by Paul Kane
Tanek looked down at Mark and pulled a strange face - halfway between a smirk and a scowl - then he turned the crossbow on the boy who'd caused him so much trouble.
Now that the gunmen on the walls were falling, Granger saw that their own men had begun climbing up the other side using grappling hooks and ropes. They were swinging over the tops and taking out more of the guards.
In the grounds, confusion reigned supreme. Gunshots were ringing out and nobody really knew who was firing at who. De Falaise's army was bigger, but they were panicking.
Granger spotted Tate as he was making his way towards the Middle Bailey. The Reverend assured Granger he was okay, and begged him to go after Gwen, so he left one of his squad to look after him.
She didn't take much finding. The auburn-haired woman was striding through the mayhem, shooting at anything that moved until her rifle was spent. Granger ran off after her just as she was pulling out her pistol.
But there was a soldier behind her, off to her right, aiming his gun at her head. Quickly, Granger loaded an arrow and pulled back the twine. He let the projectile go and it embedded itself in the soldier's side, causing him to fire up into the air. Gwen heard the noise and turned, saw the arrow and mouthed a thanks to him.
Then she turned back to get on with her task.
Granger began after her again, but before he'd got three steps an arc of bullets patterned the sky above him - then lower, hitting him in several places all at once. He seemed to go down in slow motion, holding the bow close, feeling the red-hot blood leaking out of him.
He toppled to the floor, vision blurring.
Granger could just see the figure of the woman heading off towards the platform, off to do what he'd been trying to stop her from doing - though would have done himself given half a chance.
"Go... go on girl... do it for E-Ennis..." he managed. "Do... it for m-"
Granger closed his eyes and lay still, while all around him the battle raged on.
She saw him - there he was.
The man who'd left her in bed that morning, the man who'd done all those things to her. The man who'd given the orders for Javier to follow. Gwen approached the platform. A soldier came up on her right and she shot him in the leg without even blinking.
"I've heard what they say about you... That you let him... do things. All kinds of things to you."
Not anymore. Now it was payback time.
De Falaise was terrorising some other woman now, she saw. A dark haired girl dressed in green and khaki. They were looking up at something, and though Gwen registered the sound of the helicopter she didn't take any notice. Then the Sheriff punched the woman in the face with the hilt of his sabre.
That did it.
Gwen rushed up towards the platform, pistol drawn. "FRENCHMAN!" she screamed, mounting the steps.
De Falaise looked over and puckered his brow. Perhaps he didn't quite realise what was happening, how she could be here in uniform, brandishing a gun - instead of in a nice dress by his side. "My dear..." he began.
"Don't!" she warned him. "I'm going to kill you now, just like I killed Javier." Gwen pointed the gun at his head.
"Then by all means get on with it," he said snidely.
Gwen's hand shook. She remembered what Javier had said about sparing her from what he was to go through, about saving her soul.
"You cannot do it, can you?" De Falaise grinned that smug grin of his. "You cannot just kill me like this, defenceless."
Gwen pulled the trigger.
The gun clicked empty.
De Falaise's eyes widened, then he began to laugh.
Gwen saw red. She threw the useless pistol at him and took out the knife from her pocket, the one she'd originally intended on using.
"I am afraid that mine is much bigger than yours." He held up the sabre to illustrate.
Gwen didn't care. She ran at him anyway, shouting at the top of her voice.
She was stopped in mid-lunge by something hard plunging into her shoulder, sending her spinning. It was De Falaise's second in command, firing one of his crossbow bolts at her - the only thing causing him to miss, a young boy hanging on to his leg.
Gwen toppled sideways, falling away from the laughing Sheriff. He was slipping out of her reach. But before she fell off the side of the platform completely, she threw the knife with her one good arm.
It landed in De Falaise's thigh.
As she dropped, uncertain of where she would land, she at least had the satisfaction of hearing the Frenchman let out a shrill yelp.
Then she was tumbling away, falling and hitting her head. Before she lost her grip on consciousness, she looked up, and it was then that she saw the helicopter flying overhead, much closer than it should be to the ground.
The Sioux came in to land with a bump, not far from the war memorial.
Robert and Bill jolted forwards, but both chopper doors were wide open within seconds, while the blades were still turning. Bill took up his shotgun, Robert had bow and arrow ready again.
On their sprint up the incline, Robert bagged a couple of soldiers and Bill opened fire over the heads of two more, causing them to drop their rifles and run off in alarm.
They ran up the path - back up towards the platform and the scene they'd just passed over. "I'll take the left, you take the right," Robert told him.
On the right, there was Tanek, reaching down to grab Mark again - to shoot him finally with a bolt to the head. On the left were De Falaise and Mary.
Bill aimed his shotgun at the bigger man and ordered him to let Mark go. The olive-skinned giant looked at him like he was speaking gibberish. Then he pointed the crossbow in Bill's direction. He fired, but at the same time Mark produced Tanek's own discarded dagger and rammed it with all the strength he had left, through the man's foot.
Tanek did make a noise this time, but it was more a growl than a scream.
