Disclaimer: I own nothing, I promise.
Author Notes: This could be read as a sequel to my other Edward fic 'Blessings', but it also works fine as a stand-alone. I'd love to know what you think so please click and review, thank you.
BEGINNINGS
In the empty hours after Robin and the outlaws had left, Edward was forgotten. He couldn't leave, tightly bound as he was, or shout for help in fear that calling the Sheriff's attention would mean that Matthew suffered.
He strained to see out of the doorway. He had no idea what was happening in his village, to his people, to his family.
Eventually, an extremely ill-tempered Guy of Gisburne, with one arm heavily bandaged, marched in, pulled Edward to his feet and out of the hut.
Wickham was a mess, but the soldiers and the Sheriff had gone. Only Gisburne's horse remained, saddled and ready. But someone was still missing.
"My son?"
"Your son? Do you really think he'll be returned after you let that villain escape with his men?"
Gisburne sneered and shoved Edward so hard that he almost fell to his knees. He strode to his horse without another word.
"Edward!" Alison rushed towards him, relief clear in her face and voice. "Oh, you're all right!"
"Alison, where's Matthew?"
"The Sheriff's men brought him back. He went straight into the forest. I couldn't stop him." Alison quickly untied the ropes that bound her husband. "He's all right. They didn't hurt him."
Edward held her close. His family was safe; his village was still standing. The outlaws had escaped. Herne had protected everyone. There was a lot to be thankful for.
There was also a lot to do. Edward glanced about with a sigh that only Alison would hear; there would be no rest until the village was put to rights. Several of the huts were unusable now, thanks to the Sheriff and his men.
"Any word from Robin?" he asked as he released his wife.
"None. That's why Matthew left for Sherwood. He wanted to know if the stories were true." Alison turned towards Edward with an imploring expression. "What happened, Edward?"
Edward's eyes darkened. "Gisburne told us that Robin was dead. But when we'd given up all hope, Robin appeared. He rescued the others. I told him I'd stay for Matthew."
"So Robin's alive!" Alison's words were a joyful shout. "He's alive!"
"Mother! Mother!"
Matthew pelted out of the forest, and Edward turned to greet him with a relieved smile at the sight of his unharmed son. The Sheriff had kept his word. But as Matthew dashed into his mother's arms, there were tears clearly streaming down his face.
"What is it, Matthew?" Alison asked, hands on her son's face with worry. "What's wrong?"
"It's...Robin," Matthew forced through his tears. "Robin's…Robin's dead!"
The villagers clustered around Edward's family gasped, and Edward lowered himself to his knees beside his son. Matthew was gasping in breaths, his eyes wide and worried. Edward placed a steady comforting hand on his son's shaking shoulder.
"What did you see, Matthew?"
So Matthew stuttered out his story. How he had come across the outlaw band by the lake on his way to their last campsite. Little John and Will had been shouting at each other, and Much and Marion had been crying. Matthew had been scared.
Tuck had quietly told him the news about Robin, and Matthew had run back to Wickham.
The crowd around Matthew all looked grim and scared at his words. Some of the young ones were crying. Edward got to his feet, his hand staying on his son's shoulder. He pushed his own grief at Matthew's news deep inside of himself for later.
"Dark'll fall soon. We need to make sure that the village is safe. Then we can mourn Robin," Edward announced, voice loud and clear.
The villagers agreed and the village was put back to rights in shocked and sad silence. Even the children were quiet, clinging to their parents or talking together in fierce whispers. Edward caught sight of Matthew taking charge of them. It was all that made him smile again that night.
Once the mill had been fixed and everyone had a home to sleep in, there was a quiet gathering at one of Herne's altars.
Edward said a few words and then Alison led. She had the words for it.
Matthew cried. A lot of people did. Everyone looked lost; Edward felt it strongly himself. But Alison held onto his hand tightly.
Once the prayers had been spoken, Edward organised fires to be lit outside the village and a watch conducted throughout the night. He made sure that no one was alone; no one should be on a night like this.
