Path of the She Wolf Read Online Free PDF Page A

said.’
    They stood quietly, watching the old woman sip the brew. Marian did not want to make Gerta more fearful, but she was filled with foreboding. The sound of a horse clopping through the darkening woods made them even more worried, but it was Isabel who rode into the clearing. She swung down from her sturdy grey mare and they saw from her face that she had something bad to tell them.
    ‘What now?’ whispered Marian.
    Isabel would not speak straight out. She sat down beside Gerta and took hold of her hand, then began speaking gently, hating the news that she brought. ‘There’s three young lads been caught chopping down palings on the edge of Sherwood.’
    ‘No!’ Gerta cried.
    Isabel nodded. ‘I fear so. Hundreds of deer are loosed, and the verderers furious. The new Sheriff de Rue, has sent word, they’re to be hanged.’
    ‘Ah no!’ Gerta cried again.
    Magda gasped. Brigit’s hands shook as she took the cup back from Gerta; only Marian was stony-faced.
    ‘Not my lads?’ Gerta whispered. The old woman startedrocking backwards and forwards while Magda sat down on her other side and tried to comfort her.
    Isabel’s face twisted with pity. ‘There’s more, but I don’t know whether to say it!’
    Gerta stopped rocking at once. ‘Tell me!’ she demanded. ‘I have to know!’
    ‘The three will not give their names, but the oldest is a tall dark haired lad and the youngest fair and nowt but a child.’
    ‘My Davy! They cannot hang my Davy. He’s only eleven years old!’
    ‘If my father and Robert were here,’ Magda growled. ‘If only Tom were here.’
    ‘Well, they are not,’ said Marian angrily. ‘They have gone off on a wild goose chase. What fools we’ve all been! How could we think the King would end the Forest Laws just like that?’ She snapped her fingers hard. Then she took a deep breath and sighed. ‘Well, our men are not here, so we must take action ourselves.’
    ‘Aye,’ Isabel agreed. ‘We must do something, but what? We must think hard and fast. The lads are due to hang tomorrow at noon at Ollerton Crossroads. The Sheriff himself will ride there to see it done.’
    Marian frowned, tapping her head, racking her brains for an idea. Then she suddenly looked up. ‘I’m asking myself, what would Robert do if he were here? And, I think I know.’
    ‘Huh!’ Magda snorted. ‘He’d disguise himself in filthy rags. He’d dress himself as a potter, or a priest, or a tinker, and he’d go marching right up to the gibbet!’
    ‘Exactly!’ Marian agreed. ‘And that is what we will do! We’ll disguise ourselves and we shall go marching right up to the gibbet. But, I do not fancy filthy rags; I have a much more respectable idea. The boys live close to Langden, do they not? The Sisters of the Magdalen are Langden’s nuns. Couldn’t they insist on seeing them; to pray for their souls? Surely any man who refused such a request would fear his own soul damned!’
    ‘Aye,’ whispered Gerta, faintly hopeful. ‘My hut’s within the bounds of Langden Parish. The sisters would have the right to beg such a favour! But even if you managed to get them away, then the sisters would be followed and punished. We’d all be punished!’
    ‘Yes,’ said Isabel. ‘But if we disguised ourselves as nuns and called ourselves by another name, not the Sisters of the Magdalen, then perhaps it could just work! It seems your brave lads will not admit they are from Langden, so the Sheriff doesn’t know where they really come from. I think they mean to save us from trouble by keeping quiet. It might be just that courage that brings us the means to save them!’
    ‘You could call yourselves St Bridget’s Nuns,’ Brigit suggested, her voice shrill with sudden excitement. ‘There were St Bridget’s nuns, who lived near Goldwell when I was a babe. Mother named me after them. But the last old nun died three years ago and now the convent stands a ruin in the woods.’
    Marian hugged her. ‘Clever