THE CAMP

The morning dawned bright and cold.

Robin and the gang slept in, revelling in the fact that Guisborne and the sheriff had left the castle for a few days for a small Easter celebration in York.

The holy festival was only a few short weeks away, which meant that Marians birthday was in less than one week, and Robin was running dangerously low on ideas for a gift.

He knew she would not want trinkets or jewellery, even though he knew the gang would not object to him using a small amount of their money to buy her something.

He sighed and gently ran a hand through her hair, the other still under his head.

His eyes turned almost sad.

He knew the one thing she would truly want, and he was sure it was out of his hands to give it to her.

He sighed and shut his eyes, putting his hand back behind his head.

A child.

He turned his mind back to Vaisey and Guisborne and their departure.

By rights Isabella should have been going with them, but she had been put in the castle, which was under lockdown.

In accompaniment to the fact that the gang had stolen Thornton's money back from the castle, the gang were in high spirits.

As the weather grew warmer crops began to flourish, and if it weren't for the Sheriff and the princes crippling taxes, or Guisborne's blatant neglect for the people in the village he claimed to lord over, the people would not need Robin Hood very much.

It was clear to Robin and every other person except those who mattered, that if the people were allowed to build themselves up greater before the sheriff tore them down, the people would grow more self-sufficient, and the sheriff would get his money.

It was warm, far warmer than it had been that winter.

The nights were clear, the sky unburdened by clouds, and during the day the sun shone bright in the sky, making it warm enough to be unworried about closing the camp some nights.

Robin awoke before Marian, as he did most mornings.

He was laying on his back, hands behind his head, deep in thought.

Isabella.

He and Marian had not spoken of her at all since the incident at Knights glade.

Marian had been right, and he had been blind not to see so.

He should have trusted her.

Glancing over to his right at her, he let his eyes rake over her body.

He needed to think of a way to make it up to her, to prove to her that there was nothing between him and Isabella.

He knew that she knew it, that she knew that he loved her.

Isabella…

She seemed drawn to him.

Robin didn't want to see Marian hurt, but he did not see how he could when there were still flickers of doubt in her eyes every time someone else mentioned Guisborne's sister.

Isabella was drawn to him, for some reason, Robin was unsure why.

He sighed and looked back up at the ceiling.

They had stayed at camp far too late last night, and had grown far to amorous…. Both of them knew that they would not make it all the way to their cave before the inevitable happened.

Besides, the other gang members, besides Will and Djac, had fallen into heavy sleeps.

Robin doubted Much had noticed, but he was sure to have plenty to say about it when Robin and Marian appeared this morning.

Marian was laying on her front, naked in their bunk. The covers were settled at the very base of her spine, so her entire back was bare, creamy skin glistening in the sunlight, which streamed through the small holes in their bunk walls.

Her arms were folded under her head, her raven hair lying in waves around her neck.
Robin rolled onto his side facing her. He smiled down at her fondly, running his hand over the base of her spine.
His calloused fingers caused her to squirm and moan quietly, tightening her arms under her head.
He smiled and she yawned quietly.
"My love?" He whispered and kissed the back of her head. He kept his hand on her bare back, rubbing his thumb over the base of her spine gently.
She sighed quietly, "mmm?"

Robin smiled; lately she had been sleeping later and later, not early enough to go noticed by anyone except Much.

Marian wasn't lazy, and it was not as though they were lounging around in bed all morning naked… much to Robins disappointment.

He kissed her hair again, "Wake up sweetheart."

She moaned and pressed her face into the pillow.

Robin ached to see her face and eyes clearly.

"Come on."

She had asked him to wake her every morning, to avoid comment by Much.

It was not as though he meant any harm, but it did irritate Robin, and Alan found it hilarious.
She moaned quietly again and Robin put his hand on her neck under her hair, eyes narrowing at how hot it felt.

"Marian are you alright?"

In truth Marians stomach as rolling. She was hoping if she ignored it that it would go away.

He was kissing her hair again. "Marian?"

She sighed, "I am fine, come on, let's get up."

She pushed herself up onto her arms and grabbed her shirt from the floor. She pulled it over her head, pulling on her breeches afterwards.

Robin remained on his back in bed, but pushed himself up onto his arms to look at her.

"Do you want to me ask Djac to give you something, or we could go see…"

"Robin I am fine." She said, far firmer than she had meant to.

"Please just leave it."

Robin sighed as he heard Much move about in main camp, dragging and waking the others from their bed.

Marian stood, now fully clothed, and walked out into the main camp without Robin.

"Marian, what are you doing here?" Alan's voice was full of a grin.

He flopped back onto his back with his hands covering his face as he heard Much take in Marians dishevelled hair.

"I am not saying anything!"

NOTTINGHAM CASTLE

"With my brother and the sheriff away I insist that you treat me as you would a male lord and master." Isabella paraded in front of the castle guard, who as she suspected, were not used to taking orders from women.

She was dressed in black leather, an image to mirror her brother she had chosen.

If Robin would not willingly love her, then she would force him to.

And by God his wife would fear her.

"My instructions are so." She called firmly to them all, "I want all the able bodied men taken from Nettlestone, Clun, Knighton and Locksley and brought back to the castle."

The guards knew better than the vocally ask why, but their confusion was clear, more uncertainty than doubt…

"The prince demanded a certain sum from my brother, our lord sheriff and my late husband…" her eyes glimmered darkly when she spoke of Thornton and her twisted victory.

"That money was taken from its rightful place here in the castle by the outlaw Robin Hood, and in its place, I have decided that the men shall be sent to Prince John as a token to slave the wound of the theft." She stated, "Trust is vital, and I am trusting you, in leave of the sheriff to do my bidding."

"The men shall be brought back to the castle to be prepared for their journey to London tomorrow morning, before the Sheriff returns."

She looked them all over.

"LEAVE!" She barked and they did so, marching from the hall.

She sighed at the superior note in her voice, and part of her mind thought that if Robin could hear her he would be impressed.

She bit her lip, imagining what he would look like before her, bound and aged with no means to escape, no… a gag would mean she could not kiss him… she his cocky smile and grin…

If he was in chains, unable to leave her presence, or unwilling to…

She smiled slowly in twisted lust.

"My lady?" Her eyes snapped up to see Blamire, her right hand man, or manservant.

Isabella prodded herself on having several lades maids, whose job it was to faun over her.

But during her long and turbulent relationship with her husband Blamire, who had been her husband's trusted friend, had not raised his hand to her.

Each had an understanding with the other, but it was becoming more and more apparent in their relationship, that he doubted her now that she was a woman without a husband.

He glared at her as she spoke to him as though he was beneath her.

Blamire could bide his time.

He knew Sheriff Vaisey well, and knew that when he returned from his trip to the south with Guisborne late in two days' time, that he would not be impressed to find her ordering around his guard's, and the disposal of his peasants, as though she were the sheriff.

Blamire's eyes narrowed as he stared at her.

"Yes?" She put her hands on her hips and looked him over.

He all but ground his teeth together at her superior tone.

"I will accompany the guard's to the villagers; see that the men are brought back safely." He stated.

"Ensure you do." She stated and turned to walk down the great hall, lounging back in Vaisey's chair.

She sneered as she watched him go.

If only Thornton could see her now, he would turn in his shallow grave…

Her heart squirmed and her eyes and brain turned red with lust.

If only Robin, could see her now.

He would yield, and he would have to be impressed.

She sighed and ran a hand through her hair.

Chasing the outlaw was such good sport.

Her mind thought over the way he had looked at his wife though.

Marian.

Her hand immediately crashed down on the arm of the chair.

She seethed.