In their hut, Edward and Alison talked. Matthew fell asleep instantly by the firelight. He hadn't asked for any stories.
"What happened, Edward?" asked Alison, confusion as clear on her face as her tears. "How can Robin be dead if he rescued you?"
"A man in a hood rescued us," Edward replied. "We never saw his face, but we assumed it was Robin. Who else could it have been?"
There was silence, except for the crackle of flames, both Edward and Alison alone in their thoughts. Alison stroked a hand through her son's hair and leant against her husband. Edward held on to both of them. He thought about his father's stories.
"The Hooded Man will come to the forest, there to meet with Herne the Hunter, to be his Son and do his bidding," he remembered aloud.
It was a prophecy, his father had said, telling of the time the Hooded Man would be called. How that would be the time of change. A time that Edward had waited for. Now, it felt like saying goodbye, like the words he'd said at his father's burial. Something ending.
The outlaws didn't come to Wickham again. Matthew saw them in Sherwood, spending a lot of his time there still and bringing back news for his father. Will had left and Marion's father had taken her home.
There was no extra money anymore to help pay the taxes.
"We managed before; we will again," Edward told his worried villagers. "Herne hasn't abandoned us."
He hadn't. The crops were taken to market, the mill was working well after its repairs, and the animals bred.
The village was surviving.
Edward remembered that when he prayed, asking for protection for those he loved and looked after. He could see it and was grateful.
But the days were wearier and harder. Gisburne only rode through the village occasionally to gloat and looked around sharply as though he was missing something. He was still trying to track down the rest of the outlaws.
Alison squeezed Edward's hand.
"Can't you feel him?" she said, her eyes full of wonder. "Robin. He's still here. In the greenwood, the fields, the villages. The Sheriff can't catch him now. He's still protecting us."
Alison was right. Edward could feel it. It strengthened him everyday as they struggled, reminding him of what he was fighting for. Because he was fighting, fighting to keep his village alive without help anymore. And the Sheriff was harsher now because there was no one to stop him.
There had been no sign of the hooded man who had appeared that day. Edward and Alison still wondered about it, but could find no answers. Whoever he was, he was gone now.
It felt to Edward like the time before Robin had come. A feeling that the suffering would never end. Robin had brought hope to so many people and it had all been lost with his death.
One day, Meg was found distraught. Alison was one of the women who flocked around her, trying to calm her down. But Meg wouldn't be calmed, her words drowned in tears.
Little John had just left, she eventually told them. He'd come to say goodbye. Said he had to leave Sherwood.
Much had gone too, Matthew told his parents. No one knew where Nasir had gone.
Edward could see his son growing up. He still hugged his mother and smiled, but he wasn't the same boy. He often looked sadder, harder, by the evening firelight.
"I saw Herne," Matthew said quietly one night, chewing on roasted fish. "In the forest, by the Croxden road."
"Did he say anything?" asked Edward when Matthew fell silent. Herne hadn't been seen by anyone, it seemed, since Robin's death.
Matthew shook his head, hair falling in his eyes as he tried to find the words.
"He was there, and then he wasn't," he said, trying to make sense of it. "It was like…like he was everywhere."
Edward didn't question him further. He nodded and ruffled his son's hair with an understanding smile. He knew how it felt to meet with Herne.
Tuck came to Wickham only once. It was odd to see him without the others. Edward welcomed him, gave him a hearty meal and plenty of mead. It was good to see one of the outlaws again. Sometimes, when the days were especially dark and hard, the outlaws' presence felt like a dream, in the way that Herne did some days. A dream to cling to in the hard times.
Nothing was forgotten.
"I'll be staying in Sherwood," Tuck told Edward. "I've nowhere else. I'll not go back to the abbey."
"You're welcome in the greenwood," Edward said firmly, knowing it to be true. "We won't give you away. You'll be safe."
"You'll be safe too. If Gisburne finds me here, it could be a lot of trouble for you," Tuck replied. "I'll stay in the forest from now on. I won't leave it again."
Matthew visited him. He saw Herne too, more than anyone else did. He told Edward that sometimes he thought he heard Herne inside his head. Like Robin used to.
