Baby brother 5/9

The arrow that had struck George in the chest was dangling loosely. He noticed the direction of Jennifer Jane’s look and laughed.

“Chain mail!” he said as he pulled the shaft out of the hole in his smock. “Now then, let’s tie this lot up while they’re still unconscious and see if the archer knows why they attacked us.”

The archer was still trying to escape. He had a bandage round his foot and was hobbling away as quickly as he could, using his bow as a stick to help him along. Jennifer Jane moved several thorny bushes into his way, until he was surrounded, allowing only one open path, which George trotted along.

“I surrender your lordship! I’ve had enough, not only did you run me over yesterday, but now your young friend has shot me in the arm with my own arrow. He must be a great wizard in spite of the fact that he looks so young!”

George broke the arrow in the man’s arm, threw away the loose piece and pulled the other bit out. Then he began bandaging the wound with a piece of rather dirty cloth he took from his pocket.

“His name is Jennifer Jane and she’s a girl, you may have heard of her!”

The man stood still, gaping at her as she ran up to them. “We’d never have bothered you your lordship if we’d known she was going to be coming with you. Everyone’s heard of her, although I must say I heard she’s a good bit taller”

“Whatever made you attack us in the first place?”

“We used to be knights and men at arms, before the dragons were stopped from attacking people. Then we all found ourselves out of jobs. We haven’t got any skills other than fighting, so we’ve been stealing from farmers and travellers for ages, just to stay alive. Then one of the knights you’ve just defeated came along and suggested we form a band of robbers to work in this wood. We’d been doing all right until you showed up. You obviously were a knight yourself once Sir, you handle a sword very well. Do you really manage to make a good living driving a horse and cart?”

Jennifer Jane butted into the conversation. “Excuse me gentlemen, may I make a suggestion? Why don’t you all get together to form a carting company! With another five drivers I’m sure you’d make lots of money in no time. If you have a headquarters where all the orders are sent, then it must be comparitively easy to send a driver to deliver the goods almost at once. You wouldn’t have to wait until one driver is back from a delivery until you can send out the next. That would make the service you offer even more attractive to your customers. In fact it doesn’t take too much imagination to go on from there and set up a regular weekly service which would operate whether there were any orders or not. Rather like a bus service in my world,” she added for George’s benefit.

“Come on then, let’s go and see what the others think of the idea, they should be regaining consciousness by now.”

Once the men knew they had been dealing with Jennifer Jane, they were only too willing to agree with the proposal.

One of them got quite enthusiastic. “We could have our own uniform and even paint the carts to look the same.”

Jennifer Jane grinned. This was the very beginning of the company that she’d seen three hundred years in the future and she was helping start it! The wounded man and Jennifer Jane sat beside George, while the others picked up the planks that had knocked them out, reloaded the cart and found themselves spaces in the back amongst the rest of the load.

The cart rolled on towards Lower Dene, every now and again one or other of the men making a suggestion for improving the new company.

It seemed rather strange to think that only an hour ago George’s new friends had been trying to rob him, or even worse maybe kill him, just to try and get enough money to buy food.

There was only one thing left to do now, but she’d had quite enough excitement for one day and decided to leave it until tomorrow.

She finished the journey by memorising another part of the poem she was going to recite at the Witches’ Home end of year entertainment.

‘I’m writing a letter Grandma, to put in the post tonight, and ‘cos it’s very ‘portant I want to get it right.'