Chapter 14

The following week was an extremely busy one for Marion’s crew. It had been touch-and-go for Robin, but he was now starting to mend slowly. They also had their first encounter with Cecilia’s men since they had gone into hiding. Pollyanna and Stella were coming back from a scouting trip when they almost literally stumbled on a group of Cecilia’s men raping five young women that they had taken from a local village. Since they had the element of surprise and there were only six bastards, Stella quickly chose to strike. All five women were crying as their rapists were pounding them.

While Pollyanna stayed hidden in the brush, Stella worked around the group. Once she was on the other side, which had only taken a couple of minutes, she signaled Pollyanna, and Pollyanna signaled back. With that, the angel of death spread its wings over the men, and within thirty seconds, they were all dead. While neither Stella nor Pollyanna was in Gabriella’s league, they were not slouches, and the range here was only about 10 meters. They then stepped out of hiding to make sure all the men were dead and check on the women.

The women were so scared that a couple of them peed themselves. First, they had been taken for payment because their families couldn’t pay the outrageous taxes Cecilia was charging. Then when their guards had stopped for lunch, the women were brutally raped for dessert. Next, without warning, arrows flew out of the woods, killing the guards. Once the guards were dead, two very strangely dressed men came out of the woods and checked on the guards. They had to be men because they wore pants and strange green overcoats with hoods covering their faces. Then the older one spoke; these “men” were women, and they removed their hoods. The women that had been raped started crying; they had hope that they might now be safe. Before Cecilia’s reign of terror, they had been part of successful families that usually didn’t have to worry about paying their taxes or putting food on the table, but now they were dirt poor.

“Do any of you know who we are?” Asked the younger woman warmly, and all five women shook their heads. “Well, introductions are in order then. My name is Pollyanna, and I am an engineer. My companion here is Stella, and she is my immediate superior. We are both followers of Marion of York.”

All five of the women’s reactions were about the same. They were shocked beyond belief because they, like everyone else, had thought that Marion and her followers had died, and nobody held out hope that they were still alive.

“Thank you for rescuing us,” one of the youngest women said quietly.

Stella responded with a smile.

“No thanks are necessary, but we have a few small favors to ask before we escort you home.”

“What are they?” sharply asked the same woman who had spoken up.

“Hey, calm yourself if you please. We ask that you help us get these bastards off the road once all of you have gotten dressed. The other thing we ask is that you quietly tell people just whose group rescued you.”

Again, the women nodded, only this time, there was no hesitation. They quickly dressed and helped Stella and Pollyanna get the bastards off the road. After the bodies were disposed of, Pollyanna stashed all the loot they had gotten off the guards. Going through their loot, they found five pounds ten shillings which Stella divided between the raped women. This was no big deal for Stella or Pollyanna, but this was a godsend for the other five. They suggested the women hide the money so it wouldn’t be stolen. This ambush spot was on their way back to camp so they could pick the loot up on their way home.

After making sure that everything was ready, they set off. Stella decided to escort the women back to their villages and, since Pollyanna didn’t have much to do for the rest of the day, went with them. Along the way, the women were full of questions about everything, especially Marion. Stella and Pollyanna answered most of the questions, but not all of them. They wouldn’t answer questions about where they were hiding and refused to talk about what they had been doing since their attack. They did answer the questions that pertained to the group’s goals. The women had a hard time believing Marion aimed to make everyone equal in the law’s eyes and allow everyone to prove themselves and succeed. As the group was coming up to a bend in the road, Pollyanna suddenly stopped and quietly signaled the group to get off the road fast. Stella was the last into hiding:

“What’s up?”

“I heard horses.”

Pollyanna had far better hearing than Stella did. Stella had been hit in the ears many times while being raped by Richard, and now she sometimes had problems hearing.

“Well, we know what to do with them. Ladies, listen to me and listen well. You need to hide. If anything happens to us, run and make sure to scatter so that if one of you is found, then the rest will still have a chance,” Stella said.

