Masked

Hello.. This book is set as a pre-quel to Robin Hood, I hope you enjoy it comments would be appreciated thank you :)

Louise :D

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The scream tore through Devon like the cold slap of a whip on unbroken skin, the smell of burning thatch and flesh clung to every fibre on her tattered dress. The village had always been a peaceful place set in the heart of the forest just outside Nottingham town, the woods surrounding the village brought in a supply of game and materials that could be sold for a small profit onto Nottingham. All of her life Devon had survived here with her mother and father until the last coming weeks when more interest had arisen from the Sheriff on taxes that the farmers in the village were paying.

 Compared to many she had grown up in a richer family, her grandfather was Lord of Newark but he abandoned his daughter when she fell pregnant with Devon, the father being head of garrison was a disgrace to him. With little more than a few gold coins they set up a farm in the village among the people that they once over looked.

Devon herself was sixteen summers old with long auburn brown hair and emerald green eyes, she was tall for her age but on a thin frame and her face still held the youth she had recently left behind.

Blinking back the tears Devon hugged her knees into her chest and buried her head in the ripped bottom of her grey dress, slumping against the outside stable wall she raised her head to look at the cloud of smoke that was billowing above the small town. The thundering of hooves from behind her small hiding place seemed all too real and a danger if she stayed, the people simply could not afford the rising taxes King John had set above them. They starved to scrape the previous rate together every month offering their own food and possessions as payment, when the tax went up they just had nothing left to give.