Sherwood (15 page)

She could have sworn she saw tears as
she dropped to the floor at his feet.

She heard angry yelling and the sound
of metal meeting flesh.

The rest was a blur.

She felt herself being
lifted.

She heard desperate cries of her
name.

Her limbs went cold and
numb.

Then everything went black.

*~*~*

"Henry!"

It was Enders' voice that resonated in
the back of her mind. It seemed to pull her closer to some sort of
door. She was being dragged out of sleep as this voice
persisted.

"I'll go get Robin!"

Harlow furrowed her eyebrows as her
eyes remained shut tightly, intense pain pulsating in her
body.

'Elwin? If I'm dead, he
must be dead too. How had he died?'
Harlow
thought, painful throbbing making its way through her
midsection.

"No!" Enders snapped, his voice
ringing out. Harlow felt the sudden hardness of wood.

'...and is that the sound
of the creaking pier? Pier must be dead too,'
Harlow thought as the darkness engulfed her.

"What?" Elwin asked, confused and
concerned.

"Don't get Robin!" Enders shouted at
him. "Go get some cloths and anything else you can get your hands
on!" His voice was shaking, Harlow noticed, feeling herself smile
at the action.

"Go, now!" Enders shouted again, his
voice still trembling.

Harlow felt pressure on her body along
with the intense pain. "Oh my God, Harlow..." Enders' voice came
again, sounding shaken.

Harlow wanted to laugh but found that
the pain was to much. She coughed and made a loud groaning noise.
She finally threw open her eyes and looked around,
dazedly.

She panicked, looking down at her
wound, finding Enders' hands pressed firmly on her body.

"Henry!" He exclaimed, releasing the
pressure and scooting up to her face.

Her eyes rolled back gently, wanting
to close again. Her head lolled to the side, giving her a perfect
view of the lake.

"Keep your eyes open, Henry!" Enders
said, placing his hands on her cheeks, making her look at him as
the smell of blood came to her.

Her eyes went back as she closed her
eyelids.

"Keep your eyes open!" Enders shouted
louder this time.

Harlow fought hard to keep her eyelids
up, but the sheer amount of pain made her want to close them
tightly.

She didn't realize the proximity
between her and Enders, but when he spoke, she could feel his
breath on her skin and the panic in his voice. He held her head
upright with his right hand and moved his left to the wound,
applying painful pressure.

“
Henry!” His voice rang out
again. “Open your eyes!”

Harlow opened her eyes for a moment,
finding the energy deep within her to look at him.

She saw the pain in his eyes and the
panic in his face. It was overwhelming and numbing for just a
moment. She wanted to keep her eyes open, and stay awake for him,
but just as she resolved to keep on fighting, she lost the
willpower to keep her eyes open and her eyelids fluttered
shut.

"If you don't open your eyes right
now, I'll rip that hat right off your head," Enders threatened, his
voice wavering and unsteady. She fought to lift her eyelids half
way before failing to keep them open.

Enders sat still just above her.
"Henry, please, keep your eyes open," Enders begged, his voice
still shaking sadly.

The pressure on Harlow's midsection
returned with a brand new kind of force and a commotion of sounds
resonated in her mind, jumbling themselves together
awkwardly.

The sound of thumping footsteps rang
out around her.

“
What's going on?!” Robin's
voice called out as he ran onto the pier.

“
Henry!” Enders begged, his
voice losing the hope he once had.

"I've got rags and herbs!" Elwin's
voice rang out, along with a creaking pier. Reggie voiced concern
somewhere in the mix.

“
Get out of the way!”
Robin's voice rang out as he came closer to her.

She felt herself being lifted and
carried, feeling warm liquid drip off her body from behind her and
fall to the ground. She knew it was blood but she didn't want to
think about it.

“
Reggie, run ahead and tell
Aldridge and Evie to prepare for a serious wound.” Robin yelled,
running with Harlow in his arms limply.

“
Aye, sir!” Reggie shouted
before Harlow heard his running footsteps take off in front of
her.

Harlow gave one last attempt to open
her eyes, her head dangling off the side of Robin's arm as he ran
with her. She looked back, her eyes catching Enders as he knelt on
the pier with blood covered arms.

That's when she let her eyes drop,
feeling herself get swept away by the darkness that awaited
her.

Chapter
Thirteen

Five weeks of feverish dreams and
force feeding passed with unease.

Harlow hadn't woken up, not for good
anyway. She'd woken up delusional often and started rambling about
nonsense. Whenever that would happen, they'd try to shove food down
her throat before she lost consciousness.

Once or twice she thought she felt a
hand on her own, clutching it with a force that felt so genuine she
thought it might be her father.

It was a cloudy, rainy afternoon when
she'd shot up in her cot and started heaving, feeling the much
calmer pain in her midsection fire up.

"Henry?" Enders' voice echoed
throughout the cabin. "Oh my god, Henry," Enders said again, his
body moving from the chair he'd been sitting in to her
side.

Harlow kept panting, her nightmares
becoming more and more nonsensical as she sat there. She took one
look at Enders, noticing small bruises that had indicated healing
and calmness.

She ripped the blankets off her body
and found a clumsily wrapped wound, blood seeping out slowly,
although not life-threateningly.

"What the hell is going on?" Harlow
asked through sweat and gritted teeth, an exasperated groan
escaping her lips.

"You don't remember?" Enders asked,
pulling her blanket back up over her legs, which bore the same
pants she'd worn the day of the attack.

