Charles quickly tied Cornelius to a tree, then the climbed into the same one Richard and Donald were perched in. It wasn't very comfortable. The branch was knobby and rough, and he feared it would snap with both of them on it.
Somehow it managed to hold all of them, just as a magnificent carriage bounced along the path. It was the finest carriage Charles had ever seen, a mahogany vehicle trimmed with gold inlay and hubcaps made of solid gold. A trunk of leather and metal was strapped to the back end.
Velvet curtains pulled back to reveal Skutch and a figure in a heavy black cloak, their head swathed in a silky red scarf. He couldn't tell if this was the “lady guest” or not. Skutch held a slender hand bound in an iron manacle. “Don't worry, my lady,” he purred. “Queen Malade has special plans for you. All she wants is for you to use your magic to read the forest and find that meddlesome Robin Hood and his men.”
“I'd rather stay powerless for the rest of my life than betray those men,” a gravely female voice hissed under the scarf. “They've done more for the people of Nerdocrumbesia than a rich bastard like you could ever dream of!”
Ira grabbed her cheeks. “Careful what you say. Malade has spies everywhere. One wrong word from you, and you'll make a lovely statue in the garden with your loudmouth husband.” He poked his head out the window as the woman yanked her face from his grasp. “Stop here, Sir Gautier. I want you to lead our guest as deep into the woods as you can.”
“I think that woman is a prisoner,” Charles whispered. “He tried to hurt her! And she stood up for all of you.”
Lean and lanky Orson gave Richard his shining grin from another tree. “Looks like we have two precious treasures to rescue, the trunk with the loot and the smart lady who doesn't want to be with Ira.”
Richard nodded. “I won't leave her to be abused by the likes of Skutch. She should be returned to her family.”
As soon as the cart stopped, Sir Gautier dragged out the figure in the cape. Charles could now see that she was tall, but slender and boyishly built. Her long wrists were bound in heavy iron cuffs. The scarf fell back enough to give a small glimpse of graying curls and flashing dark eyes before they shoved her into the woods.
“You and Gary go after the lady. Dick won't harm her, but I wouldn't put it past Skutch to.” Richard held up his bow and arrow. “We'll release the treasure and those golden caps.”
“But...but...” Charles had no time to explain he wasn't a bandit or adventurer before they all leaped out at the guards. “Um, right.” He hit one guard with his lute before just barely avoiding getting a sword in the gut. “I think I'll find Gary and go help the lady.”
As it turned out, the lady didn't need their help. “What in the hell are you doing, Dick?” she snapped as he shakily raised his sword to her chest. “If you're going to play with sharp objects, go help the bandits get that tax money and return it to the people where it belongs.”
“I can't do it.” Charles and Gary hurried over just in time to see Sir Gautier bring down his sword on her iron manacles, breaking them to bits. “Queen Malade ordered me to take you into the woods and cut out your heart. I just can't do it.”
The woman threw her freed hands over her chest. “I appreciate that, Dick. I like my heart where it is!”
“I'll get a heart from some animal at the castle.” He winced as they heard yelling on the road. “Get going! I'll deal with Skutch.”
“No, Dick. I can handle this,” the lady called to him as she threw her hand on an apple tree by the road. The second she touched it, a green light flowed into the trunk, and it moved and swirled on its own. Her fingers brushed against an oak, and then a willow, all with the same green light. “You boys might want to move.” She waved her hand, and the apple tree hurled its fruit right into the guards' faces! “This could get a little rough.”
“Whoa!” Gary just missed being pelted by acorns. “Thanks, ma'am! Whomever you are! Now this is more like it!” He pulled out a knife and jumped right into the fray.
Even with the lady's produce-pelting trees and willows that grabbed guards and threw them into the road, Skutch and had more men with heavier weapons than Richard and his crew. Charles shoved two more away with his lute, then grinned as he passed Cornelius. “You go help them, boy.” He untied the horse and sent him into the fray to frighten Skutch's proud stallions and kick guards away from the trunk.
Skutch was fighting Richard, trying desperately to reach for his hood. “Let's see who you really are,” he hissed as he tossed Richard's bow away. “You're not so tough without your arrows!”
Just as he was about to tear it from the shorter nobleman's head, Charles strummed his lute and let loose with the loudest, highest note in his repertoire. The crowds of guards were already making him nervous, but he figured if he stayed near the trees, where there was more space, he would be fine.
“Damn it!” Skutch put one hand on his ear and tried to grab at Richard with the other. The bandit slashed the Sheriff in the arm with his last arrow, just as a fat apple klonked him on the head. “You're going to pay for that, Hood!”
“No, it's you who'll be doing the paying, Skutch.” Richard leaned on his bow, giving him a wicked grin under the hood. “We'll take that trunk and the lady you were driving with. I don't think she really wanted to be spending time with you.” Big Nipsey tossed the remaining men into the carriage and Sir Gautier pushed the rest onto their horses.
“Good luck finding her.” The skinny nobleman gave Richard a death glare. “Next time, Hood...ow!” The willow threw Skutch into the carriage before grasping the door and slamming it shut. Richard slapped the flank of the lead horse, sending what remained of it bouncing back down the path.
It took Donald and Bobby to hold up the hubcaps. “Pretty nice haul we had here.” Donald flicked the gold rim with his plump finger, listening to the metallic sound. “Yeah, these babies are fourteen karat, all right. They'll fetch real money at the goldsmith's in Holly Woods. Maybe even in the thousands.”
“And look at this!” Orson let the gold and silver coins in the trunk spill through his thin fingers. “This is enough to buy bread for everyone in Nerdocrumbesia, never mind Holly Woods!”
Charles took Cornelius' rein and gave him a nuzzle. “Good boy!” He managed to find an apple that wasn't smashed into the dirt and fed it to his steed. “You deserve this.”
Richard gently placed a hand on his shoulder. “Thank you for saving my hide, sir. You've done us a great service. If there's anything we can do for you...”
“Well,” Charles blushed a bit, “I could use a place to stay for the night. I assumed Cornelius and I would sleep in the royal palace, but we were almost literally thrown out.”
“Can he stay with us?” Gary pleaded. “Boss, he's my teacher! You saw what he can do today. He might be able to help.”
“We have room.” Richard boldly threw the velvet cloak he'd snitched from Skutch over his shoulders. “I think we could use your talents, Master Reilly. Your music would do much for our morale, and your four-legged friend could carry lighter loads.”
“By the way,” Orson added as he and Donald hefted the trunk, “what happened to Skutch's lady friend?”
The forest seemed empty now. The trees only swayed in the breeze. Piles of acorns and smashed apples littered the ground, and the willows had torn limbs. “I don't know,” Charles admitted. “I think she was a friendly sorceress. Skutch was going to have her killed, but Sir Gautier let her go.”
“I wonder why she didn't stick around?” Donald asked his boss as he hefted the hubcaps onto a crude wooden sled.
“If she's smart, she'll catch the next carriage out of the kingdom, before Skutch finds out she's still alive.” Richard tugged the cloak around his shoulders. “I think it's time we took our loot home and decided how to divide it among the people.”
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