Robin Hood and the Dragon’s Mate

Athyn refused to look at her. Ashlyn felt very alone as she set about helping the friar skin and prepare the deer for cooking. They began to pack up their things in silence after everyone had eaten. Tension hung in the air. Ashlyn felt as if it were pressing down on her. They started out on the path back to the mountain that held the Great Dragon’s cave.

When Will chose to walk beside Alan instead of her, she knew that her indecision earlier had hurt him. His words still whirled in her head. He said he loved her. No one had said that to her before except her parents and Athyn. When her mother died, Ashlyn had built a wall around herself and her brother trying to protect them both from the pain of losing a loved one ever again.

Prior to their adventure, Athyn had become quiet and reserved, locked in his own mind of fantasy and hero worship. Then they had come here. He was once again the talkative and outgoing boy that she had known before their mother’s death. He walked along side Robin asking him questions, absorbing every word his hero said to him.

He had needed a father figure in his life, someone who could teach him confidence and kindness by example. She would never have been able to choose a better example for him if she had tried. Yet here she was considering tearing him away from what he needed most?

She chastised herself, what was the right choice here? To stay would put them both in mortal peril on a daily basis, but to leave would tear them both away from something they desperately needed, someone to love and to put their faith in. If she took him away would she be able to provide him with the guidance and example that he needed?

Here they were mixed in with a band of outlaws, but back home in their own time were they any better? She’d had to lie to get work. They had to live above a bar which is not the best environment for a ten year old.

She couldn’t even send Athyn to school for fear of being discovered, whereas here he was at least learning how to hunt and survive. Her greatest fear, she realized was the last story in the book, the story of Robin’s death and that of all of his men.

Of course every book told it differently, many even said King Richard came back and Robin married a lovely Maid Marian and they lived happily ever after. That was the spin the movie put on it, but how could she trust the truth of that? What happened to his merry band of thieves when he went off into his happily ever after? Silent tears spilled down her cheeks as she walked. She didn’t bother to wipe them away.

When they stopped in the early evening she saw that they were about halfway to the mountain. They would be to the dragon’s cave by the following evening. If his cave held another amulet, her time for debating would be over.

The others would expect a decision from her. Robin led Athyn into the woods saying that he was going to show him how to make a bow of his own and then they would hunt down dinner. The boy’s face glowed with excitement.

Friar Tuck took his large stew pot and headed to the stream to fill it up. Will grabbed his axe. Without even a glance at Ashlyn, he headed into the trees to gather and chop wood for a fire.

Ash was left sitting on a stump, staring back and forth between the trees that Athyn and Robin had disappeared into and the place where Will had gone. Alan sat on a log facing her across the cold fire pit that he had just finished digging out. “Would you like to talk about it?” He prompted and she looked up.

“About what?” she asked, pretending there was nothing to discuss.

“About the difficult decision that you’ve been desperately debating over all day,” he teased. His voice was light to let her know that he wasn’t pressuring her to make a decision. “Perhaps if you just lay it all out it will be easier to see which choice is the right one.”

She sighed and stared at her hands, “Okay.” She wondered why the vampire of the group was often the easiest to talk to. John was easy to talk to, but in wolf form it wasn’t much of a discussion. Athyn saw only his hero and while Robin seemed to genuinely care for them all, he seemed to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders.

As for Will, well she loved talking to him, but this was one topic of conversation where his opinion was blatantly biased. She looked up into Alan’s hazel eyes. “You know that Athyn and I were torn out of our own time by that amulet.” Alan nodded and she continued.

“We don’t belong here. We’re Americans pulled back to a time when people don’t even know the continent exists. We’re kids in the middle of a gang of outlaws, who will probably be hanged or worse. Even if you all remain free, we are a burden to you.

We don’t know how to hunt, start fires, stand guard, or cook. The responsibility of fatherhood should not be thrown into the lap of a man who already carries the weight of England on his shoulders,” she said, gesturing toward the woods where Robin had taken Athyn.

Her tirade grew louder and faster, words pouring over each other. “I’ve never been in love before; I have no idea if Will and I will last. What if I decide to stay and he grows tired of me? What will I do then if I can no longer return home? What right do I have to condemn a ten year old boy to live in a world without the modern conveniences he is used to, constantly in danger of being enslaved or losing his life? How can I live without the internet and hot showers?”

Tears had started falling. She knew that most of her complaints were ridiculous but they just kept coming, along with her tears. “And Will’s a dragon, Alan. I know I said I loved him when he was dying, and then I was so happy that he was still Will when he woke up. But I keep waiting for it to hit me that he’s a dragon. I’m not sure what that means for us. Can we even have a future together? The dragon seemed to take mates and then ditch them once they had a kid with him. What if that’s in Will’s nature? I don’t want to stay here just to have to raise his kid alone.”

