The Rebels of Cordovia Read online

  Daniel stared at the arrows and then glanced at her with disbelief. She was a great marksman. Everyone cheered. Robin’s men ran to her, hugging her and congratulating her. Merek lifted her in the air as he laughed.

  As the crowd gradually left, Daniel took the Freemen and Robin’s Rebels aside and announced, “Robin and I have some business to discuss. Everyone may celebrate by eating the meal we’ve provided.” Turning to Miles, he said, “You’re in charge.”

  Then he took Robin by the arm and led her into the woods for a long discussion. When they had enough privacy, he stopped beside a log and invited her to sit down. She did as he suggested and waited. Daniel didn’t know how to begin. The fact was, Marie didn’t know how he really felt about her. She was an enchanting young woman. She was beautiful with a determination that made him stand up and take notice. And today’s competition sparked an admiration in him that he never had for any woman before.

  Taking a deep breath, Daniel began, “You’re good. Very good. I’m impressed. Who taught you?”

  “The best teacher around,” she said in a low voice.

  He nodded. “You couldn’t have had a better teacher than your father. Andrew is the best swordsman I’ve ever encountered. I didn’t expect him to beat our best man. He’s twice the age of Jonas. I was surprised.”

  Robin’s eyebrow creased with puzzlement.

  When Daniel saw it, he said, “Don’t play with me. Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “Tell you what? I don’t understand.”

  Daniel knew she wasn’t about to confess who she was. He felt frustrated as he said, “I want you to know that my beliefs are the same as yours. I don’t believe in bloodshed anymore than you do. But I believe in fighting for our rights, for our freedom, and defending our families. Isn’t that what you believe?”

  “Yes, that’s what I believe.”

  “Then I think our groups should merge.” He gave a curt nod. “Yes, I know you won this match. But aren’t we on the same side? We both want the same thing, to win this battle against King Rupert. We can’t do it without being united.”

  She nodded. “You’re right. I think it’s something to consider.”

  “Consider?” Daniel said with disbelief. “The king has his men out looking for you. There’s a price on your head. He has men in every village patrolling it. We have no more time for considering anything. We need to act and we need to act now. Are we going to support one another and fight for the same cause?”

  Robin stood and looked into his eyes. She was waiting…waiting for that special feeling deep inside that never failed her. It was an instinct whether this was right or wrong…sort of like women’s intuition. As a warm glow filled her bosom, she instantly knew her answer. Daniel was right. If she stalled any longer, it might mean the difference between ending this battle or prolonging it.

  With resolve, she said firmly, “All right. Let’s merge. We shouldn’t wait any longer.”

  Daniel grinned from ear to ear. He was elated. As he gazed into her dark brown eyes, she looked so appealing to him hidden behind her mask. Her very presence seemed to have an effect on him. Without another word, he took Robin by her slender waist and pushed her against a tree.

  He looked into her astonished eyes and smiled. “What a woman!”

  Daniel pulled her mask from her face and dropped it to the ground. When he saw her surprised look, he smiled. Then he leaned toward her and brushed his lips against hers. He noticed that she didn’t push him away or turn her head, so he did what his heart told him to do. He pressed his lips to hers, giving her a tender lingering kiss. After a moment, he kissed her again, but this time he kissed her like he had never kissed a woman before. As his lips tenderly caressed hers, he felt her melt into his arms with a sigh. How he adored this young woman and her tenacity!

  He gave her one delectable kiss after another. He knew he had to let her go. This was not proper. He had only seen her twice before. But each time they met, Daniel knew he was captivated by her very charm.

  As he caressed her shoulders and ran his hand along her back, she sighed and then softly gasped. That gave him the message that he needed to stop.

  When he pulled away from her, he noticed that her face was flushed and her eyes were softly gazing at him. She was breathless, as if his kisses had affected her quite a bit. He knew the effects she had had on him, as well, so it wasn’t hard to guess.

