Robyn and the Hoodettes (30 page)

Eventually Marion got to his feet and helped Robyn to hers. “I
have a plan.”

“
You do?”

“
Yes. Let’s go some place warmer.”

“
I like that plan. It’s a good one.”

***

By the time they’d walked around to the Sheffield
gatehouse, the rest of the battle was pretty much over. They were
at the mopping up stage. The peasants of Sheffield, seeing Maudlin
and Ellen gone, were only to happy to break the gallows apart to
use for fire wood.

Roger was below stairs in the dungeons. Shivering at the
memory of those cold cells, Robyn felt it was an apt punishment. At
least he wouldn’t be homeless for winter, and unlike their cottages
back home, stone dungeons didn’t burn.

The man was getting off lightly.

“
I have a plan too,” Robyn said. “Let’s get the fires going in
the kitchens and cook up a feast for everyone.”

“
I like that plan,” Marion said as they surveyed the remains of
the melee around them. “But I didn’t know you could
cook.”

“
I can’t, but I’m sure someone here can.”

“
Here’s the treasury,” Wilfred said as he and Madge came forth,
their aprons filled with trinkets, coins, goblets and all sorts of
goodies.

The crowd went crazy and cheered, then they mobbed Wilfred and
Madge. At first Robyn thought they’d be trampled in the stampede,
but the crowd wasn’t interested in the loot, they wanted to thank
them for getting it all back.

In the crush, Wilfred and Madge’s treasures fell all over the
ground.

“
That could buy a lot of pies,” Robyn said.

“
We’ll need it,” Marion said. “Thanks to Roger’s mess, every
villager for miles around will descend on Sheffield, wanting
shelter for the winter.”

“
We should make Roger look after them, he’s the one who burned
down their houses.”

Marion smiled as he shared the conspiracy with her. “I like
the way you think.”

EPILOGUE

“I’m
still cross Maudlin got away,” Robyn kicked the ground as she
walked beside Shadow and Plus One into the Shire Wood. Snow fell in
soft drifts around them, the icy wind bit the tips of her fingers
off.

“
She’ll be in all kinds of misery, don’t you worry,” Marion
said, reaching for her hand to give it a comforting squeeze.
“You’re frozen, why didn’t you say something?”

“
Too busy being cross,” Robyn said with a shrug.

“
Come here.” Marion wrapped both her hands in his, then
breathed on them. Thick steam rose from his lips.

“
Do you think they’ve gone to our old camp?” She
asked.

“
Anything’s possible, but they’d probably want to get as far
from Sheffield as possible.” He said. “Maybe they’ve gone to
Nottingham and thrown themselves at Derby’s mercy?”

“
Do you think we’ll ever see her again?”

“
Sure we will. Maudlin’s the kind of woman who bears a
grudge.”

Shadow and Plus One stopped to sniff at a green pine
seedling poking through the snow. In a few weeks, the snow would be
so deep there would be no green at all.

“
Right. So, what’s our plan?”

Marion grinned. “
Do I really sound like that?”

“
Pretty much.”

“
I’m insufferable.” He flashed her a grin and followed it with
a wink.

“
We-e-e-ll, you’re not exactly
insufferable
. Not all the time at any
rate.”

“
Thank goodness for that. Now, where’s the axe?”

“
On the back of Plus One.”

“
That’s her name all the time now?” Marion asked.

“
It kind of suits her.”

“
Poor horse.” Marion took the axe and checked the blade,
making sure it was clean and sharp. In the Shire Wood, the big
trees would take an effort to cut down, but they would burn for
longer than the thinner branches.

“
That one’s pretty good,” Robyn pointed to a mid-sized tree.
“At the risk of sounding insufferable, may I suggest a
plan?”

“
You’re going to keep rubbing that in, aren’t you?”

“
At every opportunity,” this time Robyn gave Marion a wink and
a grin. “Why don’t we take turns in whacking the tree, then we’ll
get it down in half the time.”

“
Or, at the risk of sounding even
more
insufferable,” Marion looked like he was
really enjoying himself. “We take a tree each and fell two in the
same time. Unless you’re not strong enough to bring down a whole
tree by yourself.”

Robyn took the bait.
“I’ll take this tree, you find your
own.”

“
This is my tree, I’m closest to it.” Marion made ready to
swing.

“
Or,” Robyn interrupted and Marion missed his mark, the axe
striking at a bad angle and barely making a dent. “You chop the
trees, then I chop the branches off when we fell it.”

“
A dizzying array of options,” Marion swung truly and made a
hefty slice into the trunk. Another whack sent a wedge of wood
flying out.

“
Honestly, I could stand here and plan all day,” Robyn
said.

“
Fine by me,” Marion kept swinging that axe, creating a
sizeable wedge in the tree. “But then again–”
thwack
“–You’ll freeze if you don’t–” hack
“swing into action soon. You know the old saying, ‘Cut your own
firewood and it warms you twice’.”

W
atching him swing that axe warmed Robin all the way through
anyway.

She picked a mid-sized tree a few paces away and smudged the
bark with mud to give her something to aim at.

Thwack! Grunt. Swing, thunk!
Four swings in, her muscles burned with
pain. Her shoulders felt ready to fall off. She’d barely made a
dent in the tree. Marion had already carved a pie-sliced wedge
right through to the middle of his tree. Now he turned the axe
around and swung with the blunt side of it into the wood, just
above the cut. The tree wobbled as it creaked and groaned. He
whacked it again; the trunk split to the side and crashed
down.

“
You are so amazing right now,” Robyn said.

The both grinned as the snow fell in thick blobs. Marion
walked over to Robyn’s tree, a tree that didn’t look in danger of
falling any time soon.

