Authors: A.C. Gaughen
Scarlet (5 page)
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why. “Remember, lass, there’s the milk and there’s the cow, and the cow part should come fi rst. ”
The women hooted at this, and the girl were giggling too. I left Nottingham fair quick; it were a walled city, and they closed their gates at dark. For the hour after the end of the market, in the late afternoon, the city emptied of people, and I could hide easy in the tide.
I went to Edwinstowe and got there just before dark. Men were out corralling their livestock, and women were taking in the laundry. I went through the town and passed out the rolls where I could, and I gave the hose to Mistress Clarke. She had three growing sons and her husband’s harvest hadn’t done well. I tried to leave the things in such a way that I wouldn’t have to face their thanks. I didn’t like being thanked for my sticky fi ngers. It ain’t me going to Heaven, so no need to fuss about it. I were due at Tuck’s, which were by the road, a little farther away from the villagers and the manor, and I were on my way there when I heard someone bawling. And then a crack, like someone got hit.
I crouched down to the ground, listening. I heard it again, and I whipped around the corner to see two of the sheriff ’s men holding Amy Cooper by the dress front. She’s bare nine, a little slip of a girl. She were carry ing on and had a big cut under her hair, like the brute hit her with his armored hand. I slipped a knife from inside my vest and aimed at the brute’s open hand, the one not shaking Amy, with the unprotected palm toward me. I whipped it at him and yelled, “Amy!”
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He dropped her with a roar of pain, and she shrieked and ran to me. I crouched down and caught her. “Run to your mam’s; don’t open the door for them, ” I whispered to her. She continued to cry but she obeyed me, running like the Dev il himself were on her heels.
The man pulled out the knife as his counterpart unsheathed his sword. Swords are terrible. They are naught but big, heavy knives that most don’t know how to use right. I drew two more knives as they came at me.
“You’ll regret that, lad, ” the one said. His hand were dripping red, though, so I were fair sure I wouldn’t regret that.
“Make me, ” I challenged.
They ran at me and I turned and bolted, hearing them chuckle as they chased me against the tanner’s fence. ’Course, this were my plan.
I didn’t hesitate, leaping up and using the fence to fl ip over their heads. I dropped behind the uninjured one and sliced my knife along the back of his knee, and he screamed. I didn’t like to kill people, but that kind of slice meant he couldn’t do much chasing from here on.
The injured one hammered his sword down, aiming to hack my head, but I slid back and he caught just my knife, snapping the blade.
“Son of a whore, ” I snarled. His blade stuck in the soft ground, and I slammed a punch to his crotch. He let go of the sword with a growl, but he cuff ed me with his bloody hand. I twisted away with stars in my eyes, but the instant thought 212-47765_ch01_1P.indd 40
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of John Little saying I couldn’t take a punch gave me iron in my blood. I turned back to the guard and threw a fi st as fi erce as I could muster to his face, the little of it not covered by chain mail. He fell and hit the ground, and I took off running into the forest.
I didn’t go far, ’course. I wheeled back through the woods and came up on Mistress Cooper’s house. Seeing a light go out, I looked in the window and started swearing.
Mistress Cooper were there with Amy. The others weren’t; they must have gone on to Worksop already. They had a bundle on the ground, and I reckoned they must have been packing up a few more things. I climbed the thatch, hanging on the ridge of the roof to watch over the door. I still had three knives on me; if they came to bother Amy or any other Cooper, they’d have me to deal with.
My heart beat like the drum of a Scot, hard and even. I had that animal’s blood on my face, and I tried to wipe it off . The hand that I punched him with were bleeding and hurt— I never punch people. I just cut them. Bastard broke my knife.
It were pitch-black and more than an hour before I moved, and then only when I saw John walking through town, his eyes casting over the Cooper home.
I gave three short whistles and he stopped, looking up into the trees. He lowered his gaze a little and squinted at the roof. Even he couldn’t see me. I dropped from the roof and went around the side of the house.
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“Christ Almighty, ” he said, grabbing my face and twisting it. “What happened?”
Swiping at the blood again, I pushed his arm off me. “It’s not my blood. The sheriff ’s men went after Amy Cooper. ”
“Why wasn’t she in Worksop? I thought the whole family went over earlier. ”
“I ain’t a mind reader, John, ” I snarled.
