NOTTINGHAM CASTLE – CORRIDORS

"Marian seemed upset… is she okay?" John asked as they snuck around the dark corridors of Nottingham Castle. It was well past nightfall, everyone was asleep.

Robin looked over his shoulder at the empty corridors and sighed.

"She wants to try for another baby... really try, as soon as Matilda lifts our intimacy ban after this week ends… She will want to really try John, and it will kill her if we don't conceive instantly, she won't just wait and see if it happens." He said.

John sighed, "I see."

Robin said nothing else as they stood in an alcove, looking around for signs of anyone before they carried on.

"And you do not want to?" John asked.

Robin sighed again, "I just… I don't think we are ready… I don't want her to rush into anything… I don't want…"

He looked away.

"I don't want anything bad to happen again." He whispered.

John nodded, "but things, never happen the same way twice."

Robin swallowed, "I can't deny her anything John… but this…"

John touched the young archers arm gently, "I understand."

Robin nodded and looked around again.

"Come on…"

NOTTINGHAM CASTLE – THE SHERIFFS QUARTERS

Vaisey twitched in his sleep, muttering things over and over, his hand gripping and un-gripping the covers.

Silently outside the door, the guard's received a single blow to the head, and were lowered to the ground almost silently in the darkness.

Robin moved his hands away from the guard and stood.

"Good work John."

John clapped him on the back as Robin slipped inside the Sheriffs room.

He crossed it softly, and pushed himself to lean over the bed, before clamping his hand over the man's mouth.

The man's eyes snapped open and he screamed and shouted against Robin's hand, before seeing who it was, and relaxing back onto the covers.

"What do you want?" He whispered.

Robin glared at him, "You know what I want."

"Oh yes…" He sighed, "We all know the story, a better England… a better world…"

"I want to know why you have framed my wife for witchcraft." Robin said.

Vaisey rolled his eyes, "What makes you think she isn't a witch…"

"I know my own wife." The archer snapped, "So tell me."

Vaisey sighed and waved his hand in a gesture.

"Some peasants were whining about murder and witchcraft… over the past few months it has grown, that one in Locksley last night was the most recent so I took advantage of the situation…"

"And you blamed her." Robin's anger grew.

He sighed, "Yes I blamed her, to get to and upset you."

"Did you kill the man, did you have him killed, to set his up."

Vaisey arched an eyebrow, "No, hence the situation part."

Robin took in a breath and clapped his hands.

"Then it would seem to me that someone wants you dead."

Vaisey stared back at him, "What?"

Robin nodded, "If it is not you killing people to frame my wife, if it is not you playing with me, then it is clearly someone playing with you."

Vaisey's eyes narrowed, "And your point is what?"

"That someone is clearly playing with you to draw the attention away from them…"

Vaisey stared at the outlaw.

"Think about it, everyone knows that you would blame me for anything… or my wife, by extension, it wouldn't be hard to predict."

"So you are saying that someone, a witch, has played me so that I blame you."

Robin nodded in response.

Vaisey suddenly laughed.

"Someone wants you dead and you think it is funny?" Robin was angry.

"Oh everyone wants me dead Robin, it's one of the many great things about being me…"

"Someone could kill you, and Nottingham will die because of it… I will save your life once more."

With that Robin tuned to walk away.

"Fine… be the hero… save your wife's reputation…"

Robin opened the door just as Vaisey sat up in bed.

"Guards!"

Robin spun to look at him before turning back as John appeared and fell the guard's that had arrived.

"And that's the thanks I get for saving your life?" Robin called mockingly at Vaisey.

Vaisey sneered back angrily, "It doesn't need saving!"

"Whatever you will Vaisey." Robin bowed low mockingly and grabbed his sword and bow from John, before taking off at a sprint.

Just at that time Guisborne, dressed in a black undershirt and trousers, sword ready.

"Get after him!" Vaisey screamed.

The guards took off at a run and Guy walked into the sheriff's room as the man climbed out of bed.

"What did he want?" Guy demanded.

Vaisey started to pace, "He spoke some sense…"

"Sense?" Guy arched one eyebrow.
"Yes, he told me that someone wants me dead, and knew that I would frame the leper for the crimes that they committed… that it is just a screen to shield them from being caught…"

"so what do we do?" Guy demanded.

Vaisey's eyes snapped up.

"Send for the witch finder."

Guy stared at him, "William the Witch finder?"

"The old lord of Merton… as mad as a box of frogs… obsessed with sorcery… yes…"

"That witch finder."

THE CAVE

Marian was sat crossed legged on her and Robin's bunk staring at her hands, and her perfectly flat, perfectly toned stomach.

She stared at her perfectly empty womb.

She fell hollow, empty and small…

Footsteps approached and her head snapped up to see Robin walk in.

She said nothing and looked down again as he sat beside her.

He put one hand on the mattress behind her back, holding himself upright. He was sat much like he did when he visited her in her room at the castle when Joe Lacy had been trying to shoot the sheriff, and Robin had found out she was the night-watchman.

He spoke conversationally, and she didn't look at him.

"Vaisey has framed you for something, well for being a witch… I'll find out who the real witch is… or who murdered the man, I promise."

Robin had hoped that she would have forgiven him for their argument.

But still she would not look at him.

"Hey." He whispered and kissed her shoulder, resting his chin on it to whisper to her, his cheek against her neck.

She didn't look at him, her eyes locked on her hands in her lap.

"You still love me don't you?" He whispered painfully quietly.

She swallowed and turned her eyes on him.

They were sorrowful, and they broke Robin's heart.

If she could only see…

"I love you Robin, more than sunlight, more than laughter… more than flowers I have planted with my hands." She breathed and her eyes shimmered, "More than food to eat and wine to drink…"

His eyes were sad as she swallowed and moved out of his grip.

"But I don't always have to like you."

He could only watch as she turned away from him and lay down, blowing the candle out at her side of the bed.

She curled into a ball on her side away from him, the cover up to her chin.

He sighed, turning slightly towards her, putting his hand on her hip.

"Marian…"

She said nothing and stiffened at his touch, her eyes squeezing tighter shut, although a small tear slipped down her face.

Her chest ached.

Robin sighed sadly and lay down himself, blowing the candle out nearest him and staring up the ceiling.

It was cold in the cave that night.

Dark and Cold.