Free Sherwood by S. E. Roberts

shouted, catching Harlow's attention. “This way!”
    Harlow made a sharp left
and began running adjacent to Enders.
    The men chasing them had
either stopped shooting or run out of arrows.
    Harlow and Enders had their
territory in sight; the two raced toward the huge oak tree with so
much force that when they heard the arrows from Rawley and Elwin
start to fire, they kept going, feeling the sting and burn in their
legs. They stood just past their archers and watched as the four
men ran into a rainstorm of arrows.
    The two of them ducked
behind trees, and listened to the chaos ensue, although it didn't
last long.
    The four men had gotten
sick and beaten, losing their flag before they really even had a
chance.
    Rawley whistled when it was
safe for Harlow and Enders to come out, and upon hearing that
whistle, they came out, sore and weak.
    “ That looked
painful.” Elwin commented to Harlow.
    Harlow nodded to him as she
caught her breath.
    Enders chuckled a bit.
“Aye.”
    The sound of stomping,
running feet came to their ears, before coming a slow down before
entering their vision.
    Candor walked next to the
tree, tired and out of breath.
    “ What
happened?” Harlow asked, leaning against the tree.
    Candor took several deep
breaths, before placing one hand on his hip and reaching the other
into his pants' waistband and pulling out a white cloth. He smiled
victoriously as he held it up.
    Harlow lifted an eyebrow.
“What happened to it?”
    Enders chuckled. “Did you
do that or did they do that?”
    Candor examined it in his
hands to make sure it was in one piece. “They had it on this high
branch on one of the oak trees. I climbed all the way to the top
and had to push someone off in order to get to it.”
    Harlow widened her eyes at
him, looking at Enders who shared the same expression. They looked
at each other before turning their attention back to
Candor.
    “ Is he okay?”
Enders asked, his eyebrows arched attractively.
    Candor looked at him
puzzled. “Oh, the man I pushed off the tree?” He nodded. “Aye, he's
fine. I checked him. He wasn't bleeding or anything. He said it
hurt his backside, though.”
    Harlow nodded, chuckling
slightly. “Was it necessary to push him?”
    Candor looked at her
puzzled again. “Of course! He was holding the flag hostage. I had
to get to it.”
    Harlow nodded. “Alright,
then.” She looked at the root before her. “Bury it then and we'll
get the next one. We already have two,” She said, rubbing her
forehead and making sure her hat was on correctly. “So, we only
have three left.”
    Enders sighed. “You make
this sound easy.”
    Harlow sighed as well. “I
wish it were.”
     
    *~*~*
     
    Harlow and Enders raced
toward their territory, weaving in between trees as they ran. They
heard Candor behind them, breathing heavily and running as fast as
he could muster in his exhausted state. He had one of the last
flags in his hand and he was not going to give it up. Harlow looked
back to survey the damage that was being done behind
her.
    She noticed four men running in what
looked like a line after Candor. Sure enough, it was their flag
that Candor held in his hands.
    Enders looked exhausted and Harlow had
come to notice his limp getting ever more prominent as he ran
toward their spot. She knew they were almost there and that the
second they raced into the area, Elwin and Rawley would be firing
of a set of arrows that wouldn't let up unless they would
surrender.
    Harlow started to count down the
seconds. In about ten second, they would be safely behind their own
borders and the archers would take care of their
opposition.
    She forced her legs to move harder
than they'd ever moved before.
    ' Five seconds,' she thought as she
whizzed by the trees.
    Two more seconds and they'd be one
more flag to winning the competition!
    Harlow and Enders broke through the
trees and raced to the other side, listening as arrows flew
everywhere behind them, beating down on the men