Romance Fan Fiction ❯ Prayers Surpass Time ❯ The Chapter in Which I Find Out, Even in Medieval Times, Breaking and Entering Was a Crime ( Chapter 3 )

CHAPTER 3: The Chapter in Which I Find Out, Even in Medieval Times, Breaking and Entering Was a Crime

 

I woke up the next morning with Robin leaning over my face. It seemed this was becoming a habit.

“Good morning, sleepy head. Wake up.” It was still dark…too early. “Vaylie…” …too early…. “Vaylie! Come on, Vaylie, we need to get going!” I opened my eyes. Ha! I was right! It was still dark…and I was sleeping on the ground…in a forest…with Robin Hood yelling at me to get up. I think I should get a psychiatrist. Did they even have psychiatrists back then?

“All right, all right, I'm up, I'm up,” I said, throwing the thin blanket off me. Thank God it was summer, or it'd be too cold to get up this early. As soon as I'd packed up my stuff as Robin had instructed me to do (and I got out of zombie mode) I realized Friar Tuck and Little John were already packed up and ready to go. Then we were off again. “So…” I started. Talking always woke me up in the morning, “Where we off to?”

“The town of Salmstead.” He answered, hoisting the pack on his shoulders as he had the day before. “It's not very far…about five miles from here.” Yah, five miles wasn't too bad for a girl like me.

“Is it nice there?” I asked, following Robin as he began to trek off into the surrounding forest. He looked back at me over his shoulder, eyes sparkling.

“It depends on who you are…let's leave it at that.”

What the heck? I mutter something about “Cryptic much?” but continued to follow him…trying to figure out more about this boy.

Don't get me wrong, I mean, I'd read the book, and I thought what he was doing was great and all, and he seemed really nice…but there was another feeling burning deep inside me, and I couldn't figure out what it was. I sighed. Maybe if the butterflies in my stomach that had seizures every time Robin smiled would shut up I might be able to work out what it was.

But no such luck.

After about fifteen minutes of trekking and absolute silence, Robin turned to me.

“Are you doing all right, Vaylie?” he inquired. Actually, this was easy.

“Oh, yah, I'm fine.” I said and Robin smiled. Stupid butterflies.

“Good. Glad to hear of it.” He turned back to look straight forward but continued to talk. “Little John, Friar Tuck?”

“We're fine, Robin…are you daft?” Little John replied, an amused smile lighting his face.

“That all depends on who you ask,” he replied. “I was just being considerate. At any rate, we will be there soon. About another ten minutes, all right?” He shot a smile over his shoulder and I felt the urge to stick my hand down my throat and punch those stupid butterflies to death. But I decided against it, because that would probably make me seem like more of a weirdo than I already was.

Over the course of the fifteen minutes, Robin asked me what was it like in my time. What do you mean, I asked. I mean like what kind of strange machines are there, he asked. I told him about cars and computers, and started to explain the internet, but then gave up.

The time and miles disappeared behind us and soon enough, we came to the top of a hill overlooking the town of Salmstead. It was just like the pictures I had seen in history books. Quaint little houses and pastures and other things…but wait…that wasn't the town. Those were the outskirts. Beyond them, I could see town houses and nice buildings. Cobbled streets wove winding gray snake, slithering through the rich part of town as I suspected it to be. I turned to Robin.

“Is this what you mean by “it depends on who you are”?” Robin just smiled and kept walking.

“We'll be here for only a short while. I only have one old friend in this town to pay a visit to.” And if you knew Robin Hood like I did, you could probably figure out what he meant.

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We stopped at a small inn near the edge of the “Rich District” as I started to call it in my head. Robin gave me a long cloak with a big hood to hide my face and hair, because I girl would attract to much attention—something Robin Hood already had his share of—traveling with three men. I bit back the response about Robin not quite being a man yet, and just tugged on the cloak.

I got my own bed…I was grateful for that, even though I insisted it wasn't necessary. But Robin, being the gentleman he was, persisted to believe he should make me comfortable since I was a lady. And since there were only two beds in the room, and Friar Tuck had somewhat of a bad back, Little John and Robin agreed to sleep on the floor.

“It's actually quite comfortable,” Robin commented, as he lay down on the floor next to my bed. I peeked down over the side, smiling at him.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, for one, there are no pine needles sticking you in the back. No worrying about spiders crawling in your ears while you sleep—“

“Okay, enough!” I exclaimed, a bit creeped out. Robin grinned impishly.

“What, you're scared of a little itty-bitty spider, Vaylie?”

“No, I actually quite likes spiders—as long as their not in my ears.”

“Good point,” Robin agreed. I started at him. He stared back. “Did you have something else to say?” He inquired.

“Ah…no. Good night, Robin,” I said, pulling myself fully back up onto the bed.

“Good night, Vaylie,” he said, his voice muffled by the distance. I closed my eyes and pretended he had added “Sweet dreams…”

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““Wait here, Vaylie…don't speak to anyone, Vaylie…no you can't come with us, it's too dangerous, Vaylie….”” I kicked a rock, muttering Robin's words in a mock English accent. “Why don't you just go and jump off a bridge stop giving us trouble, Vaylie.” Okay, so he hadn't said that…and I knew it wasn't true. It's just that I was sooooo frustrated that he had left me behind. So what if I was a girl…from like a million years later who had no history in thieving except for one time at the candy store when I was five, and I…

Okay, I know you don't want to hear my life's story, so I'll go on with this one.

Suddenly I heard dogs barking, and I actually smiled as I heard Robin curse loudly. He came bounding over the fence with that amazing agility of his. Then came Little John, who climbed quickly, stumbling as he tried to make it over. And last, but not least, Friar Tuck, scrambling over the fence. Robin caught my wrist and wrenched me around, pulling me away from the house, a burlap sack in his other hand.

“Come on, Vaylie, we have to run!” So I ran. And ran. And ran.

Finally, when I thought my legs would give out, Robin stopped, and I collapsed on the forest floor.

“Well that was certainly an adventure!” Robin panted, his hands on his knees.

“Easy for you to say,” I muttered.

“Now don't be like that, Vaylie,” he said, opening the sack, “I'm not going to let a sullen girl help me hand out all of this.”

My eyes sparkled, and he knew he had me hooked.

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