“See there’s your problem, right there,” Alan said softly. “You’ve worried over what your staying would mean to Robin and the rest of us, and what it would mean to Athyn and about staying for Will. What about you? What do you want? What kind of life did you have back home? Other than modern conveniences, is there something or someone that you want to get back to?”

His question surprised her. She had been thinking and debating all day, believing that she was considering every angle of the question. She had been missing one piece of the puzzle; she hadn’t stopped to ask herself what it was that she wanted. Being responsible for Athyn the last several months had forced her to stop considering her own wishes. She had been too busy trying to put food on the table for herself and Athyn.

Alan shook his head reproachfully, “Let me set you straight on a few things. Your presence here has been an improvement, not a burden. We all feel like you and your brother are part of our strange little family. Robin loves having someone who thinks he’s right about everything. You make us all act a little more human, Ashlyn.”

He shrugged, “yes, it is dangerous here and, yes, from the sound of it you would be leaving behind some comforts. But what is this Internet,” he spoke it like a word in a foreign language, “compared to true friendship? What is a hot shower compared to love?”

His words were like a slap in the face. Had she really been whining over such trivial losses as social networking and indoor plumbing? Of course he was right, what were those small comforts compared to love and family? And strange as it was, Robin’s gang was a family. She and Athyn were a part of it. She opened her mouth to tell Alan that he was right when she heard a man’s voice call out.

“That’s him! That’s the monster that tore out those men’s throats like a wild animal!” Alan jumped to his feet. Ashlyn jumped up beside him. There were several men surrounding the camp. Alan glanced over his shoulder quickly, even in the darkness he was able to see well. “I count twelve of them. Stay close to me,” he muttered under his breath. She nodded and stepped closer to him, wishing she had some sort of weapon.

“Gentlemen,” he intoned loudly. She knew he was hoping Robin, Will or John would hear and come to help. “I’m certain this is just a big misunderstanding.”

The man who had accused him glared and strode forward, “You tore out those men’s throats, and you drank their blood.”

Alan laughed, “I think someone’s been hitting the spirits pretty hard.”

The man dressed as captain stepped forward, “I know how to tell if he is what you claim he is.” The captain drew a knife. Suddenly he slashed the other man’s neck. Blood spilled from the wound and pooled on the ground in front of him. The wounded man fell to his knees clutching his neck. Ashlyn was confused by this turn of events until she heard a low guttural moan coming from Alan. She turned to look at him and gasped when she saw that his hazel eyes had turned red. He was breathing deeply as if trying to calm himself.

“Alan?” She asked, fear creeping into her voice.

“Ashlyn,” he gasped, “Run.” Then she saw his canine teeth elongate and a feral look come over his eyes. She ran all of ten feet before one of the men grabbed her.

She watched as Alan attacked the man with the knife first, tearing out his throat and positioning his mouth under the fount of blood. She was reminded of teenagers doing the same thing with Slurpie machines. He ignored the man whose throat had been cut. His blood had stopped pumping and he was clearly dead. Throwing the captain aside, he headed for another guard, gorging himself on the human blood.

The guard who had grabbed her, let her go and ran for his life. It was the worst thing he could have done. Sensing prey in flight Alan became fully focused on him and in seconds had chased him down and tore his throat out. Will came out of the woods in time to see the slaughter that was taking place. As Alan headed past him to dive back into the fray, Will grabbed him, pinning his arms to his sides.

Alan gnashed his teeth as if desperate to be biting into flesh. Will was speaking softly, calming him. John strode from the woods in wolf form. He growled at the men who were advancing on Will and Alan, guarding them while Will calmed his friend.

Robin hurried from the woods with Athyn in tow. Athyn ran to his sister and she whispered to him to climb a tree with his new bow, hoping that he would be safe from both the guards and the vampire who had gone mad with blood lust.

Robin strode up to face Alan, “Do you want to kill them?” He asked. Alan squirmed, lunging and twisting, trying to escape Will’s grip to destroy the others. Robin picked up Alan’s sword, holding it by the blade, “Then kill them like a man not a beast.”

Ashlyn could see that Robin and Will had both put themselves in a precarious position. If Alan couldn’t gain control of himself, they could easily be his next meal. As she watched, the red in his eyes faded back to hazel; his razor sharp canines shortened and disappeared. He swallowed and wiped the blood from his mouth.

He looked miserable as he wordlessly took the sword. Turning it around, he held the hilt out to Robin. “Keep your promise, Robin, and do it quick.” Will looked confused and Ashlyn found herself running toward them as she realized what he was saying.

“No!” She called, “don’t do it, Robin!”

Robin shook his head, “I have no intention of taking your life, Alan.”

