A New Adventure: A Second Coming
Okay! I've been a bit MIA for a while, suffering MAJOR writer's block. But thankfully am now back! Having recently been influenced to write, this is my first Robin Hood fanfic, so please, read (and possibly review?). If people like, then I shall continue. Rated K+ at the moment but may become T later on. I do not own BBC Robin Hood or any of it's affiliates, 'tis a great show but I shall always be a Doctor Who girl :) Until then, hope you all have a great Easter!
Waking up this morning, I knew today was going to be a bad day. For instance, the family I had been staying with had asked me if I could stay someplace else as their baby is due soon and there isn't that much space in their small home to begin with. Not forgetting the fact that I miss my parents; I lost my father in the Holy Land when I was 12 and recently lost my mother last year just after celebrating my 17th birthday. I think she died of a broken heart. And here I stand, in the midst of a crowd of villagers, staring up at some of the Sheriff's men on horses. One of them is whittling on about the raise in taxes (what else is new?) whilst the others look threatening on their mounts. I look around the crowd, noticing a few neighbours that have been kind and good to me. I might have to resort to asking to stay a night under their roofs; in return I shall work labour.
I'm not one to shy away from work, far from it. When mother was alive I would gladly go out and do the chores or even earn a few coins for our supper. Since then I have continued to work for my share, but what with the Sheriff's taxes coming down hard on us, I've had to be a bit stealthy with my earnings, by hiding them in a pouch that I have dug a hole for, and then covered over. If I were to give in to the taxes then almost all of the coins I have in that pouch would be gone. Then I would be left to starve as stealing is punishable by hanging, and let's face it, who wants that to happen to them? The man then continues to demand all villagers to pay their taxes by sundown, or else be punished. A murmur spreads through the crowd, what with low wages and high taxes, we are barely surviving. The crowd slowly return to their homes, going to retrieve their hard earned money. As I walk past the men on horses I catch a glimpse of their conversation.
'…haven't seen that Robin Hood 'ere lately. Last I heard of him, was caught in the castle with those other outlaws.'
'Nah, I heard that Guy of Gisborne was after him. Hope he catches him, I do. Would love to see that guy get what he deserves…'
Robin Hood, huh? He's been everyone's hero after returning from war, including mine. Steal from the rich and give to the poor? That is a definition of a leader if you ask me. I've even seen him several times, helping the poor villages in the surrounding villages and once at the castle of Nottingham. He had been causing a commotion inside, from what I heard, and was chased out of there by the Sheriff's men and that useless Guy of Gisborne. I hope that guy gets what he deserves. One of the men notices me listening, his expression turning into anger.
'Oi, you! Go get your damn taxes, or else we'll see to you.' His attention startles me and I quickly blend into the crowd that are going to retrieve their money from their homes. I look back at the men on horses and see that they are watching the villages with their beady little eyes. I quickly slip behind one of the houses, out of sight from both villagers and the Sheriff's men. I then head over to a broken cart that lays upon the grass, which used to carry people in and out of the woods just down the path but is now useless, mere firewood. But it's a good place to dig a hole.
I glance around the area underneath the overturned cart and find the patch of recently dug-up ground where I placed a familiar looking stone atop. I kneel down and move the stone away, I then start digging the loose earth with my fingers, my fingernails quickly becoming full of dirt. I scoop the earth out, making a neat pile of it next to my knees so I can then pile it back on when I'm finished. As I uncover more earth my fingers come into contact with some material. Smiling, I pick up the small pouch and quickly empty its contents, which are a handful of bronze and silver coins. The tax I need to pay is 2 silver coins, so I pluck them out and return the rest to the pouch. I then start to cover up the pouch with the pile of soft earth I had dug up earlier. Just then I notice a shadow had come over me as I knelt there next to the cart.
'Well look what we got here.' A familiar gruff voice behind me makes me jump. I turn around and see the 2 men that were talking about Robin Hood. They stand a few feet away from me, without their horses, watching me with smirks on their faces. My breath catches in my throat and I can feel a bubble of panic in the pit of my stomach. I spring upwards, and face towards them, my back to the cart and to the pouch I was in the midst of covering up. The two men look down to the cart and at the half filled hole, their smirks not wavering.
'Obscuring taxes from the King?' The guy that had shouted angrily at me earlier said to me, his tone lower but somewhat more menacing.
'N-No! I have my tax here.' I thrust my hand out to them, showing the 2 men the coins in my hand. For a second they were taken aback, but they looked at each other before looking back at me.
