She was being tested by these men. To fail now wasn’t an option. Settling her plate of untouched food onto her knees she nodded.
“Stories, I’ve got a few. Though,” she shrugged, “I’ve been…erm,” she glanced at Robin from the corner of her eye, they’d discussed that to his men she was a woman who’d been cursed into a mirror, which helped because they wouldn’t exactly expect her to have tons of stories to tell, “I was cursed for so long that I may be a little rusty.”
John’s smile grew wide and devilish. “Aye, but even so, you weren’t born in that mirror.”
Wishing she could reach over and kick him or smack him for continuing to try and bait her to screw up she gave him a swift nod.
“Of course, John, I was just trying to figure out which one I wished to tell.” Her words were saccharine sweet, but dipped in poison.
Snorting, obviously realizing she jabbed him back, John lifted his tankard of ale as if to say “touché”.
Remembering how her father would always start his stories, she settled in. “Once upon a time, long, long ago, in a Kingdom far away…”
One of the men snorted.
“There lived a boy. A very special boy.”
“Oh yeah, what was so special.” A man with a large gold earring in his right ear snickered. “Don’t you know, lassie, they’re all special here?”
He guffawed, which caused a few others to guffaw with him. She well knew what people here thought of their stories.
Waiting until most of the laughter died out, she nodded. “Sure, but this boy was really special. See he was born on a planet far from ours. A planet that was dying. And his parents, knowing they would not survive, put him into a…a…” she frowned, how the hell could she describe a space craft to them, “magical bird,” she smiled, almost wiping her brow with relief, “that would take him through space and time until he arrived at a place where it would be safe for him.”
Jeez, trying to tell a story about a super hero in words they would understand was proving a little more difficult than she’d imagined.
“But when this boy got there, he was different. Stronger. Faster. In short,” she shrugged, “He was god like.”
And so she regaled them with tales of Superman for the next few hours. Making their eyes go wide with disbelief at certain points and then snort with disgust when his weakness was little more than a glowing green rock.
But somehow, by some miracle, she discovered that not only did they all (to include Robin himself) seem to be clinging to her every word, she was actually having fun.
Thank God for Eric’s comic book obsession. Thinking of him no longer hurt so much, now she felt nothing but gratitude for a man she’d never see again, but whom, she’d never forget.
And when it was all over, and the men had departed to their tents for the night, Robin leaned into her.
“Was that true, my pet? Is there truly such a man?”
She could almost hear the hope in his voice. She giggled. “Of course not, Robin. But you put a girl on the spot, and her mind will pretty much always stray toward Henry Cavill.”
“Who?” he frowned.
“Never mind,” she smiled and patted his shoulder, “just never mind.”
*
Four days had passed since that nght, and unbelievable as it was, the mood of the men had shifted. Done an almost complete one-eighty. They no longer looked at her as a curiosity or with hostility, but with hope and frank appraisal.
Not only did she like it, she loved it. Loved mingling with the men, getting to laugh and banter with them. Especially the young boys.
Robin had told her that his men were comprised of all sorts, anyone who wished to fight against the tyranny of Crispin for the freedom of the people.
He still really wouldn’t share with her why they were bringing Crispin down, or what he’d done. Maybe, like in the stories, he was a greedy, corrupt king. Which would be more than enough to want to bring him down.
But she suspected there was a lot more to the story that just that, because the way he spoke of Crispin, there was violence behind it. Pure hatred. Like the kind that could only be achieved from having actually known someone intimately once before, it was just a theory of course, but she’d bet anything she was right. However, anytime she tried to inquire to anyone about it, they’d all suddenly seem to tiptoe on eggshells about it and either not answer or try to distract her with something else.
As much as she enjoyed her days, though, the nights were another matter entirely. When the camp went to bed, only a few sentries were posted, and the world was silent and expectant and she would lie down beside Robin, her body tingling and on fire, waiting, hoping that he might do something. Only to then be terribly disappointed come morning when he remained the gentleman he promised to be.