"He has a calling," Alison murmured, sorrow and peace warring in her expression.
The feeling of a time before being repeated increased.
"It feels like something's coming," Edward told Alison one night. "Something that came before."
Alison's smile shone. "I can feel it too. It's something good, Edward. I'm sure of it."
Only a day or so later, Robert of Huntingdon rode into Wickham, a longbow on his saddle, and led Edward to the hut that the hooded man had entered a year before.
While he waited for Matilda to fetch Alison and Matthew, Edward studied the man Herne had sent.
Robert was looking out of the barn, his jaw set. Edward couldn't imagine a more different man to take Robin's place, but he had rescued the outlaws. He'd come when Herne had called him, even if he hadn't stayed. He was who Herne had chosen.
As Edward watched him, he could see a glimpse of what he'd seen in Robin. It was strange when they were so different. But Edward saw it nonetheless and it heartened him like nothing had for so long. He thanked Herne silently.
"You're like him," Edward said aloud. "I can see that, but others won't. He made a mark on his people, brought us hope when there was none, changed lives for the better."
"I know." Robert turned from the window and Edward could see Robin in his gaze, in his stance. "But he's gone and the people need Herne's Son again."
Edward agreed, as Alison rushed in, Matthew at her heels. Others were already gathering outside the door, murmuring amongst themselves. The news had travelled with Matilda.
"Edward, is it true?" Alison was breathless, excitement filling her eyes as she turned to see Robert. "Are you Herne's Son?"
Robert nodded and Alison went forward, took his hands, and drew him away from the shadows.
"I knew it!" She squeezed Robert's hands and Edward saw Robert begin to smile. It was the first time Edward had seen the serious expression leave the young man's face, even for a moment. "You're the one who rescued Edward and the others!"
Matthew ventured forward, wide eyes taking in the noble stranger who stood before them. The villagers were staring too, trying to catch a glimpse of the new Hooded Man, the one who had come into Wickham and scared the Sheriff.
"I was." Robert's smile disappeared again and he looked almost as if he were in pain. Then he raised his voice slightly so that everyone could hear him. "I'm sorry I didn't stay in Sherwood."
"Where's your bow?" asked Matthew suddenly.
Before Robert could even point, Matthew had rushed out the door, some of the other children trailing behind him. Edward could see him heading for Robert's horse.
"We should have the ceremony, the blessing," Alison was saying, still holding onto Robert as though he'd leave if she let go.
"I can't stay long. I need to find the others," Robert replied, his expression urgent. "I need their help if I'm to rescue Marion."
"Rescue Marion? What's happened?"
Alison was instantly concerned. No one had heard news of Marion for many months after she returned to Leaford Grange. But before Robert could explain, Jeffrey pushed his way through the crowds with a contemptuous look on his face. It was a look that several others in the crowd were wearing, as Edward had expected. Edward held Jeffrey's gaze.
"We haven't any proof he's who he claims he is. He could have been sent by the Sheriff!" Jeffrey pointed out vehemently.
"You've no proof of that either," Edward reminded him, stepping to Robert's side. "This is the man who freed the outlaws that day; he knows things only those who were there could know. He is who Herne has chosen."
"We've only got his word on that," Jeffrey argued, knife glinting in his hand as he gestured. "Why would Herne call a nobleman? It smells like one of the Sheriff's plans to me. We can't trust him, Edward. Not until we have proof!"
"Father!" Matthew burst through the doorway and into the centre of the barn, a smile in his voice and his expression. "Robin's bow!"
He thrust the longbow out and the murmurings amongst the crowd grew louder. It was the bow that Robin had always carried, distinctive in its quality and the small but clear markings of Herne's runes. His arrows had always flown true.
Edward turned to his friend. "There's your proof, Jeffrey. Herne wouldn't give this to anyone but his Son. Now, we must prepare for the ceremony."
Robert's horse was taken to be watered and fed. Matilda and Rose brought the bowl and the water from the river. Matthew stayed by Robert, his eyes fixed on Herne's Son. Alison didn't stop smiling and Edward made sure that someone kept a lookout for Gisburne returning. What had been coming had finally arrived.