'I'm sure you can do a lot better than that, don't you think Robert?' The other guy spoke darkly, turning to the other man who grinned at him.
'Oh I'm sure, Joseph.' With that, the man named Robert lunged at me, I sharply turned my back on him and reached down to the half-filled hole, so to try and grab the pouch before the thieving men could not take it. But before I could grab the small bag I feel a body slam into mine, taking my arms that were outreached, behind my back. Rather painfully I might add.
'Gotcha!' A rough voice grunts in my ear. My reflexes kick in and I thrash about, attempting to rid the man holding me from behind. I see the other man, the one named Joseph, reach into the hole and snatch my pouch containing all of my money. Anger bubbles up within me and I thrash harder, but the man's hold on me is surprisingly tight.
'Haha, she's a lively one.' The man behind me cackles, making my blood boil. I realise that Joseph is within a dangerous range to me. Barely thinking, I stop thrashing and instead aim a successful swift kick in the precious area of the man in front of me. He howls in pain, dropping the pouch as his hands go to the area I have just kicked. He sinks down to the ground and lies in a foetal position. Fed up of being held back by the man, I put a lot of force into throwing my head back into his head behind mine, hearing a satisfying crack. Robert pulls me round to face him, and I see that his nose is bleeding quite heavily, perhaps even broken? With a hand still on one of my upper arms, I feel a sudden impact on the side of my face. As the force sends me to the ground I realise that he had struck me across the face with the back of his hand. The side of my face that was hit stings sharply; tears have sprung to my eyes. But I realise that I didn't have time to wallow about in pain, I needed to run. Now.
I look up at Robert, whose nose is now bleeding all down his face and starting to drip on his clothes, and then I look to where the other man is now writhing about on the ground, clutching his injured groin and swearing. I see that the pouch of literally my life savings is only a foot away from where I lay on the ground, and as my adrenaline finally reaches its peak I find my body moving on its own. I kick off at the ground with one foot, snatching the pouch from where it lay on the ground just as Robert lunges at me.
'Get back here!' He shouts at me, spitting blood from his mouth as he does. I narrowly miss his outstretched hands and avoid falling back down to the ground as my feet start to give way, but I am running fast (albeit unsteadily), towards the forest of Nottingham, fear pounding in my ears and adrenaline pumping around my body. I hear Robert grunt as he runs a few feet behind me, the sound of our footsteps crunching on dirt, grass and then eventually on the forest floor as we enter the woods. I dodge and weave the many trees, my pulse beating so loudly I can hear it in my ears.
'When I catch you girl, I'm gonna hang you myself!' The vengeance behind the words makes my blood run cold, fear making my feet run faster. I can hear his running pace get further and further behind mine, but not so far that I still have panic caught in my throat. I notice as I am running straight ahead that there is a dip, leading to a small bare clearing, with trees continuing on around it. I look over my shoulder and see that Robert is struggling to keep up, only a few meters behind me. His look is thunderous as he sees me turn to look at him, and I hurry on. As I get to the dip I feel my heart sink. It turns out the dip is a lot steeper than I originally though, with it being more of an abrupt hill. And coming so fast over the steep drop, I try and skid to a halt so as not to injure myself as I go down. Unfortunately, luck isn't on my side today.
I fall, rather ungracefully down the hill, doing a strange roll and tumble as I fall down, and relatively hard I must say. As I come to the bottom of the hill I feel a very sharp twinge in my left ankle, making me wince. I take a second or two to catch my breath, but as I hear Robert's fast approaching running footsteps; I jump to my feet and continue running but don't get too far as putting a small amount of pressure sends shooting pains from my ankle. My running turns into a sort of stagger and a limp as I try to reach the part of where the surrounding ends and possibly try and hide behind one of the trees beyond. But I don't make it that far. Instead, I crash to the ground, the pain in my ankle bringing me down.
As I am sitting facing forwards, I see Robert fast approaching me and I feel the dread come upon me. I start to slowly inch my way back, shuffling further back until my back comes into contact with the trunk of a tree. Robert is now a few feet away from me, a cruel and mocking grin appearing on his bloody face. He is panting heavily after chasing me through the woods and as he walks over to where I am he draws a sword from where it was hung on his belt, which I had not noticed until just then. Just the sight of it gleaming in the sunlight sends a chill down my spine and in that moment, I feel myself start to shake. And for that, I am annoyed at myself.