The bolt hadn't flown straight, though it had found Bill - lodging itself into his pelvis. As he dropped, though, the farmer squeezed his own trigger. The blast hit Tanek in the middle of his chest, sending him reeling backwards with a grunt. The whole platform shook when he fell, but he didn't get up again.
Robert, meanwhile, had an arrow trained on De Falaise's head. But the Frenchman already had a dazed Mary pulled close to him, and he took this opportunity to bring the sabre up to her throat.
"The real Hooded Man, I presume." said the Sheriff.
Robert's eyes narrowed. "You know who I am. And I know you."
"Indeed." De Falaise kept Mary between him and the line of arrow fire. "You care for this woman, I can see that. I can use that." He looked all around him at the devastation, looked back over his shoulder to see Tanek lying on the deck, then he added: "And much as it pains me to leave before we have had a chance to get properly acquainted, there is a saying that seems appropriate: Prudence est mère de sûreté; Discretion is the better part of valour. And so I will live to fight another day, non?" He began to drag Mary backwards with him, limping - a knife still in his leg. Robert kept his arrow on him the whole time, but couldn't risk a shot.
He dragged Mary down the rear set of steps, disappearing from sight. Robert skirted around the side of the platform, missing only a few moments. But by the time he rounded it, De Falaise and Mary were almost at the farthest end of the lawn; almost at a truck parked there.
"You've got to let her go to climb inside, you bastard," said Robert under his breath.
But De Falaise managed to keep Mary in front of him as he got into the cab of the truck, sitting her on his knee. The engine started up, the vehicle shuddering.
"Damn it! Jack... Jack, get Mark off the platform - right now!" Robert kept a bead on the vehicle as it powered towards them, but also kept an eye on what was happening on the gallows. Jack had managed to drag Mark to the edge and then over it, both of them tumbling off the right hand side of the platform. The truck clipped the left hand side, ramming through it, just missing Bill and a prone auburn-haired woman. R
obert barely had time to dive out of the way, rolling as the truck tipped over the incline and drove down past the helicopter, scattering people as it went.
Robert raised his head in time to see the truck power through the devastated side gate and out onto the street.
His eyes flicked back to the helicopter, its rotor still turning. "Bill..." he called out on his way over to the man. "Are you in a fit state to fly?"
"Does it bloody well look like it?" Bill replied, nursing his wound. "Judas fucking Priest, I can't even get up!" He thumbed back towards the helicopter. "And I doubt if she will, neither."
Robert ground his teeth. The truck could be heading in any direction, even if he could get to a jeep or truck in time to follow. The helicopter was the only option if he was to find De Falaise and stop him.
Bow in hand, he began down the path, ignoring the calls from Bill and Jack.
What are you doing? What exactly are you doing, Robert? he asked himself. He couldn't fly, not even with a chopper that was in any fit state to get off the ground. Robert knew all this and still he had to try.
It was Mary's only hope. God alone knew what would happen to her once she no longer served her purpose as a hostage. That lunatic De Falaise...
He tried not to think about it as he threw the bow into the cockpit, then climbed in himself. Closing his eyes he visualised what Bill had done before take off, remembered what he'd said about lightness of touch.
With one hand on the collective and one hand on the cyclic, he attempted his first ever take off.
For long moments nothing happened, and Robert wondered if this was because of the state of the battered machine. But then, all of a sudden, and with a lot of mental encouragement from its pilot, the Sioux lifted a few feet off the ground.
"At-a-girl," said Robert, coaxing more height from her. Once he was high enough to make it over the castle entrance, he pushed the chopper forward, practically kangarooing it, bouncing onto the other side. It would never get up to the height it had before, but Robert was hoping he could get at least high enough to see where the truck was going.
As he lifted away, he saw the devastation of the battle he was leaving behind. His men were pretty much mopping up, and those soldiers who were left were surrendering in droves since De Falaise had cut and run. There would be time for sorting all that out later - time to find out how Mark was later. Right now, all he could think about was getting Mary safely back.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Wake up Moo-Moo - you're in serious trouble. Even worse than the last time.
She heard David's voice rousing her, but it seemed so far away.
Moo-Moo, please wake up. The Sheriff has you as a hostage. You're driving through the streets of Nottingham in an army truck and when you get far enough away he's just going to kill you and dump you. Moo-Moo, are you listening to me! Mary! MARY!
That did it. David very rarely called her by her proper name, only when he was angry with her about something. Right now, that would appear to be because she was going to die. Mary opened her eyes a fraction, looking to the side. She saw De Falaise in his dress uniform, hunched over the wheel of the truck. A knife was buried in his leg, but he didn't seem in any rush to take it out. Beyond him she saw buildings going by. He took a right at speed, almost causing the truck to tip over. It was all Mary could do to keep quiet.
Good, said David. He still thinks you're out of it, so there's no reason for him to question otherwise, is there? He also thinks you're unarmed. Oh God, Moo-Moo, however did you get yourself into this mess? Because you thought you felt something for someone you hardly even know? Because you always said to yourself even though you were hiding away that one day the perfect man would come along and you'd know it instantly?
