The Greenwood Shadow (23 page)

"Well, when you go home, we need you to spread the word about this. Tell everyone you know that Robin Hood rescued you, and that he fights against unfair treatment. Tell them that he fights for you. And warn people to be careful with their bows. We don't want anyone else getting arrested for no reason. Can you all do that for me?"

"Yes Lady Marion. Of course we will, Lady Marion."

She looked over at the road, and took in a deep breath. "Oh, and about that poor woman... Is she... does anybody know her?"

A small hand rose slowly from the back of the group. The girl had to be fourteen, at least, but she was so tiny. Despite her size, her eyes shone with a fierce light. Evey felt like she was looking at herself.

"She's my mother," the girl said with a hard and steady voice.

Evey's chest tightened, as though her own mother had just died before her eyes. For several seconds, she couldn't speak. She looked the girl in the eye, and a silent understanding passed between them.

Finally, she pointed to three of the largest men and said, "You lads, help her. Make sure she gets her mother home so they can bury her properly."

They all nodded.

Evey cleared her throat. "Now, we've got a whole stag here. It shouldn't be long before it's cooked, and we certainly can't eat it all ourselves. Eat as much as you want before you go."

The farmers nodded thankfully and moved together toward the roasting venison. Evey glanced at the young girl once more. Her eyes said 'thank you', though her mouth was still grimly set. Evey nodded. Then she sat off to the left, near Isaiah.

"What did they say?" he asked.

"There are more of them already in the dungeons." She ran a hand down the hilt of her dagger. "Almost a score of people in prison because of us. We're just making it worse."

"That's the part I knew already."

Evey couldn't muster the energy to glare. "See that girl over on the end?"

Isaiah nodded.

"The woman in the road was her mother."

Isaiah's entire body tensed.

"That's awful." He put a hand to Evey's shoulder. "She reminds me of you, a little."

Evey cracked a small smile. "Yeah."

She sat there in silence for a bit. Isaiah's nearness gave her courage, and she needed it. She almost scooted a bit closer to him, but then she noticed the old woman. The one who had mentioned "the great love story" part of Robin's rescue. She watched the two of them with one of those knowing smiles that all grandmothers have.

Isaiah seemed to notice her too. He stiffened a little, but didn't outwardly acknowledge anything.

"What did they say about their capture?" he asked. "We need to know everything we can."

"There wasn't much else, except that they all wanted to join up with us. I told them it wouldn't be safe, and they seemed so disappointed that I asked them to go on an official mission for Robin Hood."

"You what!?"

"Don't worry." Evey grabbed his arm and pulled him back to his seat. "All I said was that they should spread the word about the arrests, tell people to be careful, and tell them Robin Hood was going to try to fix it. But I had to make it sound official. They were so dead set on helping us."

Isaiah pulled his knees close and rested his head on them. He looked completely worn out.

"Well, that's not so bad, I suppose."

Evey leaned closer to him and rested her hand on his bowed back. His muscles were knotted with tension.

After a while, she said, "It shouldn't have happened. We caused this."

"You make it sound like we personally arrested each of them," he said.

"Well..."

He tilted his head to look at her. "Sometimes things have to get worse before they get better."

"What is that supposed to mean? A girl lost her mother today because of us. That is not an acceptable option."

"I know." He lowered his head again. "I know. But we can't change that. The king and his men won't give in without throwing everything they can at us first. It's not going to be easy."

Evey sighed. "But are we really helping if these abuses are getting worse?"

"If we win in the end. If we don't give up."

"But we don't know what we're doing!"

"Quiet," he said calmly.

She lowered her voice. "Sorry, but it's true. We have no idea where to go from here. We can't justify sacrifices like this until we have... have something."

Isaiah sat up straight with a new light in his eyes.

"I think we do now."

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

Isaiah was trying to kill her. There was no other explanation it. He told her he finally had a plan, and then waited for the farmers to disperse before giving any more hint of what he was thinking.

The sun had nearly set, casting deeply golden rays through the trees. It was beautiful, but Evey didn't have the patience to appreciate it. When the last man finally left, Evey sat in front of Isaiah, eyeing him meaningfully.

"Okay!" he said. "You can stop burning my skull with your stare."

"Just tell me," she replied.

"Well, you're partly right." He paused for a moment, looking down at his boots, and then continued, "These problems are our fault. Not directly, of course. But we are provoking more of it, and we need to fix what we break. So that's what we're going to do: a jail break."

Will leapt to his feet. "A jail break! Robin, do you know what that's going to take?"

"Not so loud!" Isaiah scolded. "Those soldiers are still close enough to hear you. Now, look. I was in that dungeon. I think I have a pretty good idea of how hard it's going to be. But we don't have a choice. We can't let innocent people suffer or we're no better than the men we're fighting against."

"Right you are. I'm in," John agreed firmly.

"As am I," Evey said..

"Well of course I'm in," Will started. "But I'm just saying that this doesn't put us any farther ahead than we were before. We still don't have a plan, and we still don't know what the blazes we're doing."

"I know. But at least it's –"

"Wait..." Will interrupted suddenly, and his face changed. "I might have an idea."

"Well, what is it?" John folded his arms and waited.

"Hold on a moment. I've got to think."

