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I squeezed his hand, echoing him. Miracles can happen.
“Still a bear of a job, but much more manageable,” Daniel concluded.
Robynne glanced around the hall. “Speaking of bears, where are John and Willa?”
We all looked around. Most of the Merry Men were there, but not those two. I was just about to ask when the oak doors of the great hall were thrown open. Everyone looked up, and seconds later, cheers filled the room.
“John! Willa!”
I laughed. Talk about making a grand entrance. John strode up to the banquet table with a buck draped over his shoulders. Willa did the same, carrying a wild boar. When they both thumped their loads on the table, plates clattered, and wine slopped over the edge of many a goblet.
“A late wedding gift,” Willa announced once we’d plowed through the crowd to greet them. “Seeing as you have so many guests to feed.”
Nosewise was right on their heels, nearly bowling me over in his excitement.
I petted him. “Who’s a good boy?”
I am, his whipping tail announced. Then he bounded over to Willa for more petting.
I sighed. I loved that dog, but it was clear he’d found the perfect home with Willa and John in Sherwood Forest.
Yes, Sherwood Forest. Robynne had decided to move to town, but John and Willa had chosen to remain in their camp in the woods.
You know, to keep an eye out for bandits, Willa had joked the previous evening.
“Thank you. We can definitely use more food. I never expected so many guests.”
I motioned to the long line of well-wishers who filed in through one door and out another, picking up the fixings for their own feasts on the way. Some ate at the tables we’d squeezed into the banquet hall and adjoining corridors, while others ate in giant party tents erected in the town square.
“Damn good way to start winning over the people of Nottingham,” Daniel observed.
“Tuck’s idea,” I admitted. “And a good one. But that’s just the beginning.”
We had already discussed more significant, long-term measures that would alleviate taxpayers while still financing public works that would benefit everybody. Cleaning up the streams that ran through town was one priority. Another was installing more public fountains to provide everyone with the modern convenience of clean, running water only a short walk from their homes. Truly amazing what luxuries the latest technology could bring.
Of course, we had only just started, but I felt like we were on the right track. And as for the feast, it was working. Many of the townsfolk were still wary of us, but the more they saw us as normal people and not crazed, wild animals, the more they would grow to trust us.
Not that I’d be revealing my unicorn to anyone. Only my true love, Tuck, whenever we could get away from our duties in the castle.
Robynne looked around the banquet hall, beaming. “Hard to believe this day has finally arrived. And you know what? I have a feeling people will tell their children and grandchildren about this happy day.”
Tuck corrected her. “More than that. They’ll tell legends — about you.” Then he looped an arm around John’s shoulders and joked, “Too bad no one will remember you, John Little.”
The bear shifter shrugged. “Better than going down in history as Little John.”
More chuckles ensued, though Robynne shook her head. “If there are legends, they’ll be about all of us. You, you, and you.” She pointed around, then sighed. “I just hope I don’t go down in history as a man.”
Willa and I groaned, while the men chuckled. Then we all clinked goblets.
“To Robynne Hood — female outlaw and master archer!”
Daniel pulled her in for a kiss. “Master archer and Nottingham’s first alderwoman.”
She grinned. “First of many, I hope.”
We’d barely drunk a few sips when the king strode over with my father and Lord Winthrop.
“A buck. A boar,” the king said flatly, pointing at the table.
