Excerpts from The Wolfshead:Outlaw (A story of Robin Hood)

Excerpts #2

©Copyright David Cook 2014

Spring, 1253 AD

Spring blesses us with its arrival.

The New Year comes with the blackbirds song; a little heartfelt melody that I have always loved to hear. The sun is surprisingly dazzling this morning. It is low in the sky, but it burns a fierceness that winter lacks. I can feel a significant change in the season as if it had happened overnight. The bracken on the hills above Winchester is still brown, the trees are still bare, but the last vestiges of ice have gone, even from the long furrows and ditches that rarely see any sunlight. I can already see a bright greenness in the trees and fields where new shoots and buds are growing fast. The air stinks of dung for it is a time for fertilising, weeding and yet more ploughing of the soil, but there is a freshness that only Spring brings. The long curtain of winter has been pulled aside and the land is reborn once again.

The Sport of Kings

‘You have something to say, whelp?’ Le Barton asked me and I wanted to murder him right there and then, but luckily sense prevailed and I looked at my feet as though I could not meet his gaze.

I heard a murmur from the hunters and one or two cackles of laughter. A horse snorted. I expected to suffer a blow from Le Barton’s sword, but I heard him walk away.

‘No matter,’ he said. ‘Four it is.’

The wind blew cold and the hunters cheered my doom.

I waited, shivering in silence, waiting to honour the hunt.

　

Escape

We ran into another small square where butchers kept their wares on long tables. The reek of the raw meat was as harsh as the smell of sewage. A butcher, his wares sold, sluiced his shop front with a wooden pail of water so that diluted blood swilled down the gutters and turned the cobbles red. Two boys were sweeping garbage. A dog watched us. I heard church bells ring out. I began to panic, soon there would be scores of men looking for us. We went west to Cow Lane Bar towards the stables, but as we turned the corner there were a dozen men waiting there.

‘Mary!’ I gasped.

‘I can’t see them,’ Robin said. ‘Let’s go to the Wheatsheaf.’

We sprinted down the alley towards the castle, twisted into another, then turned down the street where the tavern stood. There were more men there and I spotted Guy on horseback. He saw me.

‘There they are!’ he yelled, pointing at us. The men turned and a low growl erupted from their lips. ‘I want them alive! Get them!’

We turned down a long alley, jumped a low wall and down into a yard yellow with sewage. Rats scurried from the pools of filth and mounds of debris. A whore called from a window, then spat at us when we ignored her. We climbed a small outbuilding, then dropped over a high wall where a cat hissed at us. We followed the wall to our left where hooves clattered on the cobbles on the other side, but we were unseen.

‘I’ll see you both swing from the gallows!’ Guy snarled, but his threats were empty and I heard him leave.

Robin wiped his forehead and grinned infectiously at our escape. ‘Let’s hope Ralph keeps his sister’s safe,’ he said, ‘but we should try to look for them at the tavern.’

‘They may have left the city,’ I said hoping I was right.

‘True,’ Robin conceded, ‘but I suggest we go now. I reckon the sheriff has ordered them all closed so we’ll have to find another way out.’ He moved in the dimness. I could not see his face in the dark, but I sensed that he smiled. ‘There’s always a way, Ben,’ he said.

York

Perversely I glanced up again at the severed heads under the shadow of the archway one last time, then back to find we were immediately in the suburbs of the city. I was in absolute awe. Beyond the wooden keep of the new bailey, the skyline was dominated by a huge and wondrous cathedral. It was the biggest building I had ever seen. The stone towers and buttresses were enormous, something I thought I’d never see in my lifetime. Trees and houses were simply dwarfed and darkened by its sheer size. The stone glowed from the sunlight, making it a glorious spectacle in itself. Will saw my amazement, laughed, and slapped me playfully on the back.

We made our way north threading through townsfolk, pack animals and ponies laden with goods, merchants and traders, clerks, clergymen and craftsmen. The noise of the city was confusing, deafening and awe-inspiring to my unworldly ears. Priests scuttled past adored with crucifixes and robes, near-naked waifs darted around us, beggars and vagabonds stared despondently, apprentices dodged past us with their masters’ orders and above the noise of the city the blacksmiths hammers pounded and rang. The smell of wood smoke, sawn timber, tallow, bread, freshly cut meat, cattle and dung was heavy in the air.

This hasn't scratched the surface of Ben's life with Robin Hood. I hope you liked this, please do leave a vote. Thank you.