What a man!
Joan looked back to her parents. “You’re coming too, right?”
“Er,” her father said, putting his arm protectively around his wife. “Might be best we stay here through the winter. We’ll be home in spring.”
Joan’s elderly mother turned to Georgia. “Our girl is so precious. Take good care of her.”
Tears welling up in her own eyes, Georgia nodded, then embraced them in a group hug. “Thank you so much. She’s a lovely girl. Thank you.”
Joan? Lovely? Robyn boggled as she watched her giant friend clinging to Marion as Wilfred eased the rope to lower them to the ground.
“I’m next out the hatch,” Georgia said as she made her way to the window.
“Why don’t you stay with us, Robyn dear?” Eleanor asked. “There are so many of us, Maudlin will hardly notice one more. We’ll have plenty of bread and milk and be warm enough right through winter.”
All this effort to find her village, and they didn’t want to leave. How infuriating!
Marion appeared at the window hatch again. “Grannyma and Tuppence are safe at the sheep pens. Madge wants to stay with us.” Then he handed over a small bag of gold coins. About half of the half Marion had split from the original bag.
“Thank you Marion.” Mother Miller’s eyes grew round like plums. “My goodness, where did you ever get this?”
Marion scratched the back of his neck. “I wish there was more. Maudlin has the rest of it.”
Mother Miller shoved the purse of coins under her apron. “Thank you,” she said, giving Marion a heavy knitted shawl. “You’ll need this more than me.”
Next down the rope pulley was Georgia. They were going as fast as they could, but Maudlin could turn up at any moment.
From the safe ground below, Joan waved up to Robyn. There wasn’t much room down there, what with the narrow path and the tall fence surrounding the tower keep. There was no room on the other side of the fence at all, just a long sloping hill all the way down. All things considered, Robyn was relieved she was breaking out, instead of trying to break in.
Robyn willed Marion to get back up to the hatch as fast as he could. Heavy footsteps sounded in the stairwell on the other side of the door. “Hurry Marion.”
“You’ll need this,” Mother Eleanor said. In her hands she held the bow Robyn had fished out of the Littleton well. This time it was clean and freshly strung with a tight drawstring. And she had a quiver full of arrows.
Robyn threw her arms around her mother and wept into her neck.
Eleanor said, “Now you stay safe, you hear? And tuck in your frock before you climb out, don’t want to get it caught on anything.”
Robyn giggled. “You’re the friar of tucks, and the tie-er of frocks.”
“Be good Robyn,” her mother smiled sadly. “And stay safe. And find somewhere warm. I will see you in Spring.”
With another hug of farewell, Robyn slung the weapons over her shoulders and climbed out the hatch.
Only to become stuck because the bow was too wide to fit through the window.
“Oh this is too perfect!” Maudlin said as she stormed in the room.
Panic overrode common sense. Robyn grabbed the weapons off her back and threw them out the hatch, hoping they’d land inside the fence below. As Maudlin stomped towards her, she climbed out, reaching for Marion.
The cold wind stole the grip from her fingers. She fumbled and slipped in Marion’s arms. Couldn’t find the loop in the rope for her foot.
“Hold on,” Marion said as they swung in mid air.
“Don’t drop me!” Robyn cried out. She would have cried for real if the wind didn’t rip her tears away before they came out.
“Don’t worry, I’ve got you,” Marion said.
The hatch rose in the air. Or, more logically, they dropped away from the wall. Maudlin leaned out the hatch, cursing them a good one.
Slipping down his body, Robyn wrapped her arms and legs as tightly around him as she could, locking her ankles and wrists around his middle.
“Nearly there.”
An agonizing time later, they felt the soft thud of the ground underneath them.
“Marion, you were amazing!” Robyn smothered him in kisses.
He laughed and pulled back to draw breath. “I’ll try not to let my halo blind you.”
“That must have killed you to be up that h–”
Marion shut her up with another kiss, then said, “We’re safe on the ground, that’s all that matters.”
