A/N Happy Sunday! Sorry for taking so long for this update, midterm papers took up a lot of my time over the past week, but they are now done and I have some more time on my hands to write again. Thanks for your patients.
She was awoken from a light sleep early the next morning by a soft breeze. She cracked her eyes open a little bit. Seeing through the small sliver in her eye lids it still considerably dark out, she rolled over to indulge in more sleep time. The warmth of his body under hers helped her relax into his arms nuzzling her in his shoulder. She traced little patterns of his soft leather vest with her index finger lightly, not hard enough for him to feel, but enough to send sparks through her finger and add a little warmth of happiness to her body.
Every so often however, she got the strange sensation zinging through her spine. The feeling of being watched. She would look up, and when she found no one there she would repreposition herself again in the crook between his shoulder and chest. Then she heard a faint rustling of leaves and a few twigs snapping. She snapped her head in the direction of the noise to see nothing. Robin began to move a bit and she sat a still as possible, pretending that she was still fast asleep. His movement eventually ceased and she glanced upward, checking to make sure his eyes were shut before climbing out of the cart they were sleeping in.
She jumped over the edge, hitting the bottom with a soft thump. She then checked to make sure no one was watching before running into the woods where the rustling had occurred. Some one else had to be here. There was no doubt about it; she could feel it in her bones.
However when she reached the area and surveyed it carefully, she still found nothing. Confused, she started back to camp being disturbed by a sudden voice.
"Do you really think you could hide from me, Dearie?" the high pitched voice spoke with a cackle. There was no mistaking the owner of this voice.
"What do you want?" She said turning slowly to see her master's, scales and all, standing before her. In the list of people she didn't want to see ever again, he was in the fourth, with the first being that idiotic princesses that lived in her happy little world without realizing what pain she had caused, then her mother, the woman who ripped the heart from the man she had loved, and third ignorant king who for this short time she had known as her husband. He had turned her to the darkness, and no matter how much crap he had told her about the darkness enjoying her, she knew that she was a good person. She didn't want to be a pawn in his games.
"Like a said all that time ago over dinner, you failed to show up to your lessons." He began walking around the area as he talked, pacing with his heel hitting the ground first, and then rolling his toes down on to the forest floor. "Really, I never though you as a queen would end up in a place like this."
She turned around starting to walk back. "Leave me alone." She commanded as she walked away.
"You have better things to do then to abiding with a band couple of outlaws."
His statement stopped her in her tracks. "What?"
He giggled. "You don't even know the company you travel with." He got up very close to her, almost in her face. "Your little boyfriend over their, it isn't going to last." She scowled, squinting her eyes at him. "Trust me I can see the future." He said without blinking.
"Your lying." She said stoutly.
"Have I a reason to lie?" She was feed up with his nonsense and started back to camp. "Trust me Dearie," She gasped as he appeared in font of her eyes causing her to jump a little. "You should return to your castle."
"Fuck you." She pushed his shoulder with great strength and pushed the imp aside so she could continue walking back to camp.
"Fine! But when he leaves you, don't say I didn't warn you!"
She rolled her eyes as his voice subsided in the distance and she re-entered the camp. There was a small campfire burning and she poked at it with a stick, making the coals to spark. A little fire started and she threw in the stick she was prodding it with.
From around her neck, she reached down under her shirt and pulled out a basic chain adorned with a ring. A faint smile appeared on her lips as she spun it in her hands. That ring was her reminder that she could find love, no matter the cost. And that reminder was enough to give her a reason to go on.
She heard light footsteps coming up from behind her and quickly tried to stuff the ring back under her blouse. She then sat up straight pretending that nothing happened. "Your up early."
She smiled brightly. "I should say the same to you." She moved over on the log she was sitting on to make room for him to sit down. "Join me?"
He nodded sitting down placing his right hand on her leg. She placed her's over top of his and caressed it gently, tracing the lines on his palm. She found one line in his hand fascinating, more like a scar than line. "What happened to your hand?" She asked softly.