  Robin took a deep breath, licked her lips, and finally broke the silence. “How did you know?”

  Daniel smiled when he noticed her breathlessness. He tenderly caressed her face with his fingers and said, “It was the way you bit your lip and rubbed your hand against your leg when you get nervous.”

  Robin stared at him. “You noticed that?”

  “Among other things.” He took her hand in his and said, “I noticed what delicate hands you have.”

  He gave it a squeeze. “And your mouth. No one has heart-shaped lips like you, Marie. I guess I shouldn’t have noticed, but it wasn’t hard to. I finally realized that you weren’t who you said you were.”

  “But I am,” she said firmly. “I’m Robin Marie.”

  “Robin Marie?” He smiled and raised his brow. “So what shall I call you? I’m so used to thinking about you every day as Marie. It might be hard to make the transition to Robin.”

  “You think about me?” Robin said with astonishment. “Every day?”

  Daniel cleared his throat and nodded. “Why is that so hard to believe?”

  She smiled and asked, “What shall we tell the rebels?”

  He replaced her hat upon her head and tucked her mussed up hair inside. Then he handed her the mask and took her hand, leading her toward the group of men and women.

  “We tell them who you really are. They should know who their leaders are. We have united and we’re now one. But we will have equal say in the planning and strategy.”

  She nodded. “You’re right. I need to let your men know that I’m a woman.”

  Daniel stood before the Freemen and Robin’s Rebels and told them that they had joined forces. The Freemen cheered. Everyone saw the respect Daniel had for Robin. His men didn’t know she was a woman yet because she hadn’t taken her hat off. Daniel knew it was time to tell them who she was. They were all seated on the ground, eating and listening to his announcement.

  He turned to her and smiled as he said to the group, “Robin is a great leader and archer. She won this tournament but has agreed to unite with us. Andrew, her father, is a great swordsman. We will all benefit from this unity.”

  The men looked puzzled as they mumbled, “Did he say ‘she’?”

  “No, I don’t think so. You misunderstood.”

  “I heard him say it. He said ‘she’.”

  Daniel laughed as he took Robin’s hat off her head, pulled her soft hair out of its bun, and let it fall upon her shoulders.

  The Freemen were shocked. Some gaped their mouths open. A few swore softly as they said, “Who would have guessed! Not me!” Others stared at her like they couldn’t believe their eyes. They were speechless.

  Finally, one man stood and said, “That woman beat you at archery, Daniel. A woman! She beat you.”

  Daniel laughed. “You bet she did. I want your attention, men. Listen to me.”

  Everyone quieted down.

  “Yes, Robin is a woman. She is to be admired. And we will treat her with respect at all times.”

  The men understood what he was saying and immediately cheered for their new leader. Robin’s Rebels looked around and saw how the others had accepted her. This pleased them.

  When the cheering died down, Merek stood and asked, “What are we going to call ourselves?”

  Daniel looked at Robin and shrugged. It didn’t matter to him. He had gotten what he wanted… in more ways than one. Yes, he had kissed her and what a kiss it was!

  Robin smiled at the men before her and said, “We’re going to be known as the Freemen. That’s a good name and I like what i
t represents… a free people.”

  Daniel was surprised. He didn’t expect her to change their name. This touched his heart. He wished he could thank her properly once again, but one kiss for the day was all he could handle.

  Chapter 7

  The following morning Daniel sat down with Miles and Simon on one side of the table, while Robin sat with Andrew and Merek on the opposite side. They were discussing strategies to retake the kingdom. After a long discussion, Daniel finally said, “I don’t understand one thing. Why aren’t muskets allowed in Cordovia?”

  Andrew cleared his throat and explained. “As soon as Rupert took over as king, he sent out a decree that no one could have muskets in their homes. If our homes were searched and one was found, the father was imprisoned. That frightened most everyone.”

  “Why not swords?” asked Daniel.

