“The arrow swift to wound is already drawn from the quiver ; soon will the blow be struck …”
Robin of Locksley joins the annual village games, signifying the ancient battle between the ‘Lord of the Hood,’ and The Dark.
A night of good cheer turns to terror as soldiers arrive to arrest Robin’s foster father, accused of poaching and witchcraft.
During a struggle between Robin and a Norman master, the lord is killed and Robin made “wolfshead” – a term for a hunted man with a price on his head. Joining with his cousin Scarlet, John Little and Much the Miller’s Son, they must flee across the bleak moors of Derbyshire where Robin encounters St.Anne of the Well, who reveals the real meaning of the Hood Game …
Seeking haven in the “Bright Forest,” others soon join Robin’s band, including the wild, drunken Irish bard, Alan of the Dale, Brother Tuck with his three wolfhounds, and the Lady Marion of Blidworth, rescued from the lecherous advances of Guy of Gisbourne.
Word then comes to Sherwood. The Devil is loose! King Richard Lionheart, freshly returned from captivity, retakes Nottingham back from the corrupt Sheriff, a supporter of Lackland. A chance encounter with Robin, and promises of pardons, brings the Lord of the Hood and his men into the Siege of Nottingham Castle …
The Outlaws break free of the King’s almost hypnotic hold, but Gisbourne is in pursuit using dark enchantments spun by the Witch of Papplewick.
BATTLE. BETRAYAL. BLOOD-FEUD.
( The Hood Game: Rise of the Greenwood King is the first in a three book series presenting a Robin Hood rooted in the primal legends of the Greenwood.)
