The Opening Scene

Sherwood Forest

Robin had always been a man who craved knowledge. Learning was as entertaining as it was useful. During his childhood he was asking questions about everything.

"How does that work?" "Where did this came from?" "What are these made of? I need to know!"

Now, the same need teared him apart. He wanted to find out, or to have someone explain to him, how his mind worked; why the same scene was repeated relentlessly in his mind; how could he be free of this torture.

Under the blinding sun the battle had just ended. The king, wounded but safe, was resting far away. The counting, however, revealed that they were one member short.

"Where's Marian?" Robin asked out of breath, his eyes searching for any figure that could bear any resemblance to Marian. He had hoped that Vaisey would have brought her there as a way to distract him from his duty to protect the King. He even had a plan, simple but effective; Allan would ensure she was free while the rest of the gang would focus on the King's safety.

Gisborne was crouched at Will's feet, pressed down by the Scarlet boy's ax. "How is she?" Gisborne yelled,obviously unaware of Marian's fate. That alone was alarming.

"Dead." Vaisey announced in a clear voice and shifted his gaze from a horror-struck Gisborne to Robin's raging grief and then back to his lieutenant.

"Have some self-respect. Gisborne. She told you she'd rather die than marrying you. Which she did. I really appreciated that."

"What happened?" Allan asked and Robin felt him getting closer as if to shield him; or shield others from him, more likely.

"Well, you won't believe it. I, myself, have struggled for some time to embrace it as the truth, and mind you, I was there to witness it. Gisborne finally did something right. He stabbed her. Oh, the intense feeling of joy, Hoody! It's been ages since I last knew such a sensation." He sighed in delight. "Of course I couldn't trust him not to call for a physician to tend to her wounds so I had him removed. That ended well."

"Where... Where is she now?" It was Will's turn to ask the difficult question.

"Somewhere in the desert. I couldn't leave her to rot above ground, now could I? It'd attract flies."

"Tell us exactly where," Allan demanded.

"Deeply sorry but the landscape confuses me. Start digging and you may find her. Oh, and if by any miracle you find her, do me a favor and search for a silver ring. How foolish me, really! As I was standing above her while she disappeared beneath the sand, I think I dropped it. I rather liked it, you know. Last gift from my sister and you know how sentimental I can get."

"Monster!" Much cried. It wasn't his dislocated arm or his bleeding knee that kept him away. Robin saw Djaq and John having him pinned down.

"She did love you," Vaisey said to Robin. "With her dying breath, she said so. And then she lied lifeless at my feet. Between you and I, I always knew this girl would make a fine corpse."

Carter was aiming at Vaisey with his bow. "Do I take the shot?" he asked. Before any response, a blow on the head had him flat on the sand.

One of Vaisey's servants came to his Master's rescue. "Go now!"

"Enjoy the sun, while it lasts, merry men. Storm's on the way."

Vaisey, not targeted any more, galloped away, while Will tried to fire some arrows against him. "Do something!" he called the others to fight, but no one could move. Their attention was to something else.

Gisborne buried his face in the sand, moaning. He started crying, screaming Marian's name, calling her "my love."

Robin hated him for his dishonorable intentions, his deathly actions. But above all he hated him for his false remorse; that hypocritical regret that had deceived so many, and none more than Marian.

"Hold him down," he ordered Will. Then, Robin gripped his sword firmly. With his other hand he reached for a cloth. He knelt and ignored the others.

"Robin? What on God's green Earth are you doing?" Allan asked, confused. This couldn't be the reaction for which he prepared himself. "Robin?" this time he sounded concerned.

"There's blood dripping from my sword. I must cleanse it." Robin's voice was calm in a cold, sinister way.

"What is he doing?" Much's cry sounded like a whisper to Robin's busy mind. "Tell me. Tell me!" the manservant insisted in despair.

"I'm dealing with it!" Allan retorted and raised his hand in the air to keep them away. "Robin, is that a priority now? Why?"

