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He growled, bared his teeth, and tried to shrug me off. “They’re proven thieves, little thorn. Get off!”
Alan ran up, looking past us. “You twins had best vacate the premises. And don’t come back.”
The Barnabys turned and fled, boots flattening the grass.
Will shoved me away. “What the fuck was that?” His swords shook in his hands, his anger palpable.
I looked from him, to his father, to Alan. Then to the jar. “Bloodshed won’t get you what you want, Will.”
“She’s right,” Alan said. “It will only make exporting your father’s goods more difficult. You might not want to see it, but you can’t deny it.”
The peasants watching the scene were starting to disperse. They had hoped for blood, or at least a brawl, and were disappointed.
“Now you’ve told every person here that it’s all right to exploit and cheat my father,” Will said, throwing his arm out wide. “You fucking fools.”
“No,” I said. I grabbed his face in my hands, trying to regain control of him. My heart raced when I stared into his dark eyes. I saw an inferno in them. “We’ve shown that your father is to be respected. You kill those men, he’ll never get the help he needs. It sets a precedent. People here don’t watch you because they love you, Will. They do it because they fear you. If you get them on your side, your father’s business will flourish.”
I knew this from years of working with my mother. Mama Joan taught me that finding help was easy, but finding good help was not.
Moments later, two men walked up to us. They’d been watching the altercation. “We’ll work for William Elder,” one of them said. “He’s a fixture in Ravenshead. Least we could do in his ailing years. Don’t want his years of dedication and hard work to be in vain, aye?”
The other one thrust his chin toward Will. “Long as you aren’t gonna be here to oversee.”
Will’s jaw clamped shut, still angry. The shadow over his face slowly vanished. “As long as you’re honest, I have no reason to regulate.”
“Honest as they come, sir,” the first man said, thumping his chest with a fist. “Just ask anyone in town. The Barnabys work for cheap because they’re swindlers at heart. Untrustworthy lot, that whole family.”
Will scoffed. He turned away, clearly still conflicted about what was happening. He asked his father in the doorway, “What do you think, Pa?”
The old man blinked. He had that distant gaze, and had probably forgotten what was happening.
Finally, Will Scarlet looked to me. His eyes scrutinizing and narrowing. He gave me a tiny nod, sheathed his swords, and turned away.
I smiled at the two men offering their labor.
“When can you start, gentlemen?”
Chapter 32
Robin
“If you’re expecting thanks for what you did back there, keep expecting,” Will chided. “That goes for both of you.”
Alan and I glanced at each other and smirked. We knew we’d done well for Will’s father, even if his angry son didn’t want to admit it.
I felt good about myself for helping stop unnecessary bloodshed. Did the Barnaby twins deserve punishment for what they’d done to that poor old man, stealing his honey right from under his nose? Of course they did.
But Will Scarlet wasn’t a judge or executioner. He couldn’t go around killing every person who offended him. Probably how he got in this outlaw mess in the first place.
“Hoy,” Alan said, “this girl just rescued you from making a bigger shit-storm than you already were. Think of the band. We don’t need those eyes scrutinizing us.”
“I’ll gladly spill blood for my family, Alan-a-Dale. You know that.”
“Aye. That’s what I’m afraid of.”
Will’s family values surprised me. He’d shown more tenderness and patience with his ailing father than I thought possible from him. I began reappraising my opinion about him while we made our way back to camp and the sun fell around us.
What I was not surprised about was his penchant for violence. His bloodthirstiness. He had told me to keep my eyes open to see why he was the way he was. I’d done that and was no closer to understanding his violent short temper. He still had some explaining to do to get on my good side.
