“What?” I asked.
She scratched her head. “Well, that’s just it – sometimes it was confusion, other times fear, and then something in there that looked like love.”
I huffed. “I don’t think it was love, Bess, but thanks for the thought.”
“So nothing happened between you?” she asked.
“Nothing to worry Tuck’s pretty head,” I said.
She squeezed my shoulder. “You’ll meet the right lad one day, Will. You’re a special man, you should wait until it’s right.”
“I’m twenty-six years old, how long do I have to wait?” I asked in frustration.
She chuckled. “With that brother of yours in tow, it could take a while.”
I smiled and began helping with brushing and mopping before the opening. Working helped soothe the restlessness in my soul. My attraction to Robin hurt more than it helped. I understood how I’d been burned in the fire of romance, I knew I’d pushed too far and the man had demons in his soul I could see but couldn’t heal without his permission. A part of him seemed to yearn for me, I saw it in his eyes the night before as I’d sung for the patrons in the inn, but it hadn’t been enough to prevent him leaving before I’d woken. I rolled up my sleeves, my disappointment and anger making the mopping vigorous and a way I could vent undesired emotions. When I began righting the chairs Bess declared her floors were cleaner than the castle’s kitchen, which I didn’t doubt, and she opened the doors. A few men, off the night watch, walked in ordering breakfast and ale. I slipped away to my room.
By lunchtime Malcom was back and I had the freedom I needed to find Marion. I’d spent most of the morning trying to work out if I should tell her that Robin had returned but as he seemed in no fit state to help us – or more importantly her – I decided to keep his secret. Robin’s death had cut into Marion’s happy childhood with devastating consequences. She’d had to marry Philip Marc to keep her title and therefore her people safe. The villeins of the Huntingdon title relied on Marion, just as she needed them to farm the lands and provide her with revenue. The symbiotic relationship between peasant and master could be cruelly simple but also deeply profound if the lord respected his people and Marion wanted that respect in memory of her family, her mother and her brother. Telling her Robin was alive but unable to help would benefit no one.
I left the inn and wandered up the hill towards the castle and right into the merchants’ quarter. The largest and therefore busiest of the markets took place here and because of the clientele Marion often managed to lose her security and handmaiden long enough to talk. I found the small shop front, a place selling herbs and sweetmeats, and smiled at the woman behind the counter that opened onto the busy square.
“Hello, Maud,” I said with a shy smile. My conspiracy with the woman went a long way to helping Tuck’s and Marion’s cause. She gave Marion and I a little safety, I just had to convince her Marion and I were childhood sweethearts.
“Well, Will Scarlett, it’s good to see you, we were beginning to worry,” she said.
“So I’ve been told. I’ll pay extra today as it’s so busy, but we won’t be any longer than necessary,” I said, smiling with excitement and batting my green eyes at her.
She flushed a lovely shade of pink. “You two. I shouldn’t be helping such things, what would the priest think?” Her coy smile gave away her love of a good and illicit romance.
“If you don’t tell him, I won’t,” I said, winking. “Besides, doesn’t my love deserve at least a little happiness? You know I live for these days.”
“Get away with you, rogue and villain that you are.” She opened her counter for me and began to close the shop up as I gave her two gold coins for her trouble.
“She’s the love of my life,” I said.
“She’s the High Sheriff’s wife,” Maud said with warning in her little brown eyes.
I dutifully hung my head in shame. “I know.”
The shutters were closed and Maud patted my cheek. “You need to be more careful than ever, Will. That cursed sheriff will hurt Marion if he ever finds out about this.”
She scuttled off, into her home, and I stood alone in the shop for a moment. I stared around me, the place full of small delicacies; the smell of candied fruit, lavender and rose water was almost overpowering. I leaned against the table and my idle mind once more strayed to Robin. Why had he left? I wasn’t surprised he’d done so, but it hurt, considering how I had confessed my darkest sins the night before. Was he going to betray me for murdering my father? I dismissed that thought, many things Robin might be, but he wouldn’t betray me for that. Had he left because I’d promised too much with my lingering looks and flirtatious speech then not delivered?
