The Little Robber Knight And The Spice Trader

By Marc Baco

Soon after recovered from measles, Rob the little robber knight had to take unexpected approaches to follow his father’s huge footsteps. The King captured Rob’s parents and many other robber knights at the wedding ceremony in another castle. Now he demanded ransom. But there was not enough money from his parents’ treasure chest. Luckily, a spice dealer passed through the Heller Valley. By the time the little robber knight swung up in the saddle to collect the toll, he just started the ball rolling that put a heavy test on him…

An adventure in the medieval magical world for children over 6 years old.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BadPress
• Release date: Nov 22, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393680178

Book preview

The Little Robber Knight And The Spice Trader

Marc Baco

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Translated by Felix LAI 

The Little Robber Knight And The Spice Trader

Written By Marc Baco

Copyright © 2019 Marc Baco

All rights reserved

Distributed by Babelcube, Inc.

www.babelcube.com

Translated by Felix LAI

Cover Design © 2019 Sarah Wanning

Babelcube Books and Babelcube are trademarks of Babelcube Inc.

Marc Baco

The Little Robber Knight And The Spice Trader

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37 voices Verlag

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Copyright© 2014 37 voices Verlag, Schallstadt

www.37voices.de

Cover: Sarah Wanning, www.sarahwanning.de

Cover Design:

© didecs - Fotolia.com

© zdenek79harnoch - Fotolia.com

All Rights Reserved

Contents

Bad News

A Difficult Decision

Rob’s First Raid

The Terrible Forest Bugbear

The Secret Plan

The Victory Celebration

Bad News

Rob was happy. He was finally allowed to get out of bed. He had lied in bed with measles for three weeks. His parents had left for a week - his lovely mother Armgard and his lofty father Norbert rode to Hachenburg for a wedding ceremony. Hachenburg was a large castle and the family seat of the Counts of Sayn. Rob's mother Armgard grew up in this castle. Her name was Armgard of Sayn before she was married to Norbert von Sassenroth.

Rob really wanted to go to the wedding, where he could have met his cousins again. Together, they would have a lot of fun in the small town of Hachenburg and watch the minstrels - perhaps there were also theatre performers, acrobats and fire-eaters! 

Unfortunately, he and his sister Carina got the measles. Their parents had been waiting for 2 weeks to see if the children would get better. After all, they left the children behind and rode to the wedding of Armgard’s cousin Ralf. It had been a terribly bad time for Rob's older sister Carina. For weeks she had sewn new clothes with her mother, ordered new shoes from the shoemaker in the village and made new copper jewelry with the blacksmith Mercedes. Carina was very skillful at making jewelry. Rob wore a beautiful linden leaf necklace, which Carina made and gave to him. The Sassenroth coat of arms was depicted on the linden leaf. He was proud of his sister's beautiful gift and, of course, the Sassenroth coat of arms: the wild man. 

The sun was shining, the air smelt fragrant and wonderfully fresh towards the nearby forest trees. Rob jumped out of bed and ran to the window. He wrenched it wide open and looked down at the courtyard. The castle kept stuck up in front of him, standing as a huge tower in the middle of the courtyard. In case enemies broke through the walls or the gate, castle dwellers could flee into the courtyard. Luckily, the castle had not been attacked for a long time, despite always having trouble with their neighbors, the noble family of Nassauer. 

The castle was nearly empty, as all 10 lansquenets, who were his father’s soldiers, had ridden to the wedding - together with the maid, the stable lad and the valet. As a lofty robber knight, his father was on the way to Hachenburg along with the most significant entourage. 

Yes, Norbert von Sassenroth was a robber knight. That was his profession and his job. Whenever traders came through the valley of the Heller river, either going to Cologne or travelling from Cologne to Marburg, the path led them pass through the Sassenroth village. The reason is that behind the village was the Heller Pass, which was a narrow passage between 2 pretty high mountains. All traders had to go through there if they wanted to go across the mountains - that was good for Robert’s father. Was there any other place better than one of these mountain passes where a robber knight could wait for a trader to come by and then rob him? They did not actually rob the traders; otherwise, they would not come back. Instead, his father went down the hill with his mercenaries, threatened them with his sword and requested them to pay their tolls. Toll was a portion of the money or commodity which the traders had to hand over so that they could go through the passage. It was somehow a barter. The traders paid the tolls to get through the passage. Of course, the traders grumbled and mumbled at the highwaymen, but they still paid the tolls, since it was not the first time happened on their long journey. That was what Rob's father Norbert lived on. Someday Rob would follow in his father's footsteps and become a robber baron likewise. 

Usually, Rob had to spend at least 1 hour per day on