I do not own Robin Hood
Chapter One: A Beltane Memory
Seven years previous…
Tonight was Beltane. The celebration to welcome summer. Seventeen-year old Nottingham strained to see the flickering fires in the distance. He desperately wanted to go join the festivities. Mortianna had, however, forbidden him to go. She did not want him to leave the castle so he wouldn't draw attention to the witch living in his basement. He scowled as he thought about the argument they had had earlier that evening.
flashback
"Please let me go." He had begged, "I only want to watch."
"I told you no! We do not celebrate today. It is a disgusting holiday and you will have no part of it!" Mortianna had replied.
"How can it be any more disgusting then what you have me do here!" he regretted it immediately when she slapped him hard on his head, her long nails almost cutting him.
"You best watch your tongue my child, or it we be used next time I need one." She whispered as she grabbed his chin and forced him to look in to her mismatched eyes. He was taller than her, stronger than her, and yet he felt powerless against her.
"I am not yours." He said through clenched teeth and pulled out of her grasp started walking down the hall to his room. He heard the door lock behind him as he shut the door. Cursing, he had gone over to the window and watched as the sun set.
End flashback
Still looking out the window he could see that the distance fires were growing bigger and he could barely make out some people around them. He was still too far away to see clearly what was going on, and with each passing moment he wished more and more that he could be out there and away from his room. He heard the lock on his door scrapping as the key was turned and a servant walked in with his dinner.
"Is the old hag asleep?" he asked as the servant closed the door and brought the food over to him.
"I am afraid not Milord, but she had us bring you dinner before she returned to the basement." He said and put the food down on a table. Once he did Nottingham grabbed him. The servant gave a small yelp and trembled as he looked into his lord's face.
"You will bring me some of your clothes so that I may sneak through the servants' chambers to the kitchen."
"M-Milord. The witch, she said-"
"She is not the Master of this house! I am! And you will do what I ask. Now go! And be quick." The servant ran out of the room, almost tripping as he opened the door. While he waited, he hurriedly ate the bread that had been brought to him and finished in time with his servant returning with some old clothes. Nottingham quickly changed and instructed the servant that he was to lock his room after he left to give the appearance that he was still locked in.
"When I return you will let me back in my room and the witch never need know I was gone." He pressed some coins into the man's hand as he walked out the door. "For your silence." He said and quietly sped down the hall. He took the long way around so he could stay as far away from the basement as possible. After almost being seen by two maids walking to their chambers, he made it to the kitchen, and slipped out the door.
He quickly made his way to the fires. For a bit, he just watched off to the side, unsure if he wanted to do more. He was surprised at how much everyone was enjoying it. Whenever he did rituals with Mortianna it always involved killing animals where the end result was him being covered in blood, an activity that he did not enjoy. However, here at this celebration there had been singing, dancing, and drinking. Some people danced around the maypole while others were jumping over one of the bonfires that had reduced to embers to purify themselves. There was more reason that the festival was so much livelier. It had been rumored that King Richard was going on a crusade against the Moores for the Holy Land. The people wanted to celebrate as much as they could before war. He couldn't blame them, after all, that's what he was there for.
He had joined soon and after several drinks and much dancing he saw her. At that moment, he felt his breath leave him. She was beautiful. Her curly brown hair fell delicately down her back. She was the cousin to the King and was very wealthy, but she had worn a simple peasant's gown with a crown of flowers on her head. Even with this simple dress, she looked like royalty.
After admiring the Lady Marian for several moments, he got up the courage to ask her to dance. He was so thankful that it was dark with only the firelight dancing across his face as he did not want her to recognize him. The smile she gave his made his legs feel like jelly and he started feeling emotions he had not felt before as she extended her hands to join the dance.
They danced for a long while before they decided to leave the firelight and go for a walk hand in hand, laughing and stumbling from the mead they had drunk. Once out of sight of the fire and the festive activities became only murmurs, he lay down in the grass and looked up at the stars. He heard Marian lie down next to him and he looked over at her. She was on her stomach with her chin in her hands while she looked at him. She had a sly smile on her face before she spoke.
"I am the Lady Marian; may I ask your name milord?"
"I am deeply sorry milady, but I am not supposed to be out and would rather not reveal my name."
"Why, that must be nonsense. Why would one be forbidden to enjoy such a night?"
"My…mistress does not wish for me to be out of the castle. I am a… servant at the Castle of Nottingham." He lied.
"I promise I won't tell anyone. I don't know who I would tell anyway. I have never talked to the young Nottingham and I didn't even know there was a mistress. I thought they died years ago."
"Well, there are other people at the castle besides the young master." He said feeling strange talking about himself in this way.
"Oh, who else it there? I had always wondered who had raised him."
"Ah, well…" he was uncomfortable with the idea of talking about Mortianna. He knew most people suspected the witch, but he didn't feel like confirming it. "There were some servants entrusted to raise him along with a bit of help from his Aunt, the mother of his cousin, Guy of Gisborne." This was not entirely untrue, there were other servants in the castle and he had often met up with his cousin. Marian seemed happy with this response and pressed no further.
"Well, young servant of Nottingham, you are an incredible dancer."