A red tear streaked down Alan’s cheek, “You promised m,” he whispered.

Robin sighed, “I promised that if you gave into the lust and couldn’t be brought out of it, or if you hurt any of us. And I swear that I will keep that promise if the need arises, but in the meantime...” He waved the sword away. “We have to deal with these guards.”

He turned to face the group of terrified men, “Who is in charge here?” Their eyes all went to the captain who lay mutilated in a pool of his own blood.

A man stepped forward, “I was his second, so I guess I am now in charge.”

Robin took a breath, “What will it take to make you all forget this happened?”

The man sneered, “Why would we want to do that?”

Robin gestured to the maimed corpses. “Because we don’t want to have to kill you all.”

The man smiled as a blast of trumpets echoed across the valley. “Well, that would be the thousand men that the sheriff promised to send, to rid ourselves of the monsters who have infiltrated our forests.”

“Not a thousand,” Athyn called down from the tree he had climbed. He was so high up that Ashlyn was dizzy just looking up at him. “I’d say about four hundred or so.”

The man continued grinning, “Even so, that will be more than enough to handle your ragtag bunch of fiends.”

Robin smiled, “We have a shape shifter, a werewolf, a vampire, a necromancer and a dragon.” He smiled over at Will. “Are you sure you wouldn’t like to change the odds on that bet?”

The man flinched but continued to stand defiantly. A man in the back of the group tossed something into the air that sparked and popped like fireworks before falling back to the ground, emitting a dark smoke. The second in command smiled again, “And now they know right where to find us.” The guards who had dropped their weapons to run from the vampire picked them up, wielding them with new confidence.

The men attacked. Ashlyn saw that Alan was fighting as if he was hoping someone would slip past his defenses and kill him. She hurried up behind him and whispered fiercely, “If you won’t fight for your own life, fight for mine. I have no weapon to protect myself.” A man slipped past the distracted Alan and took a swipe at her catching her arm just above the elbow.

Alan stared at her blood for an instant. She feared that he would go back into blood lust. But the sight of her blood seemed to snap him out of his funk. He grabbed her, shoving her behind him. He slashed at the man who had cut her, opening a huge gash in his chest. Wading into the fray, Alan tugged her behind him to keep her closely protected.

Now that she was no longer worried about Alan getting himself killed, she was able to take in the rest of the battle. Robin had climbed a tree adjacent to Athyn’s. He was calling out instructions to the boy. They were shooting into the thickest collection of guards. Ashlyn was impressed by the number of men who fell with an arrow protruding from their chest or neck.

She had only a second to worry about the kind of emotional trauma this might cause for her little brother before her attention was captured by Will. He was fighting with two men at a time, and though he wasn’t as graceful as Alan with the sword, his blows were powerful and precise.

She watched with admiration as he swung and parried. It was almost like watching a dance, albeit a gruesome one. As if in slow motion she saw another man join their bloody waltz. He was sneaking up on Will from behind, sword raised to strike. “Will!” she screamed, he spun around, but she saw that he would be too late. He would never be able to raise his sword to block the blow.

In that instant, as she felt her entire world crashing down around her, a black blur streaked past, barreling into Will’s surprise attacker. John bit the man’s sword arm clean off. Will was free to turn back to the other two guards. They had been distracted by the wolf attack so his sword found a place in the first man’s chest before the other snapped out of his distraction. Then the waltz began again with only two this time.

She looked at the field, wondering how it is that a dozen men had managed to turn into these dozens of corpses. Then she realized that the reinforcements the men had spoken of had been pouring in for quite some time. Still the small band of outlaws held their own.

Ashlyn picked up a dagger and backed up to a tree, brandishing it like a small sword. She had to let her friends focus on fighting. If she was out there, they would be distracted by their need to protect her.

When at least fifty men lay strewn across the ground, the remainder of the four hundred strong battalion arrived. The tides turned. Still the group battled on as men fell in twos and threes. Robin and Athyn’s arrows had long since run out. Robin had climbed down to join in with his sword. She had breathed a sigh of relief when he ordered Athyn to stay in the tree and keep watch for any more reinforcements.

She knew her brother was frustrated and wondered how long he would remain up the tree. She saw a guard only a few feet from her with an arrow protruding from his eye. Rushing to the guard’s body, she plucked the arrow out, trying not to gag as the eye, making a wet sucking sound, was pulled from the socket affixed to the end of the arrow. She wiped the eye off on the man’s tunic, watching as it rolled off his chest and plopped onto the ground. She hurried to the next body to grab the arrow from his neck.

The third arrow was buried in a guard’s chest and she had to pull hard. She heard ribs crunch as her strength forced the arrow past them. She continued until her hands were full. Then she took a belt off of the last corpse to tie it around the bundle. Positioning herself below Athyn’s tree, she tossed the bundle up to him. It took three tries but she finally threw it straight and he caught it.

