Champagne & Lemonade

by John A. D. Hickling

  Sheriff checked the time on his watch; he smiled at a few rich people who were having a drink in the pub across from the castle, but Sheriff’s smile quickly turned into a frown as a couple of men, who were very scruffy in appearance, caught his eye. Sheriff then started to feel angry as he watched the rich people, who made him proud to be their MP, being harassed by these two men who seemed to be begging from them. Sheriff told a couple of his soldiers to bring the men inside the grounds of the castle before making his way inside himself.

  A couple of minutes later the two men were dragged into the castle grounds. One of the men dropped at Sheriff’s feet. “Why are you bothering those people out there?” Sheriff asked.

  “Please, Sir; food — I need food,” croaked one of the men.

  “Where do you live and why haven’t you got your own food?” Sheriff said as he scratched his neck.

  The man, still on his knees, coughed. “I haven’t got a home or money since the benefits system was abolished.”

  Sheriff clicked his fingers at one of the soldiers and yelled, “Take him away.” The man screamed as two soldiers dragged him off. Sheriff then turned to the other man, who was on his feet, flanked by two soldiers. “And is your story the same as his?” Sheriff asked.

  “Well, Sir, I had my own business as a builder and paid my way, but I lost it all as work dried up with Prince’s rule.” Sheriff’s eyes widened at the man’s remark over Prince.

  “So is that a yes then?”

  The man gulped. “Yes, Sir; I have nothing.”

  Sheriff smiled. “Take him away as well.”

  The other beggar dropped to his knees, his hands clasped. “Please, Sir, spare me, spare me.”

  Sheriff smirked. “And why would I do that?”

  “Because I can lead you to the man who takes your food and protects the people.”

  Sheriff turned round. “Wait,” he yelled at the soldiers.

  “Who is this man? You know where he is?”

  The beggar stood up. “His name is Robert Hood, and no, Sir, I am not sure where he is; but I will find him.”

  Sheriff grabbed the man by his coat and looked him up and down. “What is your name? And how do you know of this man?”

  “Billy Knox, Sir, and people, well, the poor are talking about him.”

  Sheriff let go of him and turned to the soldier. “Give him a phone.” The soldier reached into a pocket bag on his belt and brought out a Samsung Galaxy Mini mobile. The soldier gave it to an anxious looking Knox, who looked back at the angry face of Sheriff.

  “Now listen, Knox. As soon as you locate him send a text to my number, which is in the contacts, then we can locate you as we can track the phone. Now, tell me, why exactly would you want to help us? What is it that you want?” Sheriff urged Knox to stand.

  “Just to eat and live well, Sir, but I would also love to serve your army,” replied a smirking Knox.

  Sheriff, with his hand on his chin, looked Knox up and down then glared into his eyes. “We will see, Knox. You have three days to locate this man or we will locate you and feed you bit by bit to the pigeons. Off you go.” Knox struggled to his feet, nodded and ran off. Sheriff watched Knox as he disappeared around the corner just as Prince and his posse in black hummers (bullet proof glass, small canon guns on the side) came up the road and entered the castle.

  Sheriff, wearing his biggest smile, walked up to Prince’s hummer. Prince stepped out of the vehicle; straightening his tie.

  “Welcome, Sir.” Sheriff shook Prince’s hand.

  “Thank you, Sheriff; let us go for a walk.” And they both went off on a walk around the gardens.

  “Is everything okay, Sir?”

  “Not really, Sheriff. The country in some corners is fighting back. Some people are still not paying their way; we have to stop being soft. The prison complex at Wollaton Park is complete so now we will take the people of Nottingham. If they’re not willing to be in my army or to serve any purpose that suits me then I think we should banish them out of our country.” They both came to a sudden stop as Sheriff thought he had heard a rustling in the bushes behind them. They turned to see a bird fly upwards. They leaned on the wall looking out over the city, but unbeknownst to them there was someone watching and listening in the bushes.

  “I agree, Sir; when do we start?”

  “The day after tomorrow. Gisbourne is coming with supplies tomorrow by helicopter. Which reminds me, Sheriff, I hear some scum robbed our food; what are you doing about it?”

