Noble Court

I was carving my name into the cement wall of my cell with a shiv when a guard walked by. I quickly shoved the shiv under my pillow.

The guard stopped in front of my cell, and he lifted the faceplate of his helmet to sneer at me. “Finally caught ya, huh? Slippery little bastard. Looking forward to yer execution this evening?”

I gave a very fake, obnoxious laugh. I kept it up until he grunted, lowered his faceplate, and walked on. I heard him say, “Filthy lowlife.”

“Ass,” I muttered. I resumed carving my name into the wall.

The man in the cell to my right moaned. “Food. Please. Food.”

I rolled my eyes. “I haven’t been fed for a week. How long’s it been since you last ate? Two days? Yeah. Shut up.”

He shut up.

The rest of the day was quiet.

The guards came to tie my hands behind my back and drag me out of the dungeons to the gallows at dusk. They didn’t expect me to march there with my head held high.

The hangman slipped the noose over my head and tightened it around my neck. The crowd started to cheer.

Off to my right, on a platform raised higher than the one I stood upon, were the King and his red-haired daughter. The King’s son was probably off saving damsels in distress or something, like the adventurer he was.

The King stood from his throne and raised a hand. The crowd immediately silenced.

“Today,” he said, “on the fourth of December, we gather to celebrate the birthday and death of our country’s most dangerous criminal, Courtney Carter.

“He is charged with seventy-two counts of theft, forty-four counts of forgery, seventeen counts of murder…” The list went on for a good minute and a half. “… and five counts of public drunkenness. On this day, he is to pay for these despicable crimes. On this day, retribution is to be achieved.” The crowd cheered again, and the King turned to face me. “Do you have any last words, Mr. Carter?”

While he had been speaking, a figure dressed in black with a black masquerade mask hiding his face ran agilely over the roof of the castle. The figure had a bow out, an arrow drawn back.

“Uh, yeah,” I said, looking back to the King. “Duck.”

The look of confusion on the King’s face was glorious.

The archer released the arrow. It shot through the air, narrowly missed the King, and tore through the noose.

Hands still tied behind my back, I jumped down to the ground and bolted through the stunned crowd.

More arrows flew, taking out guards. The guards couldn’t figure out where the arrows were coming from. The gate protecting the castle slowly rose, and I knew another masked figure had to be up there.

An arrow lodged itself in my right shoulder. Gritting my teeth, I tried to ignore the searing pain.

By the time I got to the gate, it had only risen about four feet. I dove, rolled under it, and got to my feet. The arrow was now buried deeper into my shoulder.

“Court!” A figure dropped down from the walkway over the gate while simultaneously removing its mask. The figure was revealed to be my best friend, Bo.

“Was that Alexei?” I asked as we ran.

“Yeah. Pretty sweet aim, right?” Bo pulled a dagger from his belt, ran behind me, and cut the rope from my wrists. He then moved to run beside me.

I removed the noose with my newly freed hands. “Yeah, pretty sweet,” I agreed. “Are we meeting him somewhere?”

“Forager Forest.”

“Is Lynn in on this?”

“Nope.”

“Great.”

Bo looked over at me. “Uh, you’ve an arrow in your shoulder, mate.”

“I know.” I lifted my hand to try to remove the arrow. I flinched at the pain. “Okay. That’s staying in there for a bit.”

“Sorry about that,” he said. “Missed a guard up top, on the wall. At least it was dark, am I right?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Just keep going.”

We kept running until we reached Forager Forest, miles away from the castle. When we entered the trees, we slowed to a brisk walk. I hadn’t realized how cold it was. I rubbed my arms in attempt to warm up. It didn’t help.

“Lynn’s going to be angry,” I said.

“Don’t worry,” Bo said. “She’ll get over it.”

Lynn’s house—well, it was more of a hut—was located about five miles into the forest.

We were about two miles in when we found Alexei leaning against a tree with his mask hanging around his neck.

“Good evening, gents,” he said. He looked at me and cracked a lopsided grin. “How’s your shoulder?”

