A Tale of Love and Woe (Fanfic)

Chapter 7

The next morning I woke with a jolt. Where the hell was I? Oh right in a tree with a stranger. I quickly checked my surroundings. I was still in the same position I had fallen asleep in and my knife was still in my hand. Ok good. Now the strangers. I looked over to where Will had fallen asleep to find him still passed out.

His face was calm and he looked very peaceful. I stared for a few moments more when I heard him sleepily mumble, "it's not polite to stare."

As quick as lightening I ripped my gaze away from him and tried to find somewhere else to look but my mind kept going back to his placid face and soft brown hair.

"Good morning," he said, snapping me out of my daze.

"Morning," I replied with a tone as calm and collected as I could but it was useless my voice cracked with nervousness.

"Oi what do you say, shall we go get us some breakfast?" He asked me.

"Sure. I'll cook if you want," I offered.

"No need. We got ourselves a cook, Much. He ain't super good, mind you, but he isn't super bad either."

"Then please, I insist."

"Nope. You're our guest any-who."

"Alright then," I said defeated. Then I followed Will's lead and stood up and walked toward the platform with the trap door.

Once there we unrolled the ladder and I followed him down.

When I landed on the ground I was met with a band of men. There was a tall handsome man with long locks of shoulder length brown hair. He was the man who had the arrow pointed at my face the night before.

Next to him stood a very large and very tall man with longish brown hair and a very tangled brown beard. On his right stood a fat little bald man dressed like a friar and next to him was a curly haired young lad who looked friendly.

At the far end of the camp by the fire I noticed someone I recognized instantly, the Saracen and my half brother Nasir.

Without thinking I ran towards him and nearly tackled him to the ground except he stopped us from falling. I didn't care that everyone was watching as I looked my older brother over. I poked at his thick curly black hair and hugged him tightly.

"What in the?" He began but immediately went silent when he got a good look at my face.

"Melody?"

"Yes!" I screamed with glee as I attempted to squeeze him tighter but he was so muscular and large I couldn't quite get my tiny arms all the way around him.

Nasir smiled as he looked down at me with loving yet protective eyes.

"We need to do some catching up, but first let me introduce you to the guys," he said as he pried me off of him.

"Ok," I said excitedly as I turned my attention towards the group of men who were now eyeballing us curiously, not missing the slightly sad look on Will's face.

~~~~~~~~~~~

As soon as introductions had been made we all sat down to a half decent breakfast (definitely better than what the sheriff had been feeding me) of very greasy bacon, golden eggs, and one slice of bread each.

After all had finished eating Will took our dirty dishes and headed down to the creek to wash them. I instantly jumped up and offered to help. He hesitantly agreed and handed me the pot to carry.

At the creek Will remained silent. That's when I decided to attempt to break the silence.

"Thank you again for brining me here last night," I tried.