Chapter One
The animals in Sherwood Forest were NOT having a very good day. At first everything seemed normal, wonderful even. The sun was shining brightly and the birds were chirping. The rain from the last few days had given all of the rabbits and foxes plenty to drink and although the ground was slightly muddy, the sun shone out a promise to make it dry again. Then this beautiful illusion was shattered. Out from the undergrowth came a boy no older than fifteen with sandy blonde hair and a mischievous grin on his face. Under normal circumstances the animals would have hidden or run away until he left but then the most awful thing happened. It turned out that this boy was not alone in whatever task he had set out to do. The rabbits all assumed they were out to hunt rabbits and the foxes all assumed they were hunting foxes and so on with each animal. Whatever the reason, this second boy was not nearly as quiet, quite the opposite in fact. He was frightening the animals so much as he crashed through the bushes grumbling rather loudly about whatever scratch he had acquired in his attempt to come through the bush like his master that the animals scampered away so quickly you would have thought that there was a dozen hunters instead of two mere children.
"Quiet, Much!" The first boy whispered not unkindly to the second.
"Unbelievable! I could have died in those brambles and all you're worried about is whether or not I scare away the hunt! Surely Master, you could have thought of an easier way to find all of those rabbits?" The second boy, which some of the braver animals who had stayed behind figured his name was Much, licked his lips at the thought of dinner.
"Of course I could, but where would be the fun in that?"
"Unbelievable!" The first boy snickered at Much's insistence at an easier route to food.
"Well, come on then! Our meal is escaping!" Once the rabbits figured out that they really WERE on the menu for that evening, they scampered away faster than the first group of frightened animals.
Not too long after all of the forest animals had found their way back to the clearing, they were resting in before they were so rudely interrupted, another shadow fell upon the forest floor. Resigning themselves to a scamper filled day, all of the creatures ran and hid behind various trees and boulders. This time it was a young female who stepped lightly if not angrily through the undergrowth. She stopped to examine a slight tear in her peach colored gown before continuing her journey through the trees. Little did any of the rabbits know (They ARE only rabbits after all), that this was the beautiful Lady Marian of Knighton who was just thirteen years old at the time. She frowned at her dress that was restricting her from walking closer to a stream she wanted to cross, but she continued to walk closer until she was perched at the very edge of the 12 foot cliff that lead down to a bubbling brook. Most of the animals poked their heads out from wherever it was they were hiding to see what she would do to get across. Marian sighed heavily and looked around her to make sure no one was looking (Not that there was anyone around) and she hiked up her dress in a way that was not at all considered proper and started to make her way across a rickety looking tree that the animals knew had fallen during the storms the night before.
Marian walked very slowly across the log hoping that this was the easiest way across and that she wouldn't fall. She realized that it was too late to turn back and anyways if her friend Robin could complete tasks like this, then she could too. Marian looked down at her feet mentally cursing herself for wearing slippers. Almost simultaneous, her right foot slipped off of the log. She gasped and fell forwards, clutching the fallen tree for dear life.
"I'm alright. It's going to be fine." She assured herself while standing back up. At this point she was VERY nervous about falling so she actually walked faster across the tree. When Marian reached the end in once piece she had a problem that she hadn't noticed before. When the tree had fallen, it had taken a lot of the ground with it making an effective barrier for anyone who wanted to walk across. Marian frowned. She had to try and climb over it. Resigning herself to a dirty dress, Marian lifted one leg over the clumps of roots and dirt and hoisted the rest of her body up with it. Unfortunately, these roots weren't exactly the strongest of their kind and even though Marian didn't weigh much, the tree stump couldn't hold her up. Making cracking noises, the roots all snapped sending Marian and clumps of mud tumbling down into the muddy ditch that the tree had left when it fell.
"Oh!" Luckily, Marian wasn't high enough up that she could break anything but she did land rather painfully on her rear. At this point, Marian's dress was no longer peach but tan in some places and in others completely brown.
"Oh, lovely!" Marian saw the results of her fall including a small but deep scrape in her left forearm. Marian's sarcasm carried all the way to the other side of the patch of trees where Robin of Locksley and his manservant Much were hunting rabbits.
"Shh!" Robin hushed Much while standing upright straining his ears to hear that familiar voice again.
"Master?"
"Shh!" a slow smile spread across Robin's fifteen year old face. "If I'm not mistaken then we're not alone in this part of Sherwood. Come on!" Robin jumped between trees and bushes running stealthily toward where he heard Marian's voice.
"Master! Oh, wait for me!"
"Marian had climbed out of the mud hold and stared at her now ruined dress. She didn't' care about it too much but she was worried about her father's reaction. Deciding it best to address the problem when it arose, she ignored it and continued onwards. If she was right, and when it came to things that she really cared about, she normally was, a very familiar clearing was just beyond the trees in front of her. Marian started to get very excited as she walked quicker towards the trees. Giving up entirely she started to run. Robin was the same; he knew he had heard Marian and he couldn't wait just to see her face again. He started to run too. Both of the children ran around a marker they recognized, a giant oak tree, but they weren't expecting to run right into each other.
Robin and Marian collided and fell into a tangled heap on the floor of the forest, both of them shocked that the other was so close by.
"Marian!"
