The Scarlet Forest by A. E. Chandler

Author:A. E. Chandler
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781771871396
Publisher: Thistledown Press
Published: 2017-09-01T00:00:00+00:00

Though the guests and the bride’s father arrived home in good time, the rest of the wedding party remained away all night. Next morn, a search party was sent to the chapel. They found the old groom perched in a tree, where he had spent the night. The organist and his assistant were locked in a room, with men-at-arms in the choir loft, bell tower, even a pair squeezed inside the organ itself. The Bishop of Hereford and his attendants were crammed into the confessional, though not on the priests’ side. Everything sat otherwise in its proper place.

After the mass, the outlaws had taken the bishop out to his horses.

“Methinks, my lord,” quoth Robin, “that your pack animals be too heavy-laden for a man of the cloth. How rich are your tenants that they can spare so much?”

“Nay,” replied the bishop, his mind more often upon his money than upon any other thing, “my rents are but meagre. These two chests are none of mine. I merely transport them, as a messenger with a document. Do not disturb them lest thy soul be imperilled.”

“Surely, there be no harm in looking, my lord.” Robin strode to the lead animal, extracting a roll of parchment from its saddlebag. This he handed to Anne and bid her read aloud.

“The first chest containeth three bales of silk cloth for the Chapel of St. Mary.”

The outlaw nodded. “That we shall leave, for it doth belong to the Virgin.”

The second wooden chest bore an enormous padlock and girded edges.

“This belongs to the Bishop of Hereford,” Anne read.

Robin turned to the churchman. “Did ye not tell me, my lord, that none of your burden was your own? Lying becomes you not. Have ye the key to this chest?”

“Truly I do not,” replied the bishop. “Thou mightest then let it be.”

“Have no fear; we have our own ways of opening locks. My cousin ranks as expert at the job. Will.”

Scarlet stepped forth. He was the strongest in the band for, though Little John stood tallest, the giant was rather thin for his height and, though stronger of arm than the average, not as powerful as young Gamewell.

Will drew his sword. He dealt three clamorous blows with the pommel, and the lock shattered. Kneeling beside the chest, he removed the lid. A flow of starlight spread trinkling over the ground.

Little John bent down to count it. He whistled through his teeth. “Twelve hundred pounds, master,” he breathed. “Truly, I have never seen so much together in all my life before.”

This was an untold of sum. A peasant earned a single pound in a year, and here were rents from more than a thousand.

“That is mine income,” cried the bishop. “Its rightful place is with me.”

“If these are your rents,” quoth Robin, “then ye are more a thief than any of us. We steal without lies, whilst ye seek the same end by more devious means. However, methinks I know the true purpose of this. For we lent a knight six hundred pounds to pay his debts, and God hath sent this treasure to repay us.

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