Everything I Do: a Robin Hood romance (Rosa Fitzwalter Book 1) (20 page)

CHAPTER
8

THE BLACKSMITH

“So,” Robin addressed himself to the newcomer, who had already made himself comfortable around his camp.

He swallowed a large bite of meat, and regarded the now empty bone he held in his hand with disappointment. He had no recollection of having consumed it.  Immediately, someone handed him another chunk of deer meat and he sent the man a grateful glance before he bit into it with gusto.

“I am guessing you may have another name besides this, ‘Julian of the Dangling Limbs’?” he asked around a mouthful, sending his men into roars of laughter with the new nickname he had only just thought of.

Julian laughed too, and Robin lifted his eyebrow appreciatively. He was better inclined to like a man who could laugh at himself.

“I have taken upon myself the name of Fitzwilliam,” he said “ever since I was eleven. My father’s name being William -as far as I knew- it seemed an inspiration at the time. However most people call me ‘Julian the Smith’.”

“What was wrong with your given name?” Little John asked roughly.

“Only that it didn’t exist,” Julian answered good-humoredly. “My father, the said William, refused to acknowledge me, and my mother to name me after him. She would give me the name of another man, but I would have none of it.”

Robin observed him in silence as he spoke, leaving the questioning to his men.

“And why would your mother give you the name of another man?” Gregory asked.

“She was -is- wed to him,” Julian said and Robin saw that his expression was no longer that of unprecedented glee, but his eyes were dark and reserved. And sad -infinitely sad. All of a sudden, Julian clamped his lips shut and seemed to not want to speak one more word. It was a different man that Robin saw before him, full of despair and pain, a man that hang upon life from a tender thread which would at any moment break and leave him in the void.

“You don’t have to tell your story, if you don’t want to,” Robin said easily. “Everyone who is willing to fight for justice is welcome here, and that’s what you have to prove my friend, not your ancestry.”

Julian just nodded solemnly and kept his mouth shut.

“Still, chief,” Matt said, “it makes one wonder, what business did the woman have going around naming her children herself when she had a husband?”

Everyone laughed at this, and Julian sank lower on the ground.

“He wasn’t living with us,” he said in a deep tortured voice that silenced everyone.

Matt looked at Robin guiltily, and Little John tried to amend the situation.

“You have to admit, Robbie,” he said, “that this sounds like a story.”

Everyone thought the same, that the stranger was most probably lying, but his brow was so dark and his eyes so sorrowful that they daren’t speak it out loud. It might be the woeful tale, common enough, of an illegitimate child growing up with parents that weren’t too happy of its existence, but the man was so tight-lipped about his past that it was almost certain that he had something to hide.

“A story for round the fire at night, I mean,” Little John added.

Julian got up abruptly.

“If it’s a story you want from me, I had better leave straight away,” he said, his tone suddenly bitter.

He turned to Robin.

“If you want my blood, my sword, my life, I lay them at your feet, brave Robin Hood, and at England’s. I was planning on throwing myself in the river, but then I thought of two things. First, I can swim and I hear that makes it harder to drown.”

He paused, expecting chuckles, but no one laughed. Every eye was glued on him, unblinking.

“And then I said to myself, maybe there’s a cause worth dying for. So I thought of you. If there is one place away from memories, from stories of one’s past and from women that are at the root of all evil, it’s this forest. Was I mistaken, Robin Hood, or does the fight for justice no longer feature amongst your first priorities? Have I stumbled upon a camp of clowns and mistook it for the Merry Men?”

He gazed straight at Robin defiantly, anger burning in his eyes, and for a crazy moment Robin was sure he had seen that piercing color somewhere else, and that he knew it by heart.

“Your anger does you justice, stranger,” he said, getting up to stand toe to toe to the man, and discovering they were almost of the same height. “I for one am not interested in your story, only in the honesty of your heart. As for laying your life at my feet, I don’t want it and you had better take it back.
You
are to choose what you do with it. Give it for England, give it for wealth, give it for power. I can only judge as far as my eyes can see. Only remember, you have not proved yourself yet, and you will be treated as a stranger until then.”

Julian seemed to be satisfied with this answer, and relaxed a little.

“Thank you, Robin Hood,” he said, “I hope I can pass your tests or die trying.”

“There is no need to be dramatic,” Robin said dryly as he dropped back on the ground again and motioned for him to do the same. “And women, you will see, are honored in this camp and outside of it, as each one of these lads has a mother.”

“In fact, there is a woman right now-” Gilbert began to say, but Robin cut him off with a warning look.

“There was a lady Alice who lived among us for… let’s see, a week or so,” he amended quickly, but Julian interrupted him with an incredulous look on his face.

“A lady?!”

“Well, she had to stay somewhere, seeing as we kidnapped her on the day of her wedding, until her own sweetheart could marry her and carry her off,” Robin replied, laughing at the stranger’s disgusted look. “But that’s a whole other story.”

“I remember her rescue,” Gilbert continued half-closing his eyes at the fond memory. “Those were good times, eh chief? Now, her stay here was another matter entirely…”

“Our White Hand here was a bit smitten with her,” Robin said slapping Gilbert’s shoulder with all his might. “That is, until she gave him a disgust of womenfolk everywhere with her missish ways and whims, but really Gil, she was but a woman, and a gentlewoman at that, she wasn’t used to our ways…”

“She didn’t give me a disgust of womenfolk,” Gilbert said with dignity. “There are some women, ladies even…” he stopped himself abruptly, and Robin knew he was thinking of Rosa.