  “After much contention, he finally allowed us to keep our swords. He realized it was more of a sport than anything and it was upsetting the people too much. Besides, sword fighting draws an audience. It’s a real skill.”

  Daniel nodded. “So that answers my question why I saw the port covered with soldiers, checking our baggage. They said no one was allowed weapons that were not approved by the king.”

  Robin interrupted as she said, “We’ve given our opinions how to end this revolt. Now it’s your turn. What do you think our plan should be? We’ve already riled the king and he’s got soldiers in every village now. He’s mad.”

  Daniel tapped his fingers against the table in thought while everyone waited in silence.

  Robin had not said much during the meeting. She had allowed her father to say it all. In fact, all she could do was stare at Daniel and wonder why her heart fluttered every time he glanced at her and smiled. She wondered if it was because she had such great admiration for him and because he was a good leader and believed as she did. Or it could have been for the exact reason her father had said as they walked to the meeting that morning.

  Andrew had turned to her and noticed she had fixed her hair extra nice and wore one of her favorite dresses to the meeting. He had commented on it and said, “You like him, don’t you?”

  When she blushed, he laughed. “Nope. I was wrong. You have finally fallen in love. It’s about time, young lady. I was getting quite worried about you. You’ve been just too picky about who courts you.”

  “No! I’m not in love,” said Robin as she shook her head in denial. “I’ve only seen him three times. We don’t know one another that well.”

  Andrew laughed and said, “That’s all it takes.”

  “What?”

  He grinned. “The first time I met your mother I couldn’t take my eyes off her. We talked for hours about many subjects. She even laughed at my ridiculous jokes and I thought she was so adorable. That was it. I knew I had lost my heart. By the third visit, I knew she would be mine forever.” He nodded. “Yup. You’re in love and you don’t even know it.”

  Robin blinked and pushed the memory from her mind as she looked at Daniel. Was her father right? She had never been kissed like Daniel had kissed her. It had created feelings inside her that were new to her. When he glanced at her and smiled, her heart fluttered once again.

  He then turned to the men and said, “I’ve got an idea. We need to prove that the king murdered Edmund. So we need to find the missing servant who attended to him and have her tell the people what kind of man Rupert really is. If we can convince her to testify against him, then the people will join forces with us and take out Rupert.”

  Andrew nodded. “That’s a good idea. But there’s one problem.”

  “What’s that?” asked Daniel.

  “Well, if we take this servant from town to town to talk to the people, then the soldiers will get wind of it and scatter them and then grab our witness. They’ll probably arrest whoever is disturbing the peace, too. It won’t work.”

  Daniel smiled with confidence. “That’s why we won’t speak to small groups. The soldiers can disrupt us and arrest whoever attends. So we’ll have a large group, so large that they can’t arrest anyone.”

  Merek interjected, “So large that when we convince the people of Rupert’s wicked ways, they will all storm the Palace along with us. Then we’ll put in our own judges as King Edmund had wanted. It will be the choice of the people.”

  “I like it,” said Andrew.

  Daniel looked at Robin and said, “A lot of people are blinded to what kind of person he really is, especially the wealthy. A lot of my father’s friends believe he is a just man. They think Rupert is a great leader because he is so eloquent when he speaks.”

  “Eloquent?” asked Robin with disbelief.

  “Oh yes,” said Andrew. “He’s very persuasive. Because he has a charismatic way of speaking, no one suspects the true character of this man. When he outlawed muskets, everyone cheered. They said there would be no more shootings and the law could be in better control.”

  Robin nodded. “That’s right. The law is in control now.”

  “So we’ve got our plan ready to go,” Andrew said soberly. “We’re now on a quest to find Edmund’s servant. I think we should have our most trustworthy men searching for her because if any of the rebels slip and mention what we’re doing, then it could get back to the king and he would thwart our efforts. He’ll even go looking for her, as well.”

  “Where shall we begin?” asked Merek.

