‘Gotta wash away my stink!’ Azeem said, waving her towel like a flag as she backed away. ‘Fab to meet you, Robin.’
After a few steps Azeem stopped by a lively group cooking flatbreads on a hotplate and began speaking fluently in Arabic. The only word Robin made out was his own name.
‘I think Azeem is asking them to give you food,’ Marion explained. ‘Are you hungry?’
Pain and worry made it hard to gauge his appetite, but Robin hadn’t eaten since breakfast the previous morning and figured he ought to try.
As they stepped onto a lavish Persian carpet, an elderly woman drizzled honey on a square of her just-baked flatbread and passed it to Robin. The warm flaky dough and melting honey made him smile as he bit into it.
‘So good!’ Robin said, trying not to get honey on his fingers as he took a huge second mouthful.
‘It’s a Moroccan bread called m’smen,’ Marion said, as she got a slice for herself. ‘I could live off this stuff. Especially when it’s still hot.’
The baker seemed pleased with Robin’s reaction, but in the background three women and a boy aged about nine were frantically chattering in Arabic. Robin kept hearing his name, but was baffled as the boy pointed at his bow, which was over Marion’s shoulder because of his weakened state.
The slender boy stepped in front of Robin and nodded. His face was young, though he was almost Robin’s height. He looked down at the carpet and spoke nervous English, his pronunciation excellent, but each word requiring brow-furrowing concentration.
‘My lady the grandmother wants to ask,’ the boy began, as he pointed at a woman sitting on the carpet, ‘are you Robin Hood, who used a bow to shoot Guy Gisborne in his …’
The boy didn’t know the English word, so he looked down and made a pained expression and a cupping gesture between his legs.
Azeem still hadn’t gone for her shower and shrieked when realisation hit.
‘You’re that kid who shot Guy Gisborne in the grapes!’ she blurted, pointing at Robin as she broke into a huge grin.
‘He did what?’ Marion gasped.
‘How can you not have seen?’ Azeem asked. ‘It’s hilarious! Gisborne had to have an operation in Locksley General Hospital. Someone in the emergency room made a video when he arrived and it’s trending everywhere.’
‘There was no nurse on duty, so Dr Gladys made me sit with Robin all night, in case he started vomiting,’ Marion said. ‘My phone was almost dead and the Wi-Fi’s horrible down in the clinic.’
The slender boy grabbed a cracked-screen iPad off the carpet, then opened a local news website and passed it over so Marion could see.
‘You said cops tried to frame you for stealing …’ Marion told Robin accusingly, as they saw a headline on the Locksley & Sherwood Gazette website.
GISBORNE SHOT
Hospital spokesperson says injury serious but not life-threatening.
Below the headline was a picture of Gisborne looking respectable in a grey suit and tie, alongside school photos of Robin and Little John with WANTED stamped across them in red.
Marion read aloud, ‘Locksley Police Department has launched a manhunt after esteemed local businessman and charity donor Guy Gisborne was shot in the groin area with an arrow. Two ruthless youths attempted to rob Gisborne, 42, as he made breakfast waffles for his children at his East Locksley home. Brothers John Hood, 16, and Robin Hood, 12, then bound Gisborne with rope before escaping with cash and valuables in his $130,000 Mercedes automobile …’
‘Esteemed businessman!’ Marion snorted.
‘Gisborne’s an absolute scumbag,’ Robin blurted. ‘That story is rubbish. We weren’t anywhere near his house.’
‘The Locksley Gazette was once a decent newspaper,’ Azeem explained. ‘But Gisborne’s thugs threw the editor’s desk out of a fifth-storey window, then told her she’d be next if she published more stories criticising their boss.’
The woman who’d given Robin the m’smen smiled at him and began eagerly telling Azeem a story in Arabic.
‘Tala says she used to run the best bakery in Locksley,’ Azeem translated. ‘Gisborne demanded protection money every week. When she hit a tough patch and couldn’t pay, his thugs broke in and cut open a water pipe. Her basement flooded. Her ovens and equipment were ruined, and they ordered her to leave town. Now Tala’s broke, but she says Robin Hood gets free m’smen for life, because someone finally stood up to Gisborne and gave him what he deserved.’
‘That’s kind,’ Robin said, nodding as he licked honey off his thumb.
‘It takes guts to shoot Gisborne and rob his car,’ Marion told Robin admiringly. ‘But I wouldn’t walk in your shoes if you paid me ten million bucks. He’ll move heaven and earth to hunt you down.’
Robin knew Gisborne would be after him, but Marion voicing the danger gave him chills.
Azeem gave Marion a filthy look.
‘Don’t freak the poor boy out,’ she scolded. ‘Robin is safe here. The truce has stood for more than a decade: Forest People stay out of Gisborne’s crooked dealings in Locksley and his thugs don’t enter the forest.’
‘I know,’ Marion said, holding up her filthy hands defensively. ‘But even normal guys get angry when you shoot them in the plums. And Gisborne whips people for kicks …’
Azeem put a hand on Robin’s shoulder and gave him a reassuring look. ‘Once I’ve showered, I’ll seek out Will and we’ll find the best way to keep you safe.’
Robin hardly heard this because he’d had a brainwave and wanted to confirm something he’d read on the tablet. He moved too quickly and got a blast of pain through his skull, then he scrolled to the top of the tablet screen and confirmed that the Gazette article had been published less than two hours earlier.
‘It says “wanted” under both pictures,’ Robin said as he zoomed in on Little John’s face. ‘Which means my brother is still out there.’