Disclaimer: I can't own Tales of Rowan Hood, it's forbidden!
A/N: Thank you if you decided to keep reading. I know it took a long time to update! So sorry about the inappropriate italicizing at the end of the last chapter…whoops! I hope you enjoy this new one. Sorry about the OCC-ness of this chapter. Please read and review!
Rook hardly slept, instead drifting in and out of vivid nightmares. He saw Rowan and the band from a distance, all of them in the hollow together. Rook tried to call to them, but could not speak. Shadows engulfed him. Wild beasts ran at him, ravaging his flesh with their sharp teeth, and Rook cried out for help- but still, the message could not reach his friends. They turned away from him, and he was left to the wolves. The last thing he saw was the bared teeth of a wolf as it lunged forward to tear his throat.
He bolted upright, panting, with sweat glistening off of him. Just a dream. He ran a hand through his hair and tried to steady his breathing. Rook glanced around his little camp. Tykell was missing. Not surprising, as Rook thought, the wolf had probably gone to find some poor animal to make into his breakfast. It was time for Rook to move on. If he was to find Robin before it was too late, he would have to speed up his search. He did not doubt that the wolf-dog could find him again, so on he went.
The outlaw made his way through the forest, carefully, for he had much farther to go before he reached the part of the woods he knew well. It would not do to fall into a mantrap, for there was no one nearby to aid him. He shuddered at the thought. He did not want to suffer his father's fate. He would have to be very careful.
It was nearly sunset before he reached familiar lands. So far he had gone by the hoof marks Dove had left, and Tykell's sense of direction, for the wolf-dog had returned by the afternoon. Now he could see the line of the trees, and past it, the fields that led stretched to the border of Sherwood. It was the border where his old home still sat, though slowly decaying while unoccupied. Rook swallowed the lump in his throat. He knew he would have to go there, tonight. It had been too long, and once more, Rook felt the spirit of his father still calling to him.
He carried on through the grasslands until he reached the place he had grown up. Night had fallen, and Rook decided he would spend one more night in the small hut. As he reached the doorway, he knew at once that something was wrong. He heard a whisper coming from inside, a quiet voice murmuring words of comfort. Rook stopped short. Could it be his father's ghost? Was he mourning his death, there inside? Rook felt his breath come in quick gasps. He knew then and there he had to face whatever lay within his home. If it was his father…
He braced himself and slid through the opening and into the hut. The sight that met his eyes caused him to gasp in surprise. No, it was not his father. But it was someone Rook was equally shocked to see.
"Todd?" He rasped. The freckled boy looked to him, also in astonishment, and then broke into a wide smile.
"Rook!" He flung himself towards the outlaw and embraced him, hard. Rook stayed where he was, unable to move in his consternation, before he finally returned the embrace lightly. When Todd pulled back, Rook looked him over, still disbelieving. The boy was taller than he had been when Rook last saw him. He looked changed in stature, too; he appeared stronger and healthier, and not the skinny, stick of a boy he had been before. His voice was deeper, as Rook also noticed when he said,
"How are you? I came back a few days ago and there was no one at the hollow, or at Robin's camp! What happened? Where are the others?" Rook took a breath to speak, but Todd cut him off.
"It's alright that I came here, isn't it? When I couldn't find anyone- well, I didn't know where else to go. I missed you all! It was dreadfully boring in the service of his lordship- my mother's cousin, that is. I had to come back and see you all. I think Runkling missed you too." He said, gesturing behind him to the fattened piglet. Rook smiled at the hog, now a few seasons older and growing just as much as Todd. Runkling trotted over to Rook, who attempted to pull him into his arms. He grunted with the effort, for the pig once so small now carried twice the weight.
"So what happened to the others? Robin? Rowan?"
Rook took a moment before he answered. He looked to the ground of the hut, absentmindedly scratching Runkling and avoiding Todd's eyes.
"Robin traveled north for the season, like he normally does."
"And the others?" He waited. "Rook?"
Rook sighed and finally answered.
"Rowan and the others are traveling to Celadine's Wood. Rowan is going to avenge he mother's death."
Todd studied him quietly for a moment.
"Why aren't you with them?" Rook felt a pang of guilt. He had expected the question, but he still had no answer. No answer Todd could understand, anyways. The boy was hinged on loyalty. This explanation was not going to be easy.
"I…Rowan is…Rowan is not in her right mind. She doesn't realize what she's doing. I had to go."
"What? What about the others? Beau, Lionel?"
"They are with her." His voice quieted as he said this, guilt ringing in his voice.
"So you left her?" Todd said, a hint of anger in his voice. "After everything?"
"You don't understand." Rook growled in frustration. "The spirits warned her not to keep on her journey! She should have listened!"
"You betrayed her, Rook!" Todd cried. Rook heard not only his voice but the voices of his friends; Todd spoke for all of them: He had betrayed them. He put aside the guilt washing over him, replacing it with unjustified anger. He didn't care that he was wrong, that he knew, but he couldn't bear to listen to this boy-once his enemy, he reminded himself- criticize his motives. He had to do it, he told himself, even if Todd couldn't understand that.
"It's none of your concern! I did what I had to do!" Rook exclaimed harshly. Todd stood as tall as he could in the little hut and said coldly,
"Rowan may forgive you someday, Rook. But I won't." Todd grabbed Runkling and heaved him out of the hut, pushing past Rook. He turned and said crossly,
"Traitor!" Then he was gone into the night. Rook growled in the darkness of the hut, the candle Todd had lit going out as the boy took off. The outlaw searched around the hut for any flint, but found none. He felt slammed his fist down angrily and hollered in frustration, wincing at the pain in his hand. Of course he had made things worse. Todd was right, he was a traitor. They would never forgive him for leaving.