I sighed, knowing in my aching heart this was bound to be the reason. “You’re such an idiot,” I muttered. “You could have given him a reason to stay.” My mood soon turned morose as the events of the previous night brought all the darkness of my past back – tainting my present as it always did sooner or later.
The door latch to the shop front clicked and I pushed all thoughts of self-inflicted misery to one side. No one had sacrificed as much as Marion and I would not add my woes to her shoulders.
A small hooded figure stepped over the threshold. “Will,” she breathed.
I opened my arms and Marion threw herself into my chest a quiet sob escaping her ironbound will. “I’ve been so worried about you,” she murmured, her fingers digging into my back.
“I’m alright and I’m sorry about last week. I was hurt –”
She pulled back and pushed her hood down. Long dusty blonde hair, braided simply with a blue ribbon threaded through, slid over her shoulder. I stared into her eyes and realised they were a few shades lighter than her brother’s but they held the same mixture of blues, just less intense, making them softer and more gentle.
“You were hurt? How? What happened?” she asked.
“I’m fine now, it was an accident. I fell into a fire,” I said, managing to make it sound like a joke. “It just meant I had to stay still for a few days. I am sorry, I know you worry.”
“So, you’re alright? Tuck…” Her voice faltered and a small flush of colour swept over her creamy cheeks.
I hid my smile. Tuck and Marion had established a different type of friendship, he’d been in the monastery when I’d befriended Marion, but each occasion they’d met seemed to have left a lasting impression on them both. “Tuck is also fine. He said to say hello.”
She smiled and turned away to hide it. “Give him my fond regards in return.”
“Of course, my lady,” I said.
When she turned back her eyes were narrowed. “You’re teasing me.”
“Only a little,” I said. “How are you?”
She popped a piece of candied apple into her mouth. “Fine.”
I frowned. “Marion, I’m one of the only people you can talk to, please be honest.”
“What do you want me to say? That my Bastard Husband is a pig? That’s hardly news.” Her bitterness washed off her in waves. “That I hate him? That I don’t sleep when he’s in bed because I’m so bloody scared he’s going to make me pregnant on top of everything else he does to me.” She shuddered. “God, the thought of carrying that man’s child makes me sick.” Her hands flexed into fists and I watched her battle for control over her rage. “I dream of sliding a knife into his back. I can almost feel the hot wash of blood over my hands.”
My memories, now unearthed, surfaced as I too remembered such thoughts before the action. I drew her back into my body but her anger made her stiff and unyielding. “We have to destroy with brains not violence. If you kill him, you will die. If we prove he’s useless to the king, we might just get out of this alive.”
Her teeth ground together. “I wish I was a man. I wish I was the man my brother was. He’d never have allowed this to happen.” I didn’t think even a body equal to that of Robin’s could hold all her power and strength in its muscles and bones. How a cr
eature so delicate on the surface could be such a mighty dragon, protecting justice not hoarding gold, on the inside and refuse to fly apart, amazed me.
I opened my mouth to tell her about Robin but snapped it shut. Telling her in this mood would only provoke her into rash action. She needed to be calm but Marion’s temper did not remain placid for extended periods.
“Do you have news for me?” I asked, hoping to distract her.
She sighed and the rage left her with the speed of a flying swallow. Her mercurial nature had baffled me when we were children. Her flares of temper were usually to do with injustice to animals or people who served her family, but I soon understood their nature. She felt helpless because of her station as a girl, then a woman, and that helplessness turned in on itself creating these terrible rages which would leave her exhausted and having to accept whatever fate decreed. When she’d been ‘sold’ to Philip Marc as a wife she’d raged for days and I’d only been witness to a small part of it, but it was the beginning of the new life Tuck and I had found. Marion was going to destroy her husband at any cost. I just wanted to make sure it wasn’t at the cost of her life.
