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Robin
Idashed out of the clearing seconds after making the wager with Will. My heart raced at his words, and my body thrummed with heat as I took to the undergrowth of Sherwood Forest.
Running freely with my hood back, the wind in my hair, and the trees blurring on all sides, gave me a sense of comfort and freedom. For the moment, I had one task: get to the tree before Will Scarlet caught me.
My incessant thoughts of Little John’s absence, of Will’s violent debacle, of my brother’s miraculous survival, were all stuffed to the back of my mind. Instead of those dreary things, I had a narrow mind for victory. A competitive spirit took hold of my body.
I was energized despite being exhausted and, essentially, sleep deprived. The curmudgeonly swordsman had been flailing my ass for hours, teaching me how to fight. Now I needed to make up for my lack of battle wits with something I was good at: running.
I scoffed at the thought as my legs spun like wagon wheels. After losing Little John, I’d made a declaration to the Merry Men that I was tired of running. I wanted to fight.
There’s a time and place for everything, I suppose. And right now, I’m simply trying to win a bet.
My mind faltered at that. It slowed my pace as I came upon a thin babbling creek surrounded by birches.
Was I trying to win this? After all, Will’s words of wanting “every perfect inch” of me if he caught me kept playing in my head on a loop. Every time I thought of those words, my blood sang louder.
Putting a hand on the smooth trunk of a birch tree, I flared my nostrils. So much for not thinking about Will or John while I’m running. With that, I took off at a sprint, pushing away from the tree. My eyes swiveled left to the right, scanning the leafy terrain, while my ears perked up at every cheeping sound coming from the branches and bushes.
The woodlands were going through their seasonal change, golden-orange and copper-reds mixing with the swirl of brilliant green around me.
I flew like an arrow through the breeze. Will had given me a head start, yet he didn’t divulge how much of a head start he was giving me. I was running blind. It made my spine tingle with anticipation.
The main road lay just to my right, visible from the corner of my eye. I could have jetted over there and run on reasonably flat ground, though I would open myself up to Will’s scrutinizing eyes. He’d undoubtedly see me, which I wanted to avoid.
Speed was important in a race, of course. So was stealth and cunning. I had a feeling this was more a test of the latter than the former.
Will Scarlet wanted to see how well I could navigate the woods in case of an emergency? A sudden escape situation? Well, he was about to fucking learn I was the forest. I grew up in the woods surrounding my estate, fleeing to the trees whenever I could to get away from my duties and life.
This terrain was my specialty.
There was another reason to avoid the road, too. The chance of being discovered by traveling merchants, by errant knights, or vigilant scouts, rose exponentially if I skittered across the trade road. I had to always keep the safety of the Merry Men at the forefront of my mind. We had a nice hideaway and I didn’t want to mess that up for us by being careless.
Will and I were certainly being reckless with what we were doing. That fact dawned on me within minutes of leaving the sparring glade. With no Little John or Friar Tuck to chide, scold, or lecture us on the dangers of being alone, we had nothing holding us back.
We were two of the youngest Merry Men, Will and I, and perhaps it showed in our heedless abandonment of safety, cover, and protocol.
Even here, I had a duty. It wasn’t to some arbitrary family legacy or to vexing suitors or my bloodline. It was to the friends and lovers and comrades I had made in the short time since joining the Merry Men. I owed them my life, and I wouldn’t jeopardize that.
But I am jeopardizing that . . . aren’t I?
My feet slowed again.
I shook the thoughts away and barreled forward, through a wishbone-shaped tree and into a copse of wildflowers and thick shrubs. The colors were a beautiful swaying rainbow. I tuned them out and dashed to the other side before I could get side-tracked—
A snapping twig made me gasp sharply, glancing to my left where the sound came from.
A dark shadow burst through the green and pink wildflowers, and I careened the other direction, gritting my teeth.
I chanced a look over my shoulder once I controlled the blood rushing in my ears, and noticed two squirrels or hedgehogs scampering the other way.
My frayed breath expelled as I continued on, relieved it was forest critters rather than the forest wolf himself.
When I came to a large boulder at the base of a sloping hill, I knew I was near the Grinning Oak. I could either charge over the hill or go around it and run into the greenery. Charging through would expend more energy, yet it would be faster. Maybe that’s what Will is waiting for? What if he’s waiting at the top of that knoll after finding some sort of shortcut to get there?
I bit my lip, chewing incessantly, my eyes darting across my two paths. “Shit,” I muttered to myself. Inside, I asked, What would Robert do?
Then I dug my heels in, pushed off, and lunged up the hill. My thighs burned, my brow sweat, and my arms churned at my sides as I ran with everything I had.