"Good luck to you, Robert of Huntingdon."
"That life is over."
"Of Sherwood, then."
"Herne protect us."
"Herne protect us."
It was several days later that Matthew breathlessly brought news of the outlaws' return. Marion had been rescued and was safely with her father in Leaford Grange again. The others had stayed in Sherwood; all of them had come back.
Edward was firm that Wickham would be kept safe and, also, that the outlaws would be welcomed and helped. There was a way to achieve both, despite some of the villagers' adamant protests.
A watch was kept at the boundaries of the village and the outlaws invited to a feast to celebrate their reunion. They had already brought money and grain to Wickham after several successful robberies.
"He did it!" rejoiced Allison, as she handed bread to Matthew and James to take to the tables. "We'll be safe again now that Herne's Son is here."
Edward greeted the outlaws as they appeared. He could see the look in their eyes that he knew his own held, a look that the year without Robin had produced. He clasped their arms firmly.
All of the outlaws, it seemed, had seen lean days, since they all devoured the food offered to them. Even Nasir was more eager in his restrained eating. He still only drank water, however, and merely looked amused when several girls tried to ply him with ale. He accepted their company easily, though, allowing Mary to sit close to him and kissing her hair gently. Edward nodded when the Saracen caught his eye; he knew how much the girl had missed Nasir and it seemed that the feeling was mutual.
Robert sat beside Edward and watched the others. He was troubled. Edward could see that as he filled the man's tankard. It wasn't surprising. Robert's whole world had changed and it would take a lot of getting used to, Edward was sure.
"This place is very beautiful," Robert said suddenly, his eyes fixed on the festivities.
Edward couldn't help laughing. He loved Wickham, but he knew it was not a place of great beauty. Not like the castles that Robert must have been used to.
"That's kind, Robert," he said with a wide laughing smile. "But I know Wickham isn't much to look at."
"I think it is," Robert contradicted him, moving so that he was facing the thane. "I can see the hard work you've all put into life here. Nothing was handed to you: you have to work for it. There is beauty in that, even if no one else can see it."
Edward nodded. He could understand that, but it was strange to hear from a nobleman, even one who now lived in Sherwood.
"It's built with everything we have," Edward agreed. "But when it comes to beauty, it doesn't compare to Sherwood."
"The forest is beautiful, and I never thought I'd enjoy living outside," Robert admitted with a smile. "But I do. It's strange. I feel safe there, in a way I never felt in my father's castle."
"It's your kingdom, Robert," Edward reminded him. "It's where you're meant to be."
"I know that now and the others are glad to be back too. I think they've missed the forest and the company." Robert's eyes strayed to the other outlaws, scattered amongst the villagers.
Edward offered him the plate of meat and took a piece for himself. The troubled look was back on Robert's face and Edward knew from a lifetime of listening to and solving problems where it stemmed from.
"They'll always miss Robin," Edward told him quietly and matter-of-factly. "That won't change, but they chose to come back here with you."
Robert sighed and nodded. He looked young and lost.
"I can't help thinking that they wish he was here instead of me," he confessed. "That I'm not going to be able to do all that he did."
"Robert, you were called for a reason. Herne doesn't make mistakes." Edward was firm. "You've done a lot of good already, giving as hope as well as letting the Sheriff know he can't bleed us dry without a fight."
There was a silence as Robert took in Edward's words and then a shout. Matthew had hit a bulls-eye and John had lifted him high into the air in celebration.
"Your son's very talented with a bow," Robert commented with a smile.
"He's the best amongst our children here," Edward stated proudly. "The outlaws taught him. He won't be thane like me or my father before me. That's not his path."
Robert looked at him and nodded, raising his tankard in a silent toast. Edward echoed the gesture and then watched as the tension drained a little from Robert's shoulders.
"Give them time, Robert," he offered as he got to his feet to join his wife at the edges of the dancing that was starting. "Herne knows what he's doing. It'll get easier."
And it did.
-end