Sherwood Read online

  Harlow sighed and looked back over the lake.

  “How is your wound healing?” Enders asked, exhaling deeply.

  Harlow involuntarily reached her right hand toward her left side, where the sword had gone through her body just eleven weeks prior. “It's seems fine. I feel fine, anyway.”

  Enders nodded and looked back at his hands. “That's good.”

  “Aye,” Harlow said with a small chuckle.

  The air around them got thick and heavy. It was uncomfortable and strained. Enders opened his mouth, but after a few seconds closed it awkwardly. He seemed to be having an internal struggle.

  It was the first time since they'd met that they were shrouded in an awkward silence.

  “Why do you insist on coming back to the unit again?” Enders asked seriously, his face turning to Harlow as she stared at her hands.

  She raised her eyes to his, which seemed to portray concern more than anything else. “I think it's time I started helping out again.”

  Enders shook his head. “We don't need you to. You need to rest more.”

  Harlow raised an eyebrow at him. “I'm fine now. It's been six weeks since I woke up.”

  Enders nodded. “I know, Henry, but you almost died. We really don't need you in the unit yet.”

  Harlow looked away from him, slight irritation rose in her chest. “Why not? I'm fine, I'm practically healed now.”

  Enders shook his head, irritation flaring in him just as hers had. “No, you're not.”

  “Yes, I am.” She insisted, raising her voice slightly and scooting away from him slightly.

  “You still walk with a limp sometimes. You should be resting, and I think your father would agree.” Enders argued, raising his voice as well.

  “Why don't you want me to come back? Do you think I'm incapable or something?” Harlow accused, angry at the mention of her father. She stood up and looked at him as he stood in front of her. She crossed her arms as she stared up at him.

  “No, Henry. I don't think you're incapable, I --" Enders said, planning to say more, but couldn't get out another word.

  “But, you don't want me back on the unit.” Harlow said, pointing out his lack of denial. “Do you want to lead this unit so bad that you don't want me to come back?”

  Enders looked taken aback. “No, Henry.” He said, trying to explain, but not getting any further than last time.

  “Then what is it? Why do you want me to stay out of the unit?” Harlow turned her voice up just a little bit louder.

  Enders stood statue-like in front of her, an expression of irritation mixed with amusement. “It's not that,” Enders said, taking in a sharp intake of breath and letting out an angry huff. He kept his eyes even on hers.

  It took Harlow a few seconds to understand what was going on. “Are you hiding something?”

  Enders let out a sarcastic laugh. “Me? What about you?”

  Harlow felt her heart freeze and fear spread throughout her limbs. “What are you talking about?”

  She felt her blood start to boil. He wouldn't answer her questions. He was being strange and oddly irritable.

  “You're so difficult! You're so annoying and outrageous and plain frustrating! I can't tell if your blind or just stupid. What a strange way your father raised you, to be ignorant of all your surroundings.” Enders said, taking a step closer to her and crossing his arms. His eyes boring into hers. He was edging her on, but in her rage she couldn't tell.

  Harlow gritted her teeth angrily, trying to hold herself back from what she was going to do. Her blood started to boil, her vision started to blur. She felt offended and misused. She felt thrown to the side. One second he's being nothing but sweet and the next he's fighting her like she were a wild dog.

  “Who do you think you are talking to me like that?” She asked, using the most angry, intimidating voice she could muster.

  Enders huffed amusedly. “You're to short to be a Commander, and quite frankly, you're pathetic.”

  Harlow had reached her limit. She lunged forward at Enders, pushing him hard against an oak tree behind him. Harlow quickly recoiled her fist and sent it forward to his jaw. It didn't have time to collide. Harlow was fast, yes, but Enders was expecting it and held one hand out to grab it and moved his face to the left and dodged it completely.

  The fight didn't last long. There was only about one more moment before Enders went to the side, kicked his leg out and hit the back of Harlow's knee, sending her flying backward and landing on her bottom.

