Oneshots and Drabbles

15: Robin Hood (Mericcup)

Merida pulled up the hood of her cloak as she boarded trader Johann's ship. Aside from her bow, quiver full of arrows, and silver clan necklace, she had nothing with her. The night before, Merida had bribed Johann to bring her along, insisting she would help to hunt for him whenever they made port. Johann agreed, as long as no one ever found out he helped the princess leave her homeland.

She leaned against the wooden railing of the small vessel, staring at the place she once called her home. In recent years it had begun to feel more like a dungeon with her mother's incessant pressuring to marry one of the lords' sons. 

Merida didn't want to get married. 

She didn't want to rule. 

And that was why she left. Her mother's constant nit-picking had driven her mad. The lessons that had only started off as once a week, soon grew to six days a week. She was perfectly fine with Hamish, Hubert, or Harris taking her place as heir and having to deal with their mum.

Merida mulled over her thoughts about her family for the next five months. Both she and Johann kept to their agreement. Every time they came to a different island, she would hunt while he would sell and trade his goods. She would, once in a while, steal from the richer people of the islands, holding onto the items until they made port again, then she would give gold bracelets or silver rings to poor children she came across in the streets of the villages.  There were days she wished she hadn't left, maybe she could've helped people more than she was, but there was no turning back now, she would be on her own for the rest of her life.

"Trader Johann is here!" Shouts arose as the small ship neared the docks of the island. Johann had said it was one of his favorite places to visit, previously calling it Berk. Once Merida heard the name, she understood why the trader liked to come to there--it was the land were the Vikings had befriended dragons.

Merida would have to play it extra safe when hunting, she didn't want to run into any of the fire-breathing beasts.

While people crowded her friend to ask what he had to trade, Merida yanked the hood of her navy cloak over her fiery mane and silently wove through the mass of Vikings. As inconspicuously as possible, she wandered the village until she got to the edge of the forest. Twenty or so feet into the thick brush of the wilderness, Merida took out her bow and nocked an arrow. She stumbled across a few squirrels, shooting each through the eye.

After an hour, Merida decided to head back to the docks. She had just stepped over a fallen tree when she spotted something glimmering behind a bush. Cautiously creeping over to investigate, she nocked another arrow and aimed at the lush foliage. Merida slowly pushed a branch aside with the tip of the arrow. She sighed in relief when she realized it was only a knapsack with spilled contents.

Putting the bow and arrow back in their correct places, Merida bent down to examine the sprawled items. A shiny expensive-looking spyglass, a notebook, some parchment, and a strange looking cylindrical item had fallen out of a satchel that was hanging in the brush. 

She picked up the metal cylinder to examine--there were several buttons on the side. Curious, she pushed the top button.

Green smoke blew out of the bottom, causing her to drop the canister and fall backwards coughing. 

Merida stared in awe and got to her feet to pick it back up once the gas had dispersed into the air. She pushed the second button, a spark shooting out at what she assumed was the top. "Good fer startin' fires," she shrugged, then went on to press another button. 

A long blade ejected in the blink of an eye. She was lucky to have moved the weapon away from her in time, otherwise she could have been impaled by the sword. Merida grinned; the device was genius. There was still one more button to try, learning her lesson from the first few, she held it away from her before pushing down on the fourth metal circle.