“I am the royal tax collector, wretch.” A man clothed in fine scarlet silk doublet stood arrogantly in front of the beggar laying in the middle of the road. “Step away, or we will step on you.”
“My lord, I am but a poor man with a broken back, this is as fast as I can go.” The beggar crawled across the road at less than an inch a minute.
“This is absurd.” The tax collector threw his arms in the air. “Guards, throw this wretch out of my road, now.”
Four of the six guards jumped from around the carriage and ran to the beggar, but just as they reached him, a loud crack was heard from the road behind them.
“What was that?” The tax collector turned back with a worried expression drawn all over his face. “You two, go and check what caused that noise.” He pointed to the two remaining guards.
The two guards rushed out of view to investigate what caused the noise, as the other four struggled to carry the beggar across.
“Why the hell are you dallying?” The tax collector screamed at the four guards. “Just carry the wretch away from here.”
“Your honor, he is way heavier than he looks.” One of the guards panted as he pulled on one of the legs of the beggar. “He weighs at least twice as the strong boxes at the back of the carriage.”
“Incompetents, this is my lot in life, dealing only with incompetents.” The tax collector huffed. “We will be late because of your incompetence.” He shouted at the guards.
A muffled noise came from the direction the two other guards went to, then the four guards carrying the beggar started to fall one after the other.
“What the __” Before the tax collector could fully mouth his question, a man dangled from a rope directly in front of him. “Well met my lord.” The man tipped his green cap. “We have the honor of robbing you, please enter your carriage and you won’t be hurt.” The man winked at the terrified tax collector. “Much.”
Robin came sauntering into the scene followed by twelve other men all in green tights and hoods. “Please, your honor, heed the words of my friend.” He bowed with a flourish and pointed to the carriage.
The tax collector scrambled to the carriage and closed the door after he sat trembling inside.
The beggar stood and removed a belt of lead weights wrapped around his torso. “I thought you could have arrived earlier.” He addressed Robin.
“We got detained, cutting a tree wasn’t as easy as I thought.” Robin shrugged.
“Of course you didn’t, you never had an honest day of work your entire life.” The ex beggar scoffed.
Robin’s men started to pull the strong boxes from the storage space of the carriage and shared their weight as they moved with them back into the woods.
“What happened to those?” Robin pointed to the four prone guards on the road’s ground.
“A short discussion with a blunt weight.” The ex beggar flaunted a lead rod.
“Well, my father always told me to avoid discussions with blunt objects, messes with your head.” Robin made a circle with his hand around his head.
“Come on Will, come on Robin, we need to leave.” The man who was dangling from the rope called at the ex beggar and Robin.
“Give me a minute, I have some beef with his honor there.” Will ran to the carriage and opened its door to the panicked tax collector. “Take off your tights and doublet.” Will made a hasty motion with his hand.
The terified tax collector took off his cloth and handed it to Will.
“Sorry, Little John, I can’t be seen wearing these rags in the inn.” Will shouted to the man who dangled from the rope earlier.
After Will wore the tax collector’s clothes, he turned to Robin. “What do you think?” He flaunted the scarlet doublet.
“Too scarlet Will.” Robin shook his head.
“Good, I think I will keep it then.” Will winked at Robin.
If you liked this story, you can read the first part of this serialized story here: They call me Robin
Or, you can read similar stories here: The End of Days, The Machine, From Hell, and Flare.
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