  “At this moment we are trying to locate his whereabouts, I have recently found out his name is Robert Hood; we are checking his details now, Sir. He will be another thief, an ex-benefit grabber, nothing more.”

  Prince squashed a bug on the collar of his twenty grand suit and said. “Whatever he is I shall not have people doing what they please; I want him caught, Sheriff.”

  “Yes, Sir, he will be.” They spoke for a few minutes then they made their way into the castle, unaware of the spy in the bush who climbed down the wall and made his way past the Olde Trip to Jerusalem and across the empty road to the river where Adam Dale was waiting.

  “Did you find anything out, Screech?”

  “Did I! We need to see Robert.” And off they went.

  *

  Once inside the castle, Prince and his party were shown the operations room, which was operated by personnel of both sexes, working the various computers and communications. After Prince had given his seal of approval they made their way to the dining room; the long wooden table was set with the finest of home ware. Marion was already in there and Sheriff introduced Prince to her. They sat down as food and drink were brought in.

  Tucking into his steak, Prince looked up at Marion, who was looking a little red eyed; he knew that this was because Sheriff wouldn’t let her leave at the moment. Sheriff had told Prince that he loved her very much and wanted to protect her as the world had become so unpredictable. Prince agreed with Sheriff, it was a dangerous place out there.

  Prince took another bite of rare steak, telling himself that he didn’t want to get involved in this family’s politics as he had far more pressing matters to attend to such as how to get everyone on his side. It was Sheriff’s duty to deal with his own niece. Prince wiped his mouth and, looking directly at Marion, he said, “So, Marion, your uncle tells me you are an aid worker and you work abroad a lot? It must be interesting.”

  Marion swallowed her food and looked at Prince. “Well — err — Prime Minister, I did, but I haven’t done much of late.” Prince grinned as she looked at her uncle, who was going red. Prince guessed that this was because Sheriff didn’t want her saying too much.

  “Please, call me John, and why is that?” replied Prince as he helped himself to more wine.

  “Well, for some reason, my uncle has decided to keep me homebound, which has kept me from my work.”

  Prince watched in some amusement as Sheriff, redder faced, said, “Marion that is enough, I do apologize, Sir,” he said to Prince.

  “Well, it’s true, Uncle, you keep me locked up like an animal,” retaliated Marion.

  “I said enough,” shouted Sheriff.

  “That’s enough, Sheriff; please, both of you, calm down,” interjected Prince. “Sheriff, please explain to me why you won’t let her go back to her work.” Prince knew why, but he liked to see people of importance squirm, it fed his power thirst.

  Marion smiled while Sheriff looked shocked at Prince’s question. “Well, Sir, it is my duty to protect her and, as you have said yourself, it is not safe in some parts of the world at the moment; especially in England.”

  “Well, I can see your point. As things are you are safer here at the moment, Marion.” Prince smiled. Prince tucked into more food; enjoying this argument he had set up.

  Prince could tell Sheriff looked relieved at the thought of Prince backing him up. Whereas he watched Marion as she got angry. “Excuse me, Sir, but surely that should be my choice? And if it is unsafe out there
then that is surely your doing, making people do things against their will. I thought it was your job to protect them?” Sheriff stood up but Prince waved his finger at him.

  “It is all right, Sheriff; I admire her honesty. And that is my wish, to protect the people; I just have a vision that our race can become a complete one, all on the same page, so to speak. So that means everyone contributing and if that means people can’t pay then they can be given jobs to aid me in getting the country as one. We are setting up camps at Wollaton Park for the homeless and bringing in food for them, and those that oppose our rule are educated and drafted into our workforce.” Prince smirked to himself as he thought it best not to mention that people would be killed or shipped abroad if they didn’t comply. Prince could tell Marion didn’t trust him.

  “Well, that sounds fair, I suppose. But I feel I am doing very little to help as I used to help at a church I attended, but I haven’t been allowed to go much. Please, Sir, please, Uncle, could I go to the service tomorrow? We could tell everyone of your plans.” Prince watched Sheriff shake his head while Prince sat there wondering if she really did now trust him. He then realized that Marion’s idea could work out in his favour.