“Is she hurt?”
I nodded. “He smacked her up a bit. She were terrifi ed. She and her mam are here. We can’t move them till dark, and even then we best use the forest. ”
Swears jumped from his mouth. “All they had to do was listen to us and no one would have been the wiser to them in Worksop. And who the hell hurts a little girl?” He shook his head fi erce and crossed his arms over his big chest. “Are you hurt?”
“He broke my knife, ” I told him, showing him the hilt with the jagged remnant.
“I’ll fi x it for you. ” As he picked it up, he brushed my knuckles. I hissed. He grabbed my hand and tried to see it in the dim light.
“What did you do, punch him out?”
I pulled my hand away from him. “Yes. ”
“You busted up your hand pretty good. You might have broken it. ”
“It ain’t broken. ”
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to push his thumbs over my hand, working each fi nger in turn and testing the bones. It hurt, but I grit my teeth. “Not broken. ”
“Told you. ”
“Get over to Tuck’s and have Robin clean you up. I’ll keep watch. ”
I shook my head. “I’ll stay. ”
“Scar, you know I lost my little sister, right?”
I swallowed. I did know that. A little sister and little brother and his parents in a fi re. He never told me that, though, so I weren’t sure if I should fess to knowing it. “Yeah. ”
“So, they aren’t going to lay a fi nger on that little girl while I’m standing in front of this house, you understand?”
“If they come back with more?”
His eyes glinted even in the dark. “I’m hoping they will. ”
“I’ll be back soon with Rob. ”
He nodded.
I jogged over to the inn. My head hurt and, with the anger gone, I were starting to feel a little dizzy. I went in the back door to the side room, checking that Rob and Much were there before edging into the doorway. “Rob, ” I said soft. He looked up, and his face changed. “Go downstairs. Much, you stay here. ”
Much looked up at me and swallowed. “Jesus, you all right, Scar?”
“Fine, Much. ” I smiled at him, and he smiled back. John and Rob, they were the same sort. They thought it were up to them to save the rest of us, and most people looked at them and 212-47765_ch01_1P.indd 43
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agreed. People pushed me and Much aside. They thought I couldn’t never do nothing, and they thought Much needed to be coddled on account of his bad arm. “Amy and Mistress are stuck in the Cooper house. Need you to fi gure a way to get them to Worksop. ”
Much nodded. “We’re sending them on to Dover to night anyway. My aunt can get them work there. Rob, can I go over there now?” he asked.
I scowled. “It ain’t like you need his permission, Much. ”
Much’s mouth tucked under, and I felt bad.
“Downstairs, Scar. We need to take care of what ever is cut under all that blood, ” Rob said sharp.
I nodded, going down the back stair to the underground storeroom. It were cold down there, and I knew why Rob sent me. Tuck had a big water supply he kept in the cold ground, and I fi shed the rocks out of it and dried them off . I held one to the side of my head. It felt like ice against the pain. Rob came down with a candle and I looked at my other hand, the one with the busted knuckles. They were torn open and already swollen. I scowled. My aim would be off . Rob didn’t say anything. He kept trying to swallow like something were stuck in his pipes while he pressed another rock to my hand. I hissed at the contact. He took a cloth and began to clean off the blood in little dabbing motions.
“It’s not mine, ” I told him quick, taking the cloth and wiping the blood off , rubbing at the dried bits even as it scraped at my cuts.
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“Some of it is, ” he said, his voice low. “Can I take off your hat?”
I bit my lip, chewing on it a moment. Swallowing a breath, I looked down and reached up and pushed it off , pulling my long hair to the side.
My fi ngers felt something thick and clumpy in my hair, and I frowned and scrubbed at the matted blood with the cloth. He sighed. “Would you give me that? You’re making it worse. I know how to tend a cut, Scar. ”
I glared at him but handed the cloth over. He began dabbing again, but this time at the cut on my cheek, which were fair awful. Even the dabs made my teeth grind.
“Going to tell me what happened?”
“The sheriff ’s men went after Amy Cooper. She and her mam came back to their house. One hit Amy. ”
Rob looked up, his eyebrow raised. “Is the sheriff ’s man still alive?”
“They both are. I cut one behind the knee and the other’s hand. He broke my knife, ” I said, bitter.
