Shadows of Sherwood chapter 1

Chapter 1 - new addition

"that's it, just raise your hand slightly and slow your breathing way down."

I let an irritated sigh escape through my gritted teeth in a loud hiss. Robin was giving me an archery lesson, not that I needed it, I was already almost as good as he was, but today he had decided that I should learn to be able to shoot in the unlikely event that I would be hanging upside down from a tree blindfolded.

"remind me, just why are we doing this again?" I asked, still frustrated at Robin's amusement directed towards my feeble efforts.

"because you need to learn to defend the camp of i'm not around to do so!" he replied, I could tell by his tone of voice that he was smiling.

"hey what about me?" a loud voice demanded, "why can't I defend the camp?"

Robin started to reply but I cut him off,

"because you not only look like a girl Much, but you also fight like one!"

"coming from you, you are a girl!" he replied indignantly,

"and yet i'm still more of a man than you'll ever be!" I said in a quiet voice so that Much couldn't hear and thought he had won allowing a smug smile to form on his face. Robin however was in hearing range and let out a howl of laughter which startled me, making me fall out of the tree, a branch of which I had previously had my legs wrapped around in a vice like grip.

"Robin!!" I shouted at him,

"uhoh!" he and Much said at the same time and Robin ran for it. I, of course, caught up to him in seconds and tackled him to the ground but before I could do anything else we heard the sound of horses hooves and loud voices making their way towards us. I looked around, oh god! We were in the middle of the road. Just in time, I grabbed Robin and rolled us both off the road and in to some dead bushes. Five figures rode past. One was a guard, he was armed to the teeth and looked like the kind of guy who meant business which made a change from the clotheads the sherif had following him around. He accompanied a man and three young girls, his daughters? Impossible to tell with these rich types they auction off their daughters so young it makes me sick to think about it. They looked pretty rich, nobles for sure, I looked across at Robin. We could take them! But when I started to creep forward he pulled me back quickly. I gave him a questioning look but he just shook his head. I let it go, there would be plenty of other chances. But something was wrong, These guys were easy pickings and Robin Hood had just let them pass by without taking so much as a penny! Though I did as instructed I planned to take it up with him later. I looked around for Much and saw him, dangling precariously in the trees above our heads. I couldn't hold back my snort of laughter and Robin immediately clamped his hand over my mouth in alarm as if to say "what's wrong with you?" but then he to looked up at poor much and had to take back his hand to restrain his own fit of giggles.

We heard a shout and some laughter coming our way but relaxed as soon as we saw it was our friends, John, Allan, Kate and Tuck. We crawled out of our bush groaning in pain,

"next time you roll us off the middle of the road Ray, pick a bush that doesn't have thorns in it!" Robin complained as we both picked thorns out of our clothing and skin, attempting to untangle ourselves from the barbed shrubbery.

"Robin, Ray!" our friends chorused merrily as they saw us and ran over to help us escape our hiding place. They raised quizzical eyebrows but before anyone could comment we all heard a snap of a tree branch and a cry of terror and then last of all a heavy thump as Much landed in a messy heap on the forrest floor, followed by the broken branch which narrowly missed his head. There was a short silence which was suddenly broken by the group of us falling in to a fit of laughter!

"In case any of you were wondering, i'm fine!" grumbled Much causing us all to laugh even more. I turned round to Robin to see him not laughing but staring at the road where the five people on horseback had just disappeared.

"Robin?" I asked tentatively,

"Robin?" I repeated a little more irritably, I hate repeating myself. I was about to resort to hitting him to get his attention when he suddenly came out of his daze.

"What was that all about?" I asked, curious to know what had made my adopted brother and best friend so quiet, the only other time I had seen him lost for words was when Marion died last year.

"What? Oh....uh....nothing, just thought I saw someone I knew." he replied quickly. Too quickly. Something was wrong, I grew up alongside this man and as a result could read him like a book. He was lying and not even attempting to cover it up. But before I could question h further, he turned around to address the rest of the gang,

"right let's head back to camp" he said in an overly cheery voice that sounded as forced as if he was trying to confess his love to the sherif in front of King Richard himself! He was about to lead the way when he turned around and said in a confused voice, "Much, why are you on the floor?"

(end of chapter 1)