Harlow shook her head, trying to sit
up, but failed to do so as the pain in her stomach shot through her
body. She fell back, propping up her elbow behind her and leaning
herself on it as her other hand shot to the pulsating pain in her
abdomen. "I remember being run off a cliff." Harlow groaned,
raising her free hand to make sure her hat was secured tightly on
her head.

Enders scrunched his eyebrows in
confusion. "You've been out for five weeks. The soldiers found us
after we jumped down the waterfall. You threw yourself on the
General's sword before he could get to me. You saved my
life."

Harlow widened her eyes and looked
around the room. She sighed and tried to get up again. Pain swept
through her body, forcing her to lower herself.

Enders pushed her back down and held
her there. "What do you think you're doing?"

Harlow gritted her teeth. "I need to
talk with Robin Hood."

Enders shook his head. "No,
you're not doing that
now
. You need to keep
resting."

Harlow gave up and let herself stay
laying down, the pain becoming just too much to bare.

Enders got up and moved toward the
door of the cabin. "Stay here. I'll go get you some food to eat.
You'll probably enjoy it now that you're awake."

Harlow wanted to chuckle, but instead
a small cough came out. "Fine."

Harlow sighed, laying back down and
feeling her eyes become tired and strained.

She wondered how long Enders had been
waiting for her to wake up.

The pain was intense, but she found
herself smiling anyway.

Enders had been
waiting
for her
.

*~*~*

Six weeks seemed to float by as Harlow
tried to let herself rest. She was stubborn, yes, but she knew that
if she kept pushing herself then she'd never heal.

Harlow sat quietly on the pier,
thinking over the last couple of weeks. She'd spoken to Robin Hood
for the first time last week. He'd been apologetic and nervous,
taking the attack to heart and knowing it had been his decision to
send the unit out there.

Regardless, Harlow had forgiven him
and requested that he pay more attention to her opposition of his
decisions.

He'd simply chuckled, nodding in
agreement.

Now, Harlow looked over the horizon at
a rising sun, her thoughts lingering on the attack.

Enders had been especially more
attentive and interested in her well-being. He had called out her
real name during her injury, but Harlow pushed the fact away
assuming that she'd been dreaming that part.

Harlow looked down at her hands in her
lap, closing her eyes and letting the sunlight rest on her skin.
Her feet lightly poked at the water down below.

Minutes passed in silence before the
pier started to creak under her. She sighed in contentment before
looking up and seeing Enders approaching her on the bridge, a
fancy-looking bowl in his hands.

"Hey, Henry," Enders greeted, sitting
down next to Harlow, the bowl balanced securely in his
palm.

"Hode," Harlow greeted, a somewhat
weak smile displaying on her lips.

After he'd found a comfortable seat on
the pier next to her, he looked over the horizon and set the bowl
in his lap. "How are you feeling today?"

Harlow took a glance at
him, his hair teasing his eyes gently. It had grown slightly within
the past couple of weeks. "Fine," She answered, still smiling
contentedly as she looked back toward the lake. "How are
you
feeling?"

The sides of his mouth twitched upward
gently, "Fine," he said, sighing and looking around. "I brought you
some stew from yesterday," he said, picking up the bowl and holding
it out to her, "since you hadn't eaten anything."

Harlow's smile grew. "I was really
hoping you'd bring me some," she said, taking the bowl gratefully
and starting to shovel the food into her mouth.

Enders chuckled, watching her
momentarily before returning his gaze to the lake.

Harlow was halfway finished when she
looked at the bowl, taking in its intricate detail. "Where did we
get this bowl from?"

"The raid from last week," Enders
said, looking down at the lake water. "I saw it fitting for
royalty."

Harlow chuckled. "Thanks."

Enders smiled, still staring out over
the lake. "You're welcome."

This is how things had been for the
last couple of weeks. Enders had been especially generous and nice,
bringing Harlow food and supplies whenever she needed anything. She
would feel her heart ache to see him every day, unlike it had been
previously between them. She would have to stop frequently and make
sure that she knew that he was under the impression that she was a
man. Enders wouldn't possibly feel anything toward her, but it
didn't stop her heart from speeding up and skipping beats whenever
he was around.

Enders suddenly sighed as Harlow
silently ate her food. "How is the wound?" He asked, turning his
eyes to her own.

She shrugged, still chewing on her
food. She swallowed before answering, "It's okay. It still hurts
sometimes, but I can move now."

"I figured when I saw you out here,"
Enders said, his smile still apparent on his lips. "Be careful,
though."

Harlow raised an eyebrow, a smile
plaguing her lips. "I'm not sure I'm familiar with that
word."

Enders laughed loudly.
"Yeah?"

Harlow nodded, earning another laugh
from Enders.

"How do you like being the Commander
of a unit?" Harlow asked, pushing aside the empty bowl and leaning
backward.

Enders sighed. "It's not easy," he
turned his eyes to hers, "but if you could manage it, I can
too."

Harlow nodded. "You're right," she
said, making sure her hat was still on tightly, "it's really not
easy."

Enders fought the urge to smile at her
before he took in a sharp intake of air and stood up. "Speaking of
the Unit, I've got to go brief them on our next raid," he brushed
off his pants as he stood.

Harlow took one more bite of her food
before, looking up to him, "I'll walk with you."

Enders raised an eyebrow, "Are you
sure you can do that?"

Harlow chuckled, getting to her feet
awkwardly, and trembling slightly. "Aye," she said, as Enders put
one hand on her arm so she wouldn't fall.