AN: thank you.

Part 8

Guy set out for Nottingham from Locksley; there was no need to ride through the forest with guards and he found the cool and shade beneath the trees, relaxing. He set the horse at a trot and for once felt free. There was no chance of meeting with Hood or any of his traitorous gang. They had perished in the desert. He just wondered from time to time what became of Marian.

The Sheriff's festival had been a success too. An admission fee had been an ingenious idea and that brought in more revenue than the remainder of the fair put together. Now however the lenient time the Sheriff bestowed upon the populace was over and the hard graft had to begin to form a new plan with the Black Knights to overthrow the King.

The horse stopped suddenly and threw him from his mount, as he lay there stunned he noticed some thin rope tied between two trees.

"A tenth of your wealth Sir." said a voice of a boy not yet a man.

Gisborne sat up and looked towards the voice. There in front of him, bow and arrow aimed at his heart was a lad, dark as the night and dressed as a common English peasant.

"What do you think you are Robin Hood?" laughed Guy. He could see no reason to be alarmed at the boy.

"I could never live up to he." the boy replied.

"Well it is no matter he is dead." Gisborne told him. "Or hadn't you heard?"

The boy kept his bow and arrow poised at Gisborne who was having difficulty not to laugh at the boy's seriousness.

"A tenth of your wealth." He repeated.

Gisborne stood and towered over the boy who did not waver in his stance. "Now this is got beyond a joke. I am not giving you a tenth of my wealth, you can forget it. Put your weapon away and I will overlook it, keep it poised on me and you will rue the day our paths met."

Gisborne had his eyes trained on the boy, but was suddenly aware of another presence and had an uncomfortable prickly sensation creep up his spine. He raised his head and stood there mouth agape at the new apparition which had materialised from the camouflage of the trees.

"Sir Guy." greeted Marian.

"Marian!" he said, still astounded that she was standing in front of him. "You're back. Why did you not come and see me at Locksley? I would have provided you with sanctuary there."

"You would not kill the Sheriff for me why should I believe anything you say now?"

"Marian! My hands were tied I could not betray the Sheriff."

"No you could not then and will never be able to, your loyalties lie with the Sheriff, for with him you see power and power seems to mean more than anything else to you."

A flicker of hurt ran across his face as he replied. "No Marian we will be together. I care for you….I"

"I would rather die than be with you Guy of Gisborne." She replied.

"NO!" he shouted in response and did not hear the further rustlings as the trees parted to reveal more secrets.

"I'm going to marry Robin Hood. I love Robin Hood." She told him, her voice steady, calm and sure.

Robin's heart constricted in a tight ball, these words she spoke, were words which haunted his dreams, despite the dreams being set in the Holy Land instead of here in Sherwood. Now here she was bold and feisty as usual confronting Guy with those very words which had taken her from him. But there was a difference his rational self told him. The difference being that he was here to stop the tragedy occurring in reality.

"NO! He died in the Holy Land." Guy said, his gaze looking up and settling on the big man known as Little John before moving on to Much, then Allan.

Robin having the vision engrained in his soul stepped forward and to Marian's displeasure removed her from Gisborne reach. When Guy finally looked back at where Marian had been standing he saw Robin Hood in her place.

"No," he repeated shaking his head. "This is not happening, you are dead."

"Actually," Much told him. "We are very much alive, no thanks to you and require a tenth of your purse before you may continue through the forest."

"No this can not be." He said a final time, anger flaring in his posture and he reached for his sword.

Marian despite Robin's protests stepped forward and took the boy out of harm's way.

"You really want to fight us today?" Robin asked him. "I am offering a concession, one day only, a tenth of your purse and give a message to the Sheriff."

"What message?"

"That we are not dead as you seemed to think we were and that we are here to finish what you, what he started."

"I don't have much of a choice." He spat out, glaring at Marian with a mixture of yearning and derision which could not be ignored and reached for his money.

Much stretched forward and took it from him, tipping the coins into his hand. "Master, are you sure only a tenth?" he asked, a smile forming on his face.

"It was a deal, a concession for today. As I did hear that the Sheriff hosted a fair for the people of the Shire, to celebrate my demise, we can be equally gracious and give Gisborne safe passage through the forest, and take only a tenth of his wealth for today."

Much counted the coins and did as Robin ordered, taking a tenth of Gisborne's money before handing the remainder back to the leather clad man who looked fit to combust. Then Gisborne retreated back onto his horse and galloped off sending a fine layer of dust up from the road.

"Good job," Robin said to Emeke, patting him on the back as they walked along the track. "And as for you." He added to Marian.

She stopped in her tracks and asked. "What?"

"What do you think you were doing?" he asked his voice higher than normal and he cleared it in an effort to sound ordinary next time he spoke.

"Confronting Guy. You all were lagging behind; we can't just expect Emeke to handle him by himself."

He pulled her by the arm and she shrugged him off bristling. Much turned back and Robin said. "Carry on we will catch you up."

"What is this about?" she asked him, her eyes scanning his and reading that not all was well in the world of Robin Hood.

"You. This. Today with Gisborne was like a living nightmare."

"What?" she asked, softer now as his face reflected emotional pain.

"My dream, the hallucination." He said with a heavy sigh. "It is almost like it was…."

"Was what?" she prompted, placing a hand on his arm.

"A premonition. The things you said, the things he said were almost the same before…."

"Before he ran me through." She finished for him suddenly understanding and he nodded. "Robin…."

"Marian!" he said cutting her off. "What if it was a premonition, not a dream after all? I can not lose you."

"You will not."

"But we can not be sure."

"Death is the only thing which is certain in this life. But I will stand by you, if you will stand by me." She replied, her hand moving to caress his face instead.

"I will," he whispered. "I will."

0o0

"Where have you been? I expected you ages ago Gisborne." The Sheriff said as Guy walked into the castle.

"My lord, my journey was interrupted. It seems the celebrations last week were in vain." He said dryly.

"What are you talking about Gisborne?" the Sheriff asked raising an eyebrow at him.

"Robin Hood is back, alive and as well as you or me and robbing travellers who pass through Sherwood Forest. He said to pass on his greetings and that he is here to finish what you started."

"Noooooooooooooooooooooooo!" Yelled the Sheriff. "I WANT HOOD AND I WANT HIM DEAD NOW!"

"Easier said than done." Guy replied with a smirk at the Sheriff's annoyance, but wanting the same thing nonetheless.