  “Had enough?” Enders asked when he'd squatted down to her eye-level on the ground. He was instigating a fight, Harlow knew, but she couldn't hold back her rage. She found the energy to tackle him again, sending him onto his back and sitting on top of him. She picked up a small, renegade branch and held it to his throat in the most threatening way possible.

  Enders smirked, knowing that she had tried her best, but he'd been training while she'd been resting. He reached one hand to her shoulder and the other to her wounded side, digging his thumb into the newly healed skin. She cried out in pain, the energy in her body giving way and weakness taking over her. He took advantage of her moment of weakness and grabbed onto her arms, flipping her on her back, and pushing his body against her. He kept her in place and stopped her from struggling, reaching his hands up and pinning her arms down into the dirt beneath them, at the sides of her head.

  Their breathing was ragged and heavy. They breathed in each other's air, exhaling in each other's space.

  He looked down at her. Her hat had lifted a little bit, several strands of her hair poking out and hanging next to her face. Sure, she had an angry, enraged expression on her face, but this was the first time, since they'd jumped down the waterfall, that she really looked like a woman.

  And she was beautiful.

  Enders breathed in and out, eying her for a few seconds. “Your wound is still healing. You're strong. Don't ever think I don't know that, but,” He paused taking in another breath. “You're out of practice. You need training and time to heal. I know what makes you tick. I know your weaknesses and I know that the second any one of us are compromised, you'll jump into the line of fire to fix the situation.” He took another moment to breathe.

  Harlow sat, almost shocked, but still frustrated.

  “You're right,” Enders whispered, holding onto whatever confidence he had and staring into her eyes. “I don't want you back on the unit. I do want to take your place. It's because I'm selfish.”

  Harlow was about to raise her voice and yell, but Enders continued bravely.

  “It's because I can't focus. On anything.” He paused to exhale, his eyes lingering on Harlow. “Not when I know you're there. I can't think when you're near me. I can't breathe when I see you close to me. I'm selfish because I don't want to lose you.”

  She froze as she stared up at him, somehow his face coming closer to her by only mere centimeters at a time. She still felt the weight of his body on her, keeping her still on the ground, but even if she could move, she didn't want to. Her heart beat thumped wildly against her chest, but honestly, she couldn't tell if it was hers or Enders' beating that fast. Maybe it was both beating simultaneously. Harlow felt bewildered and confused, but more so she felt intoxicated by him.

  “What?” she breathed out, barely audible to him. Unable to find the energy for her fake, masculine voice, she let her real voice shine through, a higher-pitched confusion coming from her mouth.

  Enders' lips hovered just over hers, threatening to come crashing down any second now. She felt the anxiety rise in her chest as butterflies found their way into her stomach.

  There was a moment of pure silence and stillness before she felt his lips collide onto hers. She'd let her eyes stay widened for a moment before she closed them in a moment of bliss. His eyes remained closed, his heartbeat racing so hard Harlow could feel it through his chest, and his eyebrows knitted together attractively. His closeness comforted her and made her finally relax.

 
It had lasted about a minute and a half before Enders pulled away from her, and looked at her boldly.

  An intense silence filled the air after they pulled apart. It wasn't exactly awkward, but it wasn't comfortable either.

  Harlow felt absolute terror fill her chest and stomach. She turned her head away from him and looked to her left, her arms and body still pinned down under him. "I, uh..." She tried to find the words to say.

  "Uhm." She failed and resorted to glancing back up to him.

  "Harlow." He said, taking his right hand off her arm and placing a finger under her chin and forced her to look upward at him. “Don't be flustered around me anymore.”

  He raised one hand to the brim of her hat and tugged up about an inch, revealing strands of brunette hair underneath the brown hat.

  Enders offered her a small smile, twirling a strand of her hair in between his fingers, before climbing off her and finding a comfortable patch of Earth to lay on. Harlow stayed in the same position he'd placed her in, not wanting to move, for whatever reason.