'Looks like you got nowhere else to run to.' His voice is ragged and coarse, from the running and the blood that is now drying around his nose, mouth and neck. He stops just in front of me, his figure blocking out the afternoon sun behind him and I am cast in his cold shadow. I peer up at him, my breath coming out in short breaths.
'Maybe I ought to teach you a lesson myself.' He says, toying with his sword, twisting it by the hilt and grinning unmercifully like a Cheshire cat.
I must look scared but inside I'm furious. I'm annoyed at how this is ending. At how easily I am giving up. I thought I had survived until now for some reason, for something other than to be chased to the woods, where I would be killed by one of the Sheriff's men. And lastly, I wonder what my mother would say if she could see this. Would she be ashamed of my running away, or would she have wanted me to stand and fight? As Robert brings the sword down to me, I close my eyes, expecting pain, but instead I hear a faint thud. I open my eyes, curious as to what the sound was, and why I was uninjured. As I look up, I see that something has spooked Robert, his eyes now wide and frightful, his sword still mid-swing in the air. I see that Robert is in fact staring at a shape that has appeared on the tree. No, not a shape. An arrow. And it has been dangerously close to Robert's head, perhaps even by the wisps of his mangled hair. A sudden voice broke the silence, booming in the small enclosure of woodland.
'Let the girl go, or the next one shall be aimed at your heart.' The voice sounded somewhat familiar, as if I had heard it before. I look around my surroundings, but don't see anyone. Robert does the same, not liking being threatened or having nearly lost an ear. As I look up at the arrow, I realize who the figure who spoke is. And so, it seems, does Robert.
'Is this the famous Robin Hood I hear?' He looks around the trees, bringing the sword down slightly. I sit there against the tree, stunned at the fact that Robin Hood had saved me. 'Why are you hiding, coward? Show yourself!' Robert bellowed, his face turning into a sneer as he turns on the sport, looking around. A second goes by; the forest silent apart from the bird cries and wind howling. Then, the sound of leaves crunching. Robert tenses and spins around, spotting Robin Hood stepping from behind a tree just to the left of us, a good few meters away. Robert laughs to himself, a callous and somewhat cruel laugh that still roots me to the sport with fear.
But then, more sounds of crunching leaves and suddenly I see several more people appear from behind trees, all around the surrounding we are in. I notice some of the others look familiar, such as the burlier guy and a short haired woman. I see Robert tense even further when he sees that he is surrounded, I see his eyes darting every which way to find a means to beat him, or to even escape. Then I see him look down at me. He swings his sword quickly and has the tip at my throat, the cold blade touching under my chin. Robert looks back to Robin Hood, his eyes in somewhat of a frenzy.
'Before you fire another arrow I would have already cut her throat.' I feel the panic start to bubble again; I take a breath and swallow but feel the blade dig a bit at my throat.
'Would you be willing to risk it? I would be able to have 3 arrows in your body before you put a scratch on her.' Robin Hood's tone is low, but serious. Robert loosens his grip on the hilt slightly and I see it dawn on his face that this is a battle he cannot win. That's when Robin Hood speaks again. 'If you leave her in peace I will not fire at you, but you have been warned.' I watch as Robert looks around the clearing, surveying the others that are stood around with various weapons from swords, bows and an axe. I see him turn back at me, the sword brought back to my throat. The anger still in his eyes as well as the blood still on his face.
'But she…' His sentence was cut abruptly as another arrow was fired, this time directly into the shoulder of Robert. He cries out in pain, lifting his free hand and gently touching it, trying to dislodge it from his shoulder.
'I warned you.' Robin Hood states, his voice sounding deathly serious now. Robert looks between me and Robin and as he snaps the arrow, the head of it still lodged in him he lets out a disgruntled moan.
'I won't forget this.' His tone low and dark, as he looks at Robin, then at me. Finally, after a tense second, he runs into the forest. It takes a second for me to realise that I had been holding my breath, which I breath out when I see his figure gone, scurrying off into the depths of the forest. I feel the panic start to subside and I gently rub at the area where Robert had threatened me with his blade.
'Are you okay?' I hear a voice say, as I look up I see Robin Hood has managed to get from where he has been standing to in front of my in a few split seconds. I'm a little taken aback, and slowly nod.
'Y-Yeah, I'm fine.' I tell him, my voice obviously not reflecting what I am saying. I see him give me a soft smile, and he offers his hand in what I suspect as a handshake.
'I'm Robin Hood.' He says, and I smile in return.
'Yeah I kind of guessed. I'm Gwen.'
Well, that's all I have for this chapter! But I really hope people like it, so I can continue writing it!