"Thank you milady. You as well." He said and turned back to the stars. He felt her move closer to him and his heart sped up. When her fingers started to run through his black hair he was afraid he was going to loose control. This beautiful woman thought he was a servant and was still there with him, not caring about the social status. He hand moved from his hair to his face. Fingers dancing over his cheeks and down to his chin over the beginnings of the beard he was starting to grow. Her skin was so soft having never known a days work. He stiffened as he felt his body react to those soft fingers as they left his face and went down his neck to his chest. He couldn't help himself. The next moment he let out a soft groan as he rolled over on top of her with his face buried in her hair. He felt her breath stop and then quicken and he lifted his head up to look at her. Her eyes were closed and mouth open trying to slow her breathing. He took his hand and held it to her cheek.
"Milady?" he asked, worried he had scared her with his momentary loss of control. When she didn't respond, he started to move away when she grabbed onto his shirt and pulled him toward her. Their faces were within inches of each other when she opened her eyes and looked into his.
"Don't leave." She whispered. He felt her breath on his lips and leaned in closer.
"Milady, this is not right. You are of noble blood and I am just a servant." He knew this to be a lie and while he was not of noble blood it would not be a disgrace, but as his current identity it could be dangerous for her. If she was disgraced, she could end up as nothing more then a Lord's whore instead of in a proper marriage.
"Tonight everyone is equal. We must enjoy this night while it lasts"
"Milady… the repercussions…you may never have a proper marriage." He was having a hard time concentrating as he tried to restrain himself.
"Servant of Nottingham, no one will ever have to know. Tonight is Beltane. Let us give ourselves to each other to celebrate."
Nottingham was about to make more objections when she leaned into him, shattering the last of his restraints. He crushed his lips to hers and felt her arms go around his neck pulling him closer. As her lips parted, Nottingham let his hands start to wander her body. He pulled away from her to catch his breath and stared at her beauty. Her eyes were partly closed and he could barely see the slight flush of her cheeks in the moonlight. Nottingham swooped down and started kissing her again, kissing every bit of skin he could. When kissed all he could, he undid her simple gown to find more. Marian's hands roamed his body. Feeling her warm skin on his, he wanted to loose himself in her. Before he could complete the act, however, he stopped. His body knew what to do, but he had become frightened. He had once been forced to watch as Mortianna had Guy rape one of the servants for a ritual she was doing. God, she was really twisted. He remembered her screams as Guy forced himself inside the virgin maid. He hadn't been able to sleep for many nights after that. He didn't want to hear Marian scream that way. He did not want to cause her pain. She must have seen the fear in his eyes because she brought a hand up to his cheek. Her touch brought him back to the present as he looked at her.
"It is not polite too keep a lady waiting." She said and moved her hips. Nottingham whispered apologies in her ear as he pushed forward and she grimaced in pain. Soon they moved together, enjoying each other fully. Both cried out as they went over the edge. As they came down from the bliss, they separated and lay back on the grass. He looked over to Marian as she nuzzled up to him. He pulled a few strands of her curly hair away from her sweaty face and she laid her head down on his bare chest, breathing fast.
"Mmm…yes." Marian whispered against his chest. "Truly a wonderful dancer." Nottingham put his hand on her head as she lay on his chest. He had started to run his fingers through her hair and did so for a long while before he spoke.
"Milady? Would… would you Handfast with me tonight?" It took all the courage he had built up to say that. Handfasting was a Pagan tradition that a man and woman would take part in on Beltane to bind themselves to each other. It was not recognized by the church as a real marriage as it had been at one time, but Pagans still practiced this ritual to symbolize having given yourself to another. Nottingham was enchanted by Marian and while he knew that he could not reveal himself to her, he wanted a way to remember this night forever. She looked at him for a moment before she smiled.
"Of course I will." They both got up to put their clothes on straight. Nottingham looked around. He wasn't sure what they should use to Handfast when he looked down at his servants shirt. He undid the white leather that tied the top of it up and turned toward Marian. When Marian had tied up the front of her dress she led him over to a bush. She reached down inside it and came out with a drop of blood on her thumb. She winced slightly as she squeezed her thumb to make the drop bigger before rubbing her thumb onto the leather, staining it. Nottingham kissed her wound before doing the same. Now both ends of the leather were stained with a bit of their blood. They clasped they're hands together and wrapped the leather around them, binding them.
"Heart to thee, body to thee, forever and always, so mote it be." They said in unison before they kissed each other. After the kiss ended, Nottingham held her close with is free arm, their hands still bonded together between them.
"Marian! Where are you?" Marian pulled away and quickly untied her hand from his. She looked to toward the voices and silently cursed before looking back at Nottingham.
"My brother, Peter. I am afraid that I must go. Sorry." She said hastily. She gave him a quick kiss on his cheek and whispered, "I hope to see you again some day." Then, she ran off in the direction of the voice. He watched her as she walked off and saw two young men go over to her. One, he recognized as her brother Peter of Dubois and the other he saw was the young Robin of Locksley. When he saw Robin try to pull Marian toward him he clenched his fists in fury. When he felt something, he looked down to see the leather still slightly wrapped around his hand. When he looked back up he saw Marian leaning away from Robin as he continued to shower affections on her in his clearly drunk state. After seeing that it was obvious that Marian was ignoring Robin's advances, he unclenched his fists. He swore that one day he would be able to have Marian for his own and make their Handfasting official with a blessed marriage from the Bishop of Southwell. He would be with Marian. He would make sure of it.
Author's Note: Yay! New chapter! I hope my rating is alright for the story since it is pretty much just strongly implied sex rather than graphic. If it needs to be changed, someone let me know. I should have gotten this up sooner than I did, things just got a little hectic in my life for a bit. Things should be getting better soon though, and I hope to add more soon. As always, please review.