“So, you punched him?”
I nodded.
“You’re no good for punching, Scar. You could have broken your hand. ”
“That’s what John said. ”
“I take it he’s at the house, or you wouldn’t have left them. ”
I nodded.
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hand touched my cheek, hot after the cold water. “I hate seeing you hurt. ”
The air whooshed from my chest but I rolled my eyes ’stead of letting on. “No one gets all bent up over John being bruised. ”
He stepped back, looking into my eyes. I felt like my eyes were unprotected without my hat.
“Scar, you walked in here covered in blood. You don’t see how that would upset us?”
“No. ”
He caught my chin in his fi ngers. “Like it or not, Scar, we’re your friends. We care about you. I care about you. ”
I pulled away from his hand, pushing my knuckles forward. He tore up strips of old, worn linen and wrapped my knuckles with them, tying them off in my palm.
“We should get back to Little John. If the soldiers come back, he’ll need help. ”
Rob nodded. His head were low and he weren’t looking at me. He wiped the stones and put them back in the cold water.
“I’m sorry I got you into this, Scar. ”
All my rage bubbled up, mixing with the little bit of fear I didn’t want to cop to. I pushed him back, shoving my hat on my head though it stung fi erce. “Stop it. You ain’t sorry you got John and Much mixed up in this. You ain’t sorry I’m outta London. It ain’t no tragedy that I bleed, so just let it lie. ”
He looked at me with his funny, lopsided grin, like he knew how tough I were and it weren’t half what I wanted it to be. “I’m saying I’m sorry you got hurt, Scar. ”
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“And I’m telling you I make my own decisions. Including who to fi ght for and when to get hurt. So let’s go. ”
His mouth twitched into a smile. He nodded. We went to the top of the stairs and he gave me a hard look, but without any yap, we went out into the night. It were cold, but we moved pretty fast to the Coopers’. Part of me thought we’d fi nd the house on fi re, but John were where I left him, looking out from the side of the house. He were kind of like a big, shadowy gargoyle on a cathedral, keeping the place from demons. It made a shiver run up my spine, but I shook it off . I pretty much think I ended up on the wrong side of God, even if I spent most of my time trying to make up for it.
Much were around the side, and he came over as John came from the shadows and Rob went to the back door. I heard Rob knock and softly speak to the Coopers, and I leaned against the wall.
“Find anything out today, then?” Much asked. I nodded. “Gisbourne is here but his belongings ain’t. They were going to ship them up the Trent and then bring them down to avoid Sherwood, but they decided to disguise the goods instead. They’re coming up tomorrow, as early as dawn. ”
John smiled. “Rob will like that. ”
My fi ngers brushed the empty space where my knife usually sat. I wondered if John would actually fi x it. He used to be a blacksmith, so I knew he could. Couldn’t much trust people to do favors for you, no matter if they were strangers or bandmates. I guess I could steal it back if he didn’t fi x it. 212-47765_ch01_1P.indd 47
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“Do you know what the disguise is?” Much asked.
“No. I’ll spot it, though. ”
John elbowed me. “ ’Bout the only thing you can trust a thief to do is spot trea sure. ”
I scowled. “It won’t be any great trea sure. Some money, but his belongings foremost. ”
“Well, why do we want it?” John said.
“Because it will make him very angry, ” Much said. “Which probably isn’t such a good idea. ”
John smiled and gave a dark, throaty chuckle that put goosefl esh on my arms. “Angry is always a good idea. ”
Much scoff ed. “Why do we always start the trouble?” he mumbled to himself.
“We don’t, ” I said, probably a lick harsher than were right.
“We fi nish the trouble they start. ” Much looked down, and I sighed. I didn’t like making Much feel small but I weren’t the sort to apologize. “Did you get good loot today?”
John scowled. “No. Pains me to admit, but we need you on the roads with us. ”
Rob came out from around the building, sliding in the darkness and nodding to us. “The family is safe and calm. ” He nodded to me. “And grateful, Scar. ”
I nodded back. It were dark, so they couldn’t prove I were blushing.
“Much, why don’t you and I take them back over to Worksop? Scar, John— go back to the Oak. We need to be on the roads early tomorrow, and I want your eyes sharp. ”
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