Mentally, she told him to shut up. Mary needed to concentrate, which wasn't easy when you were pretty sure your nose was broken and your head was splitting. She waited, watching De Falaise through the slits of her barely open eyes. Waited for him to turn the wheel again, so that she could use it as a cover to flop a hand below the seat. Then, with his attention still on the road, she reached that hand up behind her, reaching under the bottom of Robert's hooded top, reaching for the Peacemaker she had tucked away there, hidden in the folds.
She wasn't expecting to still have the gun by this late stage in the game - just how stupid were the soldiers under the Frenchman's command? - but then she wasn't expecting to fight De Falaise, get knocked senseless, and get dragged along for the ride in his mad dash for freedom.
And he was mad, no mistake about that. As Mary and the others had suspected all along, this guy was a total loon, playing out his fantasies of being a dictator in a world where he thought nobody could stop him.
He was wrong.
Mary had her fingers curled around the handle of the gun, her thumb ready to cock it. She wasn't thinking about what would happen once she'd shot him, whether he'd crash the truck and kill them both, she just wanted to end this right here and right now.
"Merde!" She flinched at De Falaise's raised voice, thinking that he must have noticed what she was up to. But he had caught sight of something out of the corner of his eye in the wing mirror. Something following them. Mary could just about make out the shape of the vehicle from her angle - but it didn't look like any car or jeep or truck she'd ever come across. "The cretin does not know when to give in. But I will show him."
"Robert," she whispered, too quietly to be heard.
Yes, said David. He's come for you, Moo-Moo. He's come for you. Perhaps you were right after all.
De Falaise stamped on the brakes, sending her back into her seat as the low-flying helicopter crashed into their rear.
Robert grappled with the controls. It was taking all his effort and concentration just to keep the Sioux several metres off the ground, but it had done its job - got him high enough to pinpoint where De Falaise was going, heading blindly towards the market square. Then, having little choice in the matter, he brought the damaged chopper back down to hover as near to the ground as he could. The landing gear scraped the road, causing sparks.
Knowing De Falaise's direction helped Robert to take a short cut, emerging from one street just in time to see the truck go by. He was then in full pursuit.
Robert kept just a little way back, trying to hide behind the vehicle and hoping that the Sheriff wouldn't see him. But it had to happen eventually, and so Robert found himself having to pull on the collective control quickly, as the truck braked, slamming into the front of the helicopter. Then it rose, groaning in protest, but just about made it above the height of the truck, settling down on top of it as it accelerated again.
The truck wove this way and that, trying to shake the chopper. Robert fought to keep her level with the vehicle below him. They were driving down a road heading along the tram tracks when De Falaise pulled his braking stunt again.
This time, the helicopter shot forward and over the front of the truck, and suddenly both vehicles clipped the side of a building. They crashed through overgrown foliage onto what had once been the fountain of the square. Robert attempted to disentangle the chopper, but that only made matters worse, and soon they were heading towards the Council building.
Grabbing his bow, Robert opened the door of the chopper. He was just about to jump clear when he remembered something else he'd brought with him, and leaned across quickly to retrieve it. He dove out just as the truck rammed into one of the once majestic stone lions, a match for those back at the castle. Whether De Falaise had been deliberately trying to crush the chopper was unclear, but Robert hit the concrete and rolled, feeling something pop in his shoulder as he did so.
From his position on the floor, Robert raised his head and looked up at the mess of twisted metal. The truck and the helicopter were fused together like a piece of modern art. A river of diesel ran all the way across the market square like a slug's slime trail. And it was spreading into a lake...
"Mary..." groaned Robert. He had to get her out of the truck.
Hauling himself to his feet, he slipped the broadsword he'd grabbed into his belt, and staggered across to the wreck. He'd only got a few feet when two figures came into view around the side. It was the Sheriff and Mary, the former holding his sabre to her throat again, the latter still out of it.
Robert slotted an arrow into his bow and raised it, wincing at the pain from his shoulder. The pair moved sideways like a crab, De Falaise dragging Mary away from the truck as if he still thought escape was an option. Robert moved with them, keeping his arrow on the pair, but not being given the opportunity to take a shot.
"Let her go!" ordered Robert as they hobbled away, though his voice lacked any kind of authority.
"I think not," replied De Falaise.
"Look around you, it's over. You're done."
"Non. It is only just beginning, mon ami. We are-" De Falaise's face crinkled up, then he let out a piercing cry.
Robert glanced down and saw Mary's hand, twisting the knife still embedded in the Frenchman's leg. She'd only been pretending to be unconscious, and was now fully awake, intent on causing De Falaise the maximum amount of torment.
He threw her roughly to the side and she hit the ground, rolling over twice. It was as she came to a stop that Robert saw what she had in her hand. Her Peacekeeper, trained on the Sheriff.
"Mary, no...!" But she didn't hear him in time. Mary fired at the Frenchman, missing him, but hitting the truck some way behind them, igniting the leaking fuel tank.
De Falaise looked behind him, looked down at the trail of diesel, and began to limp quickly away. Robert ran for Mary, but the resultant blast as the truck and helicopter exploded knocked him off his feet - pitching him backwards into the middle of the square. A streak of heat whooshed between the two enemies as the diesel caught fire, then fanned outwards.
