For the rest of that evening the girl just sat there surveying every breath and movement the group made. Eventually Much took Robin to one side.

"Master surely you cannot trust this girl?"

"And why would I not?"

"Master she nearly shot John"

"But she didn't" Robin face was illuminated in the light of the fire and Much could see he had a familiar grin plastered across his face

"But if you were not there then she might have killed him"

"Much I highly doubt that"

"And where is your proof?"

"Just trust me Much" Robin said his grin spreading further across his face.

Back around the main camp, Will had moved over to the young girl in an attempt to befriend her, as he sat down next to her, she tensed ready to pounce and her purple eyes glared up at him with hate and anger. Will looked into her eyes, they were such a deep purple colour; they were almost hypnotic. He shook his head and brought himself back to reality

"Erm…so you didn't really get off on the right foot with everyone earlier…but I'm Will" he stuttered and held out his hand, the girl just turned her head away from him still holding a look of anger and frustration on her face.

A few minutes later Will gave up trying to hold a conversation with the young girl, she was clearly not a people person and he moved back towards the rest of the group. They all watched her carefully she sat there on her own watching the fire dance about in the darkness, her purple eyes intensely watching the flickering flame. She was fingering something in her pocket but no of them could see what it was and so eventually they gave up and fell asleep.

After the last of the group had fallen asleep the young girl stood up silently, collected her things and walked out into the darkness. She to a solid route through the forest never straying from the direction in which she was travelling, only occasionally stopping to check her pocket to see if it was still there and then she would continue walking at a considerable pace through the forest through the darkness of the night.

The next morning Robin woke early and yawned as he surveyed the forest, he looked around the camp and saw all of his gang sleeping, everyone was there…except the girl she had gone!, Robin sighed and shook his head How could he be so stupid to let her go?. Much stirred in his sleep and Robin went over to shake him

"Much, Much wake up!"

"Master?" Much said grogglily

"Much she's gone"

"Who?" he murmured

"The girl"

And those few words made Much sit bolt upright all traces of tiredness gone from his face "Gone where?" he asked alarmed as he realised that if she was not in sight then they could have a repeat of yesterday

"I'm not sure" Robin said gazing around the forest with some hope of spotting her "Come on lets go" he said getting up

"Go where?" Much said nervously, Robin had that look in his eyes again and it meant trouble

"To find her" and with that Robin took off into the forest and Much ran to catch up with him.

The two men trudged through the forest keeping an eye out all the time for the young girl; they did not want a repeat of yesterday. They stopped under a tall tree for a moments rest and immediately regretted it. Suddenly arrows came firing down at the and both men had to duck and dive out of the way

"I thought I told you to leave me alone" a voice snapped and Robin looked up; there on the high branches sat a young girl, her brown hair tied up and her dress was slightly torn, she held a bow loaded with an arrow ready to fire and her purple eyes blazed down at me

"Master" Much warned as Robin took a step closer to the tree and immediately dodged out of the way as an arrow narrowly avoided his head

"We mean no harm" he said looking cautiously up at the young girl

"Like I'm going to believe that" the young girl hissed

"We both mean no harm, we are good men, and you said you'd heard of me"

"I also said it wasn't for a good reason" and Robin laughed "That was not a joke" the young girl continued

"You could at least tell me your name" he called up

"No" she shouted back as another arrow came firing down

"Why not?"

"Because a name can give away a thousand secrets" and Robin gasped as he heard those words

"Master?" Much asked ducking to avoid another arrow

"I've heard that before…I should have known the purple eyes were a give away!"

"Master are you sure you know what you're doing?"

"I know who you are" he called up at the girl ignoring Much's warnings

"Who am I then?" said the girl mockingly

"Oaks"

The girl paused "That is my families name not my name"

"True...but it tells me a bit about you"

"Like what?" the girl said suspiciously

"Well any self respecting man has heard of the famous mapmaker and explorer William Oaks and that would explain how you know where you're going, you must have his blood in your veins and you have his eyes" Robin called up

"Well congratulations you've heard of him"

"And I can assume from your attitude that you are defiantly a relation and I know from my knowledge that he has four daughters the youngest that is around your age"

"Anyone could tell you those details"

"And I can also tell you that William gave each of his daughters a wind rose, he designed himself and he also gave them a compass rose so they would never got lost"

"What you mean this" she said throwing an object down to him "I don't need it; I know where I'm going"

Robin caught the object and looked at it, the small gem glistened in the rising sun and as he looked closer he could see the intricate design on the wind rose set around the eight points of the compass, in the middle was a red rose "You say you wont give your name away but you just have, you see your father was in the Holy Lands as a mapmaker and I was his apprentice for a while and I studied his works and I know the markings of a wind rose and from this…" he studied the object closer "…I can tell that you must be Rosie!"

A final arrow came shooting down towards his head and he only just dodged out the way in time "I'm right aren't I?"

"So what if you are?"

"Well if you are the daughter of a famous explorer and mapmaker then we could do with your help"

"And why would I help you"

"Because I know that William was killed recently and that he didn't do any of the things he was accused of and I know that you were at his hanging and you tried to stop it and nearly got killed yourself and I now know that you have no family left"

The girl paused taking in all that Robin said

"So what do you say, do you want to join me and my gang?"

The girl stayed silent weighing up her choices "My father spoke of you before he died, he said that your were a good man and if I were ever in trouble I should go and find you" and Robin grinned but the girl frowned and continued "But he also said that you were arrogant and egotistic" and Robin laughed

"That sounds like William" he said

Rosie slowly climbed down from the tree and Robin passed her back her compass rose

"Is that a yes?" he asked

"It's an I'll see how it goes" she said picking up her scattered arrows as Much came out from behind a tree

"Rosie Oaks" he said "Well at least we know your name"

"A name can give away many secrets if spoken often" she said

"Do you speak from experience" Robin asked but Rosie checked her compass rose and just walked of into the woods and Robin got the feeling that she knew more than she was letting on, there was something in those purple eyes that was yet to be discovered, something dangerous that could cause ruin to him and the ones he loved.