The English (4)

The days turned to weeks then to months as time flew by me. Recently Jeanne's visions had been more and more frequent while I hadn't had a single one since my first encounter with "God". Lately the two Saints who had come to Jeanne have been urging her to travel to the king and tell him of her mission in person.

"Jeanne please, just wait a bit longer, if they received our letter then we should expect a reply any day, I don't want you to put yourself in danger by venturing out."

"I know it is reckless Jack, but what if the king never received our letter! Are we suppose to just wait for something that might never arrive?"

I grabbed her hand and held it tightly. I didn't want to risk her life just because she was impatient.

"Jeanne please, wait just a little while longer, if a letter does not come within the following month then I promise you that we will go to the capital together."

"I do not wish to wait, but if you insist then I will accept your terms Jack…"

"Don't be mad at me Jeanne, I'm just worried for your safety. Your birthday is in twelve days aswell, so I'd like to celebrate it here in town at the very least before we depart for anything."

"Why would we celebrate my date of birth?"

"What do you mean Jeanne?"

Did people not celebrate birthdays arround here?

"It is only the day I was born, I do not see a reason for us to celebrate that, why would we?"

"Where I come from it's common to celebrate birthdays. A birthday is like a celebration that you've survived another year and gotten older, is that not something to celebrate?"

She looked down at her feet, I guess people in France didn't celebrate their birthdays in this time period which was really sad. Jeanne especially was someone who deserved a birthday celebration, she'd been working so hard ever since her father died. She attended church everyday, she helped me take care of the family's farm, and she was always the first to offer aid at the church or to a person in need.

"Alright then! We will celebrate my day of birth when the time comes!"

"That makes me happy Jeanne, you deserve something like a birthday."

"I do?"

"Mhm, you deserve it more then anyone."

"Ahh! I do not know if that is true but thank you…"

I let go of her hand and patted her head, at first she didn't like me touching her hair like that but lately she hasn't been one to complain about it.

"Do you need help cooking Jeanne?"

"No no, me and mother are fine for tonight, but could you please go feed the sheep for me? I'm afraid I got caught up with helping the church earlier today so I wasn't able to feed them."

"Of course Jeanne, I'll be back soon."

"Please be safe!"

She hugged me with her slender and pale arms, she has such perfect skin despite working on a farm. I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her back, ever since the first night we'd slept in the same bed she's been even more attached to me even though we spent less time together due to her charity work. I think the less time we spent together made the time we were together even better, her face lit up when she saw me and mine did the same.

I walked towards the outskirts of the farm where the animals resided, the farm was so big I never noticed the animals here when I first arrived. I still have no idea how I ended up here but I'm glad I did. Everyday spent with Jeanne was infinitely better than the days of my old life. I finally had someone that I truly understood, Jeanne was the best thing to ever happen to me. Jeanne was always there when I needed her, and I was there when she needed me. 

"Hey guys, are you hungry?"

The sheep walked up to the fence and sniffed my hand as I ran it over their heads. I walked into the storage hut beside their pen and grabbed their feed. The area around the animal's pen was big and open. You could see nothing but fields and forests for miles. The hundreds of troops marching towards Domremy only added to the beauty.

Why the hell are hundreds of troops marching towards Domremy?

I dropped the bag of feed inside the sheep pen as I began to run towards Jeanne's home. I didn't know which country the army belonged to due to the distance between them and the town. All I knew was that I needed to warn Jeanne in case the worst happened.

"JEANNE, WHERE ARE YOU?!"

I was panting with my arms on my head as I stopped at the entrance of the home. Jeanne poked her head out from where she was cooking, her mother did the same as they both looked at me confused.

"What is it Jack?"

"Jeanne, an army is heading this way. I saw them while feeding the sheep, they seemed to be thirty or so minutes off, they had hundreds of men with them!"

"Do you think the king sent them?"

"I really doubt the king would send this many people to investigate you Jeanne!"

"Why would he want to investigate me?"

"Because he most likely believes you're a liar."

"Oh.."

"That doesn't matter though, what matters is whether or not these people are here to kill us."

"How can we know if they will?"

"We don't, we'll just have to find out."

Dear Lord, please let these be French forces.

I grabbed Jeanne's wrist and led her into our room.

"Jeanne, I need you not to fight me on this. Please gather everything valuable to you, your clothes, and any money you have. If things go wrong you will run to the edge of the farm and wait near the sheep, if I do not come for you within an hour or if you see anyone else even if from this village, you will run! Understand?"

"…"

I let go of her wrist and put my hands on her shoulders.

"Jeanne, Please!"

"Understood…" 

"Thank you. Please hurry though, you've got half an hour to get out of here."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to meet them when they get here and see what they want."

"What!? That's idiotic! If they're English soldiers then you'll be killed!"

"Jeanne, listen to me, I promise I will run if things start going bad. I won't let them kill me, and I won't let them take you."

"You better! If you die here I'll never forgive you!"

"I promise I won't die Jeanne."

