Sherwood Forest
Allan POV
I stopped, surprised. A girl about Kate's age was lying on the forest floor, struggling to get up. Her hands were tied behind her back. "Hello. Who're you?" I asked. She spun round to face me and immediately cowered. "Hey, hey, it's alright, I'm not going to hurt you! What're you doing in our forest?"
"Your forest?"
"Yeah, we're outlaws- here, you heard of Robin Hood?"
"Nah. Who's he?"
"You never heard of Robin? You can't be local then can you?"
"From London. Who is Robin Hood?"
"Famous outlaw. I'm part of his gang. We live here. Why're you here?"
"On the run from the London guards. Stole some gold from the royal treasury. And killed the guards. But they found me. So I ran."
"Who did that?" I pointed to her tied hands.
"Don't know. Guess they must've knocked me out, cause next thing I remember I'm here with my hands tied and my knife gone."
"Well! You must be quite a fighter. Want to come meet the gang?" She looked at me suspiciously. "How do I know you and your Robin Hood aint gonna kill me?"
"Guess you'll just have to trust me." She gave me a grin.
"Guess I will. Hey. Can you cut these?" She held out her hands. Hmm. This was a hard one. If she was lying, she could be fully armed and ready to kill me. But I didn't think so. And even if she was, I had my sword and bow. I slashed her bonds. She sighed gratefully, rubbing her wrists, and gestured at me to lead on.
Bianca POV
The man led me to a clearing in the forest. There were several lean-tos and a few men and a girl sitting around. "Hey!" shouted the man. "Look who I found in the forest." Everyone in the clearing looked up.
"Who's this?" A black man in priest's robes asked.
"Girl from London. On the run from the London guards. Stole some gold. Found her in the forest with her hands tied. She seems a good fighter." Another man walked up to me.
"I'm Robin Hood." So this was Robin Hood. "Allan seems to trust you. (So Allan was the man who'd found me) What's your name?"
"Bianca."
"Hello, Bianca. I'm Robin, you've met Allan, this is Tuck (black man), John (big man with a long staff) Much (man with a hat on) and Kate (blonde girl)."
"Hello." Said Much. Tuck and John nodded at me, and Kate smiled. "So, Bianca, I want to see if you can fight. Much, get her a sword." Much ran off and came back with a broadsword. He handed it to me. "So, Bianca," said Robin, "take me on." I looked uncertainly at him, so he made the first move, thrusting at me with his sword. I parried the blow, faked a blow to his head and then stabbed at his gut. He only just blocked it. I then smashed my sword up below his and twisted it suddenly, causing it to spin out of his hand. It landed with a 'thunk' several metres away.
"Whoa." Breathed Much. I saw Tuck and John exchange glances, and Robin and Kate just stared at me. "How did you learn to do that?" asked Robin.
"You have to know how to defend yourself in London."
"Alright," said Robin, "you're in." he handed me a wooden token on a string with a bow and arrow engraved on it. I looped it round my neck. "Kate, show her around camp." The men dispersed. "I'm Kate," said Kate. "I come from Locksley, a village near here. I joined when Guy of Gisborne killed my little brother."
"Who's Guy of Gisborne?"
"Bad news. Sheriff of Nottingham's second in command. An absolutely ruthless murderer."
"Ah."
"Anyway, this is camp. You can sleep here (she gestured to a bunk), it's next to mine. Here's the cooking area, and Tuck's medical hut, and here's the place where we store all the weapons…" she carried on showing me round for about 10 minutes, until we re-joined the rest of the men around a fire. "So, men," Robin was saying, "we'll have to approach from the east. Then Gisborne and the guards won't see us coming."
"What?" asked Kate. "We're going to rob the treasury again," said Tuck. "The families in Locksley are starving. They can't pay the taxes."
"Alright. How?"
"Allan, John, you and Bianca will watch out from the courtyard and if need be distract the guards, while Tuck, Much and I will get in via the dungeons and get at the treasury. Ok, Bianca?" I nodded. "You'll have to have horses ready, we'll probably need a quick getaway."
Next Day, Nottingham
Wearing hooded cloaks, we slipped into Nottingham. John and Allan took the back of the courtyard, while Kate and I positioned ourselves near the front. I saw movement near the entrance to the dungeons. They'd got in. Now we just had to wait. Suddenly, a huge kerfuffle broke out by the dungeon entrance. Much burst through and ran up to us. "They've got Tuck. Robin got out but I've no idea where he is. What do we do?"
"We need to rescue him." Said John.
"Yes, but how?" asked Kate. "They'll be expecting us to try, so all the doors and gates will be guarded."
"Look!" I pointed to a group of guards who were running up to us.
"Scatter!" shouted Much. I raced around the courtyard. A few knights pursued me. Slashing my sword, I got one of them down but the other two were still there. One of them launched an arrow. I deflected it off of my sword, quickly running through the other one. The one who'd shot at me drew his sword. We duelled for a minute, until he crumpled to the ground. I took off again.
Suddenly, a tall man clad in black leather burst out of the castle, pursuing Robin and Tuck. "GISBORNE!" shouted John's voice. I stared. So this was Guy of Gisborne.