"I will soak it with Gisborne's blood. I've waited long enough,"

Allan beckoned for John to come closer.

"Here, now?"

"Like this?"

"I've waited long enough."

Will stepped away from Gisborne. The black knight growled like a beast while Robin was knocking his teeth out, still calling for Marian.

"How many times did you stab her?" Robin roared and tightened his grip around Gisborne's neck.

"Leave me!" Gisborne cried pushing Robin off his chest.

"You'll suffer the same number of injuries. I know of the first one." Robin buried his blade in Gisborne's low abdomen. He pulled it out slowly."How many more?"

"Rel... Release meee..."

Robin allowed his opponent a few easy breaths. "How many more?"

"As … as many as I had to... to keep her from you!"

Robin didn't speak. His blade did. He didn't pull the sword out this time. He punched him and Gisborne fainted.

"Djaq, have a look at him."

Djaq didn't protest. She assessed the wounds. "The cuts are sallow. You avoided the vital organs." It sounded like she thought he did that in purpose. And of course she was right. "He should be able to survive if he's properly treated."

"Do what you can, Djaq." He didn't say "save him" or "keep him alive." Those words would never come out. But he knew Djaq would do her best.

"What?!" John cried, echoed by Allan.

"When she's done with him, Allan, get him on a ship to England and get him a physician to accompany him."

Allan moved closer and forced Robin to look him in the eye. "You move to kill him and now you want to make sure he lives? Have you gone completely mad?"

Robin, still eerily calm, replied. "I didn't move to kill him, Allan. I wanted to make him bleed."

"In that case, do I also buy him a nice little blanket and tuck him in?"

"Allan!" Will cried.

Allan waved his hands in the air, giving up. "I am done with Gisborne! You hear me? Done!" he declared to anyone who wanted to listen "I'll go and help Carter and I think I'll stick with him for the next few months."

"Will, Gisborne goes to England." Robin turned to his safest option.

"Unsupervised?" Djaq asked.

"It doesn't matter. He gets back home."

"Not with you following him there, he won't," Will countered.

"We end him now, Robin, or he escapes." John spoke next. They all had the same rational thought, but Robin's conviction was sounder than anything else.

"There's no place on Earth he can go where I won't find him. He knows that. He'll return to England and he'll wait for me."

"Master?" Much called and Robin went to him. "Why not end it now? Why, Robin?"

"I can't have him buried so close to her, Much. You know I can't. She'll never find peace."

"Cry, Master. You must cry..." Much was weak and he was getting weaker, struggling to speak and keep his eyes open.

"You fought bravely today, my friend. Rest now. You can worry about me tomorrow." Robin held his hand.

Robin closed his eyes. His heart was hard as stone.

No tears.

Robin was standing again under the tree where Marian's ring was buried. It wasn't grief that brought him there; not entirely. It was anger, fueled by doubt. There was a part of him that denied the knowledge of her death.

"Do you know what bothers me? I didn't watch you die, Marian," Robin spoke to the wind. "Vaisey told me. Do you understand my misery? The only thing I have to verify your death is the word of the most deceiving man. And I've been deceived before, haven't I? The other time that someone told me you were dead, they were wrong and I think, why not again, eh? How about that? How about you not being dead after all? You think you can do that, my love?"

He loathed himself for not looking for her. But the orders from the King came and he could not disobey. Once more he chose the King over her and the betrayal would weigh on him.

This doubt would drive him insane, though, he knew it. Sometimes he had half mind to go back and search more thoroughly. What evidence could have survived after so much time he didn't know, but there might be something. If nothing else, the turmoil inside his head would cease.

But he couldn't just leave, not with everything that was going on. Not when his presence was important. Not when his absence had proved damaging.

And just when he was thinking about damage, Gisborne appeared.

An unexpected visitor brought their heated argument to an end. Things really unraveled when the mysterious stranger turned out to be Robin's father. The news he brought to them added to the bizarre turn of events.

The new brother who needed help took precedent. After that nothing was the same.