Robin Hood by Courtney Garner (the beginning after the end novel read .txt) 📖

The bow's string bit into my already calloused fingers and a few strands of unruly chestnut hair floated into my eye. My prey, an unsuspecting doe made the slightest noise as she waded through the brush in my direction. A few more steps and I would let the arrow fly in a path that would cleanly pierce her heart. The furry creature would never even see me perched high in the tree with my dark leather vest and pants. I smiled and pulled the string back to take aim. My bicep burned comfortably with the familiar weight.

The doe looked up suspiciously from nibbling on the grass and I finally heard what she had. Below me in the trees more leaves rustled and I saw the bronze fur of a large mountain lion crouching on a strong branch. If I had been lower it could have pounced on me but as it was the damned thing was just going to take my kill. The deer turned to bolt and I cursed as I let my arrow fly. Not wasting any time to see if I hit her, I knocked another arrow and took aim at the mountain lion. It looked up at me and twisted to the side, out of the tree. The arrow thumped solidly into its side and it fell to the ground dazed. I wasted no time launching myself out and rolling as I hit the ground. My bow slid comfortably over my shoulder and I ran flat out in the direction the deer had taken. That deer would feed me and several others who needed it. I wasn't letting it go. After tearing through underbrush, briars, and over a fallen tree only to find a few drops of blood I concluded that my arrow hadn't brought the animal down. Dammit all to hell! That stupid mountain lion just had to get in my way. Just my luck. Leave it to Robin to screw everything up and lose dinner. If I didn't head back now and find something else then the kids in town would be disappointed. They counted on me to feed them most nights. Remembering the felled lion I rushed back wondering if mountain lion was edible. At least the hide would be good for something.

The spot where he had fallen held only a pool of blood to prove he had ever been there. I followed the crimson droplets to a large leafy fern and drew a knife from my belt not knowing how much life he had left in him. Carefully I pulled the leaves of the fern back and dropped my knife in surprise.

Laying in the leaves, half conscious and very naked, was a bloodied blonde young man with my arrow sticking out of his side. I stumbled back a few steps and stared in shock until he moaned. His moan brought me out of my daze and I fell to my knees letting my hands flutter helplessly for a moment before I regained my senses. I decided that this was a great time to prioratize and I could worry about covering him up later and besides it wasn't like I had never seen a naked man before. Or a dead man.

"Are you awake?" I asked while leaning down to to listen to his heartbeat. He gave a weak grunt in reply but it was a good sign and I saw his eyelids flutter. Gently I slid my hand underneath him and felt to see if the arrow had passed all the way through. I exhaled in relief when I felt the arrowhead. My life just got a whole lot easier and his life just got a whole lot more likely to continue.

The arrow had missed anything major but he was losing a lot of blood and I needed something to stop it with. I shed the cloth sack on my back that I used for small game like rabbits and pressed it against the base of the shaft. He cringed away from my hand and his breathing became more labored.

"We're going to have to walk a little bit, OK? It's not far and you can lean on me but you have to carry some of your weight." I looked at his face as I spoke but he just closed his eyes and let his head lull to the side. There was a loud crack as I whipped the back of my hand against his cheek. He opened his eyes.

"Not necessary" He mumbled in a husky voice. Putting one arm behind his back and keeping one on the wound I managed to get him up and leaning heavily on me. If I had been your average girl who hadn't been roughing it in the woods for the past year then I didnt have a doubt in his mind that he would have bowled me over. As it was I had difficulty walking the short distance to my hideout. On any other occasion I would hesitate to take someone here but it did seem like I had somehow shot this boy. I would sort that out later.

We got to the base of the tree that supported my home right before he passed out completely and I checked that he was still breathing before setting him on the platform that I used to lift heavier items into the treehouse. I grabbed a vine on the huge tree and shimmied up into the high branches where I lived in a very well concealed dome like structure made of entwined limbs and ply wood. After a few minutes of tugging the rope connected to the platform I managed to pull him inside and only jostle the arrow a little. I layed him down on the pallet on his side and retrieved the pitcher of water and a bowl. Now came the really fun part.