“Thanks,” he hissed down at her. “Now find cover, this is turning into a bloodbath.”

She looked out and saw that he was right. There had to be over a hundred dead men on the ground. Will was bleeding from a gash on his face and another long one down the length of his arm. Alan favored an arm like it might be broken while slashing away with the other one. John, still in wolf form was limping and Robin…Oh! Robin was at the point of a guard’s sword. The guard called out, “Desist! Or your leader dies here and now.”

Will, Alan and John froze in their attacks. The men nearest them gathered around to hold them at sword point. The new battalion’s captain called out, “Now drop your weapons.”

Before they had a chance to decide if they would comply, everyone froze at the sound of merry whistling. Friar Tuck rounded a corner, swinging his large pot filled with fresh water. “Sorry I took so long, the water was so lovely I just had to go for a…” he looked up and saw the bloodbath, his friends at sword point, and he froze, the last word dying on his lips. He dropped his pot with a clatter that echoed in the shocked silence. The water spilled out onto the ground.

What happened next, happened so quickly that it would take days for Ashlyn to work out the details. The captain raised his sword as if he intended to strike Robin’s head off with it. In that same instant an arrow seemed to bloom from his chest, the feathery end quivering. The man dropped his sword, stared in astonishment at the arrow and then he collapsed.

Robin did a sort of backwards somersault and came up with his sword in hand. Alan struck the head off of two of the guards nearest him. A guard cut a deep gash into John’s black hide with his sword. Then the bodies that lay strewn across the ground started moving.

The ones with both legs stood, while others pulled themselves along the ground. All of them crawling, limping and dragging toward one person, Friar Tuck.

He held up his hands gasping, “No, no,” but they just kept coming. Athyn’s arrows started blossoming in their chests, but they didn’t even flinch, they just kept coming.

Ashlyn screamed at the friar, “You’re the necromancer, command them.” He seemed to collapse in on himself, terror apparent in his voice as he cried, “I can’t! I just can’t.”

Athyn slid down from his tree and ran to the friar. Taking his hand, he tugged until the friar finally turned to look at him. “You have to command them. You are the necromancer, you called them from death and they are looking to you to tell them what to do.”

He looked over at Ashlyn with a grin, “Just like that video game that you won’t let me play.” He had begged and pleaded, but the game, was rated M for mature due to its gruesome nature. Now, looking around her she wanted to laugh at what they had considered gruesome.

The corpses were almost upon them. Ashlyn grabbed Athyn and pulled him behind her like Alan had done for her. Robin and the other members of his group of outlaws backed discretely away as the corpses started coming. The guards tried attacking the zombies, but they lost body parts and just kept on walking, intent on reaching the man who had called them from their eternal slumber.

The friar looked like he desperately wanted to crawl into a hole and hide until all of this was over. Instead, he raised his voice and commanded, “Stop.” It was very convincing and the corpses seemed to think so too. They all halted, looking to him as if waiting for his next command. He pointed to the guards who were arrayed behind them. “Those are the enemy.” They didn’t need the command to kill, just an indication of who they should be killing.

They turned on the guards and started attacking. The scene was disturbingly surreal as they watched the horror of men slicing limbs off of their former comrades. The walking corpses didn’t even flinch, they just kept coming, using every weapon at their disposal including their own teeth and nails. In seconds a new wave of corpses began stirring. The friar issued his order three more times before the last of the guards had fled and the battle was over.

Now the corpses stood waiting for a new command. Athyn tugged on the friar’s sleeve again. The friar leaned down as the boy whispered into his ear. Then he cleared his throat and called out, “Thank you. You may return to your sleep now.” The corpses collapsed like puppets whose strings had been cut.

The friar looked astonished that this had worked. He looked around, sighing at the death that had taken place here. Ashlyn shuddered at the blood and gore around her. “Can we move on before setting up camp?” She asked. The others readily agreed, in spite of their injuries.

It was dawn before they were far enough away to feel comfortable setting up camp. Robin made a big show of thanking Athyn for saving his life back there. Everyone showered praise on the boy, knowing that he would need it to help him deal with the knowledge that he had killed men during battle. He blushed and sat down to whittle some new arrows with his Swiss army knife.

Everyone was shaken up. Alan was far from over having lost control. He and Will took a long walk in the woods, presumably to gather more wood and set up a watch perimeter. Many men had run from the corpses. They may still cause trouble.

Ashlyn was glad that Will and Alan had each other’s friendship to count on. They both needed someone to talk to. As she cleaned and dressed everyone’s wounds, she reflected on all she had seen… the pain and horror she had felt when she thought Will was about to die.