The Tales of Robin Hood

Chapter Thirteen - Robin

"Crystal!"

"What?"

"I—it just—I—what?!"

"Robin!" she shouted, making me look at her. "What are you trying to say?"

I held up the honey cake. "I—I made it appear."

Her blue eyes widened and a lock of hair fell into her face. "B—but your magic's gone.  A—and that's food!"

"I—I know," I said, "but what other explanation is there?"

Her gaze went from me to the honey cake and back, then she tucked the strand of blond hair behind her ear.  She then went to the corner of her cell, grabbed something brown, and came up to the bars. "Take this," she said urgently. "I think it's meant for you."

"What is it?" I asked.

"It's a book," she said, and I looked at the frayed cover and pages, and thought how old it must be. "A book of magic."

"What makes you think it's meant for me?"

"The symbol on the top"—I looked at the scribble that must be what she's talking about—"it's the symbol for a robin."

She slid the book out through the bars and reached out as far as she could to hand it to me, but when I tried to grab it, my hand couldn't quite get a hold. "I can't reach it," I said, pulling my arm back in. "Can you throw it over or something?"

She tried to toss it to me, but it slipped out of her grasp before she could use much momentum to get it farther. "Sorry," she said. "I don't really have much muscle, being trapped in here and all."

I looked at her small frame and realized just how skinny she was.  I could see her ribs through a rip in her muddy light green dress. "It's okay," I said. "I think I can reach it."

I bent down and laid on the floor, reaching my hand through a gap between the bottom bars.  I couldn't get a hold of it.  A strand of blood-encrusted hair fell in my face and I blew it away, then I heard it.

Footsteps.

Oh, no, I thought to myself. If he catches me...

I lined my hand up with the book and turned my head away, pushing my shoulder into the metal to get my hand an inch further.  I felt my fingertips brush the book and stretched my arm out even more, the footsteps getting louder and louder in my ears.  They beat with my heart, quick and hard, until they both pounded in my ears.

Then my thumb hit the cover.

I grabbed hold of whatever I could get of the book and pulled, the frayed hardback sliding over the dust.  It was heavy, and I could understand why it was so hard to throw, but I gave one big heave, and the book followed my arm into the cell.  I quickly sat on it and crossed my legs, and the Head came into view.

Carrying a girl.

I couldn't make her out, her blond hair covering her face.  He passed my cell without even glancing at me and stopped at Ross's, opening the door.  He went in with a smirk, the girl still thrown over his shoulder, and I could hear Ross shuffle to the back of his prison.  I heard the Head tell him to give him his hand, and then something that sounded like fist-to-face-contact.  I heard a thump, and then silence.  It wasn't long before he left, the girl trapped in Ross's cell.

"Is she okay?" I asked, going to the bars to see if he was really gone.

"I think so," Crystal replied, looking into the prison they were now forced to be in. "Ross got hit pretty hard, though."