Hood Part 1

Now I'm a Farmer

BEFORE WE START I KNOW I SAID THIS WAS GOING TO BE A FRIDAY THING...BUT IVE BEEN WORKING ON THIS BOOK FOR 6 MONTHS BEFORE I EVEN NEW WATTPAD EXSISTED SO I HAVE A CRAP LOAD OF THE BOOK PRE-WRITTEN AND I COULDN'T WAIT TO POST THE NEXT INSTALLMENT. CALL ME A LIAR, BUT HEY, I THOUGH THAT MAYBE YOU'D BE HAPPY TO LEARN WHAT PHILLIP DOES NEXT.

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I kicked at the rocks as I went. Stupid thief, stupid guards, stupid world, I thought. The guards had thrown me out onto the street with no food, no water, and only the clothes on my back. It was early spring and while the days were warm, the nights were not and under the shade of the trees it was chilly during the day, not to mention at night it would likely be freezing. But I could worry about that later. Right now I had to find water. I stopped for a moment and held my breath. I listened closely and heard what had to be water off to my left. I followed the sound as it got louder and louder. I came across a small stream. It was bound to hold fish for my dinner. I picked up a sharpish stick to use as a spear and then I took a steadying breath and stepped into the stream. It was absolutely freezing. My body nearly started convulsing, but I controlled myself and within a few minutes I had a pair of delicious looking fish. I used my stick to gut the fish. It didn't work great, but I managed to get most of the meat off the bone. I cooked it and warmed myself by the fire. By this point night had fallen. I had taken a quick nap by the fire after cooking the fish and I wasn't tired enough to sleep and I knew that the best way to keep warm was to keep moving. I had only eaten one fish and I wrapped up the other one with leaves to save for later. The moon was full and the river had nothing hanging over it that would obstruct the light from reaching me. When I put out the fire and began to walk again, I noticed something in the moonlight. Along the stream was a trail of booted footprints heading deeper into the forest. The tracks were boy sized, spaced like the person who made them was running, and only partially concealed as if the one who left them had been moving too fast to bother doing it properly. I followed the tracks to a place where the tracks covered the ground, suggesting the person making them had stopped for a break, and then continued on. I stopped and looked around. There was an unusually large and neat pile of sticks on the ground at the base of a tree. I lifted the pile and found a small hole. I reached inside and grabbed hold of a short sword. I pulled it out and hung it on my belt. I continued to follow the tracks. I grew tired as I continued on, but I knew that I was gaining on whomever it was that made these tracks. The tracks grew closer together as I walked, like the person had slowed down. As dawn approached I began to grow worried. I feared I would never catch up to the thief, when suddenly the trail stopped. I looked behind me in case I had wandered from the trail, but it was still there. I looked ahead, but the trail didn't continue either. Suddenly I had an idea. Ever so slowly I looked up. In the tree right above me there lay a shape. The shape was tied to the branch it lay on with a rope, so that they wouldn't fall and the shape wore a long green cloak. It was the boy who had stolen from the carts in town. I climbed the tree silently. When I approached the branch where he slept I drew my sword. Then I using all my strength I leapt and landed right on the boy.

"Who are you?" I growled, placing the point of my sword on his chest.

There was something odd about the way his body was shaped. It was thinner in the middle than it should have been. The boy laughed and it was oddly high pitched.

Then suddenly we were falling through the air. I landed on my back, knocking the wind out of me. During the fall three remarkable things happened. Number one, somehow while we fell we had somehow rolled over so I landed on the bottom. Number two, the thief had removed the sword from my hand without my even feeling it and it was now pointed at my heart. Number three, as we tumbled through the air the hood of the thief's cloak had fallen away from the thief's face and in the brightening light of dawn all of the thief's features, including a pair of stunning emerald green eyes, became clear.

​"I had another name once," he–no she–said, "but that was long ago. Nowadays, most call me Hood. Robin Hood."

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"I'm not a guard I swear!" I shouted.

"If you're not a guard then who are you?" she asked me.

"I'm the son of a farmer!" I lied, thinking quickly. "You stole from my father's cart! I saw you and chased you!"

"Oh, really?" she asked drawing out the second word. "Then what about your friend? You sent him on ahead to intercept me."

"You have no idea how many thieves I've had to chase down all these years. Arthur works on the farm and we've done that hundreds of times."

"But why did you follow me into the forest then?"

"My father beats me if the thieves don't return what they stole, pay what they owe, or return for arrest."

"What's your name?"

"Phillip."

"Master Phillip, I live in a place deep in the forest. Few know it exists and fewer know how to enter. It is its own tiny kingdom subject to no laws but those that have been made to govern our kingdom alone. There are no true adults in this kingdom. We live peacefully in this place where no one will bother us. We have acquired inhabitants from all corners of Carnen, and some from over the Northern mountains and the kingdom of Westova. All of these inhabitants have come from to us in need and in their need we supply them with the things they require to survive and in return they stay with us and help out. We call it Sherwood. You, would be welcome to join us."

I bit my lip uncertainly. What would the other guards think of this?

"You do not have to decide today. We cannot reveal all our secrets to you if you do not join fully, but as long as you can return what kindness we provide for you, you would be welcome to simply stay with us until you decide."

I supposed if I went with her I could gain her trust. So I nodded. Who could've known it would be both the worst and the best decision I'd ever made.

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OOOOOOOOO, NOW WHO SAW THAT ONE COMING? BE HONEST IF YOU DID. I LIKE YOUR FEEDBACK. SEE NOW THIS WAS HOW IT STARTED. I GOT THE IDEA FOR A FEMALE VERSION OF ROBIN HOOD AND THEN I REALIZED THAT MY IDEA WAS GOOD, BUT I HAD ABSOLUTELY NO STORYLINE. NOW WE ALL KNOW PHILLIP'S GOT SOME SECRETS, BUT WHAT FUN IS IT IF THE LOVE INTEREST ISN'T HIDING SOMETHING TOO? ROBIN'S GOT SOME SECRETS OF HER OWN AND I'M WILLING TO BET THAT HER SECRET IS JUST AS BIG, IF NOT BIGGER THAN PHILLIP'S. FEEL FREE TO SPECTULATE IN THE COMMENTS.