"Oh, right..." he said embarrassed. "This is the mark of a merry man. It is like a right of passage." He reached into his quiver and pulled out a hunting knife. She stared at it, admiring the fine craftsmen ship."With this blade, all these men have taken the oath to be the poor man's friend. He grabbed her right hand carefully and brought it toward him. He placed the knife on her fine skin lightly, pressing but not stabbing. "Do you think you could take that oath?"
"Yes"
"Then," He stood up and held her hand over the small fire. "I declare you a member of the Merry men." he pressed the knife into her skin, drawing a line from bellow her ring finger to the lower part of her thumb. She balled her hand into a fist causing drops of her blood to fall onto the ground. He then removed the knife and cleaned the wound. He raised his right hand and she pressed her's against it, their scars matching perfectly.
He raised his hand to cup her face, his thumbs caressing her cheek. She smiled a wide smile, one that he matched. He moved his hand curiously to her upper lip where a large scar cut into her lip. "While we talk about injuries, may I ask where you got this?"
"I have had that scar for almost as long as I can remember. I was six, maybe seven years old. Mother had always told me that I shouldn't go and play outdoor games with the other children. One day, I had snuck out in the morning and found where the children play. They invited me to play in a game of hide and go seek, so turned around to count with my face pressed against a tree." She took a deep breath as the memory began to play in her head.
"When I had counted to the number twenty five, I turned around to go look for the other children, but was found with the face of my mother. She scolded me for playing games, she said they were unlady like. She told me to come, but I refused to move. She grabbed me by my wrists and forced me to follow her into the carriage. On the walk, mother walked too quickly and I tripped over a pile of sticks near the side of the road and ended with my head in a pile of stones. When I looked up, my mother gave me a look of disgust which I think I will never forget. She picked me up and told me wipe my face of the dirt using a handkerchief that she threw to me. When finished dabbing my face, I looked down on it, now drenched in my bright red blood. I remember licking my lips and feeling a divot left in my lip that burned to the touch and tasted of blood. Mother wanted to cover it up, but I told her to leave it."
"Your mother sounds like a character herself."
"We are nothing alike. When I was little, her friends said I looked like her, but I don't see it anymore."
"I am glad you are different from her. Scar and all."
A hunting party had left the camp around noon. It consisted of most of the men in the camp, with the exception of a few of the highest ranking merry men. They were planing the raids of a large party of nobles traveling through the forest. Robin had a map of the forest spread out flat on a tree stump. He traced his finger along a think road.
"The royals tend to take this route for its flatness. It is the most steady and easy going in the area." He started pointing at large bends in the road. "These parts of the road are the best for us to hide in. The best place for use to hide would be here." His finger came down on a single point on the map. "Any idea's how to distract the men so we can take their gold stash?"
Regina thought back to a story that she had read from a story book years ago. "What if we chop down a tree to block their path. Then we can have the nimble men jump from the trees and take as much as they can as the men try to clear the tree from the path?"
"But how can we guarantee that they take that route." One of the other men said pointing at the other three paths that go in the same direction.
"They can't take the mountain paths, they are too step, and the one by the valley is too deep. And this path over here is an area infested with trolls. Besides that bridge is not wide enough to allow royal carriages to pass."
Robin nodded rolling back up the map and sticking it back into a chest. "Right, then we will get the smallest men in the trees and the largest will push the tree into place."
"Where are the others?" Little John asked as he stood up peering around camp. "They usually would be back by now."
"Yes they should be..." Robin started looking over all of the camp. There was not a soul out there.
All of the large tents were emptied. All of the personal items had been taken from their beds. Some of the horses that should be there were now missing.
They all waited around a large campfire for hours and hours. It was twilight and the stars shined down. None of the men from the hunting party had returned. They ate their meals and went out to their sleeping places and slept like a usual night. Robin and Regina had reached the sleeping place that they shared.
They changed into their night attire and snuggled up by each other. It was unusual for it to be so quite, without the men's loud snores and snorts the place seemed so empty. She rolled over to look at him straight into his eyes. "I find it funny that I miss them."
"Wonder where they went?" He spoke after a large yawn.
"I wish I knew."
A/N Thank you for all of your support! I can hardly believe that I already have 100 followers! Please review!