  “I tell you what, we will go along with you to the church as you say, Marion; it will prove I am trying to help.”

  “That would be great, Sir, thanks, and thank you, Uncle.” Prince nodded with a smirk on his face as he watched Sheriff glare at her. Silence then filled the room as they all continued eating.

  *

  The next day five jeeps, full of armed soldiers, surrounded a lorry full of supplies to protect it from thieves as the lorry was bound for Nottingham Castle. In one of the jeeps was James Crabbe, MP for Birmingham, who had decided to join Prince’s rule. He was on his way to the castle with gifts including a couple of £500 bottles of champagne, truffles and a lot of money. Crabbe was clearly hoping to get his tongue brown. He looked up at the noise of three helicopters, with Gisbourne in one of them, making their way to Wollaton Park.

  Crabbe’s convoy went past the old Nottingham Home Ales brewery building, which was now a shell of its former glory, most of the windows boarded up and apart from a few homeless people the building was not as occupied as in its days of old. Crabbe looked out of the windows at the empty littered streets, burnt out cars and dogs running wild. They all came to a sudden halt and a soldier got out of the jeep in front and approached Crabbe’s jeep.

  Crabbe wound his window down. “What is it? Why have we stopped?”

  “There is a burning lorry in the road, Sir.” Crabbe stuck his head out of the window and sure enough, as well as a couple of overturned cars, there was an old abandoned Asda 7.5 ton lorry which had been set on fire.

  “Well, go and see if we can get round it, you buffoon.” The soldier walked up to the lorry and was about to wave Crabbe and the jeeps on when a man came from behind him and threw him into the burning lorry. Crabbe thought he was going to be sick. He didn’t care about the burning soldier, he felt sick because he didn’t want to miss his lunch with this distraction. He was concerned enough, however, to wonder, who would do this and go against Prince? Because, in his eyes, he thought everyone in these times was like him — a coward. He never really liked Prince, but he wasn’t going to tell him that, he just wanted the best foods and wines, the best everything really. He couldn’t give a damn about Prince’s policies and the suffering that England was enduring as long as he maintained his good pampered life — that was all that mattered. And if that meant shoving his tongue as far up Prince’s behind as possible to achieve this then that is what he would do.

  *

  Don shot the driver of the lorry that was carrying the supplies while Robert had sneaked to the open door of one of the jeeps, stabbing a firing soldier. Another soldier jumped at Robert, knocking him to the ground. Robert then found himself staring at the barrel of the gun. He was about to accept his fate when a sword slid through the soldier, skewering him from back to belly. The soldier dropped to the floor and Robert looked up at a man who he didn’t recognize. The man pulled him up. “Thanks, stranger.”

  “No problem. The name’s Billy Knox.”

  “Robert Hood.”

  After five minutes of fighting they had killed all the soldiers, except for Crabbe and his driver, who now had Bill Scarlett’s gun to his head. Robert had lost two men, which had left him feeling upset and responsible. He had known one of the men, Steve, for over six years. Robert shut his dead friend’s eyes before their bodies were put into one of the jeeps.

  Robert opened the door to the final, remaining jeep to see what he believed to be a snivelling worm of an MP who was gulping, sat up with his right hand on a briefcase. Robert took it off him and threw it to Adam who opened it. “Wow,” he said as he showed everyone the contents of the case. None of them had ever seen so many banknotes.

  “Don’t kill me please,” pleaded the snivelling MP.

  “Oh, I am not going to do that. We’re just gonna take this money and food to the people of Nottingham, pal. Right, lads, move out.” Robert said with a wide grin. His men took occupancy of the vehicles and he made Crabbe and his driver get out of their jeep. “The castle is that way.” Robert pointed out to Crabbe.

  “The Prime Minister will not be pleased.”

  “Good, I am glad of that,” Robert replied.

  Crabbe, pulling his coat over his shoulders, replied, “Who are you?”

