I had no idea why Marian was all happy all of a sudden. Particularly while taking a ride in Sherwood with Guy of Gisbourne, her latest suitor. Normally she would scowl and say nothing to the creature, but today the two were chatting away like chipmunks. Very suspicious, if you asked me.
"Becca, what do you know about it all?" Marian asked.
"What 'all', milady?" I asked, shooting her a venomous glare. It really wasn't proper for her to include me, a mere lady-in-waiting, in conversations with noblemen.
"We were discussing Robin Hood," Marian said, not heeding my look. Guy looked about as uncomfortable with me joining in as I was.
"Well," I replied politely. "He… Is much talked of among the servants, at least."
"He is talked of by everyone constantly!" Guy burst out. "He's only been outlawed for six months, but serfs are already flocking to him by the dozen. He's robbed at least half the Normans at court. He had better not try anything on this outing." Marian didn't look surprised in the least to hear him speak so vehemently.
"I sincerely hope he doesn't," said Marian. I could tell she didn't mean it. For one thing, her hands fluttered with the reins. She was just itching for some excitement. Guy, of course, had only known her a few weeks, instead of the five years I had, so he didn't recognize her gesture as one of anticipation rather than fear. He patted her arm, which almost made her shiver in disgust. Riding behind her, I noticed, though she did a good job of hiding it from Gisbourne.
"Well. I can assure you, with me and my little escort," a score of men-at-arms surrounded us, 'for security', though all they did was whisper about Marian and me, "Robin Hood would never dare show his face, let alone his arrows." Marian raised an eyebrow, but quickly lowered it. Guy saw nothing.
"If you say so," she murmured obediently.
We neared the middle of our part of Sherwood. Gisbourne guided his horse, a black, ill-mannered thing that liked to bite, closer to Marian's chestnut mare. He leaned toward Marian a little, sneaking a hand onto hers. At that moment, an arrow suddenly glanced off the glove of that very hand. I, much alarmed, shoved Guy aside and grabbed Marian's wrist, checking to see if the arrow that had hit Gisbourne had touched her at all. There was not so much as a scratch. Strangely, my lady was grinning widely and her hands were fiddling with the reins again.
"Marian! Are you all right?" Guy asked. He held his hand close to him, despite the lack of injury. The arrow had fallen to the ground. It hadn't even pierced the glove.
"Oh, just dandy," Marian replied. "And you?"
"I was lucky."
"That wasn't luck! If I'd wanted you to get hurt, you would've been," complained a voice from the branches above. Marian jittered even more, her smile growing. The men-at-arms fell all over themselves drawing swords andfumbling witharrows. A few of them ended up bumping into each other. "You are, at this very moment, surrounded by forty men with bows trained on you. Dismount and drop your weapons." The cowardly soldiers obeyed. I folded my arms and glared into the trees. Marian was shaking. Poor dear, probably scared to—Forget that. Marian was never scared. She was probably trying not to giggle. She turned towards me and I saw this was indeed the case. She mouthed something. I was never great at reading lips, so I scratched my head and continued to search the leaves for humans. None manifested themselves.
"Very good of you," the voice said once all the men-at-arms had obeyed. A boy around my age—fourteen—dropped from a tree and gathered up all the weapons. None of the men cared to stop him. When he came to the soldiers behind me, I grabbed his shoulder.
"If you're going to rob my lady, I want some answers. Who's your leader, who are you, and what do you want?" I demanded. He gently removed my hand, and fortunately for him, didn't kiss it. Stepping back a few paces, holding a menagerie of weapons in his thin little arms, he responded cheerfully.
"Didn't Marian tell you?" Marian heard, and turned to me apologetically.
"Oops. I guess I forgot," she said.
"Right," the boy said doubtfully.
"Well, sorry Much, but you know how ladies-in-waiting can be if they think you're heading into trouble," Marian explained. Ah. His name was Much. Guy suddenly broke into our pleasant conversation.
"Tell your—" a few expletives, "Leader I want to talk with him." Much nodded agreeably.
"Okay. Gisbourne wants to talk to you!" The boy hollered.
"Just a sec! Scarlet, could you take care of the horses? And Little John, Wat, and Arthur, tie up those men. The rest of you help out where needed," the voice ordered. Nine green-clad men slid from leafy boughs. Three of the biggest started roughly wrapping and knotting ropes and vines around each of the twenty (wimpy) men-at-arms. A few others joined them.A good-looking man in red, who had very nice blue eyes, coupled with blond hair peeking out under a scarlet hat, deftly led the twenty docile horses back the way we had come. One or two others helped him out. Forty bow-toting men indeed.
"So. You said you wanted to talk to me." My head snapped over to where another smiling man stood in front of us. Bright green eyes were the first thing I noticed. They saw everything. I could tell. Gisbourne, who hadn't been aware of his presence either, looked shocked and stumbled over a few attempts at saying something before his brain kicked in again.
"You! Are you that blasted Robin Hood?"
"That would be me," Robin Hood replied brightly. "Need anything?"
"You have stolen from the noble people of England too long!"
"It's only been half a year, and they're not that noble," he said. Marian was having a jolly time watching this exchange. She was lucky Guy wasn't watching her face. I was, though, and I started thinking of the outline for a very long and in-depth berating once we were alone.
"Draw your sword, you—" More cursing. I hoped Marian wasn't listening too closely.
"Goodness. Watch your language, Gully," Robin Hood said.
