Hoodwinked
Sometimes the only way to fight injustice is with a few well-planned tricks ... and an abundance of arrows.
The story you know...
Lady Marion FitzWalter would never admit she’s been waiting for Sir Robin of Locksley to return – not to her uncle, not to the unimpressive suitors she’s turned away, and certainly not to herself. But she’s spent the last few years keeping one ear trained on rumors from the Holy Land and the other on the slow unraveling of Nottingham under its new power-hungry sheriff.
When Robin finally does return – wounded and grim – it’s to find his father dead and his estate in ruins all at the whim of the sheriff, Phillip de Marc. Once Robin's childhood friend, Phillip coldly claims the tragedy was due to Lord Locksley’s deep debts. Determined to confront the sheriff, Robin goes to Nottingham Castle.
Robin tries to keep his fury in check, but when he later defends a hungry boy caught poaching, his battle-scarred instincts take over. He kills the captain of the guard in a flash of violence – and in that moment Robin becomes and outlaw.
In the ancient days, as men first gathered into tribes and civilizations, it was understood that not all were born equal in measure. Some were endowed with certain gifts — extraordinary talents of body or mind, which chroniclers have sanctioned as Gratiae Dei — Graces of God. Such gifts were widely held to be signs of fitness to rule, and upon them the first divisions of men’s worth were founded. Those born with more practical talents, or none at all, were assigned labor to serve the mighty. And those mighty families of old held fast to their power, despite the unpredictable passage of gratia through line and lineage.
- The Anglochronicon, Book I, Passage iii
But what if there was more at play...
And so the story becomes...
Marion knew her gift the moment she shot her first arrow and it landed true. Robin’s was less obvious, yet no one could deny his knack for cunning tricks came by design from above. Just as no few would try to catch Will at full speed or think themselves stronger than Little John. Robin brings together an unlikely group of allies — all wronged or hunted by the Sheriff and all passionate to use their gifts to protect the ones they love.
As Nottingham sinks further into poverty and unrest, the outlaws learn that not all gifts are holy and the Sheriff will do anything to grow his power.