing her eyes and falling onto her skin. She wiped the tears using the backs of her hands, she hated crying. It only brought back memories of the day her father died. Her mind began to wander back to that day, slowly she recalled images and sounds then came the smell or iron and fire, smoke and blood.

"No!" she cried leaping to her feet pressing her palms to her head, "No."

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Flynn continued to pick his way through the forest, his jaw and side throbbing with pain in each step he took but he knew he had to find Arianna, the Kings men were surely after them and he didn't want to take any chances of them being found. The forest was quite, nothing seemed to be alive, which made Flynns foot steps seem even louder. Each snap of a twig sounded like an ax hitting a log. Each rustle of a leaf seemed like a strong wind was tearing through the forest. Each breath he took sounded like a giants. That's when he heard her voice. It sounded hurt, beaten down and broken. Flynn's heart stopped at the one word she scremed, 'no'. He took off running in her direction, the pain in he side and jaw forgotten as he took a deep breath and shouted her name.

"Arianna!" Did someone have her? Had she been caught? Was she hurt? Through his mind raced a thousand different thoughts as to why she would be screaming that word, "Ari! I'm coming! I'm coming Ari!"

Leaping over a fallen tree he saw her. Standing in the middle of a clearing, shoudler hunched over, ands pressed to her ears, legs shaking. Her hair had come loose from the braid she wore it in and was flying wild around her face. He took tentative steps towards her, slowly not wanting to frighten her when he reached out and laid a hand on her shoudler. She turned on him, hands balled in fists ready to strike but Flynn caught them. She struggled against his strong arms, crying out and screaming her parents names before Flynn pulled her towards him and wrapped his arms around her.

"Ari, they're gone. They're all gone," he whispered into her ear over her gut wrenching wails. She struggled against him still, fighting his embrace until she collapsed into him. Hands trygint to find something to hold her up, to keep her legs from giving out under her again. They wrapped around hsi chest, holding him tighter than he was holding her. He laid his head against hers, tears priking at the corners of his eyes. His heart hurt for her, the way she was hurting made him want to take all her pain and bear it himself so she wouldn't have to live with it anymore, but he knew he couldn't. She stayed like that for what seemed like days, sobs racking her body as he cries became softer and softer until there was nothing left but her shallow breathing and death grip on Flynn. Slowly her grip eased until she pulled away from Flynn. He looked at her, but she looked away. Flynn wasn't having it.

"Look at me Ari," she turned her face further to the side sniffing faintly, "Ari." With this Flynn took her face his hands and turned her face towards him. Her usual bright green eyes were dull and dark, rimmed with red as tears still slipped from her eyes. Flynn let out a long shaky breath, "We are going to be just fine."

Even as he said it though, he wasn't sure if even he believed his own words.

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Peters boots made sharp clicking sounds down the halls of the Kings Palace in Synia, the largest kingdom in these parts. He turned the corner, making his way to the Kings meeting chambers to let him know how the hunt was going for the two men. Pushing open heavy oak doors there stood the King, his son the Prince, and a few of his advisors.

"Ahhh Captain Favell," the King said slowly, "I trust the hunt for the two men that attacked my men in Granstem is going along smoothly."

"That's what I've come to talk to you about sire. It seems like the people of the villages outside your reach, and even a few inside our borders know nothing of these men. There has been no sighting of them anywhere in the kingdom," he responded curtly.

The King nodded slowly and walked around the table towards Peter, "Well then, looks like we shall put a bounty on their heads."

I nodded, "Yes sir, I'll get right on it."

"Three-hundred pounds for the black haired man, and for the caped one, make it four-hundred," he said turning back to his advisors and son.

"Alright sir," he said. The King nodded, giving Peter his leave to go. He turned and walked out of the room, closing the heavy oak doors behind him.

"Hey give you a bounty on 'em?" a deep voice said from around the corner. Peter jumped slightly before he saw a tall, muscular shadow appear to his right. Luke walked out from the shadows, twirling a knife in his hand, pressing it to the fingertip of his pointer finger looking at Peter with hooded eyes.

"Where you eavesdropping again Luke?" Peter asked rolling his eyes at his best friend and walking back down the hall the way he came. Luke shrugged, falling in step with Peter as they made their way back down to the guards quarters.

They didn't say much, both of them were quite people to begin with, so putting them together made easy for there being no talking between the two. Their footsteps, perfectly synced, echo down the halls along with Luke's mindless tune he was whistling.

"Is that necessary?"  Peter questioned never looking at Luke. Luke smirked and whistled louder and began running down the hall. Peter couldn't suppress the laugh that burst from his lips watching Luke prance around the halls like a young boy. "Luke! Calm down, you don't wanna get in trouble!"

"How can I get in trouble when the Captain of the Guard is my best friend and he's standing here watching me?" he laughed and gave a sweeping bow before continuing on down to the guards quarters. Peter quickly followed knowing that Luke would update the men even if he wasn't there, having his best friend as his second command had it's up and downs. As expected he joined the other guards during the middle of Luke's lecture about the two bounties.

"...An' gents! Be sure that you take care of yourselves out there! The hooded one is a good shot, don't wanna loose ya out there!" he laughed loudly throughout his entire speech, the men laughing along with him until they saw Peter in the doorway.

Peter cleared his throat before looking around at the men, "I take it Captain Elderridge has told you about the warrants that have been set out, so I'm not going to waste my breath. Now we will be taking five men. Quinlan, Faraday, Corwin, Tellman, Carstairs, get ready to go. We leave in one hour."

The five men jumped from their seats to gather their belongings and enough food to carry for a week at most. They were the five best men in the Kings Guard, save Peter and Luke; they were expecting to be gone four days max with their skill set. Two men with a sword and arrows wouldn't be anything for them. An hour later the seven men had horses saddled and weapons ready to set out.

"Alright, stay tight, stay alert, stay focused," Peter called, his new horse dancing around, tossing his head ready for the ride. Peter tightened his hold on the horse, glaring down at the grey stallion, "Fallon never would've acted like this," he muttered under his breath about his old mount.

"Ready to go Captain?" Luke questioned him, a smile on his face after hearing his previous comment.

"Let's go get me horse."

This chapter was kinda boring, sorry about that but we will be picking up the bulk of our story within the next few chapters! Thanks to all my loyal readers, y'all are the best♥♥