Yes! 3-day weekend! Gotta love bank holidays! Plenty of time for writing... hmmm... now, let me think... ah, yes! I know...!

A More Fitting Donation

The next day started quietly enough, the outlaws all deciding to wander into the forest as they had nothing else to do. They found a large, sunlit clearing, with a nice pile of fallen logs to sit on, and decided to spend some time there. John and Robin sat and discussed the levels of supplies, Tuck began to read and Allan and Kate settled in the grass, telling each other amusing stories from their childhoods, particularly about both of their now-deceased brothers. Much tried to join in, but had no stories, except depressing war stories, and no knack for telling them anyway, and so grew increasingly frustrated, unable to provide any input.

"That's it!" he suddenly exclaimed. "I'm going hunting!" And without another word he shouldered his bow and stormed off into the trees. The others all sat, staring in open mouthed shock at the place where he had disappeared, surprised by the sudden outburst, before shrugging it off and quickly returning to their previous activities.

By midday, the outlaws were still waiting for Much to return from his hunting trip. Robin was whittling arrows, and Allan was helping Kate hone her sword fighting skills, with occasional pointers and observations from John and Tuck, who had both also been keeping a close eye on the developments between Allan, Kate and Much since she had joined them.

Her fiery temper made her a passionate fighter, but she was undisciplined and hadn't received any formal training. She had brilliant speed and reflexes, and knew which end of the sword to hold, but Allan had noticed, and was mortified by, how easily Guy had disarmed her the day before, and so had taken it upon himself to train her. He had enlisted Tuck and John's aid so that she could benefit from their expertise too. He was attempting to teach her a particular block, but she just wasn't able to grasp it.

"Right come at me again, I've had an idea." He raised an eyebrow at her but she nodded, so he repeated the move. She dodged the first attack in just the way they'd taught her, but instead of using the move they were trying to teach her, she decided to create her own. She ducked under his lunge, feeling his staff brush the top of her head, and then darted forwards, bringing her staff around with both hands and twisting it up in between his legs. They both froze and he looked down at her wide eyed, seeing the mischievous grin and readying himself for some serious pain.

She swung her arms in a swift, fluid movement, causing the staff to hook his knee and jerk his leg forwards, causing him to yelp in surprise, as she began to pull him into the splits. He attempted to compensate for the sudden loss of balance by bringing his back leg forwards, in a rather ungraceful hop, but failed and toppled over backwards, pulling her down with him. They landed with a thud and immediately burst into peals of laughter. She buried her forehead on his chest as they lay there, trying to hide her tears of laughter in his shirt. The others joined in, Robin having been distracted from his task by Allan's rather unmanly yelp.

"Well..." spluttered Robin, as he managed to calm himself enough to speak, "That'd certainly work, but I wouldn't recommend trying that with a real sword!"

Kate laughed again as she sprung to her feet and held her hand out to help Allan up, who was still looking both shocked and highly amused.

"Come on, maybe we can devise a way to block-"

Before she could finish her sentence, Much came running into the clearing. He stopped in front of Robin, doubled over panting, trying to catch his breath. After a few false starts, he managed to explain himself.

"Just ran into... Isabella," he panted. "She asked me to give you... give you a message, Robin. She... she said that... that... Prince John arrived at the castle this morning! And... that there's a chest full of his gold being brought through the forest, this afternoon! Along the North Road. We need to go, now! Or we'll miss it!" As he finished he managed to stand up straight and look around at his fellow outlaws. Robin, Tuck and John were sat on the pile of fallen logs, and Allan and Kate were a little further out into the clearing, with Allan still lying on the floor and her hand still outstretched to help him up. All frowning at him in confusion, trying to make sense of his rushed message. Much frowned back at Allan and cocked his head to the side, wondering why he was flat on his back.

Kate followed his gaze, apparently having forgotten the poses they were in. Allan looked back up at her, grasped her wrist and she helped him to his feet. She then went to sit with the others on the logs in front of Much.

"'M not being funny, yeah, but this has to be a trap. Come on, Robin; no way is she helping us over her own brother!" Allan followed Kate, stretching out the kinks in his legs as he spoke, before leaning on the tree next to her.

"That's what I said to her!" Much replied indignantly. "She said she knew I'd say that, and so to tell Robin that it was her thank you for rescuing her. And something about a more fitting donation..?" He gave Robin a quizzical look as their leader chuckled appreciatively to himself.

Robin looked thoughtful for a few seconds, then jumped up and started to gather his belongings.

"I think she's telling the truth. Let's go!"

"I told you it was a trap!" Much screeched, as they ran through the forest. "Didn't I tell you?!"

"Yes, alright! Just shut up and run!"

The ambush had gone well at first, but they had opened up the wagon to find a load of angry soldiers inside, instead of the promised gold. They had all ran for it, Allan and Kate had been on the other side from the rest, and so had ran in that direction. They followed the route they had taken with Isabella the week before, towards the 'drop-off', as they had named the cliff they had discovered. It was an excellent escape route, but the others had been forced to run in the opposite direction, and so could not make use of it. The soldiers had also split up, some following each group as they darted through the forest.

Robin's bunch eventually managed to lose the soldiers by tricking them into the swamp, and then ran off laughing as the men floundered in the mud, the weight of the chainmail holding them down.

All six of the soldiers on horseback had followed Allan and Kate, as well as a few of the foot soldiers, so they were having trouble staying ahead, but they managed to duck and weave between the trees, staying just out of reach of their pursuers. They burst out of the trees mere seconds ahead and sprinted for the cliff top, their hands clasped as they jumped. The soldiers came to an abrupt halt at the top of the cliff, but one of the men didn't manage to stop in time, and fell, landing heavily on a pile of loose rocks just over the edge of the cliff. Which started to roll downwards. Behind the two outlaws, who were still on the descent. Allan heard the rocks fall and had time to look behind and realise there was no escape, then Kate screamed and the world went black.

Duh, duh, duuuuh! Oh no! XD I may not update for a few days, I may do so faster if I get enough reviews, but that's up to you. It depends how much you wanna know! Evil me!

Many, many, many thanks to Zoe, who helped me with most of the ideas for this chapter, and also the rest of the story! She will be given many cookies, maybe even real ones! Or maybe hobnobs...

I would like to point out that I wrote this BEFORE I saw today's episode! They stole my idea! Well, sort of... you know what I mean... NOT FAIR!!

xxlaxx