Chapter Four
Midnight fell on Nottingham. It was a moonless night, peaceful and quiet. Not a sound penetrated the silence. Not a thing moved in the stillness. Except for...
'Ouch!' I hissed. 'That was my foot, Much.'
'Oh. Sorry about that,' he replied, moving slightly to free my pained toes.
'Shhhhh,' said Will. 'There's someone coming. Or moving nearby.'
'I don't hear anything,' argued Allan.
'You never do,' growled John. I smiled at him mischievously. For some reason, he bowed his head and said nothing more. Why the strange reaction? I wondered.
I pushed it out of my mind as Robin said, 'No! I'd hoped Gisbourne wouldn't complicate things!'
I peered around his shoulder and saw Gisbourne standing against the stone door frame of the castle entrance. I looked closer, stepping out from behind Much. 'He's asleep.'
Robin looked closer too, and laughed quietly. 'So he is.'
'Can we sneak past him?' asked Will.
'If we use another entrance,' Allan said, smirking. 'Speaking of other entrances, I know where we can all get in...'
A smell of garbage filled my nostrils and I gagged. 'Allan, why am I not surprised you thought first of brining us up through the sewers?'
Much chuckled appreciatively. 'Because he's a slimy sewer rat.'
'Oh, of course!,' I muttered, striking myself in the head sarcastically. 'How could I have forgotten it?'
Robin disappeared, smiling and climbing up the chute. Much jostled to shimmy up behind Robin, followed by John, then Allan. Djaq pulled a face and leapt gingerly into the small space.
I was waiting for Will to scramble up next, but I turned to see him raise his eyebrows at me. 'Well, aren't you going?'
'I've never been up a sewer,' I snapped. 'But by the looks of you, you have at least a thousand times. I would be most grateful if you showed me how it's done.'
'No time like the present to...'
'Oy!' a voice called from behind us. We both spun around, only to see a guard, unsheathing his sword and starting towards us.
Will grabbed me by the shoulder and tried to shove me up the chute. 'Go, I'll take care of this.'
I didn't budge, but pulled out my longbow and brandished it at the oncoming guard. 'I'm not going anywhere. I love a good tussle. You go. I can probably handle him faster than you could.'
The guard pulled back his sword, but just in time, I leapt out of the way and returned his attempted blow with one of my own on his back. He stumbled, only to he struck on the head by the blunt side of Will's axe. He slumped to the ground, unconscious.
'Well,' I began, swinging the bow over my shoulder and stepping toward the sewer entrance. 'Perhaps we could abide by the age-old chivalrous tradition of ladies first...'
As I pulled myself through the opening, I heard Will chuckle. In return to that, I kicked a lump of something that was surely unspeakable down the chute in the hope that it would hit him in the face.
After a minute of stomach-turning climbing, I found myself in the castle, surrounded by the others.
'Was there trouble?' asked Djaq, concerned.
'A little,' I conceded, hoisting myself out of the stifling sewer. 'But we took care of it. That guard isn't going to be waking up too soon.'
Much laughed. 'The scum of the earth, these guards.'
I nodded. 'You would think that the Sheriff would try to enlist intelligent people, but he seems determined to keep his forces as thick as possible.'
To that, Robin said, with a scowl, 'They have to be stupid, he doesn't want anyone with a strong mind. If they were intelligent, they would see that what he was asking them to do is blatantly wrong.'
'Good point,' admitted Allan.
Will appeared at the mouth of the chute. 'So, now we're in here, what do we do?'
Robin pulled a falsely pondering face. 'Perhaps we could find a few trinkets. A few purses.'
'That's it?' scoffed Allan. 'We went through all that trouble just to steal a few coins?'
'Well, if you'd rather another family in Treeton or Clun starve tomorrow because you didn't find it fitting to pinch a few coins...' prodded Robin.
'Fine,' grumbled my brother. I smiled at Robin. Who knew anyone could play on my brother's conscience? Especially considering I didn't even know he had a conscience.
'Where do we look?' asked Much.
'It has been a long while indeed since the Sheriff donated anything to our cause,' replied Robin, in his roundabout way.
'Let's go,' hurried John. He pointed down the chute, saying, 'Who knows how long the guard'll stay quiet.'
John kicked the door down with a mighty crash. I tapped Djaq on the shoulder. 'Should we be making so much-'
'Guards! Guards!'
'Noise?' I finished, quailing.
The Sheriff was suddenly cut off in his calls for assistance. I peered around the many shoulders in front of me, and saw that Robin had clamped his hand over the Sheriff's open mouth. He nodded at us.
'All right, gents,' crowed Allan. 'Let's see what the big man's hiding.'
Rummaging the room, I found a heavy bag of coins, several silver goblets and dishes, and, in a hidden cabinet, a set of rings with huge, tasteless stones.
Then, suddenly, I heard footsteps outside, and banging on the door.
'Signal,' clarified Much, making his way to the door.
'Signal?' I repeated in the form of a question.
'Signal. To leave,' John told me. 'We'd better hurry.'
Much opened the door, only to let out a cry of shock. Instead of one of us, Sir Guy of Gisbourne, flanked by seven guards, pushed their way into the room. I gasped, and nearly dropped my finds.
'Oh dear,' Much wailed. 'What do we do?'