“
Let’s take it in turns then,” he said as he hefted his
axe.

In companionable silence, they hacked and cut their way
through this one. Despite both of them working together, this one
took longer than the first to bring down.

“
I think I picked the wrong kind of tree.” Robyn
said.

“
It’s an oak,” Marion said after taking his swing. “We’ll
not be through this before Christmas.”

“
What sort did you cut down?”

“
Think it was a birch. Bit easier on the arms than
this.”

“
I have an idea.” Leaping into action, Robyn climbed up the
tree, scaling the branches like a ladder. “Throw me the
rope.”

“
OK, whatever the lady wants.” Marion threw the coil of rope
towards her. “You know if you’d planned this, you could have tied
the rope to you in the first place before you climbed up
there.”

“
Shut it. I’m getting the job done.” Her fingers fumbled as
she tied the end of the rope high up around the top branches and
trunk. “Right, take the end of it. Tie it to the horses, get them
to pull the tree over.”

The horses stood well out of the way, under the boughs of a
fur tree, which kept its needles even in the depths of winter.
Robyn scrambled down the tree, her fingers burning from the cold.
How beautiful would an open fire be right about now?

“
I get it,” Marion tied the rope to the back of Shadow’s
harness, then rubbed the horse’s neck to calm and soothe
her.

Shadow was having none of it and whinnied her displeasure.
Even though the horses had thick hairy coats, they must be freezing
too.

“
Marion, you whack through the other side of the tree, I’ll
hold Shadow steady so we can pull it over and get it down
sooner.”

Creak, thwack!

Groan, riiiiiiiip crash!

“
We did it!” Overjoyed
with success, Robyn grabbed Marion in a fierce hug
which ended with them giggling and kissing in the snow.

“
We got a whole two trees down.”

“
Yeah.” Robyn was exhausted already.

“
There’s not much daylight left, we’d better get them
back.”

For all their effort, it looked pretty measly. They’d have to
come back early tomorrow, and the next day, and the next to have a
hope of keeping the people of Sheffield warm through the rest of
winter.

Noises and singing came from between the trees. Turning, they
saw Joan, Georgia, Wilfred and Madge approaching. They had axes and
ropes in their hands and smiles on their faces.

“
What are you doing here?” Robyn asked.

“
We couldn’t let you do this on your own,” Joan said, “We’re a
team!”

The sight of her
team
filled Robyn with sunshine. Soon the forest rang
with sounds of thwacking axes and falling trees. In no time, the
others strapped the trunks together and urged the horses to drag
them towards the castle.

“
Race you back,” Robyn said, tearing off from
Marion.

“
Hey wait!” he shouted
.

Their breaths came out in thick misty puffs, their faces pink
and flushed from exertion. On they ran, for the sheer joy of being
alive and being happy. Robyn was in the lead, holding the front of
her frock off the ground to stop her from tripping. Marion closed
the gap, laughing as he tried to catch her.

She was laughing so hard she couldn’t keep running, the hem
of her skirt soaked with melted snow.

They both looked wild and a little bit crazy. Near the
gates, they snuggled for warmth, waiting for the others to arrived
back with the horses and the larger trees for burning.

“
What’s that?” Robyn pointed to a small fir tree Joan carried
with her.

“
I thought it would be nice to have something green to
decorate the bailey.”

Once in the castle gates, Robyn and Marion took in the
bustling scene.

By the kitchens, Mother Eleanor milked a cow they didn’t
recognise. Somebody else close by milked Bella, listening to
Eleanor’s helpful instructions. Everything looked busy and settled,
everyone had something to do to help get them through the cold
months ahead.

As Marion had predicted, in the past few weeks people from
outlying villages had come to Sheffield for shelter and protection.
The castle was packed. As each new group came, they brought with
them small supplies of food, blankets, animal skins and live
animals as well. Eleanor was in her element teaching young boys and
girls how to milk the cows, while Joan’s elderly parents showed
folks how to make warm nesting boxes for the chickens so they’d
have a steady supply of eggs.

Snow continued to fall, coating the bailey in a blanket of
magic. Here and there small fires burned in braziers. People
huddled around them, keeping warm. Robin noticed their furtive
glances, because they wanted to know what they should do
next.

What
did
they do next?

Bunker down and survive, Robyn thought.

Well, she’d think of something soon. With Marion’s help.
And Will’s and Madge’s and Joan’s and Georgia’s. And even her
mother’s help, if she could get her away from the cows for any
length of time.

Marion put his arm around Robyn’s shoulders and guided her to
the stairs of the old tower. Burnt patches were still visible on
the walls, but the smoky smell was mostly gone now.

“
I have a surprise for you,” he whispered.

They climbed the stairs to the landing and Marion reached
behind a tapestry. Those tapestries were marvellous for hiding
things!

He held out the re-strung bow and gave it to her.

“
You fixed it!” Admiring the craftwork, she held the bow and
pulled the string back, loving the tension and the strength of it.
“Thank you so much!”

“
I’m not sure how much use we’ll get out of it, but I wanted to
fix it for you,” Marion said.

A grin formed. “You sneaky thing. I had no idea you’d done
this. Thank you Marion, thank you so much.” She gave him a warm
kiss and hugged him tightly.

“
I’ll fix more things if this is how you thank me,” he said
with a wink.

She gave him another kiss for good measure. It warmed her all
the way to her boots.

“
Interesting.” Robyn said, full of curiosity. “When I kiss you,
I warm up. Have you ever noticed that happening to you?”

“
I was just thinking that myself. Might need to try it again
and test it though.” Marion’s kiss made her heart beat way too fast
from the sheer joy of it.