[WATTYS2023 - GERMAN WINNER/Most Engaging World] ** Marian, a thieving nobleman's daughter with too big a heart, meets Robin Hood, a daring thief with a huge ego. Will they be able to overcome pain, longing, and, finally the cruel Sheriff of Notting...
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Marian's gaze fluttered like a startled bird between the two men on the road and the next bend. It wouldn't be long before the carriage rolled up - and Robin stood there like a lonely sheep in the open. Not only was he gambling away their advantage, but he obviously overlooked the surrounding danger!
She wanted to bite her hand with a frustrated yelp. Instead, Marian pressed her lips tightly together, suppressing the anger that nothing seemed to be going to plan with Hood!
"Get off the road, you idiot!" her voice hissed, far too quietly for Robin to ever hear, and Marian's watchful eyes fixed on movement in the nearby undergrowth. What was the greater danger? The carriage with the taxes would be guarded by at least four men armed to the teeth or the hidden figures in the thicket?
'He MUST have noticed them! He CAN'T be that inattentive!' Marian thought, squinting her eyes as her fingers gripped tighter around the bow shaft. Sometimes she wondered if Robin was being so foolish on purpose! He could always turn himself in to the sheriff if he wanted to die.
Robin leaned over the guy on the ground as her pulse picked up speed.
He was lying there with a slightly slanted arrow in his armpit."Get out of here, you carrion! You're spoiling our raid!" it hissed up from the ground, and Marian heard Robin suddenly burst out laughing.
Marian winced at the volume and almost hissed for the good-for-nothing to lower his voice! The carriage was not far away, and they could not risk their element of surprise against trained soldiers.
"I'm ruining the ambush for you?" repeated Robin, with a laugh in his voice. "I think there's been a mistake here." Then he lifted his gaze, green eyes piercing the nearby bushes like a hawk. "You're screwing up my ambush!"
Then the man on the ground opened his eyes, slowly straightened up, knocked some dust from his doublet, and abruptly grabbed Robin by the collar. "Tell me, are you tired of living?" Beneath brown hair that fell in longer strands down his tanned features, Robin's hazel eyes flashed menacingly. "I told you to get out or else-"
Hood raised his eyebrows in amusement. "Oho? Or else what?" he fluted in a mixture of lack of seriousness and curiosity. He seemed actually to want to challenge the finely dressed bandit.
"Or else we'll rearrange your teeth!" Another voice now joined the conversation as a giant of a man stepped out of the thicket. Considering his enormous stature, it was a mystery to Marian how he had been able to hide from her gaze for so long. What he obviously lacked in grace, he probably made up for in strength, for his upper arms were at least the diameter of her head.
Marian's pulse fluttered in panic as the giant took long strides toward Robin and the other bandit. She raised her bow under tightening tension, and the arrow's feathers tickled her cheek as she pulled back the string.