'Come with me to the dungeons,' croaked Gisbourne, smiling dangerously. 'You'll all hang in the morning.' He scanned the room, and his eyes lit on me. 'Ah, Hood, a new member. How old is this lad, then? Or did you take him captive, as your type do?'
We were all stonily silent, watching the guards warily.
'I tire of this,' Gisbourne said. 'Get them,' he ordered the guards.
The guards seethed into the chamber, engaging us in a skirmish. I made quick work of my opponent, knocking him senseless. I saw Allan and Djaq fleeing the scene, and assumed the others would follow once they defeated their challengers. I made my way after them, striking the guard fighting Much on the back of the head with Much's shield, which he'd dropped. Much nodded at me in thanks, and hurried off after Djaq and Allan, with me on his heels.
I sat, panting, on a mossy log just outside Locksley, and set my finds down next to me. Looking behind me, I saw Djaq, leaning against a tall oak, her eyes closed and her chest heaving. Allan, also breathing hard, stood, his hands on his hips. To my intense anxiety, no one followed him out of the trees.
'Where are the others?' I asked with a snap to my voice.
'Right behind...' began Allan, until he turned his head and saw no one. 'Oh.'
'Maybe they didn't come the same way,' said Djaq, though she didn't sound totally convinced. 'Perhaps they reached Wadlow or Nettlestone and didn't follow us to Locksley.' It was as though she wanted to believe it as much as she wanted us to.
'Robin and John were still in the room when we left,' Much clarified, voice shaking slightly.
'But Will was outside to give the signal,' continued Djaq, looking almost hopeful.
'So that means...' I said, following Djaq's train of thought.
'He could have escaped,' finished Allan.
'No. No, Gisbourne would have caught him for sure, and then come in to snatch us. Robin and John might have gotten out, but it's a stretch to believe,' I said. 'So what can we do?'
Allan shrugged. 'I have an idea.'
'What?' asked Djaq, a certain crispness to her voice.
'Break into the dungeons.'
I laughed jeeringly. 'Oh, thank you for the wisdom of the ages, brother. And thank you for pointing out the totally obvious choice!'
'Why do you want to save them so badly?' he asked, his voice rising. 'You have no right-'
'Shut up, ok?' snapped Djaq, in a measured voice that nonetheless carried throughout the clearing. 'Just shut up, both of you!'
I ignored her, and strode up to my brother, staring him down with a fierceness I had never employed before. He seemed to cringe slightly away from me, but stood his ground.
'I want to save them,' I said, and was surprised by how calm my voice sounded, 'because it means so much for the future of Nottinghamshire. Robin seems to be the only one capable of turning people against the Sheriff and Gisbourne. Every one of you matters to Nottingham. I'm not about to let the Sheriff hang him and John. I'm not going to stand aside and let the Sheriff win. Not again.'
'That still doesn't change the fact that we have to go back to the castle,' Much broke in.
'True,' I said, nodding and turning away from Allan. 'But we need a clever plan. None of this "storm the dungeons" nonsense, right?'
Djaq agreed with a sigh and a nod. 'But what?' I met her eyes, which were wide with concern and worry. Only then did I realize that this group was bound very tightly. Djaq's worry hit me hard, making me see that this little family (no one could possibly call them anything else) would risk anything on God's earth to save one of their own.
Almost like my family before Allan and Tom went wood-wild... I thought, wistfully. With a shake I returned to reality.
'There has to be some sort of outer entrance. From outside the walls,' I pondered aloud.
Much sputtered, 'Only the tiny windows at ground level, but we can't fit through-' He fell silent, looking at me. 'We could shove you through.'
It was true. I could fit through just about anywhere. I was not more than five feet, two inches tall, and slim as a rail, no doubt due to the nomadic life I'd been leading for the last year.
'I'm not being funny, but we'd still need to unlock the cell door,' Allan pointed out, laughing humorlessly.
'That's true,' relented Much, leaning on a nearby fencepost in a resigned way.
Djaq opened her mouth as though to speak, but closed it after a moment, her face contemplative.
'Someone could get in and get the jailer's key,' I said, slowly, massaging my temples as I watched the ground intently.
'But that would mean storming the dungeons,' whined Much. 'Why don't we make up our minds?'
'No, I mean, one of us could go and get the key. One is a lot easier to slip through than four.'
'Where does the window come in?' Allan pushed, irritating me.
'If you'd just shut up, I'm getting to that!' I snapped at him. 'The one who pinched the jailer's key would come back out, hand it off to me, I'd slip through the window, you'd hand down a few weapons, I'd break the others out and we'd just have to fight our way out from any guards along the way out.'
There was silence in the clearing for a moment, and then Djaq nodded, saying, 'It's more subtle than charging through Nottingham, shrieking a war-cry and blowing down the door.'
'It's the best plan we can hope for,' Much agreed, also nodding.
Allan opened his mouth as if to object, but I silenced him with a raised eyebrow.
He shook his head laughing. 'You looked just like Mother when you did that.'
'God help us,' I muttered. 'If she couldn't keep you and Tom in line, what hope have the rest of us?'
'When?' interrupted Much, clearly fearing for the peace that had settled onto the clearing. 'And which one of us is going to get the key?'
'I think it's best we lay hands on the key as soon as possible, but we should wait until nightfall to slip into the dungeons,' I said.
'I'll get the key,' Allan volunteered, smiling mischievously. 'I have a plan.'
'Then off with you,' said Much. 'The sooner you get the key, the sooner we get John, Will and my master out.'
