The Death of Robin Hood by Angus Donald Read Free Book Online Page A

fearing he had insulted me: ‘Although, of course, we would undoubtedly miss your valour on the walls … In truth, there is something else I require you to do. Something important. Once you have shepherded the townspeople safely to Boxley, I want you to ride to London and wait on my lord Fitzwalter. Tell him the King is at Rochester in his full strength and we need him back here as soon as he can arrive.’
    ‘Fitzwalter knows that already,’ said Robin.
    ‘Yes, he does. But this is a real chance for victory. If Fitzwalter’s army canfall on the King while he is outside these walls, still disorganised and spread out from the march, we can sortie and crush John like a walnut between two stones. I need a trusted man who knows Fitzwalter well, who has his respect, to spur him on. I believe Sir Alan is that man.’
    I looked at Robin. ‘Will you do it?’ he said.
    What could I say but yes?
    I passed through the great hall on my way to collect my mail, arms and a few necessaries, and looked longingly towards the window on the northern side. I could clearly see the chessboard, the pieces in exactly the same position as Robin and I had left them. It occurred to me that even when you know for certain you are going to win the game, fickle chance can sometimes snatch victory from your grasp.
    Robin, Cass and twenty archers came with me as I passed out of the main gatehouse in the curtain wall of the outer bailey. When the huge iron-bound gate boomed shut behind us, I felt a chill of apprehension. It is no pleasant feeling to be locked out of a safe refuge with a vast army bearing down on you. Cass was to accompany me; his knowledge of the county of Kent – even though his family manor was a good twenty-five miles to the south – would prove helpful, Robin had said, as he commended his red-headed squire to my care. My lord had also agreed to help with the townspeople; he had orders from d’Aubigny to seize any food that he could from the town and bring it into the castle.
    I made the proclamation from the back of my horse outside the western door of the cathedral. It was not hard to attract a crowd – word of King John’s arrival had spread and the streets were thronging with anxious townspeople, chattering and calling questions out to each other. It was a dry, grey day, but with a biting wind that reminded me that winter was no more than a few weeks away. I kept it short – brutally short, you might say. I told them I would be leading all the people who would come with me to Boxley Abbey,where they would be safe. They were to take only what they could carry. I told them the town must fall to the King’s forces and their lives would be in grave danger. They would not be admitted to the castle unless they were willing and able to fight. Then I told them I would be leaving within the hour.
    As I made my little speech, I could see Robin’s muscular archers already going house to house, turning the occupants into the street, sometimes none too gently, and emerging with arms full of loaves of bread, sacks of grain, smoked hams, cheeses, anything edible they could find and carry away.
    There was a good deal of grumbling from the crowd. One pinched-faced man in a red hood shouted that it should be my task to protect them, to defend the town against their enemies and, if I would not do that, to give him sanctuary in the castle. I told him if he wished to enter the castle he should present himself at the gate and enlist as one of Lord d’Aubigny’s men-at-arms. He could then take his place among the defenders on the walls. That silenced him.
    Some of the cathedral monks echoed Red-hood’s plea, saying that we should protect their house of God. It was my clear duty as a Christian knight, one cried. I told him God would surely protect his own, if he saw fit, and that my duty, my lord’s command, indeed, was to save as many people as I could from the malice of John’s foreign mercenaries.
    ‘King John is almost at your