Disclaimer: Unfortunately enough, I don't own these characters... except Sable. As far as I know she's mine.
The autumn sunlight streamed in through the thinning branches of the trees. The fallen leaves crunched merrily beneath the hooves of the horse and the wheels of the cart. Robin and the rest of the group were travelling to Wickham to pick up some sacks of food that they had been promised in return for helping with the harvest. Robin was riding on the horse at the front, though he didn't really have to guide it. The old horse had travelled the route so many times before it more or less knew the way, and besides, it was one of the only clearly defined tracks that ran through the forest. It was a warm, lazy sort of morning and the others were lounging in the cart, watching the scenery go by.
Suddenly something dropped out of the tree right in front of them. The horse started and whinnied. Robin shushed it and looked at the girl who was now standing in front of them.
She was tall, with dark hair and a scruffy green and brown tunic like the ones they themselves wore. She had a belt at her waist that held two finely carved knives and one small dagger, although Robin somehow felt that she would be quite hesitant to use them.
"Stand and deliver" she said in a steady voice. Robin guessed that she was bluffing and anyway, they had nothing worth taking. What surprised him was seeing her at all. He hadn't known that there was anyone else living in the forest, and he had though that he'd checked most of it pretty carefully. He dropped down from the horse as the others watched from the cart to see how he would deal with the situation.
Robin surveyed her inquisitively. She looked annoyed that her demands weren't being immediately met, but nonetheless she did not draw her knives. Robin presumed that she knew she was outnumbered by a considerable amount and could also probably see now that they had nothing of value.
"I said stand and deliver. Your money or your life" she said angrily, frowning at him.
"What's your name?" Robin replied simply.
"Why? Who wants to know?" The girl asked.
"You first" Robin insisted.
At this the girl appeared to lose hope of getting any money out of them and, realising that Robin wouldn't tell her who he was until she told him her name, she bolted into the trees. Hastily Robin jumped onto the horse, slipped off the rope that attached it to the cart and spurred it on after her. The rest of the group looked after him, nonplussed.
"So now what do we do?" Much asked.
Robin and the horse crashed through the trees and branches. The girl couldn't have gone far but there were plenty of places she could hide in the forest. Robin rode on, regardless. He decided she wouldn't have had time to climb a tree yet, so she must still be running.
Suddenly he spotted her, running at full tilt a little way ahead. She was fast, but the horse was faster. Robin caught up to her and grabbed her by the back of her tunic. This may have seemed harsh, but he had to know if she was a threat or an ally to them.
It was also dangerous. In the split second it had taken for him to grab hold of her, he had forgotten that she had weapons, Quick as lightening she whipped out one of her knives and cut him across the knuckles of his left hand. He winced at the pain, but he kept hold of her. She had not cut him deeply and, although it certainly hurt, it would not be a lasting injury. This show of control surprised him. She wanted him to let go, and the pain of the cut would have been enough to make most people let go, but she also wanted to find out if he was friend or foe considering she could now see he was not a nobleman, so she did not want to wound him too deeply.
He kept a tight grip on her even though his hand was throbbing. She squirmed and struggled, and cried out. He still didn't let go.
She looked up at him grumpily and said
"Let me go or I'll give you more to worry about than that scratch."
Robin laughed dryly. He liked her character. She frowned even more.
"It's not funny. Let me go, you swine." She said, squirming again.
At that moment the rest of the group came into view. They circled around the girl and Robin let her go, as she now had nowhere to run to. She sighed angrily and frowned at them, her hands on the hilts of her knives.
"Now," Robin said jumping down from the horse and standing in front of her. "Maybe we can start again. My name is Robin of Loxley, though some call me "Robin i' the hood"… and to one certain soldier I am known as 'that Wolf's Head'."
The rest of the group smiled at this. They all knew whom he was talking about; Guy of Gisburne, the soldier who had made it his duty to eliminate them from Nottingham, or even from the whole of England.
The girl's face softened as she heard who he was. Robin noticed this.
"You have heard of me?" He asked. The girl nodded.
"Aye, I've heard of you," she said calmly, "But I wouldn't have thought someone with a reputation like yours would hang around with a load of nitwits like this lot."
Robin stifled a laugh. Will started towards her angrily but Little John held him back. The girl glared at Will but there was a hint of a smile on her face.
"So," said Robin, "Now that you know who I am maybe you'd be kind enough to offer me your name in return?"
"You won't know me," the girl said simply, shrugging, "So my name will be immaterial to you. But I'm not going to come and cut your throats in the middle of the night, if that's what you're worried about. That being the case let me be on my way"
Robin folded his arms and looked at her.
"What is your business in Nottingham Forest?" he asked her.
"Same as anyone else" she said, "I live here. I need money and food so I became a highwayman. That's it really."
"So how come have we've never seen you before?" Will asked, speaking up for the first time.
"I haven't been here long. Only a couple of weeks." She told him.
"Why did you come here?" Robin asked her.