  Enders let the silence fill the air before sighing. "I saw your hair the day we jumped down the waterfall."

  Harlow turned her head to him wide-eyed. "You've known this whole time?"

  Enders nodded, "I never knew how to tell you, so I kept it to myself, but," he sighed, "but, you're father is here now and I'm fairly certain he knows that he doesn't have a son."

  Harlow laughed, this time indulging in her normal laugh instead of the masculine one she'd been using for months. She could tell it caught Enders by surprise at first, but his smiled showed that he had been delighted by the sound.

  Silence returned gradually. "I'm scared he'll send you home." Enders confessed, looking up at the night sky.

  Harlow shook her head, trying to keep from looking at him. "There's no home to go back to.”

  Enders drew his eyebrows together in confusion. “What do you mean?”

  "King Wesley's men came through the village and destroyed it. There were only four survivors," Harlow said, taking in a deep breath, "because they were looking for outlaws. My father fled before they could find him. Apparently his name came up as the men were torturing the villagers."

  Enders nodded, "Oh. I'm sorry for your loss."

  Harlow decided it was better not to tell that she wasn't too hurt by the incident. No one had enjoyed her presence anyway, but she knew they hadn't deserved to die.

  The two let the silence fill the air between the, this time much more comfortable than the last.

  "I can't stay out of the unit." Harlow said quietly.

  Enders turned his head to her and placing his arms under his head. "I know."

  "This is bigger than you and me now," Harlow looked up over the horizon. "This is about a whole nation of people, an entire kingdom."

  Enders felt his jaw go slack just a little bit. "What are you saying?"

  Harlow kept her eyes forward, refusing to let herself be swayed by Enders' devastation. "I'm the only one who has the right to stop him." Finally she turned her head to Enders, who sat defeated.

  He nodded and looked over the lake, his jaw tensing up and irritation scaling his face again. "I'm going to go back to the cabin and sleep," he said, standing up, "You should do the same, Princess."

  Harlow nodded, disliking the affectionate term. "I'll be there soon."

  She saw Enders nod and turn his back, walking out of the forest and out of her sight.

  She scolded herself for letting him find out about the secret she'd tried so hard to hide.

  She scolded herself for telling him about the family history she tried so desperately to forget.

  She had told herself not to get close to anyone.

  Of course, she didn't understand exactly how hard that would prove to be.

  Chapter Sixteen

  "Get up, McBride," Robin called out as he walked past Enders and Harlow training together. They hadn't spoken about the incident since the previous night.

  Enders was still being his nice, gentle, charming self to her, but he'd been oddly distant.

  He held out his hand to her, offering her help to stand up. Harlow grabbed it gratefully and pulled herself upward.

  "You ready?" Enders asked again, getting ready for another round. Other recruits were also training, but they weren't going for as long as Enders and Harlow had been. It had been several hours since they'd started training together that day.

  Harlow nodded, refusing to admit that she was tired.

  Enders readied himself for the offensive side, when a shout rang out throughout the entire forest. "Open the gates!"

  A man with broad shoulders and looked like he had two hundred pounds in muscle alone, ran toward the door pulley and started to yank it downward.

  Harlow noticed Robin run as fast as he could to the gates, Little John, Will Scarlett, and her father in hot pursuit of him. They neared the gates and waited for the oak doors to open.

  A bloodied and beaten man sat upon a horse that rushed into the gates, the burly man yanking the pulley level the opposite direction to close the doors.

  The beaten man was hanging like a rag doll off of the horse, his eyes lolling around in his head. He was barely conscious.

  "Who did this to you?" Robin was the first person to reach him, trying to hold him up enough.

  "They attacked Nottingham Village. They're headed this way." The man said, trying to keep himself awake and propped up.

  "Who?" Robin asked, trying to undo the saddle of the horse. "John, take the horse to our stables, get him fixed up. "

  The man came off the horse and stumbled into Robin Hood and Harrison

  McBride. "The king and his men."

