Robyn and the Hoodettes (10 page)

Sniff, sniff.
She wiped her nose on her tunic sleeve.

“
Stop there,” one of the guards said. A young guard from the
sounds of it. His voice cracked in the middle of saying, “State
your business.”

“
We seek sanctuary,” Robyn said, “Our village was set upon by
outlaws and we have fled. Please let us in.”

“
Outlaws? Where?” That was the other guard. He didn’t come
up to the child-guard’s shoulder. One of his eyes looked . . .
nasty. The light from his torch showed he was an old man who should
be regular height, except for the curve clenching his
back.

One too young, the other too twisted to join the war. So
they’d been left behind to watch the gates. Robyn reckoned she
could take them both without breaking a sweat. But she had to play
the weeping girly-girl so as not to raise suspicion.

“
Outlaws have raided our villages and forced us to flee,” she
said. “We are all that is left.”

“
Are they in pursuit?” The child-guard said.

“
No, but we have nowhere else to go, and as Sheffield is our
Liege Lord, we have come here for protection.”

“
They could be following you.” The child again.

“
What village are you from?” The crippled guard
asked.

Brain stalling for answers, Robyn wasn’t sure if she should
say Loxley or not. Roger’s men might be waiting for them.
Quick, think of a
name.
“Riverton.” Not exactly a lie. They did have a river
flowing nearby. “Sheffield owes a duty of care to his peasants, he
must take us in.”

The young guard spoke “Well he’s not here. He–”

“–
Times have changed.” The twisted man interrupted. “Camp out
here and wait till the morning.”

The cogs in Robyn’s mind creaked and groaned. “We can’t. The
thieves took everything. We barely escaped with the clothes on our
back and– ”

The twisted guard blocked them. “–With fine horses, a wagon
and a cow?”

Damn
!

Desperation crept in. “We’ll pay you.” Robyn reached for
Marion’s bag of goodies and pulled out one of the golden
coins.

Not quietly enough.

“
Sounds like you have plenty more.” The old guard said as
lunged for the bag.

“
No!” Marion sprang from the back of the wagon and thumped the
old man on the shoulders.

“
You’re the outlaws!” The child-guard grabbed at Shadow’s
harness to stop them turning back.

The cripple recovered and lunged for the money. For an
invalid, he sure was agile.

“
No!” Robyn yelled.

Suddenly the wagon swayed and tipped. “Joan
smash!”

The giant leapt out of the wagon.

“
No Joan!” Marion cried out.

Clonk!

Too late.

The old man fell in a crumpled heap. The child-guard let go
of the horse’s harness and dashed towards a rope hanging from a
bell-tower. One ring and that bell would alert everyone inside the
walls to the troubles outside.

Robyn pounced on him, making sure he didn’t reach that
rope.

He covered his hands over his face and m
uffled, “Please don’t hurt
me.”

“
Joan smash?”

It took all Robyn’s strength not to laugh. “No more smash,”
she said.

“
But Joan want to smash!”

Beneath her, the boy trembled. Robyn shared his misery. “We
don’t want to hurt you. OK? So here’s how we’re going to play it.
You’re going to open the gates and let us in. And we’ll give you a
shiny coin to give to your ailing mother.”

“
How’d’you know she was sick?”

“
Because you’re doing a dangerous job for a little boy. Now
stop crying and . . . oh Joan look at that, his face has gone
scarlet.”

“
Is he all right?” Mother Eleanor asked from the back of the
wagon.

“
I’m allergic to horses.” He confessed.

“
What does allergic mean?” Robyn asked.

“
Is that even a word?” Joan asked.

“
It means they make me sick. And itchy,” he said, rubbing his
face.

“
Oh you poor thing.” Robyn helped him back on his feet. “Can
you see your way to the gate? I’ll give you a hand. Stop rubbing
your eyes, it will only make it worse.”
My goodness, I’m sounding just like
Mother!

“
You are the outlaws, aren’t you?” He asked, his voice no
longer cracking with nerves.

“
We’re not. But our village is now a burning ruin after the
Sheriff’s tax collectors set fire to it. We really don’t have
anywhere else to go.” Adding a shrug felt natural to Robyn, as if
she and this boy could both stop playing their roles and be
themselves.

“
Are you sure you want to go in?” He asked. “You might be safer
out here in the long run.”

Robyn gave the boy two golden coins instead of the one she’d
promised him. “The rest of our village is behind the gates. We have
to find them. Make sure they’re all right.”

“
Will he be all right?” The red-faced boy asked, pointing to
the crumpled shape of the old guard on the ground.

Stepping over to him, Robyn gave the crooked man a gentle
shove on the shoulder with her boot, but heard nothing. Oh dear.
She bent low and - relief! - felt his slow breath on her cheek.
Thank goodness he was still breathing! “He’ll be fine, but he’ll
have an aching head when he wakes up.” Then she turned to the boy.
“Sorry about the allergy.”

He sniffed and shrugged, “Once the horses are gone it will
clear up.”

“
I feel bad about this. My name’s Robyn.” She extended her
hand in a show of friendship.

The boy shook it. “Wilfred. Everyone calls me
Will.”

Marion led the horses towards the gate as Wilfred lifted
the heavy timber from the latch.

The heavy gate, however, didn’t open. Marion leant a hand,
then Robyn too. “Joan,” she called out, “care to help?”

“
Can I do anything lovvie?” Mother asked. Not that she’d
climbed out of the wagon the entire time.

“
Is it locked from the other side?” Robyn asked as she heaved
and hauled against the gate.

“
Might be,” Wilfred said.

“
You could come and help,” Robyn shot back to her mother. “Wake
up Ellen too. Free ride’s over.”

