A/n This is set between the episodes Child Hood and The Angel of Death
Its a bit odd, but I hope you enjoy it! Please review!
Robin and his men continued through Sherwood forest on their way to Locksley, preparing to bring food and money to aide the villagers. As they walked, the group began discussing the recent rumors of a second Robin Hood.
"I'll bet its the night watchmen, we all know they're out there somewhere, doing the same work we are." Said Allen a Dale.
"No, this is a new outlaw, calling himself the Robbing Jay. I've heard he can shoot better than you, Robin." Said Will
"No one can outshoot my master!" said Much.
"Well, whoever they are, they are good at concealing their identity." commented Little John.
"Any way, lets get going, we have work to do." said Robin.
As they continued down the road, Robin thought he could hear something, a sort of crying and restrained scream. He located the sounds source, near a group of bushes just to the left of the path. He gave everyone a signal for silence, then crept up on whoever was behind the bushes.
Behind the bush was a young man- a boy really- who was trying desperately not to scream or cry out in pain. The reason for the pain was obvious-he had an arrow stuck in his stomach and appeared to have pulled a second arrow out of his shoulder. He was barely conscious, who knows how long he had sat here bleeding out.
Robin quickly explained to the lads how injured the boy was. They all agreed that the boy would need help, lots of help, and that Djaq might be able to close the boys wounds. The band quickly surrounded the boy.
" John, see if you can pick him up." said Robin.
John began to lift the boy up, when the boy suddenly regained full consciousness.
"Who are you! Are you with Gisborne? Where am I!" he yelled.
"I am Robin Hood, these are my men, and we are going to help you. You are in Sherwood forest, and should probably calm down so you don't lose too much blood." said Robin.
"Right," said the boy, beginning to lapse back out of consciousness, " I'm Jay, Robbing Jay…" and with that he blacked out. Little John picked him up and the group set off to their camp, hoping they would make it in time to save the boy.
When they reached the camp Will quickly filled Djaq in on Jays condition.
"Lay him down, and get me something to bandage his wounds with. Quickly! He may soon bleed out!" yelled Djaq.
Djaq worked quickly, binding jays shoulder to stop the bleeding, and carefully removing the arrow from his stomach and then binding the wound. Luckily, the wounds were not and had missed anything major. Once the bleeding was stopped, Jay was relatively safe.
"He will be fine, but he should probably stay here at least for tonight. I need to be sure he is healing properly. I will stay here to watch him and make sure he is all right." said Djaq.
After some discussion it was agreed that Djaq and Will would stay at the camp to watch Jay, while the rest of the gang took care of todays supply distribution. There was a special drop in a nearby town scheduled for that night, on that would probably take until the next dawn, so the three would be the only ones in camp for the night.
After the others left, Djaq and Will sat down in the camp, waiting for Jay to wake up. They sat near each other, but not too near as they still wouldn't admit that they liked each other. The silence grew slightly awkward so Djaq asked, " What do you know about the boy? Where do you think he was wounded like that?"
"He was barely conscious when we found him, and he didn't say much. He asked if we were with Gisborne, so I imagine thats how he got wounded. He said his name was Jay, claimed to be the Robbing Jay- you know the one who's been giving the Sheriff hell this last week? If he is who he claims to be, then I would assume he got caught." answered Will.
Behind them, they heard the shifting of blankets that meant Jay was awake. They turned and saw that he was sitting up and definitely fully conscious again.
"Who are you? Are you with Robin Hood? Did you close my wounds?" asked Jay.
"I am Djaq and this is Will. We are with Robin and yes, we bound your wounds." said Djaq.
"Thank you. I think I would have bled to death otherwise. I lost my senses after I was shot, I might have been sitting there for hours or minutes, I wouldn't know." said Jay.
"Can you tell us what happened, how you got shot? We know you're the Robbing Jay, but thats it." asked Will.
" I suppose you should know. Well, I signed up as a guard in Nottingham castle. Not just any guard though, I was to be Gisborne's private guard-youngest guard too, I'm only 14. Guess I didn't live up to his expectations." replied Jay.
"What do you mean?" asked Djaq.
"I robbed him blind on my first day, and then continued to steal whatever I could find. Thats why they call me Robbing, I stole from Gisborne and the Sheriff without them so much as blinking. Until today that is. I got caught-as you probably guessed. The Sheriff had, of course, heard about the robbing Blue Bird of the castle from the peasants who had received the money and his spies. It didn't take him long to figure out that Blue Bird meant Blue Jay and he figured the rest out from there. I think it especially insulted him that a mere boy had outwitted him. When I came to the castle today they were waiting. I managed to escape, but not without becoming a pin cushion. as I said, I lost my senses after I got away, the blood lose or something did it, I ended up in the Sherwood, and well, here we are." said Jay, finishing his story.
After Jays story, Will went to check the perimeter of the camp and gather firewood while Djaq and Jay worked on the evening meal-which more or less amounted to Djaq cooking and Jay try to help but failing due to injury or clumsiness. Finally, the three settled down for dinner- rabbit stew and more rabbit stew. as they ate their meal, they began to warm up to one another and polite conversation turned to friendly chatter. Djaq and Will told Jay stories about their younger escapades (not that they were all that much older than Jay, maybe 7 years older). Jay told them more about how he managed to get a guards position at such a young age, all the training (and thievery) that led to it. After some time, Will left to do one last perimeter check, leaving Jay and Djaq sitting by the fire.
" I don't mean to pry, but it does appear that you like Will." stated Jay in his usual straightforward fashion.
"And, so what if I do?" replied Djaq, slightly on guard as she always was when her feelings were concerned.
"You two would make an excellent couple. I'm not joking! You definitely enjoy each others company- something I can't say of some other couples I know. I'll drop the subject, but mark my words, it'll turn out someday." Finished Jay
"How could you tell?" questioned Djaq, wondering if Will could see it as easily as Jay had.
"I just can, special gift of mine, I suppose." was Jay's response.
Djaq, with several questions still on her mind (most of them concerning Will Scarlet) decided to turn in for the night. She was already asleep when Will returned. Jay and Will, still not quite tired, began talking. First about different thieving activities, then migrating to carpentry-Wills specialty. as they continued to talk, Jay decided the time was right to tell him.
"Will, I don't mean to be rude, but, do you like Djaq?" questioned Jay.
"Maybe. How would you know?" replied Will.
"I can just tell. You two would make a truly perfect couple. Someday you'll see it, maybe even admit it to each other." stated Jay
"Right, I think I'm going to bed, see you in the morning." said Will, slightly uneasy with the conversation.
The next morning, Djaq checked Jay's wounds and declared him fit to leave. The rest of the gang still had not returned from last nights mission.
"So where will you go next?" asked Djaq.
"I think I will leave England. It appears to have had enough of me. I'm sure someone out there will need their own guard or thief, I can fill either position." replied Jay.
"Good luck, you'll need it." said Will.
Will and Djaq found themselves pulled into a hug by their new found friend. When Jay released them he looked at them and said, "Goodbye. Thank you for helping me. Remember what I said." with that, Jay turned and left.
As they watched their young friend go, Will and Djaq wondered what would happen to the odd child-guard who had seen through them so easily.
