Chapter Two
The way to Locksley was dangerous and nearly impossible, but not as impossible as Djaq had feared. The three of them battled through deep mud and puddles that were becoming ponds, and at one point John had to virtually carry the other two through a particularly depthsome flooded gully. They discovered a cart upturned in the mud, but it was empty; horse, driver and cargo quite gone.
Locksley was a shambles of people trying to pile their things into carts and barrows to save them from the rising floodwaters, which now rose nearly a foot from the ground. They reached the main road to hear a man who seemed to be loading his entire family into a small cart give a shout – one of the wheels had slipped and the cart was going over. The three bandits rushed to help; Djaq and Allan pulling children and objects out of the water as John reached below the cart and heaved it back upright, rain splashing off his head.
'Thank you, thank you!' cried the man, clutching at Djaq as the others waded away to help another soul in trouble. 'I don't know how to thank you! Here, aren't you Robin Hood's boys?'
'Where is he?' asked Djaq immediately. The man looked worried.
'Sorry, but he and his man were locked in the miller's cellar after they got fighting with Farmer Crow.'
Djaq didn't hesitate to thank him before splashing off through the floodwaters, terror rendering her almost unable to breathe. Where exactly was the miller's house? And where had John and Allan got to? Panic was all around her, in the people frantically trying to rescue their belongings and families from the rising flood. The miller's house was up the hill, by the church, wasn't it? Or was it nearer the carpenters?
She struck out for the carpenters in desperation, and saw the miller's house almost immediately. There seemed to be nobody inside – she banged upon the door and then kicked it open to find it in carnage. The miller's house was meant to store grain and flour and was well-built of stone, but even so it had not withstood the flood – water poured through the thatch and the stored goods had mixed with the water so that grain floated everywhere. Djaq began to search vainly for the cellar, not even sure what she was looking for, a growing fear of hopelessness in her stomach. It was far too late, she would never find the cellar, Will and Robin were probably already drowned beneath the stone floor.
Just then she heard a knocking sound, a loud banging to her left. She pushed her hands down to feel the floor and grasped a latch. After a desperately long moment of fumbling, the trapdoor came free and she wrenched it open. Robin and Will came bursting up through the water like balls out of a cannon. Robin scrambled out of the hole and knelt doubled up on the floor, choking and gasping as Djaq pulled an almost-unconscious Will from the cellar. Will clutched at her and wouldn't let go, even when they both fell and nearly submerged again.
'Thank you, Djaq, that was just in the nick of time,' said Robin, with a grin as soon as he was able to speak again, albeit hoarsely. Will clearly did not find the situation half so amusing; he was still coughing up water and his head seemed to be bleeding at the crown.
'What has happened?' asked Djaq worriedly, inspecting the wound. Robin was trying to stand, unsuccessfully.
'He struck his head on the trapdoor,' he said, coughing a little. 'Is he going to be all right?'
Just then Allan came running in. 'Robin!' he cried. 'They said you got locked in the cellar –'
Robin stood then, pulling himself gingerly up using a table. 'We were, but Djaq arrived just in time. Will's been hurt,' he added, gesturing to where Djaq and Will sat on the floor.
'It's just a minor cut,' said Djaq. 'He'll be fine in a moment.'
'Where is John?' asked Robin. 'And Much?'
Allan was looking a little sickly at Djaq and Will, for some reason, but his face changed to grim as he began to recount the events of the day and the situation in the village for Robin's benefit. A few moments later Djaq and Will were alone in the miller's house as Robin and Allan went to help people, Robin convinced that such actions would help the villagers trust him again. Djaq sighed, and helped Will onto a chair.
'Got to go and help,' he mumbled, ineffectively struggling against her.
'Rest first,' said Djaq forcefully, checking his wound again. 'You can go back to being a hero in only a few minutes.'
Will was silent for a few minutes, and then said, 'Thank you, Djaq.'
'You are welcome.'
'Djaq?'
'Yes?'
'… Nothing.'
***
'If you are not an echo, what am I talking to?' asked Much, trembling.
Talking to to? I am an echo. I am a voice.
'Yes, but a voice of what?'
A voice of what is.
Much bit his lip. 'Are… are you a ghost?'
A ghost? No. I have never been been dead.
In the deep darkness all around him, Much wished he could see something. It was very strange to sit and talk to something he could not see, especially when he could not see anything else either.
'So, are you alive?'
A life I have never had.
'This is really very strange.'
Strange strange strange.
'Is this your cave?'
Mine.
The echo didn't sound particularly angry or vengeful, but something about its definite tone worried Much even more than he was already. He remembered a childhood tale of a ghost that haunted its old home and attacked anyone who came near it, and shuddered.
This is an old place, said the voice suddenly. Older than you can imagine, Much.'Well, I can imagine quite a long way back,' said Much. 'I can usually imagine all the way back to the time of Christ without much trouble.'
Older. Older than the prophets, older than Abraham, older than Adam.
'I'm not sure I know what you're getting at, actually. And I can imagine a time before Adam, though mostly I imagine a lot of black because that's all there was before then.'
Look around you, Much.
'I can't see anything. Unless you count a lot of black and I– …Oh.'
Seen and not seen. The beginning, and end and end.
A terrible thought had struck Much. 'I'm not dead, am I?'
People have died here before, in this place and in in in this cave. People will die here again.
'Look, would you stop being so mysterious for a moment!' Much realised how hungry he was, how cold he was. Could he have died upon the hillside and not realised? 'Here I am, talking to a, to a voice in a cave, thinking I might be dead, while all my friends are somewhere out there in the rain and the dark, and I haven't eaten a cooked thing in three days! I cannot have died without having had a cooked meal.'