“Yes, well,” Robin said sarcastically, “one cannot expect the fairer sex of as great things as our own powerful one, but we will have to endure them as best we can, won’t we?”

He expected a roaring protest, but to his surprise and shock, when Julian spoke it was to agree with his preposterous words, not to laugh at them.

“Lying, manipulative shrews they all are,” Julian exclaimed angrily, frowning to himself as to a demon of his past, not even noticing Robin’s intention to mock him.

Robin stared at him curiously, wondering what kind of woman in this man’s past had given him such a distaste of the entire sex.

“You do sound bitter,” he said kindly. “I look forward to seeing you resist the charms of the girls down at the tavern where my men often go to wile away their lonely winter nights.”

“They have no charms for me whatsoever,” came the abrupt answer.

“Well, you know best, my friend,” Robin said. “Only take care that you do not find yourself forgetting what I told you, about the way my men behave towards women, or you’ll get a glimpse of my fury. And let me tell you, my fury is not a pretty thing to see.”

“Of course,” Julian said with a wry smile, “I will abide by your code of honor. In my experience, a mother can be the worst criminal possible… But I suppose you will have to find that out for yourself. There was only one girl I…” he paused and glanced around at the intent faces that were watching him. He seemed to remember where he was and he shook himself out of his reminiscing. “I only meant,” he added in a lighter tone, “that we will be safe from them in the forest, at least.”

Robin studied him and wondered whether he should tell him about Rosa. Then he suddenly burst out laughing.

“You know, Julian,” he said, “the small, slight lad who helped you get down from the tree while John was away… he was-”

He stopped and reconsidered. Maybe it was because he was so fiercely protective of her, and even though he knew it deep inside that this man’s heart was true, he didn’t want to risk exposing her. Maybe he didn’t trust him all that much yet. On the other hand, it was more than obvious that the man called Julian harbored a really strong dislike for women. Wouldn’t it be safer for everyone if he knew beforehand that there was a girl in the forest?

“The little lad, you say?” Julian asked. “What of him? I didn’t see him here at the camp, or I would have a few words to say to him…”

Robin looked at the man again and laughed louder. No, he wouldn’t tell him now. He would let him find out for himself. It was worth a good laugh, whatever the outcome.

“What I want to say is, I’m not sure I understand what you mean when you say ‘we’ll be safe from them’,” he told him, “but let me tell you right now. Safe is the last thing you are in the forest. From anything.”

…

It did not take long for Julian to find an opportunity to prove himself to Robin Hood and his men. Two days later, he went along on the scouting trip to Nottingham and Robin himself joined the small party, not trusting him entirely yet.

While they were there, an accident forced his hand: one of the guards accosted a stooped old woman who refused to move out of his way. There was nothing to do for Robin and his men but to defend her, although Robin much preferred not to openly provoke the guards, but to face them in his ground, on his own terms.

It could not be helped this time, however, and a full combat ensued during which Robin noted with satisfaction -and a little admiration too- that Julian held his own very well, fighting with both courage and precision.

His bravery and skill with the sword did not go unnoticed by the rest of the men either, and when they retreated to the safety of the forest, they slapped him on the back and joked with him, for he had fought alongside of them, and they now accepted him as one of them. Julian’s blue-green eyes sparkled with pride and gratitude, and Robin had seen enough of his brooding face during the past two days to be able to appreciate this rare display of happiness.

It turned out, however, that this was not how Julian found a way into the men’s heart, nor why he earned a rather prominent position in the forest right beside their beloved Robin Hood.

…

It was a few hours after they had returned from their scouting trip to the town, and the camp was a flurry of activity, men hurrying about their jobs, crafting new weapons out of metal and wood or trying to repair their already damaged ones. A few were occupied by skinning and readying to cook the day’s game and Paul was tending to the wounds of those who had not been so fortunate as to escape unscathed.

Robin was not among them, thankfully, and he strolled to where Rosa was sitting wrapped in furs, cold afternoon light filtering through bare branches all around her. She was patiently mending threadbare green tunics and determining which ones were beyond repair and were only fit to be thrown away; she’d later sew new ones for the men these had belonged to, as it was her ambition to eventually make a new outfit for every man on the camp.

Robin watched her silently for a few minutes, his breath clouding white in front of him, fascinated by the way the light played with her hair and the graceful movement of her neck as she bent over her work. With a private laugh he remembered Julian’s reaction when he had first looked upon ‘Stuart’ with her hair down and realized that the skinny youth that had freed him from Little John’s trap was actually a young woman.

His jaw had hung open for a full five minutes and afterwards he had steered clear of her, apparently afraid that even speaking to her would contaminate or endanger him in some way.

Rosa took it all in stride, but as the days progressed Robin was sure she was beginning to feel hurt by his contemptuous behavior and he had determined to have a nice long talk with the man about it. It wouldn’t kill him to thank her for sewing him all these clothes -and in record time, too. Robin had been afraid she would strain herself doing all that work practically overnight but he had stopped himself from saying anything, for he could see how badly she wanted to prove she was of use in the camp.

The dry leaves were loud beneath his boots, and a twig snapped suddenly, startling her. Rosa jumped in surprise, pricking her finger in the process, but she smiled widely as soon as she saw it was he.

“Master!” she said, the delight in her voice making Robin’s heart leap.

“Didn’t mean to disturb you, sorry,” he said. “Would you mind some company?”

“You will stay a while, then?” She sounded hopeful.

“If you want me,” he answered, a challenge dancing in his eyes. He waited for her to encourage him, to tell him she wanted him there, but she simply smiled again and turned her attention back to her work, so he sat down beside her.