Rise of the Wolf (The Forest Lord Book 3)
Page 32
Still, Robin had never been particularly shy, except around Matilda when they'd been younger, so he dismounted, handing the reins of his horse to a nearby guard with orders to return the beast to the castle stables. Then he climbed the steps up to the gallows and stood at the front of the raised platform where he gazed out at the crowd silently. Eventually, the people noticed the blue-liveried soldier and realised the show was about to begin. The clamour of happy, excited voices dropped until, at last, there was silence. Some unfortunate gossips failed to notice the quiet and were shouted down, red-faced and abashed at the dozens of angry eyes boring into them.
Robin took a deep breath, cleared his throat and, with a small smile towards his wife who returned the look encouragingly, addressed the gathering.
“This is Matthew Groves of Sheffield: convicted thief, murderer and rebel. By the authority of our King Edward, second of that name, and his representative Sir Henry de Faucumberg the High Sheriff of Nottingham and Yorkshire, the criminal is sentenced to be hanged by the neck until death doth ensue.”
Robin watched as the wide-eyed prisoner was readied for his doom then turned back momentarily to look at his friends and family. Will glared up at Groves as if he wanted to kill the man with his bare hands; Little John's steely eyes glistened and Robin wondered what was going through the giant's head; Friar Tuck made the sign of the cross and his lips moved in sad, silent prayer.
Matilda's expression was the one that hit him the hardest though – she was watching Matt almost as murderously as Will and Robin nodded to her in understanding. Much had grown up with her in Wakefield too after all.
He was glad little Arthur was nowhere to be seen. Aye, he'd wanted his son to be there to see justice done but now the time was upon them... it didn't seem right to make such a small child watch a man die. He wondered where the boy was, then recognised the back of his sister Marjorie's head moving away through the crowd, his son's small blonde head by her shoulder and another diminutive figure – Beth Scaflock – by their side.
The young-folk had no desire to see the execution.
Robin gazed around at the excited mob, cheerfully awaiting the sight of a man they didn't even know suffering a humiliating, painful death and he sighed heavily.
Such was the nature of man. It was why they were here today, after all.
He turned to look at his former outlaw companion whose glassy eyes focused on him, lip curling into a sneer of sheer hatred as Robin stood directly in front of him, hand raised.
“I'll see you in hell, Groves,” he growled. “Say hello to Gisbourne and Adam Gurdon for me. I'll be along eventually with my sword and longbow to make eternity fucking miserable for you all.”
His hand dropped and the hangman kicked the stool out from under Matt's feet.
Robin let out a long breath that he hadn't even realised he'd been holding in.
It was over.
Adam Gurdon/Bell. Sir Guy of Gisbourne. Matt Groves. All dead now. Only the bastard Prior John de Monte Martini still lived but he was an old, old man and would be dead within a year or two if Tuck's judgement was right, while Robin and his men and their families were free and had, God willing, many long happy years ahead of them.
Leaving Groves's corpse to swing Robin jumped down from the gallows and pushed his way through the cheering, hooting crowd to take Matilda in his great arms.
“I made you a promise,” he told her. “To win a pardon, one way or another, so we could be a proper family. Well – now we can be a proper family.”
They embraced, tears of both joy and sadness in their eyes and then, without a backward glance, the big yeoman led his wife away to find Arthur and Marjorie and all their friends.
For now, their adventure was over. They were free at last.
It was time to live.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Author's Note
I had to make some tough decisions when writing this, the penultimate book in my Forest Lord series. Allan-a-Dale being killed off was probably the hardest, being a character I really enjoyed writing, but outlaw life was dangerous and even the good die young...
The final scenes were also hard. In my original draft Matt Groves suffered a long, drawn-out and quite gruesome hanging. One of my first beta-readers suggested it was too much so I toned it down. Even at that my editor said it was too much. I felt it had to be in there in some way, though. Matt's been a big part of the series after all, so... hopefully I managed to strike a decent balance.
The first three books in this series have covered a period of only two years. The next, and final, book in this cycle will, necessarily cover a much longer time period. I always wanted to stick closely to the original Robin Hood ballads while throwing in little twists and ideas of my own and I plan to continue in that vein for the last Forest Lord novel. He's not an outlaw any more, but will he and his companions finally find the peace they've desired for so long?
I don't know, honestly, I haven't even begun to plan out the story! You'll just have to wait and see...
In the meantime I'm working on another novella, similar to Knight of the Cross. This one will star Friar Tuck, takes place in Christmas 1323 not long after the events in Rise of the Wolf, and will be published in December 2015.
After that... who knows?
Thank you all for joining me on this amazing journey. I never in my wildest dreams imagined so many of you would read and enjoy my books.
You rule!
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Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE