An Unexpected Destiny (Completed)

Run

I feel my face stretch in horror as the boy falls to the ground, scarlet blooming between his bony fingers as they clutch the arrow.

Robin and MacLeod shout as Jude grabs my hand, yanking me down to the ground beside him. My mind struggles to keep up with the yells, whizzing of arrows, and stamping of feet. I can only see directly in front of me; Robin crouches beside Ferdinand as thin arrows fall around them. One lands less than an inch beside my free hand, the tip striking the ground with a definite thunk. 

I could truly die.

Holy shit. 

Jude's panting words reach my ear, ask me if I'm alright. I nod, swallow and yank the arrow out of the ground. A howl of pain splits in front of me and I see Robin shove Ferdinand behind him, toward the horses. Ferdinand has an arrow with bright yellow feathers sticking out of his shoulder like an ornament. I let go of Jude's hand and roll onto my back, heart thudding.

No. I would not die today. Or any day before I found Merida. I would fight; I knew how. I just had to apply textbook knowledge to a real-life situation.

Before Jude can stop me, I leap up and am almost get skewered. I do a little dance to avoid the sharp arrow tips while managing to slide my bow over my head. I snatch an arrow and knock it just as the first member of the Group leaps over the bushes and attacks MacLeod. Jude, who hastily scrambled to his feet and pulled out his sword, stands slightly in front of me. Another Group member, smaller and lither-- a woman most likely-- emerges through the trees and stabs at him.

Grunting, panting, yelps, clangs of steel, screams of horses, curl up with the dust our feet are raising. If only there was a way to stop the arrows.

They are raining down on us like in the movies, except there are no hills or cliffs, only trees. That must be where they are coming from. I swipe the large bag Robin had tossed at Jude and I and use it as a shield (a poor one, I know) and spin around, trying to see through the leafy branches. Right as I flinch from an arrow thunking into the bag above my eye, I mutter, "There."

"What?!" Jude shouts, his back bumping into mine as he swats his opponent's strike away.

"Cover me!" I shout back and give him no chance to argue: I yank my bow over my shoulder and race toward the horses.

I don't know he's followed until I duck behind a thick maple and have to grab his shirt to keep him from running past me. Panting, we both view the scene, safe from the arrows. Robin stands next to his horse, which had been closest to him, while Ferdinand struggles to pull himself up onto the creature. There are two arrows in his back. The same rage I felt when Alistair was attacked returns, and is further ignited by MacLeod and Isen getting grazed while being hacked at by the black-cladded man and woman.

The woman , her face a mask of turbulent beauty, smacks Isen with the hilt of her sword. His eyes roll in the back of his head and he collpases over a log. Heart in my throat, Jude and I can only watch as she regards him coldly.

Please, please, don't. He's just a boy. Please, please--

With a dainty sniff, she steps over him and strides toward the horses-- more specfically Robin. Ferdiand finally pulls himself into the saddle and with a yell Robin smacks the horse's rump before drawing his sword. If this was not a life-threatening situation, I would have laughed at how tiny the girl appeared as she approached Robin, all dark, six-feet of him. Yet, from the sweat on Jude's brow and the trembling of his arms, she was not someone to mess with.

Like a signal, several arrows narrowly miss Robin. Two make their mark in the trunk Jude and I are hiding behind.

Snap out of it! I scold myself and spring once more into action. "Up there," I say and jerk my head towards a pine with sparse needles. Jude looks and his face goes slack with surprise at the person in black straddling a branch and having a hey day shooting at us. I nod to the left a little, and he sees the twin in an oak, aim all directed at Robin.