The ground. Frantically, Robyn looked around for the bow and arrows she’d tossed down. They were scattered about, muddy but not broken.
“Let’s get going,” Wilfred said, untying the rope from around Marion’s torso.
“Well done on getting the horses and the wagon up here,” Robyn said.
Marion shrugged the compliment aside. “Always good to have a plan.”
Robyn placed her bow and arrow into the back of the wagon, where Joan and Georgia were sitting. Madge, Robyn noted, was sitting up the front in the seat next to Wilfred.
The iced winds brought with them the smell of wet soil and . . . smoke?
She and Marion looked at each other. “Do you smell that?” They said in unison.
Looking up, smoke puffed out the narrow tower windows and the hatch they’d climbed from.
It had to be some kind of terrible accident. Surely Maudlin wasn’t so insane as to set fire to it?
Suddenly Mother Eleanor leaned out the hatch and called, “Robyn dear? Change of plans! Can we come with you please?”
CHAPTER NINE
Warning horns and shouts filled the Sheffield air. As did billowing smoke. People ran from all directions, many of them with ladders. Some of them with buckets. Some of those buckets even had water in them.
“Marion, get off the rope, we’ll be able to get two people down at a time if it goes up empty,” Robyn said, holding the slack end and hoisting it upwards. Then she shouted up to the window, “Grab the rope! Climb on to the loop and grab someone to come down with you. All right?”
“Yes dear.” Eleanor called back. “Do hurry!”
People with ladders arrived and leaned them against the walls. One person climbed up with a hatchet and cut wider holes where the narrow windows had been. People scrambled out the gaps and down the ladders. Before long, the tower was a sea of people climbing up and down, helping people to get out, tipping buckets of water in. It was a valiant effort, but Robyn feared the flames were too strong.
Marion and Wilfred’s rope and pulley system managed two people down at a time, usually a trembling mother and wrapped-up-child.
“What about Bella?” Eleanor said as she patted herself down now that she was safely down.
Honestly, shouldn’t people come before livestock?
Timber creaked above them. In a harrowing ‘whoosh’ the tower roof caught alight.
Fear curdled Robyn’s stomach. “Please tell me everyone got out?”
Marion grabbed her in a hug. “It wasn’t your fault.”
Red mist covered Robyn’s eyes. “I never thought it was!”
“Don’t be so defensive!”
“I can’t help being defensive when you’re saying it’s my fault!”
“I didn’t say th–”
At which point screams for help rang out.
People were still trapped inside, desperate to get out.
A human chain of people with water-filled buckets couldn’t compete with the growing flames.
How had this even happened, Robyn fretted. Had someone knocked a candle over or had Maudlin deliberately lit it?
Desperate to help, Robyn and Marion joined in the human chain and hefted full buckets along the line.
Suddenly a stampede of people and a mooing cow poured from the tower, bursting out into the fresh air. A cheer went up and news carried down the line that everyone was out.
Not the fire, mind, it still had plenty of life in it.
Relief swept through Robyn, leaving her as soggy as wet bread.
“Let’s get back to the horses and get out,” Marion said.
No time to rest, Robyn scrambling up the hill to where Wilfred, Madge, Joan and Georgia stayed with the horses. Through the smoky haze, Wilfred’s face shone like a red beacon of itchiness.
Robyn scratched her cheek in sympathy. “You all right.”
Wilfred dragged his sleeve across his face. “Aa-djaw!”
“I’ll take over if you like.” Robyn relieved Wilfred of duty. Madge was beside him, her hands filled with sheep’s wool to soothe his face and hands.
“I must be a mess,” Will said.
Madge beamed. “You’re my hero. Now let me look after you.”
A half-hearted protest from Wilfred followed. Robyn was glad he had the wool over his eyes so he couldn’t see everyone else making silly faces as Madge doted on him.
A stab of jealousy shot through. How come she and Marion couldn’t be this nice to each other? They had the occasional lovely moment together, but then things turned tetchy and she wanted to kick him in the shins.
