A/N: Sorry it took so long to update.
I don't own Robin Hood.
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As it happened it wasn't the next day that Ava returned to Nottingham. Though she woke up in the morning full of good intentions of fulfilling her plan she was quickly called to the bed side of a sick and dying young woman. It wasn't even her the woman wished to see but her older brother, away fighting in the Holy Lands.
Ava sat by Katelyn all day, listening to her reminisces and watching her slowly fade away. She had contracted a fever and with no money for a doctor or food there was no hope for her survival. Ava had tried to help but there was little a couple of stolen carrots could do. As Katelyn grew steadily weaker her delirium faded and she gave Ava messages for Alistair when he returned. If he returned was more likely but Ava forced these thought from her mind.
As night fell Katelyn gave Ava the necklace Alistair had presented her with before he left three years before. It was a small swirling silver cross set with green stones and almost certainly stolen. Ava promise keep it safe until his return and with a last squeeze of her hand she stepped back from the poor girl's bed, allowing her family to move closer.
As the mother's wail marking Katelyn's death sounded Ava slipped from the close, dark room out into the cold night, hot tears stinging her eyes.
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It was not done to wallow in grief. Not in a time when almost all wore the drawn expression brought on by a hard life filled with hunger and loss. Ava knew this and was determined to be strong, starting with fulfilling her plan of returning to Nottingham. She set off early in the morning after a sleepless night, pale and with shadows under her eyes, the green cross around her neck.
Entering the market place she was greeted by the usual bustle. She had already been reminded why she preferred wearing men's clothing by several admiring glances and coarse remarks thrown in her direction.
As she wandered from stall to stall, taking scant interest in the wares on offer, she began to realise that the activity of the market was not the usual shouts of the vendors or bartering of the customers. There was a tense blanket of fear over all and people stood huddled in small groups talking. Ava turned to a man passing her and touched his arm to stop him.
"What's happening?"
"Haven't you heard? It's the Nightwatchman. Turns out he's a woman. They're all out looking for her – got a description and all."
Suddenly there was a commotion on the other side of the market place. Twenty or so guards were seizing every woman and looking her over, presumably to decide whether she fit the description. It appeared only dark haired women were of interest and as Ava and her informant realised this at the same moment he took several swift steps away from her.
Coward, she thought viciously though later she would be unable to blame him. She threw her hood over her distinctive head and tried to move away through the crowds. Her elbow was grasped before she'd managed to go more than a couple of paces and she turned to find a guard leering down at her.
Her hands bound behind her back, she was propelled through the castle's courtyard and added to the line of women already there. Also assembled were those guards who'd come face to face with the mysterious Nightwatchman in the past. It was hoped they'd be able to identify her. They began to walk down the line but there were no flashes of recognition.
Ava wasn't overly worried, her wrists hurt where the rope was chafing but she knew she wasn't the Nightwatchman so how could she be accused of being such. Though with the madness of this Sheriff anything was potentially possible.
A figure leaving the door of the castle and coming to stand at the top of the stairs caught Ava's eye. It was Guy of Gisborne, probably the person who had been closest to the Nightwatchman, on several occasions, and lived to tell the tale. The women standing in the courtyard were being made to suffer, the guards pulling at them and sundry beatings, in the hopes the Nightwatchman would crack and reveal herself.
Gisborne came slowly down the stairs, casting his eyes up and down the line, looking for something recognisable. As he came closer he was never the end Ava was standing on, the first few women looked nothing like the Nightwatchman he remembered. As he reached Ava he paused, her head was bowed but she looked up when he stopped. Their eyes met and he grabbed her shoulder.
"You! It's you. You're the Nightwatchman!"
He began to pull her from the line.
"What – no! It's not me! I don't know what you're talking about!"
He hauled her to the bottom of the stairs and threw her to the ground. The Sheriff approached and looked down on her as she kneeled before him. Gisborne drew his sword and held it to her throat.
"Are you sure, Gisborne?"
The Sheriff didn't mind killing innocent people but he wanted the Nightwatchman caught.
"Yes, I'm sure. I saw her yesterday in the market, stealing, and I'd never forget those eyes."
"Stealing? Tut, tut, tut, very bad," The Sheriff turned, almost bored already. "Take her away, she will be executed tomorrow."
Ava was dragged to the dungeons, kicking and screaming, telling anyone who'd listen they'd got the wrong person, she wasn't the real Nightwatchman. Coincidentally, the real Nightwatchman had been watching and was the only one who believed her. Marian stood in the shadows of the castle and had witnessed the whole interrogation.
Since she'd found out they'd finally realised they Nightwatchman was a woman she'd been terrified, convinced they'd discover it was her. There were so many telling clues, Gisborne at least should have known, especially now she did not even have the scant protection of his regard.
This though was much worse, if that was possible. An innocent girl would be hanged because of what she'd been doing. Turning herself in would achieve nothing, the girl would probably still be executed and so would she. The only hope she had would be to get a message to Robin.
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A/N: There you go, a chapter with a bit of plot! Next chapter – a bit of Robin and the gang.
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