They pressed with all their weight against the heavy wood. It
budged, it sprang back; they leaned harder again and it sprang back
even more.

One last push–yerk!–the gates gave in and Robyn, Wilfred,
Marion and Joan fell forward with a yelp into the mud.

“
Enjoy your trip?” A mocking voice said.

Robyn looked up to find herself staring into the smirking face
of Roger of Doncaster.

Anyone but you
. Robyn
shlucked
herself out of the oozy mud. On wobbly legs she
stood up to face her nemesis.

“
Get out of my way, peasant!” Roger shouted.

Which only served to boggle Robyn all the more. And of course,
as she stood there boggling, she kept not moving and Roger became
angrier.

Did he not recognize her?

Not even a little bit?

“
Idiot!” He shoved her in the shoulder and sent her sprawling
into Joan and Marion, knocking them all over like
dominoes.

Joan whispered in her ear, “Want me to smash him?”

“
Wait–”

Mother Eleanor piped up, “Don’t you push my daughter
around!”

“
Do not stand in the way of the Sheriff of Nottingham’s
business!” Roger said as he stormed past. A straggly gang of young
men followed him, ignoring Eleanor’s protests.

Bella made a bovine moan as they jolted her on their way out.
Poor Bella. Why were people so horrible to cows? They gave so much
milk and asked so little in return.

As soon as Roger and his team were gone, Robyn scraped off the
biggest clods of mud from her tunic and skirts and went to the
cow’s aid.

That’s when she noticed the moving lump of sheepskin in the
back of the wagon. “You can come out now Ellen, they’re long
gone.”

Ellen peeked out from underneath. “I wasn’t hiding. Honestly.
But I thought it would be best if I stayed out of the
way.”

“
Of course you did.”

With Roger and his men gone, Wilfred guided them through the
gates and inside the protective walls of Sheffield Castle. It was
dark and difficult to see their way clear. The larger buildings
leaked golden light from open fires burning in the hearths
inside.

Wilfred pointed and said, “
The Goose and Bridle
is the best place to get
lodgings. Best place for vittles is
The Unicorn
.”

“
Thanks for the tip,” Robyn reached into her pocket and drew
out another coin.

Wilfred snatched for it, but Robyn held back, a better idea
forming. “You get this when we’re on the way out. It will work out
best for everyone if we’re not harassed.”

They stared at each other in understanding. Wilfred rubbed his
sore eyes again and said, “Sounds to me like you might need a
guide. Y’know, to make sure you stay out of trouble and don’t get
harassed.”

Robyn smiled. “And what about your job as a gate
keeper?”

Wilfred shrugged. “Godwin will wake up eventually. And you pay
better.”

“
Godwin’s the other guard?”

He nodded.

Robyn chuckled and said, “OK then.”

“
Let’s get these horses in for the night.” Wilfred said as
he scratched his eyebrows.

“
I don’t like this,” Marion whispered to Robyn as Wilfred
lead the horses into the barn behind
The Goose and Bridle
. “How do we know he’s not
leading us into a trap. Or trying to steal the horses?”

A ferocious sneeze echoed through the barn.

With a tilt of her head, Robyn said, “I don’t think he’s the
horse-stealing type.”

Another sneeze, more violent than the first, ripped through
the air.

“
I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for a kip,” Eleanor said
as she folded their belongings into her apron and tied the corners
together into a makeshift hold-all.

“
Will Bella be all right in here with the horses?” Ellen asked
as she walked the reluctant cow towards the barn.

“
They might let her in with us,” Eleanor said, “Bring her over
here and we’ll find out.”

Another ferocious sneeze barrelled out of the barn.

“
He’s going to blow his head off,” Marion said. “I’ll give him
a hand.”

Robyn rapped her knuckles on the back door of the inn. When
the landlady opened it, she saw four women and a cow. “Right then,
put the beast in the barn and we’ll find a room for
you.”

“
There’s six of us,” Robyn said, mentally adding Marion and
Wilfred.

“
And the cow stays with us as well,” Eleanor said.

The landlady gave a haughty sniff and said, “If you want
beasts under the same roof, you’ll have to stay at
The
Unicorn
.”

“
She stays with us at home,” Eleanor protested.

“
Mother, it’s fine. Bella will be all right in the barn.” Robyn
didn’t want to stand around arguing. It would draw too much
attention.

At which point Marion and Wilfred came out of the barn.
Wilfred’s eyes had swollen into the shape of cracked
eggs.

“
Bella has to go in the barn too,” Robyn said.

“
I’ll do it,” Marion said, taking the cow’s harness and leading
her away.

The landlady didn’t let them one step closer to the door. “We
don’t let anyone with pox stay here.”

“
It’s allergies,” Robyn said.

“
Looks like the pox to me. He’ll have to stay out in the
barn.” She said, crossing her spindly arms over her
chest.

Wilfred sneezed so fiercely he stumbled.

“
The pox! He’s got the pox!” The landlady said. She took a step
back and slammed the door in their faces.

“
Want me to smash the door in?” Joan asked.

“
Not this time. But thanks anyway. OK Will, if you can still
see where you’re going, take us to
The Unicorn
.”

***

No qualms from the landlady about the cow staying in their
ground-floor room with them at
The Unicorn
. The dirt floor looked as even and dry as
the one at home. The straw rushes had a fresh and welcoming wheaty
aroma. There was a cot in the corner with sashes of hessian tied
across the beams for a base. Eleanor put the sheepskin on it and
pushed the frame into the corner so that whoever slept against the
wall wouldn’t fall out. She, Ellen and Joan lay down in it and
declared it very comfortable.