Touched
Alan had heard about the hoard of gold heading towards Nottingham whilst eavesdropping at The Tripp Inn.
"There's meant to be at least three hundred pounds," he said to Robin, eyes shining as bright as coins, "Thursday, mid day on the north road"
"And who's the benefactor" Tick asked with his normal scepticism
"None other than the new Abbot of Kirkless" Alan said proudly, "It's a welcome gift to the new sheriff. Most likely to keep her sweet"
"Isabella, sweet?" Kate scoffed, but she shut up when John threw Her a look of warning
"Three hundred pounds could feed the whole county for months" said Robin, ever the businessman
"Three hundred pounds could feed an entire army for months" Much added,
Allan agreed, "I'm sure Richard could do with that kind of cash. But so could we"
"That's not what I meant" Much defended himself, "Think about it. Why does Isabella need all that money? She has Prince John as her patron. What if she actually listened to Robin and is trying to buy her way in to Richard's favour?"
"She's playing a dangerous game if she is" Tuck observed, "If she gets caught by the Prince she'll be dead in an instant"
"Isabella's to smart for that; she'd have a plan" Kate said, "If John catches her she'll say that she's giving Richard the money to stop him coming back. The Prince will only kill her if it's coming form his own coffers, and I don't think it is"
"What do we do then? We can't steal the money if it's going to King Richard, can we?" asked John
Robin took control, "That's an 'if'. I say we take the money and split it between the villages. King Richard can always ask for more money and we'll keep a lot of it aside in case he does. As long as we stop Isabella getting her hands on it, I don't mind"
"It's a small job," said Allan, taking up his narrative from where he left off, "The lot from Kirkless never travels with much protection. As far as I am aware Isabella hasn't sent many of her own guards to help. I reckon that she's still a little but scared that her brother is wondering about in the woods"
"I'm surprised we haven't run into him," said Kate
"Considering how many times he's tried to kill me? I think Gisbourne is still smart enough not to try and beat me at my own game, and he'd be to proud to ask for help, not that we'd give it to him." Robin sighed, "I would still very much like to see him die for what he did, but he's not our problem any more. And I'd like to keep it that way"
"Quite right" agreed Much
"Anyway" Allan was impatient to continue, "It would appear that she plans to create a distraction of some sort in Locksley. Then the money can get through without us interfering and she'll be back at Nottingham to meet it"
"What do we do then?" questioned Tuck, "this 'distraction' may not be harmless"
"We split up. Tuck, you and Much see to the 'distraction'. I'm sure you two could handle anything Isabella throws at you, and if not, we won't be far away. Kate, John, Allan and I will go take care of the hoard and we'll meet at the store at Knights Cross"
"Why Knights Cross?" said Much
"As far as Isabella's aware she's got all the gold she could want from it and the guards still think there some sort of curse. It's our best chance of a safe place to divide the money, providing that we don't run into any difficulties…"
Thursday morning came and went and before the gang new it, Tuck and Much had set off for Locksley in search of this 'distraction'. The others made their way along side the north road. John was his normal, quiet self but Allan was starting to feel a bit like a third wheal. Kate kept looking at Robin for a reason Allan hoped not to be true. Robin, on the other hand, seemed quite happy to return her flirtatious glances.
Allan began to wonder what Marian would think, but had to stop himself when he became too sad. There would be time for dwelling later; right now he had a job to do.
The hoard arrived almost on time. Allan had been right about the number of guards. The abbey had sent two monks to drive the cart and the where only four of Isabella's guards in sight. This was too easy…
Robin motioned for John and Kate to take on the two at the back, whilst he and Allan would take the monks and the two guards at the front. Robin drew his bow, and the battle commenced.
The struck the guard on the left on the arm making him yelp with pain and fall into the treas. Allan took on the other front guard with his flat sword. He savoured the taste of adrenalin as the guard blocked his advances, but in such a careless way that it was easy for Allan to punch him in the stomach and knock him for six. John had done the same with his guard and Allan turned round just in time to see Kate land an impressive blow to the back of her guard's head.
Allan felt his heart swell but he wasn't sure if it was with pride at her fighting skills or admiration of how wonderful she looked with her hair all loose and…
"So my friends, you have a choice" Robin's voice snapped Allan out of his daydream, "You can either surrender your goods and we'll let you pass…"
"Or..?" the smaller of the two monks asked
Robin didn't need to say anything; he just glanced at the four grads laying sprawled on the forest floor. The smaller monk seemed to see the sense of the augment.
The larger one did not, "How dare you threaten men of the cloth! How are you to challenge us?" he fumed.
Robin stooped in a theatrical bow, "Robin Hood and my merry men, at your service" the fatter monk closed his mouth, "so what will it be?"
