4 October 1123

William bristled with frustration as he watched his family working in the fields. His father cleaved wide paths through the wheat with sweeping cuts of his scythe, while William’s two eldest sisters followed in his wake and baled the cuttings to dry. William’s mother and youngest sister sifted the dried grain in the shade of the field’s giant oak. William had his own mindless role in the process, bashing bales of dried wheat with a flail. It had been the exact same routine for almost a month and William was sick of it.

Judging by the sun, Pa was still a long way off laying down his scythe and ordering the family back home to rest. William looked down at his pile of unsifted grain and guessed there would be enough to keep Ma and Elizabeth busy for the afternoon. He glanced around the field once more and saw that his family were all absorbed in their tasks. No one paid any attention to him.

A devilish thought crossed William’s mind. He stole the opportunity and slunk away from the field like a sly fox, nabbing an apple from Ma’s basket before dashing into the woods to find his friend.

Ralph’s family farmed a nearby field that also backed onto the forest. William was pleased to find Ralph’s family similarly distracted with the harvest. Ralph worked alone, stacking sacks of grain into a hand cart.

William tossed his apple core into the trees and snuck closer to the boy.

“Oi, Ralph!” William called in a hushed voice. “Get over here!”

The large boy jumped at the unexpected sound and looked up, spotting William hiding behind a boulder.

“Why are you hiding?” he asked, casually strolling towards the rock.

“Shh. Get. Over. Here. Your brothers will see you.” William dragged Ralph behind the boulder. “How’s your family almost finished already?”

“Father says it’s going to be a bad year so we shortened the drying time so we’d finish in the fields before the rain sets in.”

“Yeah, yeah,” William dismissed. “All I’m hearing is you have time to get away for a bit.”

Ralph started to protest but William withdrew a messy bundle from his pocket. “I made another sling. Come on, let’s give it a try.”

Ralph was torn, staring at the unstacked sacks next to the cart. “Mother will scold me if I leave the others to return the cart. Again.”

“Not if you bring back a pair of juicy rabbits,” William said in his most enticing voice. “Quick, let’s go!”

William dashed off, trusting that his friend would follow. The boys were soon running through the woods on one of their usual adventures, imagining bandits waiting in ambush behind every tree. William used a curved stick as a pretend bow and Ralph fashioned himself a wooden broadsword.

They ventured deep into the forest to increase their chances of finding small game. Some mischievous village elders had thought it fun to bait the boys into making a sling, knowing that their strict parents wouldn’t approve. For William, the risk of getting caught by Pa – a village juror – only added to the illicit excitement.

They found a clearing and selected an unlucky tree to use as a target for their practice. The tree had little to worry about.

William was already proficient with the sling when Ralph scored his first hit.

“Good job,” William praised impatiently. “Now let’s find some real prey.”

“Not fair,” Ralph complained. “You got way more throws.”

“We’ll return home emptyhanded if we don’t go after some real animals soon. You want upset parents, again?”

Concern dawned on Ralph’s face.

“Here,” William said with his most convincing smile, “you start with the sling and I’ll herd game towards you. Ten shots and then we’ll swap.”

Ralph reluctantly agreed. “But what if the Baron’s men find us hunting his lands? Did you hear about the old man from Dodington? They cut off his hand and that was just for having deer antlers.”

“Pa said the codger was also underpaying his taxes,” William dismissed. “Anyway, we’d need to actually catch something before worrying about the Baron.”

The pair began their hunt, spreading out to search for prey but keeping within yelling distance. Ralph loosed his stones at a squirrel and some small birds, whooping with excitement after each attempt but managing no hits. He grudgingly handed William the sling and set off in search of game.

Armed with the sling, William felt like David as he stalked through the forest. The towering trees were an army of Goliaths.

William was so focused on the hunt that he eventually realised that he couldn’t hear Ralph. He called out several times but there was no response. William grew concerned. Pa had always warned that outlaws lived in the deepest parts of the forest. He forgot about the hunt and instead scoured the undergrowth for any sign of his friend.

Hoping for a better vantage point to search for Ralph, William started to climb a hill when a clump of bushes rustled. Too big to be an animal, William applied tension to his sling.

With a sudden flurry of movement, a large form lunged out and raced across the clearing towards William. But William was quicker and loosed a projectile at his oncoming attacker.

The hardened clump of dirt hit his friend directly on the forehead, shattering upon impact.

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“Ow!” Ralph complained, rubbing his head and tossing his mock sword to the ground.

William burst out laughing, impressed at his shot. “Sorry Ralph, you startled me. I’m still getting used to this sling.”

Truth be told, William had exceeded his supply of stones and had just hoped for the best if it had been a real outlaw. Not that he could admit that to Ralph.

William’s friend continued rubbing his head and looked up to the sun.

“We should head back Will. We’ve been gone long enough and I really should help bring the cart home.”

William objected. “But if we cross that stream we’ll be further from home than ever...!”

“No Will, my head hurts! I’m going home. Seriously, your family cuts you a lot of slack but you’re almost sixteen. We need to start dealing with extra responsibility before it just gets dumped on us.”

William started another rebuttal but Ralph was already returning to the fields.

“Come on Ralph!” William called. “Let’s keep exploring. There’s a whole lifetime of responsibility ahead of us!”

But Ralph was gone.

William kicked at a small bush and trudged down to the stream to collect more stones for his sling. He crossed the water and defiantly delved even deeper into the forest, well past any familiar landmarks. William saw many unfamiliar plants on his journey and wished his younger sister was with him. Elizabeth enjoyed gathering flowers but William knew she would never venture so far into the unknown.

Elizabeth was William’s favourite sister. Only a year older than William, she was a kind soul and the least likely to berate his frequent skiving from the family’s work. William’s older sisters were prone to constant sniping at his poor work ethic and Ma and Pa’s coddling.

