The Greenwood Shadow Read Free Page B

tell that his muscles were honed for speed, not strength. He didn't look quite as clever as Bill, but he would have been much more handsome if it weren't for his up-turned nose.
    After a long draw on his tankard, Bill finally leaned forward and lowered his voice to a dramatic whisper.
    "Alright. You've all heard them stories about the ghost in the forest. I heard it called the 'forest phantom', or 'the invisible archer'. One fellow calls it 'the greenwood shadow'. Well, we was out in that there greenwood, only a few miles from this very spot. And we seen it for ourselves."
    He paused briefly, and looked around.
    "Yeah, we seen him. And he weren't no ghost. It was the middle of the day, right when the sun was brightest. It takes a bold man to attack in the middle of the day, but this weren't no ordinary man. Seven foot tall, he was, and broad as an oak tree.
    "We was just riding along down the road, minding our own business, when a massive black arrow sails out of the woods, cutting clean through the horse's harness. Well, that spooked the horse something awful, and he took off in a gallop. We was about to ride off after him when six more fellows each took a shot. Three on each side, they struck the wagon just close enough that we got the message. They could've shot us if they wanted to.
    "Me and Aldin didn't know what to do next. There was only two of us plus the driver, and seven of them, all with longbows. But we had our job. We couldn't just leave the wagon to the bandits. `There's thirty men behind us!' I calls out to `em. 'They're not a mile down the road'. Then Aldin catches on to my plan, and says 'if we signal them, they'll be here faster`n you can shoot your bows.' Then he reached for his horn to show them how he could do it.
    "Well, I'd seen them shoot, and I knew that they could kill us long before any help could come. But that still left the wagon with no horse, and it wouldn't serve to kill the guards, and leave the plunder. I could tell we had got them thinkin', and they knew they wouldn't get what they came for.
    "I was looking all round, trying to catch a glimpse of `em, but they was hidden away in the trees. As I sat there looking, suddenly this darker feeling comes over me. I ask Aldin, and he says the same, and so we know something's behind us that weren't there before. I turned around slow, so as not to get an arrow in me back, and there he was, all seven foot of him, dressed like a woodsman and all."
    Here the crowd let out a well timed gasp. Bill certainly knew how to tell a good story. He continued in an even more dramatic tone.
    "He wore a green cloak, with the hood pulled low over his face. Four bags of gold in one hand, giant bow in the other, he nods to us, as if he's just passing the time of day. Then, quicker than a shadow, he's off in the forest again along with his men. And we're left standing there, wondering what's just happened. Course, it's good luck that we fooled `em, because there weren't no party of men behind us at all.
    "Now four bags of gold's no small amount, but it could've been our lives we lost, eh Aldin?" Aldin grimaced, and nodded. Then Bill went on. "Like I tell you, some says there's ghosts in these parts, but I don't think so. He's a man, real enough. But who was he? Maybe a rogue baron that's got greedy for more. Maybe a sorcerer, full up to the brim with dark magic. I don't know. But what I do know is this: afore we got on the road again, there's no arrow or footprint in sight."
    Another gasp from the crowd. Several voices murmured words like 'sorcerer' and 'black magic'.
    "And what's more, I hear tell it happened to another set of fellas only three or four villages over. They lost six bags of silver and a gold-hilted sword."
    By this time, Bill was leaning forward and talking very slowly, so that no one would miss a word. He looked around, making eye contact with several people, and then sat back to take another drink.
    "And that's the truth," Aldin added. "We was out that