"Isabella will kill you," the fatter monk stated the obvious
"She's tried already. I'll take the chance"
"Geoffrey" the smaller monk urged, "I think we should…" he swallowed and looked at the knocked out guard beside him
"Oh quiet Timothy!" Geoffrey snapped, "You mean to tell me that you would hurt men of God?" he addressed Robin with a sneer.
"I'm not being funny, but men of God don't give money to the devil" Allan said truthfully
"Money to the devil!" the fat monk became pink with rage, "Do you know who you are talking to?"
"As a matter of fact, I do" Robin said, and quickly hit the fat monk on the back of the head with the hilt of his sword, making him quiet. Finally.
Timothy turned to Robin, eyes wide, "I don't want any trouble" he stammered
"I don't want to be trouble. All I want is to relieve you of your heavy burden"
"Can I take a horse? You can have everything else"
"Of course. Ride to Nottingham and explain everything that happened. I'll tie the monk and the guards to a tree here so you can come back at get them."
Allan cut one of the horses lose and passed the reigns to the monk, who looked at him with gratitude.
"Spend it well, look after it" he said and spurred the horse on
"We will!" Robin shouted after him. Robin turned to the knocked out monk and gave him a sharp prod, "well that was easy. Here Little John give me a hand with this one!"
"Robin I think you might want to look at this first" came John's voice from behind the cart
Allan and Robin walked round with curiosity and found John and Kate staring with wide eyes.
Allan's estimate had been a little under the mark. Inside the cart there were at least five chests of silver coins, plus a number of ornamental candlesticks and treasures. But what the others where staring at where two eyes staring back from behind one of the chests.
Robin looked at Kate and climbed in. Warily, he moved the chest aside.
Allan heard John take in a very sharp breath and Kate almost reached for Allan's hand. Robin stared down at the owner of the eyes.
She was a young woman wrapped from head to toe in white bandages. She wore a grubby white dress with a red scarf and a small bell attached with string to her wrist. Only her eyes, mouth and a few patches of red skin where visible. Scraps of dark, un-washed gold hair had fought their way free of the bindings that covered her. She cowered in the corner, clearly terrified.
"It's alright, I wont hurt you" Robin tried to sooth, "I'm a friend." She didn't respond, "Do you speak English? " no answer, "Can you understand me?" here she managed a small nod.
"I can help you" he said and reached out a hand.
"Wait! Robin, don't touch her! She's a leper!" John shouted
Robin regarded this statement and saw that the woman had cowered away form his touch, "It's alright. I wont. But please let me help you"
For a moment, he thought she wouldn't reply and that they would have to leave her. But then slowly she managed to raise herself to her feet and take a few short steps from the cart.
Allan and Kate watched fascinated; they had never seen a leper before but they had heard all the tales. John watched too but he had seen one before. A very long time ago.
None of them wanted to touch her so she had to struggle to get down herself. She stood on the ground staring at Allan, who blushed a little and averted his eyes.
"Listen, my name is Robin Hood" he said, jumping down form the cart, "These are my friends. We'd like to help you"
She turned her gaze to Kate.
"Where are you from?" Robin continued
She turned to John
"Do you have a name?"
She turned to Robin. For a brief, fleeting moment it seemed she was ready to reply. But then her eyes rolled back in her head and she fell.
Allan instinctively put his arms out to catch her before he realised what he had done. He gradually laid her to the floor and took a step back form her, wiping his hands on his shirt as if they had touched something slimy.
"Please tell me you can't catch it that quickly," he said, trying to sound brave.
"I don't think so. I've never talked to anyone with it"
"What do we do?" asked Kate
"We can't leave her here. She'll have to go back to the camp"
"What?" John didn't like the sound of that, "She could… infect"
"Like I said, I don't think it spreads that easily. But I bet if anyone knows it will be Tuck. I'm sure he mentioned something about working with the leper monks in the Holy Land… Kate, Can you drive the cart to Knights Cross? One of us will have to take her back"
John threw a look of absolute refusal so Robin looked to Allan.
He sighed, "I've already touched her. I'll go. If I'm going to get infected I might as well go the whole hog"
John stepped onto the cart as speedily as he could and Robin followed leaving Allan staring down at the Leper.
"You'll be alright Allan, trust me" Robin called back as the cart moved away. Normally, Allan would but for now he was apprehensive.
Why couldn't he have let Robin be the hero? He picked the leper up. She was probably the same age as Kate, maybe younger; Allan couldn't really tell. She was light, starved even. He might have pealed back one of the bandages, but right now he didn't feel brave at all.
Secretly he hoped that Kate would see this gesture and realise that he was a hero as well, but he doubted it.
"Your going to be trouble, I can tell" he whispered to the leper but if she heard she didn't say.
A/N- What do you think? Yay or neigh? One way to let me know…