All this week I'm interviewing potential new recruits for my imaginary company. I've invited several authors to send along some suitable candidates, chosen from among their fictional characters.
Today's interviewee is Robin, nominated by Charlene Newcomb:
AW: Firstly, I'd like you please, by way of introduction, to bring an object for Show and Tell, let us know what the item is and why it is special/important.
R: Good morrow to you, Annie. I give you my bow. I was born Robin, son of a carpenter, and likely destined to follow in my father’s trade. (Oh those poor souls if I had!) Da made my first bow when I was seven summers. It was taller than me, the stave straight. And every year thereafter he fashioned a new one, a bigger one, for me. Da and I argued I spent too much time drawing back the cord, loosing arrows, but that skill took me down a path I never dreamed possible.
Now you may wonder about this bow. When I learnt that the Saracen cavalry used a recurve bow, I paid a bowyer to craft the first of many I have had over the years. I see you frowning at me. Even the bowyer thought I was mad. But I could take down several enemies at a hundred yards in a charge—fewer to face when swords met.
AW: [Hmm, so he checks out the opposition and copies them, huh? That could be useful.] Secondly, I'm going to place four items on the table in front of you. Could you please rank them in order of usefulness/value, with a few words about your evaluation?
These items are: a leather-bound notebook, a horse, a bag of coins, a sharp pointy weapon.
R: I was peasant born, and Da bartered wares from his shop to feed us after my mother passed. Seems we didn’t have much need for coin, so it wasn’t the silver prize that drew me to the archery contest. I knew I was the best archer in Lincolnshire, and I meant to prove it.
I bought my first horse with the silver, which led me to Queen Eleanor. Many think I’m a braggart, but truly, I did save the queen mother from outlaws.
[AW: Really? Seems unlikely. I know some ends of town are a bit rough, but even so...]
R: I see you might doubt my word, but it’s there in Newcomb’s chronicles, those books she wrote. Queen Eleanor presented me with a magnificent stallion and a letter of introduction to her son, Richard, who was Duke of Aquitaine. I crossed the Narrow Sea and joined his mesnie, served him then and all the while he was King of England. Couldn’t have done it with the silver coin I won.
But a man needs only so many pennies. The Church and taxman would take plenty, so I always had a coin or two to help those in need— [clears his throat]—and admit I have helped my friends in Sherwood Forest rob the rich and give to the poor.
Thirdly, I must say the sharp pointy weapon, my sword. I saved King Richard’s life (and my own) a time or two with my blade, in places as far away as the Holy Land.
I have little use for a notebook. I learned to read numbers when I worked in my father’s shop, but in King Richard’s mesnie I became proficient in reading and writing Latin and French, the language of the court. The king frequently uttered curses in langue d’oc, native to where he spent much of his youth, so I picked up a good understanding of some choice words. But I saw no need for a notebook of my own. I leave the writing to the chroniclers, and to my wife Marian who insists we must not leave King John’s minions to muddy my name.
AW: [So, good with figures, but doesn't like to leave a paper trail? Could be an asset. But robbing the rich to give to the poor? Sounds like the opposite of creative accounting.] I have several vacancies in my global corporation. Would you be best suited to the role of CEO, Finance Officer, Head of Human Resources, or Chief Medical Officer? Why?
R: Allan of the Hood, my good friend and former squire, has attempted to lure me to Sherwood Forest for this job you call CEO. But I wanted to give Marian a normal life after all the time we’d spent apart. Well, as normal as I could knowing that King John would put a noose round my neck if he discovered I was still alive. I want to stay at Marian’s side. Despite my flaws, she has remained true to me.
Allan does a fine job leading the Hood. Mayhap I am better suited in Human Resources, recruiting men and women to the forest, knowing who to trust, or when to steer them away from that outlaw life.
AW: [Yep, this lad might be a good one to organise team training days. But onto more general stuff...] You're going on a first date. Who has chosen the venue - you, or your date? How are you feeling - nervous, tongue-tied, or have you totally got this?
R:Marian would have me believe I chose the special spot along the trail between Greyton Manor and Ringsthorpe. But she knew that narrow wooded path as well as I did, past the downed trees we called the sleeping lovers, toward the cove along the stream where the trail widened. We played there as children and rendezvoused near daily as young teens. I was fifteen when I kissed her if that is this ‘first date’ you ask about. We were sitting on a sun-warmed stone in the middle of the stream, our feet dangling in the cool water. She had white flowers in her dark hair. So beautiful. Mayhap that was the first time I realized she was no longer a girl, but a woman I had grown to love. I leaned close and told her I wanted to spend my life with her. [smiles] My tongue worked perfectly fine.
AW: You've been building something - a Lego model, a battleship made of matchsticks, a ship in a bottle, or something similar. Someone you don't get on with smashes it deliberately. How do you react?
R: I had a rival for Marian’s affections, at least he saw himself as one. He was jealous of the time she spent with me. I had built a shelter of downed tree limbs with a thick leaf-covered floor for Marian near our special place. I thought it well hidden, but he discovered and destroyed it. [runs a hand along his scabbard.] No, it’s not what you’re thinking. I did not gut him, not that I didn’t want to. But his nose would never look the same again.
AW: [He'd need to be warned, then, about 'Hands' McGregor who takes a shine to colleagues' partners at every office party...] Thanks very much Mr, err, Robin. We'll be in touch.
~~~~~~~~~~
Charlene Newcomb is the author of the Battle Scars series, 12th century historical fiction filled with war, political intrigue, and a knightly romance of forbidden love set during the reign of Richard the Lionheart. In summer 2020, Char published Echoes of the Storm, a sci fi/space opera filled with rebels and traitors and battles and romance in a galaxy far, far away (no, not Star Wars). She is currently working on a new medieval tale set during King John’s reign, which includes a slightly different origins story for Robin Hood and his gang of ‘merry men’. Sign up for Char’s Newsletter for exclusives, including free short stories, and other special offers. Find her books on Amazon & connect with Char on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.
I enjoyed that! Thanks for sharing :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks Helen - it's been such a joy reading all the characters' answers!
Delete