She handed me a piece of parchment. “I had to write it down. I know you said it wasn’t safe, but with everything going on I can’t seem to memorise all the information. Alan and I can’t spend too much time together because we don’t have a reason to be talking and the Bastard Husband already thinks I’m screwing half his guard.”
“It’s alright, I’ll take it to Tuck who can memorise it and burn it, no one will be put at risk. You must be careful though, Marion.”
“I know that, Will.”
The latch on the door rattled and she glanced at me. Every muscle in my body grew tight and I placed my finger to my lips, even as I pulled out my knife with the other hand. She hitched up her fine dress and crawled under the counter. The door opened and a huge body filled it but slipped in and shut the door. “What kind of stupidity is this, Will? The guards are looking for her. You need to get her out of here without being seen,” Robin barked from inside his hood.
I opened my mouth.
“Don’t stand there, man, get her out of the shop,” he hissed.
Marion crawled back out from under the counter. “Who are you?” she asked.
“I’m about to save your honour, my lady, and probably your life, but you need to leave now.” I could feel the intensity of his gaze.
“No, who are you? How do you know Will?” She turned to look at me. “What’s going on? I thought we didn’t tell anyone?”
“It’s a very long story, Marion but we can trust him. Let’s just get out of here.” I grabbed her hand and pulled but she remained still. “Please, Marion I don’t have the luxury of explaining right now so don’t go all mulish on me again.”
“I don’t go mulish. I don’t like being treated like an idiot.”
“When have I ever treated you like an idiot?” I asked her. “And you do go mulish. You’re doing it right now. Mule face.” I’d called her that when we’d been children.
I felt movement behind me. “Marion, he needs to get you out of here. I can distract your guards, but you must leave now.”
Marion yanked free of my grip and strode up to Robin. She tucked under my chin when I hugged her, so Robin towered over her, but she didn’t pause for a moment. Her slender fingers reached up and pulled his hood down. The moment stretched as they stared at each other. I couldn’t see her face but I could see Robin’s and it made my heart ache for him. The fear and hope in his eyes warred with each other as he looked into his sister’s eyes for the first time in years. Would she recognise him?
“Oh, no…” She turned back to me. “This isn’t right. He’s dead.” The finality of her statement made me want to laugh. I smothered the instinct.
“Apparently, he isn’t,” I said. “He saved my life in the forest. The guards were about to kill us both, but he stepped in and saved us.”
She turned back and looked up. “You’re dead.”
“We don’t have time for this,” Robin said. He took hold of her shoulders and propelled her backwards into my grasp. “Get her out of here, I’ll create a fuss.”
“You’re dead,” Marion repeated, compliant in my care at last.
“No, Marion, I’m not dead but I’m not the man I once was. I can do this for you but no more. Will has more courage than I ever shall, trust him and only him. He knows my story.” Robin looked at me. “I am sorry I left. I didn’t know how to stay.”
“Meet me in the forest,” I pleaded, pushing Marion out of the back of the shop.
“That’s not a good idea,” Robin said.
“Do it anyway,” I tossed over my shoulder.
I released Marion’s shoulders and grabbed her hand. “Sorry, Maud, we have to leave,” I said as we entered the sweet-maker’s kitchen.
“You been caught?” she asked. Her chapped and tiny hands flew to her mouth in shock and fear.
“Not yet,” I said.
“This way, but you’re going to have to change your plans, Will Scarlett, because I can’t be doing with drawing this kind of attention.” She grabbed a wooden spoon and waved at me.
“Understood, just get us out of here,” I said.
She huffed but led me out of the kitchen and into her small garden, then down an alley at the back of the row of wooden houses. I heard shouts from the guards behind us but they weren’t about Marion, they were about a man who punched one of them and run off. I hoped he’d get out of Nottingham alive.
I tugged on Marion to make her move fast but she slowed. “Will, that was Robert.”
