SCARLET'S PROMISE CHAPTER 2
"You know her, she's probably off hugging trees or something. She'll turn up. Stop worrying, Robin."
I heard John Little's voice the moment I walked into Tucker's Tavern. Tucker kept a room in the back specifically for our gang and usually people couldn't hear our conversations that we had back there, but John was being unusually loud and cheerful.
I crept closer, hanging in the shadows so that the boys wouldn't see me until I wanted them to.
"I don't know John; she has a habit for getting herself into trouble." Robin glanced down at his mug.
Much had his arms crossed over his chest as he leaned back and watched his two friends quietly. He did everything quietly.
"She always gets herself out of it though." John waved his hand dismissively.
Robin smirked at that. He had to admit John was right. I was even better at getting out of trouble than I was at getting into trouble.
"We just have to wait for her to turn up." Much mumbled, rubbing his nose.
I chose that moment to make my entrance. I breezed into the room, shoulders thrown back, taking long, swinging steps. I put a relaxed smile on my face, meeting Robin's eyes, daring him to find fault with me.
"Who's going to turn up?" I asked in my most innocent voice.
John rolled his eyes as if he knew that I had been listening in on their conversation. He probably guessed I had been; I was good at listening in on people.
Much stood up and scooted over on the bench, making room for me. I propped up a foot on the bench but didn't sit, I simply leaned over the table, waiting.
"Where did you go off to?" Robin asked, rubbing his hands together.
"I did some stalking, some climbing, some hanging, and some listening. Got me some news." I announced, grinning in satisfaction.
John passed me his mug, offering me a sip. I snatched it from him and drank deeply. Robin passed me his half-eaten dinner. They boys were always concerned about my appetite; I hardly ate anything at all.
I guess I just felt guilty stuffing my mouth when so many people were starving. I almost felt like me having a full stomach was taking food out of the mouths of the villagers. I went days and days without food sometimes to the point where eating made me sick. Robin was very strict about making sure I ate these days; he didn't trust me to feed myself.
"Let's here it then." Robin dipped his head to me.
I slammed down the empty mug on the table and grinned at the boys, making extra sure I had their attention. At first John was too busy trying to steal Much's drink to notice but after a long moment of silence he hunched his shoulders and glanced at me.
I took a deep breath and related to them all that I had learned. At first Robin and John looked relaxed. A missing Lady wasn't too big of a deal for us. But when I mentioned the running theory that WE had taken her, then all three of them got worried.
"Why would we kidnap a Lady? How could they even thing that?" Much asked, rubbing his eyes.
"Because the Sheriff thinks we are scoundrels and he'll use any excuse to hunt us down. This gives him the perfect opportunity to call in extra support. Every town everywhere has its group of thieves but people who are willing to kidnap such a high ranking Lady?" Robin shook his head. "They are going to be tearing the forest apart looking for us. This is very, very bad."
No one spoke for a long time. We all knew what news like this meant for us. It meant that our job got harder. Stealing and handing out food and money to the villagers was going to be trickier. We had to go undetected and all that extra caution would cut our time short forcing us to work harder to meet the demands of the poor villagers.
"What are we going to do about this?" John asked, narrowing his eyes.
"What can we do about this?" Much mumbled, glancing around nervously.
"Fight!" I said. "Nothing!" Robin interjected.
We glanced at each other. He crossed his arms.
"You can't fight your way out of every problem, Scar." He scolded me.
I rolled my eyes. "You would rather hide and cower in the shadows? The harder they make things on us, the more the people suffer. We can't do our jobs well unless we find a way to get the extra knights off our back."
Robin clenched his jaw. "They aren't even on our backs yet."
"But they will be." I argued.
"Cross that bridge when we get there. Right now we do what we always do; help the people. We may have to find new ways to get them their tax money and distribute the food, but they aren't going to get us. We aren't going to let them get us."
He seemed so determined, so sure. After two years of doing this, we hadn't been caught once but I knew that something like that couldn't last unless we were smart. We had to take action to fix our problems. I knew this one was too big for us to hide from; it wouldn't go away. They would never stop hounding us until the got their precious 'Lady' back.
It was a week later that a group of fifty knights marched into our village, armor shinning and swords raised. They paraded through the streets, pushing villagers out of their way as if the people mattered to them less than flies.
I watched it all from the rooftop of the tailor's shop. Robin was across the street, leaning against a wall. He wore his hood up, more because the people loved it than because he wanted to hide his face.
John and Much were somewhere in the crowd, keeping their eyes on things just as Robin and I were.
The knights made their way to the palace, reporting for duty. It wouldn't take long for the Sheriff to spread them out and send them on their search. We would have to be careful now.
I've been considering the problem carefully since Robin and I had our argument at the tavern. Unless we could suddenly produce their missing Lady and return her safely to them, they would run us ragged and stop at nothing to catch us.
The only solution was to track down whoever kidnapped her and clear our names. It would be a distraction from our mission of mercy to the people, but I felt that it was crucial to our continuing survival and well-being.
I hadn't yet run my idea by the boys because I knew they would all try to stop me. John might agree with me but Robin was the leader and in the end his word was the one we followed. Most of the time.
As soon as the gates of the palace closed behind the last knight I scrambled down from my perch and ran to meet John. He was standing by a house, talking to a group of fawning girls.
Much was standing with him though trying desperately to hide the fact that he was missing one of his hands. He usually kept that arm in a pocket. It was something that embarrassed him greatly.
No matter how many times I told him he was just a good as everyone else and his wonderful personality made up for his lost hand, he was still ashamed of his disfigurement.
"…half as good as Robin." John was saying.
The girls giggled and cooed at that.
"He's so humble!" They cried.
I nearly gagged. John Little? Humble? Yeah, if he was humble then I was a boy! I shook my head at the stupidity of my fellow females.