Thoughts of boy problems were quickly pushed aside as she took in the next hurdle facing them. Marion, Wilfred and Madge had done brilliantly to get themselves, the horses and the wagon up here in the narrow space between fence and the tower. But there was only one way down and it was packed with people running back and forth. Most were running away from tower, but a few brave or crazy people were running back in, desperate to salvage whatever they could from the burning building.
At least the stone part of the tower wouldn’t burn, so the people of Sheffield wouldn’t lose everything. Not like they had in Loxley.
“Everyone ready to leave?” Robyn looked back to her motley friends, all in various states of shock and exhaustion. They still had to get down from the hill, and it was quite an angle. “You’ll have to get out of the wagon, the steps are too steep. Will and Marion, you two get the wagon down the steps. I’ll guide the horses.”
Plus One hardly needed guiding. She followed lock step with Marion and the others, but Shadow had very different ideas. The noise and movement of people rushing about, their arms full of flour bags, clothes, cheese wheels, butter and tools, spooked the horse. That was before Robyn even saw the steps they had to climb down.
“It’s OK girl. I’m right here,” she cooed, stroking the horse’s nose. Reaching into her pocket, she found nothing of use to bribe her. An apple would be brilliant right about now. She scanned the base of the tower and found tufts of grass poking out. She ripped the grass, pulling it out roots and all. “Here you are darling. I’m going to guide you down the hill and you’re going to be fine.”
Straight down the steps wasn’t going to cut it. The hill was incredibly steep, the steps narrow and clogged with people running up and down. “Easy girl. I won’t let you go.” Not that the horse would have any idea what she was saying, but Robyn hoped her soothing tone conveyed the message.
Shadow took a diagonal step. They were going down, the long way.
“Good girl. Now the next one.”
Shadow walked across the face of the hill. Robyn walked beside Shadow all the way, her body on the lower side to protect the horse from slipping. And to keep guiding her downwards.
“Good girl!” Robyn said as they reached the fence on the other side. “Now turn around and we do it again.”
Shadow dropped her head and made for the grass growing near the step.
“Fair enough. I’m pretty hungry myself.” She turned to see how the lads were getting on with the wagon and the other horse. They were half-lifting half-guiding the wheels over each step, careful not to jostle too hard.
A strange thing was happening. As people ran from the tower, they threw whatever they’d salvaged into the back of the wagon and then ran back in.
They think the wagon’s part of the rescue.
“Come on girl,” Robyn clicked her tongue and guided Shadow diagonally down the face of the hill again, all the while giving her praise and compliments. They were half way down now, which wasn’t a bad effort. They’d also caught up to the back of the wagon, so she could see what people were piling on to it. A bag of oats fell and spilled onto the ground.
Nice one.
Robyn scooped the oats into her palms and offered them to Shadow. The horse’s whiskery lips tickled Robyn’s palms, making her giggle. She turned to get more oats and found Marion and Wilfred had already moved on.
Lured by the oats, Shadow followed the wagon all the way down the hill to the flat ground of the bailey.
Brilliant!
“Right, are we all here?” Robyn said. “Everyone get on board.”
There were so many of them. Wilfred, Marion, Madge, Mother Eleanor, Joan, Georgia and herself. They wouldn’t all fit on the wagon.
A wagon now groaning with winter supplies. How could there be so much in reserve when the people of Sheffield looked so destitute?
With blinding clarity Robyn knew what she had to do.
Filled with a sense of purpose she scrambled to the top of the wagon and handed out supplies to people.
A window opened, revealing her future. A life that involved looking after people and making sure everyone had what they needed. Why should people starve when others had too much?
With winter on the way, how could she do anything less?
The wind blew icy and cold. Robyn pulled her hood up to protect her ears as she handed food to the people. People who looked cold and thin and miserable. Their faces lit up as she passed a sack of–she had a quick look, it was kale–into a woman’s grateful arms. An incredibly skinny woman with three children hanging on to her skirts.
