"So where are you taking me? The dungeons?" I asked sarcastically as we made our way into the castle.
"Not quite, Love. The Sherriff'll be wanting to see you first." The first guard grunted.
"Oh well that's pleasant. I've been wanting to see him too." I replied.
We made our way through intricate passageways, going up and down stairs, turning left and right until I was sure that we were almost right back where we started when we finally arrived outside what I assumed was the Great Hall place.
"You know, we probably could have turned right and ended up right here instead of going all the way around the freaking castle." I said as I was shoved through the door.
I turned around and saw Keith Allen, in all his sherriffy glory, sitting behind a huge table. Behind him stood Richard Armitage, brooding like Gisbourne.
"Well what's this?" Keith stood, walking around the table to inspect me.
"She was caught stealing silver with Robin Hood." The guard said.
"Ah. One of Hood's men I see. Or women." He said as he peered down at my chest.
"When did you get to be such a pervert?" I growled, crossing my arms over my chest.
"Oh. Feisty. I like it." He smirked, looking me up and down.
"You know, I am in on the joke. Jonas told me everything. I know it was all Gordon's idea. He may have given the joke up a little soon, but I know." I lied, hoping it would make him stop pretending.
"I beg your pardon?" Keith asked, looking at me as if I was crazy.
"I'm in on the joke." I said.
"What is she talking about? Gisbourne!" he shouted, reminding me slightly of a child throwing a tantrum.
"Yes my Lord." Richard came up and stood behind Keith.
"What is she talking about?!" Keith repeated.
"What strange things do you speaking of girl?" Richard asked, turning to me with a snarl on his face.
"Dude. No need to get mad. So he told me a little early about the joke. No biggie." I lied again, backing up slightly.
"Who told you what?!" Richard shouted, stepping forward and grabbing my upper arm.
"Ow. Dude. You're actually hurting me." I winced slightly.
He leaned in closer and smirked.
"Good." He snarled as he squeezed my arm harder.
"That went amazingly well. How did that happen?" Much asked, looking around the camp.
"That Casey girl must be our lucky charm." Allan said.
"Speaking of which, where is she?" Will looked around the camp, noticing for the first time that the strange girl was nowhere to be found.
"Was she not with us when we got out of the castle?" Little John asked.
"Yeah. She was. I took the reigns from her when I jumped onto the cart." Allan replied.
"Well then where is she? She couldn't have disappeared that quickly." Robin said.
"Did she come back into the camp with us?" Djaq asked.
Everyone looked at everyone else and realization dawned on their faces.
"She must have fallen off the cart!" Will exclaimed, jumping off the log he was seated on.
"Not being funny, but if the Sherriff got a hold of her, that would not be good. Especially for her. Being weird and all." Allan stated, placing his hands on his hips.
"To Nottingham?" Much asked, looking to Robin.
"To Nottingham." Robin sighed.
"Okay. So what's going on?" I asked as I was dragged along by a handful of guards.
"The Sherriff doesn't like you. He's going to hang you immediately." The guard grinned, as if it had just been announced that Christmas would come early.
"Okay. Good. This is where all this madness will end." I smiled myself.
We walked down a hallway and turned left around a corner and ran almost right smack into Lucy Griffiths.
"Lady Marion, shouldn't you have a guard with you?" One of the guards gruffly asked.
"What's this?" she asked, completely ignoring the question.
"One of Hood's men. On the way to hang." Another guard stated mechanically.
I smirked at Lucy as she looked me right in the eye. To my surprise, I saw no glint of recognition there. Damn, she's a good actress.
"One of Hood's men?" she questioned.
"Thas right." One of the guards slurred.
"Do you mind if I come? I need to speak to Sir Guy." She asked.
"No problem milady." One of the politer guards said.
Good lord how many freaking guards were escorting me?! I turned my head and counted seven. Haha. I must be pretty important. Right.
We all walked out to the main square and two guards led me down to the scaffold. They began to put the hood over my face but Keith stopped them.
"No. I want everyone to see the pain that Robin Hood causes. I want them to see what they will have to endure if they are caught conspiring with outlaws." He said.
One guard helped me onto the stool and the other one put the noose around my neck.
"This girl, whatever her name is, has been found guilty of conspiring with outlaws, crimes against the crown, blah de da de da, and shall hang until dead." Keith read off the paper he was holding in his hands.
By this time, I was starting to get panicky as I had a noose around my neck and I saw no joking grin on anybody's face. Keith made a motion with his hand and the stool was kicked out from under me.
And in that split second as I dropped, it became apparent to me that this was in fact 1192 and I was not in my own time.
I felt the air seep out of my lungs and felt tears spring to my eyes as the noose tightened its vice-like grip on my neck. I felt myself begin to slip into unconsciousness as my brain was slowly deprived of oxygen. I was on the brink of consciousness when I heard a clear but indistinct voice call out something.
I suddenly fell to the ground but couldn't bring myself to stand up. I felt myself being picked up and rushed away. I looked up to see Jonas Robin was the one carrying me to the edge of town. I was so caught up in the moment that I let myself slip somewhere between consciousness and unconsciousness. I was still aware of what was going on around me but I couldn't respond to anything.
"Here Allan. Take her and ride to the camp. Whatever you do, get her out of here. Don't stop." Robin said as he handed me up to Allan who was sitting on a horse.
"Oi! What are you doing?!" Allan asked.
"I'm going to make sure everyone else gets out. Now go!" Robin shouted.
Allan dug into the horses sides and we took off. I could feel myself being thrown around like a ragdoll with Allan keeping as tight a grip as he could on me without falling off the horse himself.
We made it back to the camp in 15 short minutes and just sat on the horse.
"I'm not being funny, but I have no idea how to get off this horse without hurting you." He said, looking down at me.
I smiled weakly up at him, my throat still too sore to attempt to say anything.
We waited for a few minutes until Much, Djaq, and Will rode up.
"What are you still doing on the horse? She should be laying down." Much said.
"I can't get down without hurting her." Allan replied, looking helplessly at him.
Much sighed as he and Will came up to the side of our horse. Will grabbed me under the armpits and I wrapped my arms tightly around his neck as Much grabbed my legs.
They got me off the horse and carried me over to one of their beds. They laid me down gently as Robin and Little John rode up.
Robin jumped off his horse and rushed over to my side.
"How is she?" he asked Much, who was closest to my side.
"She seems to be okay." He shrugged.
I suddenly sat up and grabbed a fistful of Robin's tunic in my small hands. He hugged me to his chest as I whispered the same words over and over as tears streamed down my face.
"I believe you now. I believe you now."