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Chapter Four
(Read if you picked Samantha.)

I ran towards Samantha, from behind I could hear the man mutter something inaudible.

"Call for Arthur, he's in the front!" Samantha ordered, keeping her bow aimed at where the man hid.

I nodded as I turned around, but I could see him running towards us already.

"What's happening?" Arthur asked as he took his eyes off me and turned towards Samantha, then back at me.

"There's someone over there!" Samantha exclaimed, pointing to the stack of barrels with the point of her arrow.

"An intruder? That's impossible, there's no way unless he had someone help him with the layout of this place..." Arthur thought aloud.

Another man approached us, it was Antonio.

"There you are, chica!" He smiled.

"Antonio, Samantha, deal with the intruder, ______, come with me immediately, the deal will be made at two." He stated, reaching for my hand.

"Ay, señior," Antonio gave a smirk as he pulled out his sword. Samantha walked in front of him carefully as they approached the man.

"Come out." Samantha ordered.

I was focused on the scene and didn't realise that Arthur was growing impatient with me, "Let's go now." He spoke.

I didn't say anything as the scene before me changed. In an instant, the strange man stood up and before Samantha was able to fire an arrow, Antonio jumped in front of her in a way that he was able to slice through her bow, causing it to break into two parts. Her eyes widened but she didn't hesitate to use the broken bow as a weapon.

She rose the string part of the wooden bow and wrapped it around Antonio's sword and pulled it back. It slid across the dirt and came to a stop against a tree.

Even though she had done that though, the other man still had a sword. He rose it against the side of her neck then ordered her to drop the wooden bow.

Antonio then tied her hands together quickly before Arthur finally spoke out.

"Stop!" Arthur shouted in shock, "Stay here." He ordered me. I took a step back and obeyed, watching the scene intently.

As Arthur approached, he held his sword before him, "You're the trader?" He asked as he stared at Antonio.

"Perdóname, hermano, but it's for a good reason." Antonio responded, taking a step away from him, "If that's so then I'm guessing that idiot Francis is-" Arthur spoke as he walked in front of the barrels where the man was standing. "There!" He spoke aloud, but he saw no one.

His eyes widened in confusion, "What?" He asked, shocked.

I wanted to call out to him and tell him what I was seeing, but I felt the tip of a blade against the back of my neck. "Stay quiet." The man ordered, I recognised him by his voice, he was the angry Italian.

Francis stood behind Arthur, with two swords in his hands, he smiled, "Looks like I win."

I closed my eyes, fearing what would happen next, but just as the blonde man, Francis was going to cut through him, Arthur turned quickly and as he swung his sword, they clashed against both blades, causing them both to fly a few feet before hitting the dirt and clamping to a holt.

"Merde, this isn't how I imagined it." Francis spoke as he kept his gaze on the swords for a moment.

Arthur was ready to swing at Francis, and Samantha had gotten up and she held her an arrow in her hands, the broken wooden bow remained on the ground.

"Lovino, let her go." Arthur commanded, staring at my direction.

Lovino put the sword down and began cursing under his breath, I took my eyes off of him and looked back over at Arthur.

"Now, Frog, what exactly were you hoping to accomplish here?" He asked.

"Well, I thought this would be easier, but you know, I couldn't find that little poison you use in stores, and when I tried to make one of them, I accidentally burnt my house down and you know, I wanted to come here and take it, like, for a while now. But when Antonio told me about your plan to kidnap _______ for money, I wanted some of that money too, you know that is a lot." Francis went on, Arthur blinked once before he finally interrupted Francis.

"You mean to tell me that you wanted to do this for money?" He shouted.

"I don't see why you're shouting, that's literally what you are doing!" Francis responded.

"Why didn't you just bloody join me you asshat?" Arthur shouted back.

"Well you wouldn't let me join if I were to have asked, isn't that right?" Francis crossed his arms.

I turned to look past Lovino, the gate was there and now that I was in this outfit, I could try and make a run for it. They seem distracted enough anyways.

"So what? The only reason I would have said 'no' to you is because you're French and you smell like moldy cheese, you idiot!" Arthur insulted.

"Well at least all the food I make doesn't TASTE like modly cheese!" Francis hissed as he took a step foreword to shove Arthur.

I decided to stay after hearing Francis say that, with my father being a doctor, I knew how to treat a burn.

Arthur looked around the yard at all of us, it looked as if he had forgotten what had just happened. He then straightened himself out, "Alright look, I'm going to take ______ inside and we are just going to pretend that all of this never happened, okay? So just go, all of you traders, go. Samantha, you know what? Antonio is going to buy you a diamond bow, okay?"

"But sir, I would really prefer an iron one-" Samantha tried to say, Arthur continued as he began walking towards me, "No Samantha, we are going full out this time. One diamond arrow, make with fucking god like powers, because why not?"

I tilted my head as he approached me, his words began to slur and I could see a trail of blood on his neck. What was that?

Just a few feet away from me, his eyes finally shut and he lost his balance, I quickly moved towards him to catch him before he would hit the ground.

Wow, he weighs a lot. I was taken aback as his arms fell to his side, I wrapped my arm around him to try to keep him standing but I was loosing ground, I was slipping. "Dammit no!" I cursed as I tried to keep the both of us now.

Lovino let out a slight smile before quickly frowning again and coming to help me. He pulled Arthur back by his coat collar and waited for me to settle down before he let go again.

"I can't believe that worked." Francis spoke as he pulled some rope out of his amazing satchel. My god, is that leather? Oh my, whoever made that... I need one. He tossed the rope to Antonio.

"What did you do to him?" Samantha asked as she picked up the broken bow.

"Oh, well, after I burnt my house down-" he coughed, "After that, I found a guy who made me an offer and you know, I took the offer and the recipe to a sleeping remedy. And I'm surprised at how quickly it works." He said as he looked at Arthur.

"What offer?" Antonio nervously asked as he tied Samantha's arms behind her back.

Francis picked the two swords up and stared at them momentarily, "Well you see, the bubonic plague has reached the Italian cities as well as much of Europe. Soon, it'll come here, to London, as well..."

It was so silent, I could hear Arthur's breathing in my ear.

"His offer was for me to find a place for him to hide, but you know, if things continue as they are, it won't be long before he dies. Afterall, his parents, cousin, and wife are gone..." His voice faded out and gulped.

"Ah, well, not everyone can be saved." He said sadly.

My grip on Arthur tightened as Francis turned towards me, "So now that we have Arthur as a prisoner, do we still go through with his original plan?" Lovino asked.

Francis looked over at me for a moment then smiled, "No, I have a carriage in the front, just come with us." He said.

He reached his hand out to me and I stared at it, "Just take my hand and we can go." He said.

"I... I can't." I admitted.

"What? Why?" He asked, "I'm not taking you back home, but where we are headed isn't bad." He added.

I pressed my lips together.

"Don't you believe me?" He asked, frowning slightly.

"No, yeah, I believe you and all, but the thing is, if I take your hand, Arthur is going to fall on his face." I stated. Francis looked down at my arms to see that I had them wrapped around Arthur so that he wouldn't collapse.

"This was quite an advanced sleeping remedy for the 13th century..." I thought.

"Oh, right!" He smiled again. He came closer and helped me walk Arthur to the carriage.

It took a while before Francis finally explained that we would be leaving soon. It all felt somewhat strange, being here, with people I've never seen before. I took in a deep breath.

"We will arrive soon, _____." Francis spoke.