“God bless you, child,” she said.
Oh yes, this was absolutely the right thing to do. As if all her previous life experiences had led her to this very point.
A woman screamed with rage, breaking Robyn’s wonderful fantasies of spending her life feeding the needy.
“What are you doing?” She raged.
Robyn knew that voice. It was Maudlin, even before she saw the black bird fly at a peasant to make her drop her sack of food. The peasant clung to the food as if it were a child to protect. Robyn grabbed a stretch of rope and whipped it in the air towards the crow. The end of the rope cracked with a deafening snap. The crow stopped attacking and wheeled around, then landed on the roof of the nearby buttery.
“Give that back! It’s the property of Sheffield!” Maudlin stomped closer. The grim look on her face changed to outrage when she recognized Robyn. “You! I should have known you’d be at the centre of this!”
“Me?” Anger overflowed in Robyn. Instead of letting the anger rule her, she turned it against Maudlin. “You’re the one who’s crazy enough to set your own tower on fire!”
It was a gamble to accuse someone of deliberately starting a blaze. Silence snapped in the air around them. A palpable sense of “Did she really say that?” passed between everyone.
Robyn went even harder. “You’re mental!” She kept grabbing bags of food and butter churners and wheels of cheese, passing them out to the crowd to share the goods.
Maudlin cried out, “You’re nothing but a robbing hoodlum!”
“You’re the thief!” Robyn yelled back. “Look at these people. They’re starving. They won’t make it through the winter if they have no food. And the whole time you had my people up the tower working like . . . well, working like peasants–”
“–They are peasants!”
“You weren’t going to share the food, were you? No matter how hard everyone here worked, there’s no way you were going to look after them!” It’s amazing how much poured from her mouth now that she was in a right temper.
At which point, Mother Eleanor handed Robyn the bag of golden coins. “I’m so proud of you darling.”
The coins. Robyn felt all kinds of hypocrite as she looked at the coins. She was going to share them, but only with her people from Loxley.
/> Maybe the people of Sheffield needed them more? Before she could change her mind, Robyn pulled the top of the bag open, then flung the coins out across the bailey. People scrambled over the ground to snatch them up.
The wagon below her jerked forward. Robyn lost her footing and buckled. Wilfred and Marion were hitching the horses into their harnesses. With another jolt they headed for the castle gates.
Finding her feet again, Robyn kept handing out food and other goods to whoever came near. It felt amazing to be giving people what they wanted. It also caused so much chaos immediately around the wagon there was no way Maudlin could get near them.
That horrid little crow landed back on Maudlin’s shoulder. Despite the distance growing between them, the sight of that crazy woman and her jackdaw made things wobble in Robyn’s tummy.
“Let’s get out of here,” she urged Marion.
Not that she was a coward. Not really. But the thought of taking on an angry Maudlin turned her knees to butter.
“Run away little girl. Run as far as you can,” Maudlin yelled. “And when you get there, keep running!”
Ahead of them, the gates were still closed.
“Georgia, can you and Joan open them?”
Joan and her mother smiled to each other, then said, “Let’s smash!”
***
The splintered remains of the Sheffield gates were long behind them. Robyn wasn’t even sure what road they were on, only that they were heading away from Maudlin.
“We’re lucky Roger and his men weren’t at the gate. We got off lightly.” Marion said.
Oh sod! Robyn had forgotten all about him. The man who’d caused all their troubles in the first place. She called out to Wilfred and Madge, “Stop the wagon. We have to turn around.”
“We are not going back to Sheffield!” Marion said.
“That’s right. We’re not,” Robyn said. “We’re going to Nottingham.”
His eyebrows shot up. “But that’s days away!”
Robyn nodded. “We have plenty of food to last us. I didn’t give it all away. But we need to get to the Sheriff of Nottingham and tell him what’s going on. Roger and his men are stealing in his name, trashing his reputation.”
Robyn and the Hoodettes Page 11