She was unlimbering her bow and ensuring her arrows were ready as Pollyanna quickly followed suit. Within moments, a cavalry troop came around the corner, and they were wearing Cecilia’s colors. Stella counted twenty men and numerous heavily loaded pack horses as they drew back their bows. Both of them had a new type of bow that Luke had designed. It was far more potent than anything else and could be shot rapidly. They were hybrid recurve bows with primitive spring steel in the limbs to give them more power.

They waited until the troops had passed them before attacking. Pollyanna and Stella started shooting when they were about twenty meters behind the last of the soldiers. They were able to fire two volleys before the soldiers even knew they were under attack. As the soldiers stopped to turn around, Pollyanna and Stella dropped their third pair of targets. Now, the odds were seven to one. Before the soldiers could charge, the odds had become six to one. The pairs’ arrows could punch through the men’s armor as if it didn’t exist. This was possible because of the armor-piercing tips that Luke had made. He had made them from hardened steel and shaped them so they couldn’t be removed easily. Gabriella carefully balanced each arrow so that every one of them would fly almost identically and straight.

As the soldiers started their charge toward the two women, they ran off the road and continued to shoot from the forest. The forest allowed them to hide and shoot as the trees slowed the soldiers down. The odds were down to five to one by the time the soldiers had made it to the pair, but now they were close enough to use their swords. Stella was the first to catch a blow when one of the soldiers struck her bow and cut it in half, but before he could strike again, Pollyanna shot him, and Stella was able to draw her sword and cut down another passing rider. Now, it was four to one, but the problem for the women was that the remaining eight were some of Cecilia’s best and most loyal men. Stella had barely seen him but was able to yell out:

“POLLY, BEHIND YOU!”

As Pollyanna turned, one of the men drove his horse right over her and knocked her out. Usually, something like that would have killed Pollyanna, but her armor, especially her helmet, saved her life, and now Stella was by herself. She continued the hack and slash at anyone who came close while working herself over to where she could protect Pollyanna. Stella hoped Pollyanna was only knocked out and not dead but had no time to check. Finally surrounded, the troop leader demanded Stella’s honorable surrender.

He was the same one who had run over Pollyanna. At first, Stella refused, but when she considered the entire situation, she could see she had no choice. She was outnumbered eight to one, and Pollyanna was out cold. Hopefully, by giving her honorable surrender, Stella could buy herself and Pollyanna some time for Marion to bail them out. Thankfully, Marion knew where the two of them had been patrolling, and Stella knew that Marion would be looking for them within only an hour or so. They had left a note in the group’s code where they had rescued the women, explaining where they were headed. So, Stella surrendered.

Stella and Pollyanna were extensively searched while the rest of the men searched the surrounding forest, where they managed to round up all five of the other women. Stella knew better than to fight at the moment, but the other women were fighting viciously, and the soldiers found this profoundly amusing. The commander wanted to kill the five women and take the two captured women back to York. His men had other ideas; they were not about to waste five good pussies before they could have some fun.

“Fine, you idiots have an hour, then we kill them,” the commander stated.

His authority over these men was still a bit shaky since he was a recent transfer from Richard’s former central estate; plus, an extra hour wouldn’t matter, and maybe he could get some information from his captives. While his men started to rape the women, he sat near Stella and Pollyanna to talk with Stella. By this time, Stella had checked on Pollyanna and could see that she was only knocked out and should be coming soon. The commander had watched this and was impressed. Stella checked Pollyanna in such a way that suggested she knew what she was doing.

“So, lass, what be your name?” Stella just looked at him but didn’t answer.

The commander had expected that because this was not a weak woman.

“Well, my name is Captain Hall, but you can call me Matthew.”

“Why are you letting your men rape those poor women? Don’t you think that they’ve been through enough already?” Stella asked with enough venom to kill all the men.