I snapped off the end of the arrow with some difficulty and grabbed hold of the tip that was sticking through his back. I'm pretty sure he was drifting in and out of conciousness at this point and I felt really bad about this. Not sure if it was the right thing to do I reached out to stroke his dark blonde hair that was dampened by sweat. He tensed at first but then let his head fall against the pillow. I yanked the arrow out in one hard jerk and used a rag to staunch the new blood flow as he arched his back. Thankfully the bleeding soon slowed and I wrapped a bandage around his midsection and turned him gently on his back. He was once again unconcious.

After covering him with a blanket and checking his breathing I wet a rag and tried to scrub away the sweat and grime. As the dirt came off in streaks I began to notice how handsome he was. His face was slender, chiseled, and graced with high cheekbones. Working my way down over his shoulders and stomach revealed that his body was also slender but well muscled in a way that made me clench in places that hadn't felt that way in a long time.

I also spent some time trying to get the blood off of myself seeing as how a lot of it had ended up on me. By the time I finished cleaning up it was dark outside and any hopes I had of catching anything else had disappeared. Hopefully everyone would be alright without me for a night and I could make up for it later with some big game.

I took an extra blanket and laid down next to the boys prone form, listening to him breathe. It was comforting to have someone with me after being alone for so long even if he did have to be injured and unconcious for me to get him here. I smiled and drifted off to sleep where images of my arrow piercing the mountain lion ran through my head over and over.

The next morning sunlight shone through the small window and I woke early to find the boy still out cold. In the light I could see that my vest was still covered in blood so I unclipped all my knives and gear from it and reattached them to my one other vest that I rarely wore because of the strip of smooth stomach it revealed. I turned away from the boy and stripped the old one off quickly and slipped into the buttersoft brown leather. When I turned around he had opened his eyes and was staring intently at me.

"Oh, so you're a peeping tom now?" I grabbed the bowl of drinking water off the small table that served as one of the few pieces of furniture and walked over to him, helping prop him up and hold the bowl to his lips as he drank eagerly. Once he had drank the contents of the container I sat it down on the floor and studied his face intently.

"Who are you?" I noticed how perfect his lips were as they shaped the words. I had been alone for too long.

"Who are you?" We both deserved answers but he was not going to get many. I sure was.

"None of your business" He stared hard into my eyes. I let it drop for now. He wouldn't be going anywhere for a while so I had plenty of time to coax out answers.

"You can call me Robin." I said, fiddling nervously with the blanket. Suprisingly his eyes didn't widen at the infamous name. Atleast it was infamous in Nottinghamshire. Even if he had heard it he was unlikely to connect it to me as I was a girl. "How do you feel?" I waited to hear his voice, this time determined to really listen to it.

"Sore."

I nodded. His voice was deep but smooth like water running over stone. "That can be expected."

"Where am I?" He asked looking around at the woven walls of branches.

"My home. You want to explain what happened? Who shot you?" At my last question he slid a dark look my way to which I responded by crossing my arms.

"I really would prefer not to." He replied smugly. "You're a wierd girl, you know that Robin?" Now he was looking at my weapons that I kept strapped to my body.

I shifted to hide some of the glinting metal. My voice was dry when i answered. "So I've heard."

He put his arms behind his head or atleast tried to but made a face as the movement stretched his wound and settled for only one arm. Then something occured to him. "Am I still naked?"

"Completely" I almost wanted to laugh. Almost. Only my lips twitched slightly.

"And you carried me here... naked?" His face wasn't paling like I wanted it to. He just looked kind of suprised.

"Yeah" I snickered and dug through a chest to find what I was looking for. The loose leather pants I wore when I needed to disguise my slim figure as that of a man might fit him since we were both tall.