“Contest? Why?” Robin looked at Eva as he shrugged. “Who needs a contest?”
“You do.” Eva almost jumped out of her chair. “And we spoke extensively about this.”
“Don’t remember a thing.” Robin shrugged again. “Besides, I got a good mark to rob next week.”
“Did you got hit on the head? Or is it the ale?” Eva threw her hands in the air in exasperation. “We agreed about this almost a month ago. You train in the longbow to become the best you could ever be, and wow the people at the town contest.”
“Well.” Robin looked at the innkeeper as he cleaned the cups for the next customers. “If we did, I don’t remember.”
“What the …” Eva stood. “Then who will go to the contest then?”
“I will go, just know that I might not the best shot there is.” Robin gave her his best smile, the one he reserved for tax collectors as he stripped the clothes off their backs at the end of a well done robbery.
Eva moaned as she held to the edge of the table very hard, trying not to punch the oblivious Robin. “But you have to win.”
“We can always cheat.” Robin’s smile widened and glint appeared in his eyes. “Eddie can go in my place, he is a fair shot.”
“Eddie is old, he is almost forty five.” Eva shouted. “He also needs a crutch to walk around.”
“Who will know?” Robin laughed. “It will be all under the hood.”
Eva went silent and looked down to the table. “You have to win, it is crucial.” She looked far above Robin’s shoulder. “Perhaps we do have to cheat. We just need to be inventive about it.”
“I am all for it.” Robin rubbed his hands together. “What do suggest we do?”
“First, we need a lodestone, a length of copper wire, some lead, vinegar, and fifty small pots, then we need the best blacksmith in town.” Eva blew out a hot breath.
***
Flags of the King, Prince John, the Sheriff and at least ten other noble houses flew around the town. People from five districts away came to compete in the event of the day.
The usual knight contests were held in the main arena, but around town there was a competition of tossing logs, throwing disks, quarterstaff fighting, and of course, archery.
The biggest attendance was for the contests, next was of course the archery, and as Eva predicted, almost every one in town knew that Robin was a master archer and that he would show for the contest today.
She sat beside the Sheriff and fanned her handkerchief casually around her face. An innocent enough gesture for a lady of her presumed caliber, but she used the gesture to signal for Robin and his men.
They were spread all around the fair, ready at momentary notice to cause a dozen destractions to pull Robin out in case the Sheriff went after him.
The fair took an entire week to erect, and Robin’s band of Merry Men as Eva mockingly called, were among the builders for the entirety of the week.
Her directions were very strict and she threatened a curse of losing the ability to sire children on all of the band if they failed to follow her instruction to the letter.
She also was the one who insisted to have the arrows supplied by the organizers of the contest, her new toy, the Sheriff.
The Sheriff swallowed her ruse of making the contest as fair as could be to ensure non of the contest entrants brought loaded or lightened arrows, specially when his main target was an outlaw who would use every trick in his books to win the contest.
But her fait de resistance, was that she managed to have two of Robin’s men the dispensers of the arrows to the contest entrants, and the trick was set.
Her heart skipped a beat as Robin sauntered to the arrow dispensers and took his six arrows and headed back to the shooting line. The green feather on his hat was bit too much, but he insisted to wear it. His excuse was her own reason for the contest, further recognition of the folk hero.
Robin wavered in his steps a bit, Eva almost called the whole thing off right then, as she was sure that the rogue was filled with the ale he favored above anything else.
Then he shot his first arrow.
The arrow flew through the air, cutting a direct path to the brightly colored target at the other end of the shooting gallery. For a moment, it looked like it was suspended in the air, and then it wobbled, straightened and hit the target an inch from the middle.
The crowds cheered wildly, and Robin took a bow.
The next contest entrant, was a man Eva never saw before, but he had a long scar on his shooting arm, one that looked like a snake hugging his middle finger.
The mysterious man shot, and his arrow went to the center of the target.
The crowd went wild, this was the best shot since the contest began. The cheering was growing into a murderous cacophony. The stranger just went back to his spot.
“That’s my man.” The Sheriff leaned at her ear. “He is unbeatable, and if this outlaw is as good as the rumors claim, we are up for such a stupendous spectacle.”
Eva gave him a shy smile, but she was boiling in the inside. Robin had to win, he had to, or history would change for a far worse outcome. And in that outcome, all of Agartha would be annihilated.
She dabbed her handkerchief at her nose, then her chin.
Two of the men rushed to inspect the arrows of both contestants and gave a thumbs up to the Sheriff, who nodded off handedly.
Robin gave the crowds a flourish then he nocked an arrow, and he let it fly.
The arrow flew as the earlier one did, almost stopping mid flight, then wobbling, then it hit its target.
Which happened to be the stranger’s arrow in the middle of the target board.
Robin’s arrow split the other arrow right in the middle and went through the two inches thick target wood and protruded from the other side.
Eva couldn’t help a squeel of delight.
“Is the lady all right?” The Sheriff looked from the miraculous arrow that Robin shot to Eva.
“That must be him.” Eva wiped her handkerchief across her entire face. “That must be the criminal Robin the Hood.”
“Seize him.” The Sheriff screamed at the top of his lungs. “Get that man! He is the criminal Robin Hood.”
Before the Sheriff’s men could move in Robin’s direction, the end of the gallery sprouted blooms of fire, and people started to run in panic all over the place.
Robin, soon, dissolved among the running masses.
“Hell and demons.” The Sheriff shouted as he pulled Eva and both ran out of the blazing fire in the gallery and the rafters.
As they cleared the area, the fire miraculously started to ebb, and as fast at started, it went out.
“This has became personal.” The Sheriff gnashed his teeth. “Robin lost the contest even if he won, for now I have a face to add to the name.”
“Yes, you do.” Eva panted beside him. “You should put a reward with his face, all over the town.”
***
“I still don’t know how I did it.” Robin laughed as he turned the ale cup upside down. “I swear that the second arrow went off, but you managed to do something with you magic and it broke the stranger’s arrow in half.”
“It is not magic.” Eva smiled. “That was just applied electromagnetism, and that is called science.”
“Whatever, it was just stunning.” Robin pulled another cup of ale to drink.
From Another World.
If you liked this chapter of the ongoing story, be sure to check the other chapters here: They call me Robin, They Call Me Robin, Tax Collector, They Call Me Robin, The Good Friar, and They Call me Robin, The Sheriff.
If you want to support this website, please buy one of our books: Through The Storm, The Eternal Agarthans, The Green Boy, and The Trinity’s Dream.
All of our books are available on kindle and kindle unlimited, you can get a free membership here: Kindle Unlimited.