"Robin!" They shouted each other's names simultaneously.
"What are you doing here?"
"What do you mean what am I doing here, what are you doing here? And what happened to your dress?" Robin stood up and offered his hand to Marian who ignored him and got up on her own. She dismissed the last part of Robin's question. She pulled her sleeve over the cut she had gotten, not wanting Robin to see it.
"Where's Much?" Robin frowned and looked around him. Right on cue, Much fell out from behind a bush and landed flat on his face. He sat up and spat grass out of his mouth.
"Here I am! Oh, hello Marian! What happened to your gown?"
"I fell." She explained. Even though Much was one of Robin's servants, she thought of him as a friend. Marian hurried over and helped Much out of the bush while Robin stood with his hands on his hips.
"How did you fall?" He asked hiding his worry behind an amused smirk. Marian didn't realize how much Robin really cared for her, but instead acknowledged the smirk hiding Robin's true feelings.
"The log I was climbing over snapped, not that it is any of your business." Marian replied haughtily.
"A log? Surely Marian, you can't be serious!" Much stared at Marian and then at Robin and back again. He was normally caught in the cross fire between Robin and Marian and although he could see that both of them loved each other dearly, they were in this sense, blind.
"Yes, a log." Marian explained again to Much. She didn't, however, explain why she was on the log in the first place for Much was a born worrier but she decided to let the issue rest for now.
Much shook his head. "You're not like other girls Marian." He said in reserved awe.
"No, she's not." Robin said smiling and throwing Marian a wink. She rolled her eyes but when she thought he wasn't looking, smiled softly to herself.
"So, where are you off to?" Robin, Much and Marian started through the trees in the direction Marian was headed before. Marian realized that Robin must have run right by their old hideaway without even realizing it. When Robin and Much were ten and Marian was eight, they had all decided that they needed a place to plan their adventures. Whether that adventure was stealing cream and strawberries from the manors kitchen before dinner or spying on the serfs in the different villages, they needed some place to meet and come up with new plans. Much had stumbled upon a little clearing when he went looking for Robin and ever since then that had been their spot. But as the years went by, they all slowly forgot about the secret hideaway and it was once again buried behind the trees. Marian, however, wasn't one to forget memories that easily.
"You'll see." She responded, her excitement returning. She couldn't wait to surprise Much and Robin!
They all stumbled through trees for another few minutes before Marian gasped in excitement.
"What is it Marian?" Robin asked her.
"Look! Oh, everything is still standing!" Robin and Much gasped along with Marian when they walked into the clearing and saw their old hideout. In the middle of the clearing was a small fire pit with three rocks around it and surprisingly there were still ashes in the pit. A wooden platform was a built between two branches in a tree slightly to the right of the pit. Next to the platform was a rope swing with a wooden seat on it that hung from a branch and was swinging in the breeze.
"I must say, this is… this is…!" Much was too excited for words.
"Amazing." Robin substituted a word for his servant and friends unfinished sentence.
"Yes!" Much exclaimed. Robin walked to the fire pit while Much just stood in shock; Marian decided to go and swing on the rope.
Robin's initial surprise had worn off and he went into full tracking mode once he spotted the ash in the fire pit. They hadn't been back here in years and yet the ash was still there, that couldn't be right. Robin squatted down next to one of the weathered rocks that served as a chair for so many years and noticed that there were footprints going around the rocks and the fire pit. They were heavy, large and most important fresh.
Robin looked up when he heard his two friends laughing. Much had pushed Marian on the swing higher in to the air, her muddy dress whipping around her ankles. Much gave up once Marian was too high up for him to reach her and decided instead to wander about the field. Robin had to smile at that; he could never ask for friends better than his own.
Going back to his investigation, he noted that there were footprints all over the miniature camp even leading up to the platform up in the trees. The ladder was even covered in dirt as if people had been climbing on it recently.
"Much, Marian." Robin called out their names calmly, but he was worried. Much hadn't heard him but Marian's head shot up at her name and she dug her heels into the forest floor to stop the swing. She walked over to Robin who was looking at Much, the latter of which being perfectly content to sit in a small strawberry patch munching on the sweet fruit.
"What is it?" Marian noticed the worry etched on Robin's face and she grew tense. He wrapped his hand around Marian's wrist and started leading her towards Much's happy and smiling person.
"I don't think we're alone in this clearing, or at least, we won't be for long." Marian frowned and became very worried but she didn't resist as Robin kept his hand on her wrist.
"Much!" Robin called out his friend's name who looked up and didn't notice both Marian and Robin's expressions.
"Hello Robin! Isn't this marvelous? You me and Marian together in our old hideaway? It's just like old times!" Robin let go of Marian's wrist, both of them instantly missing the contact but never saying a word, and he pulled Much up by his shoulders.
"Much, we have to GO." He said seriously. Much gulped, his voice filled with fear.
"Go? But we just got here."
"Yes, but now we have to leave Much." Marian said hiding her worry behind a calm demeanor. Much nodded his head and the trio quickly started to make their way out of the clearing. Robin pulled out his bow and then an arrow from his quiver to be safe.
"And where are we going now?" Marian asked Robin.
A voice startled them all from directly behind them.
"We were about t' ask you lot the same question."