Without You, There is No Point in Surviving

Chapter 5 The Night of Blades and Fire

A young man with brown stubble on his face, and wavy brown hair, had his arrow notched and aimed at the small baker as she stepped out into the clearing. She had her hands raised above her head, hoping this would be enough for the man to not shoot. She looked around and saw others with him. Two other men much older looking.

"And the other one?" the archer said.

Nellie swallowed, "I don't know what you're talking about."

The archer tightened his grip on the bow, inching forward.

Nellie's breath caught in her throat.

Sweeney came out next to her. He pointed his razor at the men, glaring menacingly at them.

What felt like an eternity went by. No one moved.

Then the men broke out in laughter, the archer dropping his bow. He approached the two of them, casually, as if they were old friends. "Apologies for the scare. Where are you from strangers?"

"South." Sweeney said.

"South?" the man said doubtingly.

"London," said Nellie.

"Ah, lovely London." He mused, "Come along, you must be hungry"

"We're in a hurry," Sweeney said, grabbing Nellie's elbow.

"Are you running from someone? Need protection?" he said.

"No, we must be going."

Sweeney tugged on her elbow, they started walking away from the three men. They only managed to make it a few paces when another arrow was shot into the nearby tree. Inches from their heads. They turned around carefully. The archer has his weapon pointed at them again. Nellie was struggling to keep herself from shaking. Of course, the men seemed untrustworthy, but free food wouldn't be so bad, especially since all the rations they had left was a loaf of bread.

"These are our woods," the man said, "And you'll be joining us for dinner."

Over the next few hours, the unfortunate pair had joined forces with the band of imbeciles. They ate stew with some kind of meat in it that Nellie couldn't place. She had the sinking feeling that it was rabbit. At least it wasn't human meat she thought to herself. Sweeney brooded the entire time; she could almost feel the hate coming off of him in waves. They found out that the three men were brothers, they've been traveling for months. They said they came all the way from Scotland. An impressive journey to make on foot. They were friendly enough, very odd. The archer seemed the kindest of the bunch.

"Where are you two headed?" the tall gruffly man asked. Nellie looked at Sweeney, at a lost for how they should answer. She was half tempted to say France. Hell, they didn't even know where they were located currently.

"The coast." Was all Sweeney said.

"Which coast?" one of the men laughed and they others joined in.

"Pardon me," Nellie asked the archer, "Where exactly are we?"

"North of Suffolk." He said. "You plan on going to Ipswich then?"

"Sure," Sweeney grumbled.

"We'll escort you there, no trouble at all."

"Thank you." Nellie nodded to all of them.

That night they slept under they're own blankets near the fire. It wasn't any easier for Nellie to sleep in the forest the second night as it was the first. The sound of the three men snoring was enough to assure her any animals or predators would stay away. She rolled over to Sweeney who was a couple inches away from her. She desperately needed to speak with him out of earshot of the others.