"Oh, hi Will!"
I cringed. It was Mary Bailey again. She scurried up to me, wrapping her hands around my arm and pulling me closer. Honestly why did she do this? As a boy, I was scrawny with a baby face and a grumpy disposition. I tried to snap at the girls and growl at them to keep them away but they only seemed to be encouraged by my bad moods.
John grinned at me with a twinkle in his eyes. "Oh yes, hiiii Will!" He imitated a high voice, then he puckered up his lips as if he was about to kiss me.
"Shut up Little John!" I snarled, balling my hand into a fist and raising it at his face.
All the girls startled giggling again. They always were amused when 'we boys' fought among ourselves.
Much grinned but said nothing. Just because he was sweet and shy didn't mean he would hold back his own line of teasing. I was going to get it from all sides today.
"Tell me about your latest adventure, Will! Did you get into a fight? Were you brave?" Mary gasped, eyes wide with wonder.
"I killed a man. Slit his throat. Lots of blood and guts." I grumbled, doing my best to disgust her.
"Ooooh!" The girls all gasped.
"Tell 'em how you threw yourself at that knight, Will. Tell 'em how you punched him so hard he spat out his teeth!" John nudged me as if we were sharing a private joke.
Of course none of that ever happened but he was only trying to bump up my image to instigate another round of 'oohs' and 'ahhs'. He always got a good laugh out of the mindless flirting of idiot girls, especially when I was the one they were flirting with.
"Oh you are a true hero, Will! A true hero! So brave and strong!" Another girl squealed. She grabbed my other arm and actually rested her head on my shoulder!
John and Much both looked ready to burst. They looked ready to join the girls in their obsessive giggling!
I put on my fiercest scowl and wrenched myself away from the two girls.
"Look you lot, I aint here for your amusement. I 'ave better things to do than stand around telling you about my life, and hanging on me like that. I ain't a tree you can climb."
The other girls backed away from me, looking startled, but Mary just smiled at me with an excited expression on her face.
"Oooh! And so fierce too." She giggled.
John burst into laughter at that. He held his stomach and practically howled. Much was shaking his head, laughing quietly but laughing just the same.
I lunged at Mary, shaking a finger in her pretty little face. "You git going now, ye hear? Got something better to do with your time, I know you do. Git! Or I'll show you how fierce I can be."
As a boy I could never bring myself to hit a girl. As a girl I was sorely tempted to. I almost wanted to tell Mary I was a female, just so I could smack her around a bit.
The girls all scattered after that. Mary shot me one last playful look, adding a wink and blowing a kiss before she waltzed away like she was the queen or something.
John and Much were still laughing. I wheeled on them, punching both of them in the stomach hard enough to make them wince but not hard enough to really hurt them.
"And you two bone heads! Shut your mouths or I'll shut them for you." I threatened.
John held his hands up to his face, eyes wide and innocent. "Oh but Will aren't you strong and fierce and handsome? Kiss me my darling! Let's run away together!"
Much fell on the ground he was laughing so hard. I was momentarily worried that he would suffocate. He was gasping for breath, tears streaming down his cheeks.
I strode up to John, fire flashing in my eyes.
"You listen here John Little, I'm going to smack you so hard that…"
He grabbed me around the waist, spun me in a circle, then gave me a quick kiss. I hardly had time to blink before he released me and took off running, laughing as he went.
My face flushed with embarrassment, then burned with rage. Just who did he think he was?
Much was still in the process of dying. I think he managed a breath here and there but he was now wincing, as if laughing was hurting him. He couldn't bring himself to stop though.
"What are you doing? You can't mop up the ground with your body, Much; dirt doesn't get any cleaner." Robin emerged from the crowd and appeared at my side almost without me noticing.
"Oh Robin you missed it!" Much snickered, sitting up. He had finally got control of himself, rubbing the tears from his eyes and catching his breath.
"What happened?" Robin asked, holding out a hand to help Much to his feet.
I stepped back, glaring at them both.
"If you tell him Much, I'll rip out your spine and beat you with it." I threatened.
Robin raised an eyebrow. If Much was hysterical with laughter and I was flushed with anger then he knew whatever our story was, it was bound to be a good one.
"I'll tell you all about it at Tuckers." Much promised.
"Deal. You comin along Scar, or do you have to go somewhere to sulk?" Robin asked, smiling at me.
I snorted at that. Just because I didn't spend every waking moment with the gang did not mean that I sulked!
"I'm not wasting my time with you idiots; I got things to do."
They never questioned my decision to skip dinner at Tuckers. They all thought I was avoiding humiliation. Truthfully, I was snooping around for clues. Lady Bella De'Garth didn't vanish into thin air; if someone did take her then they had to be hiding her somewhere.
I was fairly certain she wasn't in Sherwood Forest; I knew every tree and branch and hadn't seen unusual activity anywhere. They said she had been taken not far from here, but that didn't mean they were hiding her around here.
I needed more information but where was I going to get that? Any average criminal looking to make money had a motive to steal a Lady but who could actually pull something like that off? Ladies traveled under guard so a potential kidnapper had to be able to defeat trained swordsmen. That meant it was probably a group of criminals.
It was rare for thieves to work together; they were a greedy and selfish lot. Plus there weren't many thieves around these parts besides Robin's gang. So the kidnappers had to be a group of more sinister men.
Could it be a political enemy? Or just someone looking for ransom money? It was a perplexing problem, and one I had to solve soon before things got too hard for us to handle! I was sure that tomorrow we would feel the squeeze of those fifty extra knights closing in on us; it made me feel trapped and nervous. If I didn't take care of this fast, we were in serious danger of getting caught and killed. No matter what Robin thought, it was more than likely that these knights would discover our hiding places and when they did….we were doomed.