Ralph was right. William’s parents did give him special treatment, allowing him to run off on adventures and requiring fewer chores of him than the girls. Pa had always wanted a son and, after four girls, William was their pride and joy. He understood why his sisters felt hard done by, though it didn’t stop him enjoying his time off.

William came upon another stream and stopped for a drink. Spying some stepping stones upstream, he quickly crossed the water but slipped on the rocks, soaking his foot up to the knee. His soggy shoe made walking unpleasant but William was determined not to let some minor discomfort force him back to the harvest.

William was squelching through the unfamiliar forest when he noticed a strange object hanging from the branches of a distant tree. Even from afar, he knew it was unnatural and had to be the work of a human.

But why would anyone live so deep in the forest?

William’s curiosity got the better of him and he edged towards the hanging object. He pulled his most jagged stone taut in the sling.

As he drew nearer, William was mortified to see that the hanging object was a small red doe. The poor beast hung from a rope around its hind legs. Its throat had been slashed. A slow patter of blood dripped into a pool on the forest floor, raising William’s tension with each drip.

The doe’s lifeless eyes stared up at him. He’d never seen a sadder sight and the memory of the majestic creature seared into his soul.

The beast had been gutted before being hung. William poked the animal and it slowly swung around, revealing the most unusual arrow he had ever seen. A perfect black rod jutted from the animal’s chest, its fletching unnaturally colourful and made of an odd material that was definitely not feather.

William noticed a quiver of similar arrows propped against the base of nearby tree, beside the most bizarre bow he had ever seen. It looked to be constructed from three different parts and was barely half the size of Pa’s yew longbow.

The strange weapon struck William with a terrifying thought. Someone had used it to hunt the Baron’s deer. Only an outlaw would be so brazen. William found the reality of an encounter with outlaws much less exciting than it had been in his games. His mind screamed danger but he found himself frozen in place.

William tried to take stock of his surroundings. The tree stood near the entrance to a small gully, a sloping gouge in the land that ended with a cliff face and the jagged mouth of a cave. The gully was surrounded by trees and thick undergrowth but the entrance to the cave had been recently cleared. There were other signs of human activity around the cave entrance. A neat pile of firewood was stacked against the cliff wall and the remains of a small campfire lay near the entrance. Looking closer, William saw a roughly hewn door inside the cave entrance.

A noise from within the cave startled William back to his senses and he darted away from the gully to crouch behind a nearby bush.

The door opened and a strange young woman emerged from the cave. Her head was a mass of curly red hair and her clothes hugged her body. William found her very attractive.

The woman sang an otherworldly song as she worked, more erratic than parish hymns but more graceful than popular drinking songs. William didn’t understand the lyrics but some words sounded familiar.

William enjoyed watching the woman move purposefully around the camp, kindling a fire and placing a pot of water to boil. She re-entered the cave and emerged with a long knife. William was wondering what she planned to do with it when she hobbled up from the gully and straight to the doe, only a stone’s throw from where William crouched frozen in place.

The tall woman lowered the doe and tenderly lay it on the ground before using her knife to extract the arrow from the beasts’ chest. She cleaned the arrow with a handful of leaves and placed it into her quiver before starting to butcher the beast. She cut with expert precision, each slice of her blade removing a specific chunk of meat. Looking satisfied with her harvest, she hauled the carcass back up the tree and out of reach of forest scavengers. William wished he had a knife to portion a chunk for his family.

The strange woman returned to her fire and threaded the meat on a makeshift spit to hang over the flames. The aroma of roasting meat filled the gully and William’s stomach grumbled at the rich smell. He’d only tried venison a handful of times but knew exactly what he was missing. The woman retrieved the meat as the outer edges began to char and bit into it, crying out as the hot juices ran down her chin. She looked to be enjoying herself and showed no signs of remorse at killing the Baron’s deer.

William skirted around the gully to sit behind her, eager to learn more about the Stranger but anxious not to be caught. The woman packed away her food and started carving an ornate piece of timber. She didn’t match William’s expectations of an outlaw, not nearly half as deranged as Pa had described of his own outlaw encounters.

Hoping to get a better view of the campsite, William edged closer to the cliff. As he crawled, his elbow dislodged a rock which tumbled down the cliff face. William threw himself flat on the ground and felt the Stranger’s gaze pass over him. Down below, he heard her set down her carving and rise from her spot next to the fire.

William didn’t wait to see if she was approaching. He ran.

William skirted around the gully and dashed back across the stream. He ignored the stepping stones altogether and ploughed straight through the water. William didn’t stop running until he began to notice familiar landmarks. Exhausted, he paused to listen for any sign that the Stranger had pursued him but the only sounds were the calls of distant birds and the wind rustling through the canopy. Even then, he walked cautiously.

It was twilight by the time William slouched back to his family’s field, only to find that they had already packed up for the day and returned home. William trudged back to the village as darkness fell and saw Ralph chopping firewood in penance for their day’s adventures. Noting the purple lump that had formed above Ralph’s eye, William gave an apologetic wave. Ralph waved back and all was forgiven.

William arrived at his family’s cottage and went to stash his sling in his favourite hiding place. Reaching into his pocket, he was surprised to find only a couple of smooth river rocks. The sling was nowhere to be found. He prayed that the outlaw woman wouldn’t find the evidence of his visit.

William entered the cottage and sat down for the evening meal. He ignored his sister’s taunts and let Ma’s scolding flow over him while his mind raced over what he had seen that day. Surviving his first encounter with an outlaw filled him with confidence and William vowed to return to the cave.

Soon.

(C) Jay Pelchen 2024. All rights reserved.