  “With our friends and neighbors,” said Daniel. “We need to talk to them and find out if they knew the servants of the king. If they have no knowledge of them, then we should ask them if they know anyone who might.”

  “But that’s not all,” said Robin with determination. “We need to find the king’s Legionnaires. They’re the ones that will give us the strength to fight against Rupert.”

  Everyone was in agreement. So the search was on.

  Since Andrew was going back to the Bakery, Daniel asked if he could walk Robin home. She was elated and accepted his offer. She noticed that he was dressed extra nice today… not in his rebel’s clothes. Not that he didn’t look good in them. In fact, he looked great… just like a rogue. But today, he was dressed different. Today he wore a fancy Cravat at his neck, a long sleeved white shirt, a green sleeveless waistcoat, and tan breeches that came to his knees with white knee socks. He was as handsome as ever.

  As they slowly headed down the road, Daniel asked, “Are there any more like you at home?”

  She laughed. “I have four older sisters. They’re married and have kids of their own.”

  “Do they know how to fence and shoot an arrow like you?” Daniel asked with a grin.

  Robin laughed. “Papa tried teaching them but they weren’t interested. They had other interests. But when Papa took me aside and began teaching me, it seemed so natural. When he saw how much I loved it, he taught me more of the difficult moves in sword fighting. We also practiced archery every day. He once told me that I would one day use my skills to defend Cordovia and he wanted to prepare me. When I heard about the rebel groups in other villages, I told Papa that I wanted to get a rebel group together in Charlottesville and he encouraged me.” She smiled. “It didn’t take long until I found other young men and women who believed as I did.”

  Daniel laughed. “You amaze me.” As they turned into the walkway of her home, he stopped beside a large oak tree and asked, “By the way, whose idea was it to wear a mask?”

  “Papa’s. He didn’t want anyone to recognize me.”

  “Good idea. I like your leggings. Was that his idea, too?”

  She nodded. “I used to wear trousers but it was too loose fitting. I couldn’t jump on my horse quick enough. Papa also thought it would be easier to fence if I wore tights.”

  Daniel chuckled.

  “What?” Robin asked when she noticed the humor in his eyes.

  “You don’t want to know.”

  She smiled. “Of course, I do.”

  “Don’t take offense, all right?”

  S
he nodded.

  “Well, I didn’t really take notice of your clothes until I found out you were a woman. Then it didn’t take much to notice your leggings. In other words, it was quite distracting.”

  Robin blushed. “I can’t believe you said that.” She shook her head as she said, “You shouldn’t have noticed. That’s not proper.”

  He laughed. “Everything I do isn’t considered proper. Here I am, an aristocrat’s son, acting like a rebel. And how about the woods? What did I do? I kissed a lovely maiden.” He threw his hands in the air. “I’m just a rebel. A rogue! You can’t reform me.”

  Robin knew she should be shocked, but for some reason she enjoyed his teasing.

  Daniel smiled and said, “I promise, Robin Marie, that I will try harder to act like a gentleman. After all, that’s how my father raised me.”

  “Thank you,” she said earnestly.

  He tried to hide a smile playing at the corners of his mouth but it was hard. He chuckled as he took her hand and gave it a squeeze. “See you tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow?”

  “Yes, I thought we could visit your neighbors together. I don’t want you going out alone with so many soldiers about.”

  Daniel smiled, turned around, and sauntered down the road. He was feeling lighter on his feet than ever before. Robin Marie made him feel exhilarated and alive.

  Chapter 8

  The following day, Daniel picked up Robin and they visited all her friends and neighbors. She introduced Daniel as a distant relative who was visiting. They asked him where he was from and then he asked them what it was like to live in Cordovia. That soon led to King Rupert and the reaction was always the same. They would frown and groan, giving him the message that they were not happy with their king. That gave Daniel the opportunity to ask what it was like when King Edmund ruled. Those who were in their forties did not remember much because they were in their teens at the time but whatever they remembered was positive. Those in their fifties and sixties would smile and reminisce.