Chapter 1
'The Prisoner'
There is nothing more degrading than being tied behind a horse, then made to walk behind it for miles. After two hours of doing just that, I had decidd on the three worst things about it. First of all, horses are not particular about where they relieve themselves, so you are very likely to step or fall in horse droppings. Second of all, you have to look at the horses butt the entire way, or the rider, which can sometimes be even worse. And lastly, you have way too much time to think.
Just when I thought I could stand it no longer, there was a rustle in the bushes and a feather appeared. Shocked by the appearence of the lone blue feather, I stopped walking and promptly fell on my face and was dragged like that for several yards before I regained my feet. After that, I kept an eye on the shrubbery. However, I didn't see anything and as we walked in the gates of Nottingham, I resigned myself to believe that it had been a trick of my imagination. After all, it wasn't as though there was still a Robin Hood in the forest. He had died soon after Prince John had taken the throne, leaving the rest of us to suffer at his hand.
Inside the gate, the sherriff and some of his men were rinding in the direction we had just come from. The man to whose horse I was tied raised his and as though to flag him down, bt the sherriff ignored him. We continued into the castle, where the jailer informed us that the sherriff had just gotten an important message and would be gone for at least a week, which meant I would have to wait for my trial. I shrugged. No matter, what I was likely to get hung, considering that I had killed one of the sherriff's men, for which he was reputed to hang people for.
Before I knew what was happening, I was in a cell. The straw in it was rotted, there wasn't a bench, or even a window. However, I didn't care. After walking for who knew how far, I was exhausted. I sat against the wall, refusing to lie down in someone else's filth, and was asleep in seconds.