"GULLY? Why you insolent Saxon puppy!" With a swish that almost took his horse's ears off, Guy unsheathed his sword and scrambled off the animal. Robin merrily drew his, as well. Gisbourne's, a very long, pointy, dangerous looking sharp object, sort of threw the outlaw's into shadow. Robin Hood's was chipped, dull, and had a rather decrepit appearance. So I watched as the two sliced and chopped and blocked and so on for a few minutes, pretty much being certain of the outcome. Despite Guy being the best swordsman I knew, though, this outlaw (who was about a foot shorter than Guy) managed to get in a few thrusts at the man. Guy got in quite a few more thrusts, but it was obvious Robin Hood wasn't too bad with weapons. Still, it was with more than a little surprise that I suddenly beheld Gisbourne disarmed.
"You just… My sword…" Sir Guy of Gisbourne examined his empty hands. Out of the blue, he reached out and grabbed the outlaw's neck. Robin looked mildly interested. Then he was out of the knight's grasp. I pondered on the events of the last half-second.
"I suppose we're finished fighting for now," Robin commented. I still didn't understand first, how he'd won the duel, second, how he'd gotten out of Gisbourne's rather strong grip, and third, what was going on in general.
"Okay!" Robin shouted. "If Guy, Marian, and Becca would please follow me. My people, make sure the soldiers are secured, and meet up once you've sent them home. You know what to do!" I watched in fascination as he took Marian's bridle and led the horse along. Marian didn't hurt him for taking the bridle. That was a first. Much grabbed Guy's bridle and dodged the black stallion's teeth.
"Let go of that, boy!" Guy yelled at Much from on top of his black charger. Much grinned impudently and stuck his tongue out. Guy probably would've throttled him for that, but Much had tied his hands behind his back. I can't say I was disappointed that Guy was having to go through a little humiliation. He'd been too arrogant the whole time I'd known him. Well, maybe not really 'known'. 'Been acquainted with' is more accurate. I just stood behind Marian while he talked to her father and occasionally said something to her.
"I would say, 'welcome to Sherwood', but it would sound stupid. So, uh, hope you enjoy your visit," Robin Hood told Gisbourne. We had traveled a few minutes, on barely-visible deer paths. All that pretty cloth the horses had been wearing was ripped, as was the hem of Marian's dress. I sighed. Now that we stopped, I slid down from my own plain palfrey and examined the damage.
"What do you want with us!" Sir Guy shouted.
"Well, I was hoping you'd consent to having a bite to eat with me, but if you'd rather not, I'll just take your purse and you can go." Guy growled and squirmed to get free. He fell off his horse.
"You all right?" Robin asked, helping him up with concern.
"ARR!" Guy yelled eloquently. Robin nodded. He led the man to a tree and sat him down against its trunk. At Robin's gesture, Much came over and skillfully tied Guy to it. Marian waved me aside and dismounted. She walked over to Robin Hood.
"Thanks. What are you planning on doing with him?" He shrugged.
"I'll leave it up to the Merry Men." I stalked over to them.
"Marian, this is not at all proper," I whispered to her. She laughed.
"Robin, this is Rebecca," she said. "And Becca, this is Robin Hood. Is that proper enough for you?"
"You know this rascal?" Guy asked Marian. I had been about to ask the same. Scary thought.
"Oh, of course! We've been best friends since we were little," she said. "Though I haven't really spent time with him since September." It was March now. Well, there was one good thing. She hadn't seen him since before he was outlawed. I dragged her away from Robin. He grinned and started preparing things.
"Marian, I want some answers. True ones," I added, knowing her tendency to embellish. "Have you seen Robin Hood since he became and outlaw?"
"Once or twice. I set this up with him two weeks ago."
"I see. What is 'this'?" My lecture for once we were back home lengthened by a few paragraphs.
"It's this plan I came up with. You know how I hate Sir Guy," Marian said. Gisbourne looked astonished, the self-centered idiot. "Of course you do. Anyway, I wanted to get back at him for wasting my afternoons. Well, I had a few more purposes. So I went to Robin, who has his own reasons for accepting."
"Accepting what?"
"Patience! Accepting the whole plan. I would bring Guy into the middle of Sherwood. The hope had been that he and I would be alone, without ladies-in-waiting or men-at-arms, but that sort of failed miserably. But Robin has always been good at improvising. Anyway, he must've anticipated Guy bringing along buddies, and took care of them very nicely." Robin bowed. "Then—we didn't entirely work out this part—Robin and his men would do something with Guy and I'd hang out in the greenwood with them for a while." I was flabbergasted. She hadn't been planning on taking me along! The nerve.
"Actually, that wasn't exactly The Plan," Robin interjected. "But we can't very well go into detail with our good friend Gully right here." Guy ranted and thrashed about for a little bit. The outlaw kept building a fire. For a minute or two I said nothing. This was all a bit of a shock. Marian had never been an obedient child, but I hadn't even had the slightest suspicion she had secrets this big.
"Do you prefer fish or fowl? I would offer you venison, but it is the king's, so we only shoot the deer if we must," Robin said to us. "Gully? Marian? Beccadutch? Much?" Beccadutch?
"Beccadutch?" I said.
"Yep. You just don't seem like an ordinary 'Rebecca' or even just 'Becca.' Hence, Beccadutch." Wow. Robin Hood was not normal, even for someone who lives in trees and is friends with Marian.
"Food?" prompted Much. "And what about the others?"
"They'll be here soon enough. Meanwhile, do you want to make it or shall I?"
"What are we having?" I was getting bored of their conversation; something I was good at hiding from five years of practice, but still made me want to whack them for not being interesting enough. Resisting the urge, I gazed off into the forest, tuning them out successfully.
Yay! The first (unnamed) chapter is over with! Do I need to include more descriptive passages? Do I even need to tell you to read and review? Hope you liked it, because I had lots of fun writing it. Lots and lots of fun.
