A California Girl in Nottingham's Court

Chapter Two

"Isabella is the sheriff of Nottingham?" I asked, looking at Guy. I thought I covered nicely considering that I just found out she was Guy's sister, but he watched me with suspicion.

"Your own sweet little Isabella has betrayed me and tried to kill me, Aylaina." he replied with that same sultry voice he used when I first met him. What turn of events could have occurred to make this happen? I was genuinely perplexed. Guy sensed this so he relaxed.

"I thought the sheriff was a man."

"He was." Guy said nonchalantly, "but I killed him."

That's a good thing, isn't it? I replied looking around at the others. They all shrugged non-committedly.

"It is.' was all Guy said and he got up and walked away.

By this time, the others were all about their routines so I took the opportunity to sneak away. Finding the tree where the rocks were, I took out my pack. Reaching in I retrieved my Mepad. I checked the Tracker. The Tracker was the device I used to travel in time. It would also return me to my own time. Good. Plenty of time. I had charged everything before I left 2020, so the Mepad fired right up. But I had never heard or read this version of the legend before. Sitting with my back against the tree I opened the file that was titled "Robin Hood ~ Legend" and began typing in each members' name. I found nothing unusual. Entering Guy's name the information revealed lots of murder and mayhem for the sheriff, a man sometimes called Robert or George. Then I realized I had forgotten about Much because I hadn't heard that name used often in the stories. This page flew up so different than the others as it was a copy of an old parchment. Someone had printed it in modern English so it could easily be read and went like this:

'These are the words of Much, devoted servant and friend to Robin of Locksley, or Robin Hood as told to Robert of Nettlestone written down for posterity.'

There it was. The story that was unfolding before me, written down as the events occurred. He told of all the things I had learned about Robin and Guy and their brother Archer. I found out why Kate hated Guy as did all the others. He was a baddy for sure! But Robin seemed to trust him even though he had done away with Marian, Robin's wife. Something must have happened because Much didn't understand it either. Having a brother in common did not seem to be enough in Much's opinion for Robin to trust him. I read to the end of the document.

Laying the Mepad on my chest I sighed. Dear God this was not good. Tears came to my eyes as I read of the fate of these people I was coming to know and the heartaches they would suffer. I stayed that way until I fell asleep.

When I woke it was getting dark so I headed back to the camp. Robin met me and said,

"Don't go off like that! The sheriff has men everywhere and you could be abducted."

We all sat down to supper and Brother Tuck gave a blessing for the meal. Unconsciously I began eating and almost choked.

"What's wrong?" Much, the cook, asked, defensively.

"Nothing." I said. "It's - GULP - delicious. I just need a drink." Allan handed me a wineskin.

"Here you are m'Lady."

"Thanks." This time I sipped very slowly and a good thing too; the wine tasted awful, but I managed to keep it to myself this time and passed it back. I kept eating because I hadn't had anything since that morning and even had some more wine. Funny how it got better tasting the more one drank. I started to get a little tipsy and thought, oh no, this will never do. Trying to stand but instead tripping over something, I almost landed on Allan. Luckily he managed to catch me before I completely fell down.