If you were dead, what would your friends do?'Well, they would mourn me of course. Robin… Robin would be very upset.' He paused for a moment, giving the question thought. 'In fact, I do not think they could do, without me, I mean. I do much more for any of them than they give me credit for.'
Then why would they mourn you you you?'They… They would realise how they can't live without me. They would be pretty sorry then.'
The voice said nothing for some time. Much felt more uneasy with its silence than its talking, and said, 'Echo? Voice? Thing …Am I really dead?'
The echo seemed to sigh. Much, put a hand to your chest. Do you feel your heart beating? You are alive. But other people will die here, many of them. Some will be people you love.
'They are out there,' said Much quietly, letting his hand drop from his chest. 'Doing who knows what, fighting for their lives, probably, while I am sitting here talking to a voice that is likely all in my head. In the Holy Lands men would hear voices like this and grow into monsters.'
I am not imaginary.
'Just tell me I am not losing my mind.'
You are not losing your mind.
Much thought for a few moments before saying, 'I have made a dreadful mistake, Voice.'
There is still time to change it.
'How? It is dark now, and I would more likely die on the journey than be of any help, and even if I did not, I do not know where they all are.'
Wait until morning.
'Well by then it may be too late.'
Wait until morning, and then go to go to go to Knighton Hall.
'Knighton Hall? But Robin is in Locksley, and the others are in the woods somewhere.'
Go to sleep now, Much. I will leave you now. Remember what I have said. Remember what I have said.
'What? Voice? I don't understand!' But the voice was silent, and Much felt very suddenly alone in the thick, enveloping darkness. Wrapping his arms around himself, he settled into a night that was likely to be filled with worry and fear about what his friends might be going through.
By the way, said the voice suddenly out of the black, I was right, it is 'fable'. 'Table' is in the second verse, not the last.
'Voice!' cried Much, but it didn't speak again. Much reflected bitterly on the whole situation. 'I hate this cave,' he muttered. 'I really hate this cave.'
***
Dark had properly fallen when Djaq and Will emerged from the miller's house. The water had risen, people had lit lanterns, sheltered from the still steady rain, and many were still wading about, filling carts with people or possessions. John approached, carrying two children in his arms.
'Robin has sent most of them up to the church, but they will not fit all of them in. Many are wounded,' he said, looking at Djaq. She nodded.
'I will go,' she said. With a last look at Will, whose bloodstained face was half-lit by a nearby lantern, she began to wade through the deepening floodwater towards the church, which stood on higher ground. Around it clustered carts and people, perhaps those who were reluctant to leave their belongings or those who could not fit into the building. As Djaq pushed herself through the doors, she saw that every pew and much of the aisle was taken up with people – lying, sitting, squashed together in families or spread out around the wounded or sick.
She found Robin in the priest's parlour, engaged in an argument with the holy man.
'It is a sacrilege to have people sleeping around the altar!' cried the priest. 'You are an outlaw and a thief and your very entry into this house of God is a sacrilege!'
'These people have no place to go,' said Robin. 'If they cannot sleep here they will die tonight, mark my words. Do you want that on your conscience?'
'There is not enough room for all of them,' interjected Djaq. The priest, noticing her for the first time, nearly had a fit.
'A Saracen! A Saracen! You brought a Saracen into my church!'
'A Saracen who is as good as a physician,' said Robin vehemently, and Djaq felt a spark of pride leap up in her at these words. 'And she is right, there is not enough space for everybody, but they have nowhere else to go.'
'That's not true,' said a voice from the other doorway; they all span around to see-
'Marion,' breathed Robin. 'What are you doing here?'
She was damp and bedraggled looking, like everyone else, thought it showed more in contrast to her fine clothes. 'Knighton is on high ground, we are not flooded, and neither is road between there and here. I have come to offer the people of Locksley warm and dry places to stay.'
Robin looked like he could have kissed her, which to be honest was pretty much how he always looked around Marion. She beamed, obviously catching the look in his face.
'Brilliant!' said Allan, who had come in from behind Djaq. 'Let's get started then!'
***
A few days later, after the rain had finally ended, Robin Hood and his men (and woman) were walking up a hill, slipping a little in the still-damp mud. Much was complaining, as usual.
'I just do not think that this is a good idea, Robin. That voice was pretty certain that this was a bad idea.'
'You did not say it said anything about returning,' said Djaq.
Allan sniggered. 'Not being funny, but that voice thing is really kind of ridiculous, Mad Much.'
'I said, stop calling me that! I mean it!'
'Settle down, children,' said Robin. 'Are we nearly there, Much?'
'Yes, not that I want to be anywhere near that horrid cave again, Master.'
'Cheer up, Mad Much,' said Allan, grinning. 'Soon you can introduce us all to your lickle imaginary friend.'
'It was real! And it was a lot more intelligent than you, Allan Thickso.'
Will, who was scouting ahead, appeared before them. 'Robin, the cave is just a hundred feet or so uphill. And, Much, 'Allan Thickso' isn't a very funny nickname.'
'Too right,' said Robin. 'Come on then, men!'
As the others began to pick up speed, Djaq heard Will say quietly 'And women.' She smiled to herself.
Much was left behind from the general rush, and stood still, arms folded in consternation. 'Fine!' he declared. 'Fine! If that's the way it is, I shall stay here!'
'Come on, Much,' came Robin's voice from ahead.
With a deep sigh of frustration, Much began to follow them.
The End