Chapters (76)
- Title Page
- Copyright Notice
- Dedication
- PROLOGUE
- PART I
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- PART II
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- PART III
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- INTERLUDE
- PART IV
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- INTERLUDE
- PART V
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- PART VI
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- FORTY-FOUR
- FORTY-FIVE
- INTERLUDE
- PART VII
- FORTY-SIX
- FORTY-SEVEN
- FORTY-EIGHT
- FORTY-NINE
- FIFTY
- FIFTY-ONE
- FIFTY-TWO
- PART VIII
- FIFTY-THREE
- FIFTY-FOUR
- FIFTY-FIVE
- FIFTY-SIX
- EPILOGUE
- AUTHOR’S NOTE
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
- Newsletter Sign-up
“I knew it wasn’t real!” Stutely gloated, looking around, but there was nobody close enough to hear. It was just the troll, Robin, and a short lady with dark strawberry hair. She had strong child-bearing hips and no man with an arm around her. “I knew he wasn’t nothing. What makes him so different ’en me? That’s what I’d like to know.”
“Nothing,” Robin answered curtly. “That’s the point. I’m just like you.”
“Well, you’re not just like me, now are you?” Stutely asked, flashing a smile to the strawberry woman, whose eyes widened. She knew it, too. Stutely was ten times the man of any Robin Hood. “There ain’t much to you, now is there, and not even a little boy’s beard!”
“That’s not quite what I meant,” Robin said, but the woman who was slowly falling for Stutely found it amusing. “I mean about being a hero. I’m the same as anyone.”
“The same as me? Did you put antlers on your head when you heard the Sheriff?”
Robin blinked. “I don’t know what that means. You’re missing the point, friend.”
That’s right, Stutely winked at his new lady. I’m a fancy talker, with lots of words, even the great Robin Hood can’t keep up with me. He resolved to start telling everyone Robin was a wanted poacher, too. That ought to make them believe his story about the stag.
They walked for a bit together, and Stutely meant to aim them to a place where he could give the woman an opportunity to sit down and take her clothes off. But he noticed her arm slip under Robin’s, and Stutely knew she wasn’t for him. What a woman like her could see in a lying coward like Robin Hood, he didn’t know. She had probably never even been with a man, and liked Robin because he reminded her of her girlish playmates.
They continued talking about themselves, and Stutely tricked them into walking ahead so he could fall behind and leave without them noticing. They’d be so puzzled when they realized he was missing, and would wish they had asked him more about himself when they’d had the chance. But they didn’t really deserve to hear any stories about Stutely’s bravery. They liked to talk haughtily about feelings and ideas, and there wasn’t anything Stutely hated more than people who were full of themselves, and so out of touch with the real world.