I ignored him and kept walking. He fell into step with Bo and me.

It was completely dark out by the time we reached Lynn’s hut. Alexei knocked on the door four times.

“What in the—? Who is it?” Lynn asked from within the hut.

“Prince Charming,” Alexei said. “Who d’you think?”

“Alexei?” The door opened, revealing a short-statured girl. A swarm of cats came to answer the door with her.

“Good evening, beautiful.” Alexei held Lynn’s face in his hands, leaned down, and kissed her. “Bo’s got a surprise for you.” He stepped into the hut.

Lynn’s eyes landed on me, and her eyes widened. “No.”

“Yep,” I said with a grin.

“You’re supposed to be dead,” she said.

“Yeah, well, I’m not, thanks to your boyfriend and your brother.”

“I—I—”

Bo and I moved past her into the hut. I dropped onto the beat-up sofa. Two cats promptly hopped onto my lap.

Lynn stuck her head outside and looked all around before closing the door and locking it. She turned to face us. “Why did you bring him here?”

“Because you’ve got to admit it,” Bo said. “He’s just so damn charismatic.”

Just as I’d expected, Lynn didn’t look very happy.

“You have an arrow in your shoulder,” she said.

“Oh, about that,” I said. “I was wondering if you’d be a doll and get it out for me. Maybe clean it up a little.”

She sighed but got her doctor’s bag. She sat cross-legged on the sofa next to me. “Alright. I’m going to snap the arrow and take it out. It’ll hurt. A lot.”

I nodded and bit down on my thumb.

Lynn did as she said she would.

It hurt. A lot.

I couldn’t help but notice the look of smug satisfaction on Alexei’s face.

“Take off your shirt,” she said.

My right arm was useless, so I had a little trouble getting off my shirt. Once it was off, Lynn started cleaning the wound. “How did you even get him out of there?”

“A lovely little plan thought up by yours truly,” Bo said.

“So… How did you get him out?”

“I took out the guards on the wall while Alexei climbed onto the roof of the castle. Waited until Court had the noose ‘round his neck before Alexei shot him down.” Bo sighed wistfully. “It was beautiful. Truly beautiful.”

Lynn slowly shook her head. “He’s not staying here.”

“No. Yeah. We know that.”

The girl wadded up some white linen and pressed it against the front of my wound; she did the same with the other side. She began wrapping my shoulder with more linen. “Where’s he gonna go?”

“No idea. He’ll figure it out,” Alexei said.

I removed my hand from my mouth. “Figure it out,” I parroted. My eyes widened. “Wait. I’m on my own?”

“Well, I’m not going anywhere with you.”

Bo clapped me on the uninjured shoulder. “Don’t worry, mate. I’m with ya.” He turned to Alexei. “So, if you’re not with us, then why’d you help me get ‘im outta there?”

Alexei stared at Bo for a moment, and then he turned to the fireplace, which had a small fire going. He kicked a log into it and set a kettle over it.

“What I want to know,” Bo said, perching on a stool, “is how you got caught in the first place.” He raised a brown eyebrow at me.

“Long story short: I’m an idiot,” I said.

Alexei and Lynn snorted.

“I need details, man,” Bo said.

“You know last week—when I went on that ale bender—I started going ‘round telling people my name.”

“Oh-ho,” Bo groaned, grinning. “You idiot.”

I shrugged my good shoulder. “Anyway… Can I at least stay here for the night?” I gave Lynn my best pleading look.

“Agh, whatever. But, you’re sleeping on the floor.”

“I love you.”

Alexei gave me a dirty look, which I ignored.

“What’s your name going to be this time?” Bo inquired.

“I haven’t had much time to think about it yet,” I replied. “But, I think I’ll go away for a while. Y’know. See the world a bit before I inevitably get murdered.” I paused. “What d’you reckon is my bounty?”

“I’d say at least twenty thousand gold.”

“Eh. I think I’ll rack it up a bit more.”