The Last Contract

The forest had been free for three hundred years. Not free in the way meadows are free—open and empty and waiting to be owned. Free in the way a storm is free. The men who lived in Sherwood didn't belong to any lord. They paid no tithes. They answered to no crown. They hunted, they farmed, they argued, they fought, and when the king's men came, they fought back.

Robin of Sherwood was one of those fighters. He was thirty, a farmer's son from a village that no longer existed—the king's men had burned it in '44 for refusing to pay the new grain tax. Robin had survived by hiding in a peat bog for two days. When he came out, his village was ash and his family was gone. He joined the Sherwood freeholders the next morning.

Richard of Locksley was different. Richard was thirty-four, a knight's son, educated at Oxford, who had returned from the Crusades to find his family's lands confiscated by the king. He had joined the freeholders not out of rage but out of calculation—he believed that if they organized, if they presented a united front, they could negotiate terms.

The king's offer came in the form of a pardon. A royal proclamation, delivered by the Archbishop of York, offering the freeholders a choice: disband their armed company, swear allegiance to the crown, and accept the jurisdiction of local lords. In exchange, they would not be prosecuted for past rebellions.

Richard read the proclamation at the forest council. He believed it was real. He believed it was an opportunity—the freeholders could become legitimate, recognized, protected by law.

Robin read it too. He stood up when Richard finished. He tore the proclamation in front of everyone. Then he drove his battle axe into the oak tree at the center of the clearing, splitting the royal seal down the middle.

"You forgot why we picked up weapons," Robin said. His voice was calm, which made it worse. "It wasn't to trade one chain for a prettier one."

Richard was forced to choose. He chose the crown. He believed he was choosing survival—for the freeholders, for the people who depended on him.

Robin chose the forest. He led three hundred loyal fighters into the hills. The king sent five thousand.

The last battle happened at the edge of Sherwood on a November morning. Robin fought until his sword broke, then he fought with a piece of it, then he fought with his hands. He died standing, with his back to the forest, facing the men who had come to take it from him.

Richard received his title and lands six months later. He never married. He never smiled. He kept a piece of the torn proclamation in a frame on his desk. On it, the words "royal pardon" were visible through the crack where Robin's axe had split the seal.