Thomas guided the horse the best he could. As the adrenaline worked its way out of his system, he could feel a warm wetness on his shoulder and chest. He reached up and felt his chest was saturated with blood. He must not have ducked fast enough, he thought. The arrow clipped his shoulder and the struggle tore it open even further. He was feeling sluggish and his jaw sagged and the pain was excruciating. He leaned down onto the horse and fought the urge to sleep. He struggled so hard to keep his wits.
Then there was a voice carried on the wind to him. A voice so sweet and distant, like the promise of tomorrow.
"Thomas, you've hurt yourself."
"I'm sorry Mary, I know you worked so hard to sew this cowl."
"It's not the cowl I worry about, Thomas."
"I'm sorry," Thomas begged the air around him. The horse made its way along the path.
"Thomas, she's beautiful, I wish you could see her."
"She is?"
"Yeah, she's got your eyes. She sees the world like you do, I know it."
"What of her smile?"
"You remember when Will finished reading his first book?"
"How could I forget?" Thomas smiled at the thought of Will's smile. His beard barely moved.
"Hers is like that."
Thomas began to weep. He wanted so much to see his daughter's smile. "I should have been there that night," Thomas mumbled through tears.
"So no one would have been left to avenge us?"
"I could have fought them off."
"There were so many, Thomas," Mary's voice reasoned.
The horse galloped over a hill and jostled Thomas loose from the saddle. As he fell to the underbrush his body ached. Dirt and debris stuck to the wetness of his clothing where he'd bled profusely. He couldn't get his bearings.
He laid his head back. "I guess this is where I die," he surmised.
"You've more ahead of you," Mary's voice said.
Thomas drifted off to sleep.
Hours passed and a group of horses rode passed. It was Guy's men following the trail that was made by his horse. The couldn't see where Thomas lay motionless in the underbrush.
Thomas lay in the forest for another day. He woke to Will nudging him.
"Dad?" Will asked. "You okay?"
Thomas tried to talk but his jaw ached. It felt like it had started to heal uneven. "Wa em uh?" he asked.
"You're about four miles from sanctuary. We had to follow the route the soldier's horses took to find you," Will said.
"Hu de yu nu tu fun meh?" Thomas asked.
"Guy's men, this close to sanctuary could only mean they were looking for you. When there was no word on your capture or you back at sanctuary, I figured something was wrong. Can you stand?" Will explained.
Thomas tried to stand but the loss of blood and overall trauma had made it difficult. John helped him up and into a wagon. Tuck looked over his wounds.
"His jaw is healing crooked," Tuck said, "but the wound in his shoulder has pretty much closed."
"I'm sorry dad," Will said, then nodded at John.
John's heavy fist crashed into Thomas' sore jaw, snapping the newly fused bone and sending Thomas into unconsciousness again. Tuck came over and set Thomas' jaw and bandaged it in place.
When Thomas woke again, he was at sanctuary. His jaw hurt and he couldn't move it. He could hear people talking in and around sanctuary but no one came in to see him for a while. He sat there, thinking about his dream. Was it a dream?
When Will came in, he brought food that had been ground up and water.
Thomas sipped the mixture of ground meat and oats.
Will broke the silence, "That was close."
"Yeh."
"They weren't out looking for you," Will said, "at least not until after they discovered you."
Thomas looked at Will curiously.
"Guy was looking for aunt Matty," Will responded.
"He desiha ha," Thomas said through his teeth.
Will shrugged. "If he suspects that she's your sister, he may hurt her."
Thomas didn't want that. He'd have to kill Guy soon.
"There's one more thing," Will added, "He's assigned Teague a garrison of men to hunt you."
While Thomas lay in the underbrush, Guy was scolding Marian for returning late.
"With that killer out there, you can't just come and go as you please," Guy demanded.
"Guy, you're sweet. Really, but everyone knows that the Hooded Demon doesn't go after just anyone," she asserted. She continued nursing his wounds. She'd quietly wondered where he'd gotten them. His nose was broken and his eye was swollen shut.
"If he knew what you meant to me..." Guy didn't say anymore.
Marian looked at Guy. She knew that Thomas intended to kill him.
"We won't hear from him for a while now," Guy said.
"What do you mean?" Marian was puzzled. She had only just left Thomas a few hours before Guy arrived.
"We found him over near Loxley. I am sure I broke his jaw and he was bleeding."
Marian stayed her tongue. She feared that her brother was injured and laying somewhere.
"I've sent a group to track him... the bastard stole my horse. He likes doing that. Taking what isn't his."
Marian thought about how Guy's men descended onto her family's farm and took what wasn't theirs. Inside she hoped that Thomas would make him suffer.
"Captain Teague's men have been given special orders to find him at all costs. We suspect that he has allies throughout Nottingham.
Marian thought about how much Thomas loathed Teague. She thought about how Teague's men would be fodder for Thomas.
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