"Because I didn't want to live under the Sheriff's laws any more. He exploited us workers and took our money for his own pockets" The girl was getting quite heated now. "We slaved all day for him and he took it away and left us with nothing. I couldn't stand it any more. So I left and came here." She finished, calming down somewhat.
"Well, if you have heard of us before you must know we agree with you. So why can't you trust us enough to tell us your name?" Robin asked gently. The girl scowled at him.
"I told you, you won't know who I am," She said angrily.
Robin decided to try a new approach. He shrugged and said
"Alright then" and he climbed back on the horse and started to ride away. The rest of the party followed him, leaving the girl alone.
"Wait!" She called after them. Robin smiled to himself. He turned around to look at her.
"Where are you going?" She asked him.
"To Wickham" Robin told her, "We've been promised some supplies. Why?"
The girl stood sullenly, looking at the ground for a few seconds. Then she mumbled
"I've run out of food. I haven't eaten in two days. I need some more supplies but the villagers won't give me any. They think I'm wicked because I ran away and left them."
Robin's heart grew heavy as he listened. The girl looked much smaller now, like she was a child again. He walked the horse over to her and said
"Well, tell us your name and you can join us."
"Robin!!" Will exclaimed. "We can't just take her on! We don't know who she is! She could be working for Gisburne!"
Robin looked at him calmly.
"I think we can handle her," he said nonchalantly. "If she decides to turn against us… we'll just slit her throat."
The girl looked up at him in alarm. Will still didn't look too happy but he stepped back and was silent again. Robin turned his attention back to her.
"So?" he asked. The girl sighed and said
"I come from Newark. You can call me Sable. I would be honoured to join your group… if that idiot can keep his opinions to himself, that is" she said, looking at Will. He was frowning so much that his eyebrows nearly met in the middle and his nostrils were flared in anger. Sable grinned at him cheekily, which made him all the angrier. Robin tried to hide a smile.
"So? Will you join us?" he asked her. Sable considered for a moment, then said
"If you'll have me."
Will sat sulkily in the back of the cart, staring at the trees going by. He was not happy at the way Robin had so readily trusted Sable. That was Robin's problem, he never considered that anyone could be trying to trick him. If he, Will, were the leader… well, he'd certainly be a lot more suspicious of strange women turning up out of the blue with a load of claptrap about needing food.
He looked over at her out of the corner of his eye so that she wouldn't see him looking at her. She was talking to Much, who also seemed to have been taken in by her. They were laughing together. For a split second, and for some reason that Will couldn't comprehend, he suddenly wanted to be over there, laughing and joking with them, rather than sitting in the back of the cart on his own, sulking. It certainly looked like they were having a lot more fun than him.
He shook his head. He was being stupid. He had to get back to the matter at hand. There was no way he was going to trust her, at least not until he knew her a lot better. Someone had to be on his guard, if all the rest of them weren't even going to question her. And yet… not trusting people hadn't exactly been a great tactic in the past. He hadn't trusted Nasir when they'd first met… In actual fact he hadn't even trusted Robin at first. But Robin trusted everyone and he always seemed to come out on top.
Suddenly Sable looked round at him. He pretended to be looking at a passing tree, but out of the corner of his eye he saw her frown slightly and turn back to Much. It was hard to tell over the rattling of the cart and the singing of the birds in the trees, but he thought he heard a trace of their conversation…
"Is he alright?" Sable asked Much. Much looked over at Will.
"Oh, he'll be fine. He's just sulking. He's probably still bitter over you calling him an idiot" Much told her, smiling. Sable frowned.
"Do you think that was a bit mean?" She asked somewhat worriedly.
"He'll get over it," Much told her. "Got far too high an opinion of himself, Will has. He doesn't trust anyone."
"Does that not make him a little difficult to deal with?" Sable enquired.
"You get used to it" Much laughed. Sable smiled…
"GISBURNE!!"
The cry echoed down the halls of the castle. Gisburne woke with a start. Shaking his head vigorously to try and wake himself up Gisburne set off down the hallway at a run.
He burst through the hall doors and knelt before the Sheriff.
"My Lord…" he began somewhat out of breath.
"Gisburne you bumbling fool!" the Sheriff interrupted irately, "I have been calling for you for the last ten minutes! Anyone would think you slept with cotton wool in your ears! Or are you just too thick-witted to recognise your own name when it's shouted at you?"
Gisburne kept hold of his temper with the same dogged determination he had had to use to cope with each day of the Sheriff's insults.
"Was there something you wanted me for, my Lord?" He asked calmly.
"Yes of course there was. D'you think I'm in the habit of shouting myself hoarse for sport, Gisburne you nitwit?!" The Sheriff asked derisively. Gisburne closed his eyes and counted to ten. Luckily the Sheriff couldn't see this because Gisburne was still kneeling on the floor.
"Oh get up Gisburne you snivelling idiot" the Sheriff said unkindly. Gisburne got up.