“Yes,” I said. “But we can’t talk about it now. Next time, I promise.”
“Next time? I don’t think so,” she said and she stopped completely. For a small woman she had great physical strength.
I had no choice but to stop. “Alright, the quick version, then you need to go and you need to make sure they find you shopping, unaware of the chaos your disappearance has caused.”
She frowned but nodded, crossing her arms under her small breasts. “Talk.”
“He really did find us battling for our lives in the forest. It took a few days but after some serious needling on my part he told us who he was but only because I mentioned you were the person we used to gain information about the revenue men and the guards moving the money about,” I said. “When I worked out who he was he kind of lost it; the war, the Crusade, it’s damaged him.” I thought about his words the night before, his lost love.
“Damaged?” she asked. “He’s Lord Huntingdon. Damaged or not, this could change my life.”
“He can’t do it. He’s a ghost, a dead man, he’s no use to you as Lord Huntingdon and we don’t have time to talk about it,” I said.
“I need to talk to him.”
“I know, Marion and you will, hopefully, but he…” I gazed over her shoulder trying to find a word to explain Robin. “He’s broken in a way that’s hard for the rest of us to understand.”
Her sweet mouth thinned. “Bollocks,” she announced. “Bastard Husband is planning on going hunting tomorrow, meet me at the old well and bring him. I’ll get lost in the chaos of the hunt as Bastard Husband wants me there, and find you at midday.”
“Marion –”
“No arguments, Will.” She strode off, her hood back and her shoulders firm. I sighed and walked off in a different direction.
9
I MADE MY WAY through the tanners’ quarter, nearest the city walls but farthest from the castle before heading back to the Rising Sun. By now the afternoon wore long shadows but I knew I needed to leave and return to the safety of the forest. Bess and Malcom were sad but my visits were always short and I promised to return the following week. I grabbed my belongings, took all the food I could carry from the kitchen, under Bess’s instructions, and left Nottingham by the east gate. I heard grumbling from the guards about a hooded man vanishing like mist in the streets but no one spoke of the sheriff’s wife
having an illicit affair. I needed to make sure I did more to keep Marion safe.
The road from Nottingham to the forest was busy with people leaving the markets who did not want to spend the night away from their homes. All Hallows Eve meant the dark paths would be haunted by more than robbers and bandits, and I had to admit to my share of the superstitiousness inherent in All Saints Day. Tuck and I weren’t the only outlaws who scratched an existence among the ancient woodland and I doubted we were the only broken souls haunting the place.
I marched with purpose towards the tree line, hoping Robin would find me if I stuck to the road until it was time to break off and return to the cave. Once the dark canopy enveloped me the tension I always felt in the city dropped away and I breathed into my soul the air of the forest. I loved the noise, organised chaos and playing for an audience of more than just a handful, but the solitude of the endless trees, rolling heathland and bountiful waterways brought me a peace I’d never have in a building, town or city. A smile grew, even as dusk took hold, and I eased the gruelling pace I’d set for myself. Robin hadn’t appeared, so I guessed he’d chosen to vanish from my life again, which irritated and fascinated me in equal measures, much like the man himself.
A flicker of movement off to my left, about a league from the cave and in a dark part of the woodland, made me pause. I didn’t stop moving but rather than going forwards, I switched to the right, planning on vanishing into the wood on the other side of the road.
“Don’t run, I’ve been waiting for you long enough and it’s getting bloody cold,” Robin said. “Why didn’t you ride?”
“The horses have brands on them or doesn’t that matter to you?” I asked, as he walked from the shadows pulling his black horse after him – or rather the sheriff’s horse.
“I left him somewhere safe,” he said. “And I altered the brand. I can do the same for the other two if you like?”
“Not a risk I’m willing to take,” I said.
“But you’re willing to risk my sister’s life?” he asked.
Men of Sherwood (A Rogue's Tale Book 1) Page 7