I hugged her one last time, maybe the last time I ever will. She started to pack her things as I walked out of her room. Her mother was standing there and most likely peeping.

"What's going on?"

"Ma'am, they might want to take your daughter, I can't tell you why but please understand that she is the most important person in this forsaken country right now."

"I don't understand what you mean Jack. My daughter seems to have put all her trust in you, so I shall do the same."

"Thank you."

I walked past Jeanne's mother and waited at the front door for around twenty minutes until Jeanne walked out of her room and towards me carrying a sack on her back.

"Are you ready Jeanne?"

"Mhm, I have some of your things too! Just in case we aren't able to return!"

"Remember Jeanne, run away from absolutely everyone unless it's me, I don't care if it's your mother or one of your brothers, do you understand?"

"Yes Jack, I understand you."

"Just in case this is the last time I see you again Jeanne there's something I've wanted to do ever since the night of the raid.

"What is it?"

I stepped closer to Jeanne, she had a confused look in her eyes. I pulled her in and pressed my lips against hers.

I Kissed her.

Jeanne's eyes went wide as her cheeks started burning up, I could feel her hesitantly kissing me back. I didn't want this moment to end but after around a minute I pulled my lips away from her. I ran my hands along her cheek as I smiled softly at her.

She didn't say anything, she just looked at me with confusion in her eyes. I don't think either if us were really aware of what we did. If this ended up being the last time we saw eachother then I wanted her to remember the feeling of my skin against her's. I could guess she didn't want me to put myself in danger by staying, but I had to stay, just in case it wasn't English forces.

"Go Jeanne, I'll see you soon."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

I watched her run off towards the edge of the farm. My feet felt heavy, but I kept moving towards the center of town. I waited for around fifteen minutes before I heard the loud noise of the soldier's gear moving towards me. Some of the townspeople hid while others came out to see what was going on.

A man on horseback approached me and looked down at my face with a smirk.

"Is this the town of Domremy?"

"Yes."

"Did a small band of soldiers happen to pass by here?"

"Yes…"

He started to smile, a menacing smile that made my body turn cold, he hopped off his horse and got within a few feet of me and stared at me dead in the eyes.

"Are you the dark haired young man who killed my soldiers?"

"…"

He knew damn well it was me, the bastard was just waiting for me to answer so he could cut me down.

"I'm going to guess the girl with the visions is here as well?"

"How do you know about her?!"

No one should know about those visions but me and Jeanne.

"We intercepted your little letter, I would be so grateful if you could lead me to this young woman."

The fucking note, this is all my fault again!

If I hadn't offered to write that note then they wouldn't have been after Jeanne, most likely they would've wanted me dead only.

"I can't do that."

His smile faded and his eyes narrowed as he looked at me.

"And why is that?"

I have to run, I need to get out of here.

I want to fight him, but he has an entire army waiting less than a hundred yards behind him waiting to kill everyone here.

"What will you do with her?"

"I only wish to talk to her."

Liar.

"And then?"

"You needn't worry about that, if you bring me Jeanne D'arc then I might forgive you for slaughtering some of my soldiers, what do you say?"

"If I refuse?"

"I will capture you, kill everyone here, and then find this delusional little girl."

"What are you really going to do to Jeanne..?"

His wicked smile formed again.

"Well I'll kill her of course, that's why I was sent here. I was told to capture and kill the one known as Jeanne D'arc, though I may have a little fun with her before I do."

My teeth clenched together and my body started to boil. Did this bastard just say he was going to rape Jeanne? It took everything in me not to draw my sword and rush the man. If I did I would most definitely be killed. 

"I will bring you Jeanne…"

"Good job lad, You speak excellent English for a French man. If you bring her quickly then I might offer you a taste of her before she dies."

"…"

Lord forgive me for what I am about to do. I am a sinner, please have mercy on me.

At that moment I drew my sword and lunged at the man. The man formed a wicked smile on his face as he blocked my sword with his own blade, the second my blade hit his he thrust towards me. I narrowly moved out of the way so my heart would not get struck but instead he pierced my shoulder.

"Agh! Fuck!"

"One more chance boy. Bring me the girl and I might forgive you, if you beg that is."

"Fine you sadistic bastard! I'll bring you Jeanne, wait here."

"Do not try to run, if you do I will kill every last peasant here."

"I understand."

I started walking towards Jeanne's home as the man called out to the villagers about their possible deaths.

"Jack what is happening?!"

"Please get the hell out of here, I'm taking Jeanne and running, please leave before they kill you!"

Jeanne's mother stared at me, she was horrified.

"Why!?"

"THEY WANT TO RAPE AND KILL JEANNE!"

"Oh my god…"

I said nothing more, my walk turned to a run as I gripped my shoulder and headed towards where Jeanne was hiding.

I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry, please understand. I don't deserve your forgiveness, only your understanding. 

They're all dead, and I killed every last one with my actions. I did not turn back. I ran to Jeanne, grabbed her hand with my available one, and ran as fast and far as I could. I didn't tell her what was happening or why we were running. 

I killed every last one of those people… Every.. Single… One…