  Robert, whose face was partly covered by the green hood of his hoodie, pushed it off his head and grinned at Crabbe. “Robert — Robert Hood.” And jumped in a jeep’s passenger seat while Don clambered into the driver’s seat. Knox climbed into the back seat. They sped off with the others. “Thanks for saving me, Billy. This man driving is Don Little. Don, Billy Knox.” Don, looking at Billy in his rear view mirror, nodded.

  “Hi, Don, and not a problem; glad I was walking by.”

  “Is that where you live, Billy? Around there?” asked Robert.

  “I don’t really live anywhere. I just wander the streets for food and try to keep myself out of the clutches of the Black Death.” Don swerved to miss a couple of roaming dogs.

  “Why don’t you come back with us, Billy? We have shelter, food…you seem a good man to have around — eh, Don?”

  “Aye, the more the merrier.”

  “That would be great. Are you sure?” said Billy

  “Absolutely — put ya foot down, Don; it’ll be night before we get back,” Robert chuckled while Don shook his head. Both were unaware of Billy looking out the window with the biggest sly grin spread across his face.

  *

  Later that evening, Robert was showing Knox around the caves and introducing him to people. Knox was impressed with the hideouts and the happiness of the people there and found himself getting caught up in it. He had to force himself to snap out of it and remember his mission to tell Sheriff of Hood’s location, but Knox now had a bigger ambition: to take Robert to Sheriff himself. However, this new plan posed a couple of problems; how to get Hood there and, more importantly, how to get him on his own as he was very rarely without one of Don, Bill or Adam. Robert then took Knox to show him his sleeping quarters; Knox was barely aware of where they were going as he pondered the stumbling blocks of Robert’s capture.

  Knox came from a well-to-do background and had once been happily married with his own successful business, but a messy divorce left him not being able to pay his way and under Prince’s regime he had been left an outcast from the superior race mould. The old him would have never even contemplated giving Robert up and at first he had felt a twinge of guilt and wished he wasn’t in this position as Robert had been good to him so far. Knox, however, was in a desperate position and blind to what men like Sheriff and Prince were really like. At first he had thought about whether he should team up with Robert instead as he was impressed by him and what he had achieved, but ultimately he believed that Sheriff would make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. That was it, his mind
had been made up: he would have to betray Robert.

  *

  At the castle a red, dirty, out of breath Crabbe had just explained the earlier events to Prince and Sheriff. He had told Prince of how Robert Hood and some other men had ambushed his men and that even though the soldiers had been killed they had still killed loads of Robert’s men. Crabbe also added that he had beaten four of Robert’s men up before more had overpowered him, taking the money and the top of the range champagne. Prince grimaced as he heard the tale. Crabbe then said, “I think this Robert Hood is just a chav, even though he was very good, well trained. It’s just a shame I was busy sorting his men out or I would have probably had him for you.” Crabbe nervously whistled as he avoided Prince, making his way to a huge table that was set up in the back room with food and drink.

  Prince was pacing around the room when a soldier came in. “Sir, we have his files.” Sheriff and Prince went into the operations room. A soldier saluted then pressed a button; on screen was Robert Hood’s picture and his impeccable service record in the Marines. Prince shook his head as he read it; Sheriff was quiet.

  “Another thief? A benefits dodger hey, Sheriff? This Hood has an untouched service record; he has been awarded various medals for successful missions.” Sheriff was about to answer when Crabbe, who was still stuffing his face, said, “Chomp — a Marine? That don’t surprise me; he was good.” He went to pick up a chicken leg. Prince took out his gun and shot Crabbe between the eyes. He fell, chicken leg in hand, landing face first on the table.

  A worried looking Sheriff cleared his throat. “We will find him, Sir; I have someone called Knox locating him as we speak.”

  Prince took out his phone and rang Gisbourne, whom he had known for years; they had both attended the same schools and universities and entered politics together. Gisbourne, who was six foot one inch with muscular build, a balding head and a brown goatee, wasn’t really interested in Prince’s policies. But Gisbourne trusted Prince and knew what Prince was capable of; plus Gisbourne had been made chancellor and been given wealth beyond his wildest dreams so whatever Prince did was OK by him.