Leaving Sherwood - A Fickle Universe Time Travel Companion

Chapter One

Light rain woke Will Scarlet from sleep at dawn, reminding him once again of everything his family had lost in the three years since Robin Hood was murdered. His wife, Kay, snuggled closer to him in the hollow between two roots where they'd made their bed, but he knew she'd be up soon. Neither of them could sleep when it rained. Not so their son, Paul. That boy could sleep through a deluge.

Before they'd been blessed with King Richard's pardon, rain had just been a fact of life under the Greenwood, but the five years they'd spent in Gamwell Lodge had spoiled Will more than he cared to admit.

He tightened his arm around Kay and pressed a kiss to her forehead. She mumbled in response and snaked her arm around his middle.

I'm so sorry, he thought, not for the first time. They should all be back inside four walls, comfortable, warm, and dry. They should be safe. Not that it was his fault they had been hunted across Sherwood Forest until they were little more than ghosts of the free folk they'd been. No, that fault belonged to John, the bloody king who'd inherited the crown from Richard the Lionheart. John, who was set upon destroying anyone who had seen him humiliated by Robin Hood.

And he'd nearly succeeded. All Robin's men were either dead or fled, and only Will and his family remained of the band of outlaws who had made history under the great oaks of Sherwood.

He knew they'd made history because his wife, Kay, had come through time from the future to live with them, to love him, and to try to save Robin's life. She hadn't managed to change Robin's fate, but the life she'd carved out for herself had changed Will for the better. He couldn't imagine life without her and the son they'd created together. Even if it was currently living out in the rain, with no roof and no shelter but each other's arms.

Kay was moving over him now, her touch more intimate. After eight years of marriage, she always seemed to know when his thoughts had taken a dark path, and she could always bring him light in the best way possible. Their lovemaking was slow and sweet, until he forgot about the rain, forgot about the loss . . . forgot about everything except the strong, beautiful, capable woman in his arms.

Afterwards, as she lay sprawled across him, kissing his neck gently, his thoughts gathered into what they would do for the day.

As always, Kay was ahead of him. "We're nearly out of dried venison. Shall we hunt?"

Will grunted, thinking. It had been a month since they'd had any run-ins with soldiers. The odds of them being able to hunt, cure, and dry a whole deer's meat without having to leave it behind were better than ever before, but still he hesitated. They had to eat, so delaying wasn't really an option, but something about the day felt off.

He put it down to the rain, and kissed Kay's forehead again. "Better wake the boy. I think he's old enough now to try for his first kill."

At seven years old, Paul was everything Will could have hoped for in a son. Strong, smart, and lively. He knew how to stay silently hidden, could run fast as a woodland hare, and was already as good a marksman as his mother. He supposed some of it was paternal pride, but Will thought Paul could grow into the best yeoman Sherwood Forest had ever seen—bar none. Better even than Robin Hood.

But the boy was sleepy, now, protesting his mother's attempt to rouse him. It wasn't until the words "hunt" and "your turn" penetrated his resistance that he jumped up quick as a squirrel, immediately ready for the day.

Will chuckled and ruffled the boy's hair before he stooped to uncover their bows from the deer hide they used to protect the precious weapons from the weather. There was little enough food to break their fast. A hunk of dried venison, a handful of oats, uncooked and thick to choke down, a couple blackberries each that hadn't yet turned moldy, and water from the brook nearby.