Lady Marian

Chapter 6

Father ate his beef with a relish, carving off large slices with his knife and stuffing them into his mouth. I worked hard to match a quarter of his gusto.

"I'm glad to see you are not taken to bed by this. It is apparent I will I have one daughter at home yet. You remind me of your mother, this morning, in a peculiar way. I can almost smell her lavender."

"Yes, Father." I turned the meat over on my plate and wiped the grease off my fingers.

He gulped down some wine. "Still, it is unfortunate you should be betrothed to an outlaw. Do you suppose he will try to meet you at the abbey Thursday next?" Father guffawed. The convent seemed more appealing by the minute. I could not be anyone's pawn there.

"He has been outlawed so soon?" I swallowed a bit of bread.

"Sir Guy sent the town crier about to announce it already. That man will not be made a fool of. I warrant you this, Marian, the earl will be captured before sundown." Father hacked away at his meat. "Eat, my child, I will not have you fainting away at the next hanging—though it may be for your own dear Robert of Huntingdon. Robert of Huntingdon, Robin of the Hood, more like!"

* * *

I saddled my Shadowcrest and set off "in no particular direction" as I told Father. I rode along the outskirts of the forest, praying Robin might see me, that just like the sheriff's conspicuous soldiers, he might be watching me. Then he could give me the sign I so badly needed that he was all right, tucked safely away in Sherwood Forest.

I longed to push Shadowcrest into a full gallop, run headlong over the fields and hills until I found the Dover road. After the ferry and a short journey, I would be safe with Jocelyn. Perhaps I could be a nursemaid for her children; she must have a child by now. At the very least I could enter a convent—taking vows of silence and chastity would so effectively avoid speaking to any man for the rest of my life.

Instead of a nunnery I found myself at Locksley Church, watching a very plump Father Tuck empty produce from my saddlebags onto the stone floor of the small chapel.

"These are very good cabbages," he commented, rolling them over in his hands.

"You know the families who want most, Father. I will not be bringing money anymore—not after what happened last time."

"The Will Scarlett business, you mean? Aye, tis too true. We are much in want after the taxes were raised again. Your betrothed has become quite the hero." Father Tuck glanced at me out of the corner of his eye.

"Will Scarlett did not deserve to die," I said.

"Is Will Scarlett's rescue all? Have you not heard, Lady Marian?"

"Heard? I have not had the opportunity. I have been watched these five days together by my father and the sheriff's soldiers. Do you know, they left a Saint Sebastian medal on my dressing table? And that was before Robin was outlawed. Nay, I have not heard anything but the enemy breathing down my neck." I glanced out a narrow casement to check for lingering sheriff's men.

"Earlier this morning, Earl Weston's carriage was ambushed on the King's Highway." Father Tuck rubbed his hands together rather gleefully for a man of the cloth.

"Robin?"

Father Tuck nodded. "And a few other men. The gold the earl was carrying with him was stolen. It has been told to me that Susan Scarlett received a fair portion." Father Tuck drew a small bag out of his robe and opened it, revealing polished gold coins inside. "The rest shall complement your cabbages nicely, Lady Marian."