  Harlow's eyes widened in horror. She let her eyes fall on her father who tried to hold the man up with Robin Hood.

  "What were they looking for?" She heard her father ask the man, his voice cautious and apprehensive.

  "Outlaws of Sherwood. They mentioned a man named McBride." The man said, his eyes still unfocused.

  Harrison turned his eyes away from the man and locked them onto Harlow's. The contact was nonverbal but it told her so much. They wanted the Outlaws, and everyone associated with them, dead.

  "They're headed this way?" Robin asked, holding the man up.

  The man took a moment to cough and wheeze. "Aye," He coughed again. "They said they were headed through Sherwood."

  Robin looked over to a woman standing nearby. "Evie, go to the nursing cabin and get supplies ready to help this man." The woman nodded and scurried off. "John, take this man to the cabin that Evie is going to."

  Little John stepped closer and grabbed the man, practically dragging him to the cabin.

  Robin surveyed the recruits for a moment, as if unsure exactly what to do.

  "This is it men," Robin announced, causing Harlow's blood to quiver. "Today is the beginning of the war."

  Chapter Seventeen

  "Everyone get your weaponry and meet back here in two minutes!" Nobody moved. "Now!" Robin bared, causing everyone to rush off.

  Harlow noticed Enders rush off toward the cabin, but Harlow didn't move. She had her eyes glued on the sad state of her father. She felt Enders grab her arm and drag her with him.

  She ran mindlessly with Enders until they reached their cabin, grabbing the weaponry they'd had stashed there. Enders grabbed his bow and arrows as well as a sword. Harlow opted for knives and other small, throwing objects; it wasn't in her nature to use swords and bows.

  Enders found himself dragging her along again. That was until her brain kicked into overdrive and she was able to think.

  This was it.

  It was time to prove herself to everyone, including her father.

  She started racing alongside Enders, without his constant pulling on her arm. She only stopped when she saw her father running toward the training area.

  "Father!" She shouted, running toward him and away from Enders, who followed right behind her.

  "Henry," Her fathe
r called to her as she jogged over. "Are you sure you can do this?"

  Harlow nodded. "I can do this on my own. We need you somewhere else." She said, looking around.

  "Henry, I'll be fine." Her father said, looking at her.

  "No, Father," Harlow started, looking at him carefully. "You don't understand. We can handle this by ourselves. That's the second village that has been attacked. You need to head out and warn the other villages. Bring as many refugees here as possible." Harlow said, looking over her shoulder at Robin Hood.

  Her father had stayed quiet and simply looked at her for a few seconds. "Father, you're more useful trying to evacuate the citizens than you are here."

  "Then you'll come with me," Her father said, about to walk past her and toward Robin.

  "No, Father." She said, turning toward him. "If I plan on leading these people, I need to be able to protect them," She said, pushing her sleeves up. "I can do this."

  Her father paled slightly, understanding what Harlow meant. "Lead these people?"

  Harlow nodded and swallowed. "Evacuate the other villages, General McBride. Take Coors and Landon with you as a unit."

  Her father stared silently for a moment. Slowly, he nodded, tears threatening his eyes. “As you command, Princess.”

  Harlow stepped forward and engulfed her father in a hug. "Be careful."

  Harrison McBride laughed. "You as well, my child." He held on for a moment longer. "I love you, Harlow."

  "I love you, too." She responded, breaking free of the hug and turning her back to her father, rushing off with Enders at her side.

  Robin had just begun a speech about which direction they'd be going in and what strategy they would use. "We're splitting into two groups," he shouted, "We'll attack from the left and right sides. We don't want any of our blood spilled, so be careful. If they retreat, let them run."

  Harlow listened intently as Robin rattled off the groups that would be taking each position. Enders, Harlow, Robin, Reggie, Little John, and Candor all shared a group with two dozen other recruits that Harlow hadn't remembered.