He stood and paced around the fire, all the while mumbling to himself, and occasionally shaking his head. The other three kept silent. Evey fidgeted and stayed quiet as long as she could stand it, but in the end she was the first to speak. As usual.

"Well?"

"I've just had a thought," Will said.

"We've gathered that much," Evey said with a groan. "Care to expound?"

"I think we might be on to something with the servant clothes idea. And, as you may recall, the king's birthday is in three weeks' time. It is the biggest celebration outside of Christmas. There won't be any more opportune time to sneak through the castle grounds unnoticed."

Evey leaned back against a tree. "Yeah, and the castle won't be more heavily guarded at any other time in the year either."

"Also true." Will stood before them like a priest about to begin a service. "As I'm sure you've noticed, the soldiers, both common and knighted, are utterly predictable. They will expect some sort of trouble on a crowded holiday, especially in light of recent events. But they are also cocky. And so we can also expect that they think they think they know exactly what we will do. They won't be ready if we don't. Which is why we shall hit the day before."

"I like where this is going," Isaiah said.

Evey leaned forward again. "And we can plant a false lead with the soldiers. Make them think we really are hitting on his birthday."

"Yes. And if we've done our job right, they won't even know we've already been in and out," Will concluded.

"Of course. That's brilliant," Isaiah agreed. "I'll meet with our palace contact. We need clothes and celebration plans."

"Don't tell him the real day. Just in case," Will reminded him.

"Yes. It's better to be safe."

The plan was fairly simple. Disguised as servants, they would make their way into the castle grounds, one by one. After dark, Evey would meet up with John, and Will with Isaiah. The first two would climb the walls to the king's chambers, and make sure he couldn't call his guards. Then they would explain the dire situation his country was in. They had to make him aware of the problems, or change his mind about them if he already knew. Not that it was all that likely to work, but if they were going in anyway, she might as well try.

The latter two would sneak into the dungeons and quietly release the farmers. As they discovered before, there was only one way in and out. The idea was to stealthily release each prisoner, then chop the portcullis rope. Even when the guards discovered that their prisoners were gone, it would be days before anyone could warn the rest of the palace.

Will and Isaiah staged a discussion close to the captured soldiers. When they made sure the soldiers had heard them, they walked away casually, and "accidentally" left the bindings too loose. Once the prisoners had escaped, the four of them moved camp to a more secluded spot, deeper in the forest.

The weeks that followed were as busy as Evey had ever known. When they weren't observing the castle, they were gathering supplies, moving camp again, or meeting with their informant, who was always dressed in a heavy winter cloak that completely hid his shape.

The night before their action, Evey lay awake, feeling completely unprepared. There had been occasions in her life when time slowed to a crawl. Hours would last for days, and a week seemed to stretch into forever. This was not one of them.

For the first time that she could remember, three weeks felt like a day. In less than twelve hours they would begin their plan. Her stomach felt like a monster had climbed inside and set up camp. It was impossible to sleep.

Finally she couldn't stand it anymore. It wasn't her turn to watch for another three hours, but if she couldn't get any sleep, she might as well let the others rest. Silently she climbed down and made her way to the tree that Isaiah had perched against. As usual, Isaiah never heard her coming.

"Hi," she said, inches from his left ear.

"HOLY.... Curse you Marion! You made me jump about a yard in the air. My nerves aren't bad enough already?"

"That was for the thing on the horse," she said with a satisfied grin.

"Oh, no, no, no." He folded his arms. "We are not keeping score. First of all, you'd slaughter me."

"Well, there's no way I'm letting you off the hook for breaking my perfect streak," she replied as she sat down.

"Who says you get to sit next to me?" Isaiah grumbled.

"I do."

She smiled as obnoxiously as she could.

"Can't sleep?" he asked.

"No. I've been awake for hours. I came to let you go if you want. I'll watch."

He shook his head. "I can't either. I already sent John off early. He's out cold already."

"Jealous. So very jealous," she said as she looked at the two sleeping men.

Isaiah pulled his blanket closer. "I guess some people react to nerves differently than others."

She shrugged. "Yeah, but this is different. I always get nervous before a raid. It keeps me focused. But this..."

"We'll be okay. We always are."

"You're probably right. It'll be fine. But..." She shifted around a little. "Never mind."

"What is it?"

He asked so gently that her resolve weakened.

"Nothing."

"Tell me."

She set her jaw and leaned against the tree. "No."

His whisper came again. "It's okay to be scared."

"Me? Afraid? HA!" She turned away.

"Yes. But don't worry about it. It's normal," he replied.

"How do you know it's normal?" she asked, but in a softer tone than usual. This was an argument that she did not want to win.

"I don't," he said.

He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. She settled against him under his blanket. It made her feel marginally better.

Isaiah rested his forehead against her temple.

"I'm scared too," he whispered.

She sat up for a moment and looked at him with a raised eyebrow. Isaiah was scared? He was one of the bravest people she had ever known. How could he possibly be afraid?

But he had said it plain as day, and she knew he wasn't lying. For some reason that she didn't quite understand, knowing it did make her feel better. She leaned back against him, and soon drifted off.

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

The sun shot through the tree branches. It was still early, but something about it woke her up. She cracked an eye open, then sat bolt upright. Where was she? Where was her hammock?

A few seconds later, she remembered her conversation the night before. She relaxed again, leaning against the tree trunk behind her.