Part 10

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Robin and the gang watched as Allan rode through the forest, they trailed him on horseback as he went on his mission from the Sheriff to kill Winchester and rescue Marian. Just before nightfall he reached an Inn where he soon discovered Winchester's carriage and horse stationed in the stable. Allan led his horse to the trees and came face to face with Robin.

"What are you doing here?" he hissed at him.

"Following you. We heard what the Sheriff and Gisborne said to you." He whispered in return.

"We thought perhaps you needed some assistance in your task," Much inserted.

"To kill Winchester?" Allan asked, somewhat confused.

"No," said Robin with a shake of his head. "We are here for Marian. We have no need to kill Winchester right now, although he is a Black Knight. But we need to wait. If he dies now the Sheriff will take control of all his lands and that puts England in more peril than if he lives. You are not going to kill Winchester either."

"Look I have a job to do," Allan began to protest.

"And so do we." Robin informed him. "You will not kill Winchester but we will make it look as if you tried. It might hurt."

"What?" Allan asked horrified at the thought.

"You want to work along side me and my gang Allan then you have to bide by my rules. It can work, you spying for us at the castle but I have to learn to trust you all over again. At the moment I am not sure I can ever do that."

"How many times do I need to say I am sorry?"

"A thousand and it still would not be enough," Much was quick to fire back. Djaq shot him a look and shook her head, and Allan knew that at least she still believed in him, even if the others did not.

"So," Allan asked, his tone begrudging but with a hint of anxious anticipation. "What we gonna do then?"

Robin ran a hand across his mouth before he replied and he said. "We will rescue Marian."

"Don't you mean 'you' will rescue Marian?" Much asked rather dryly.

"No," Robin said correcting him. "I mean we will rescue Marian, and waken Winchester while we are there. Then Allan can show himself and challenge us. He can appear to be on Winchester's side…"

"Hang on a minute," Allan cut in. "If that is the plan then you lot are going to hit me again. I had enough of that this afternoon."

"That, you deserved and this too." Will told him. "For betraying us all in the first place."

Allan found he could not look any one of them in the eye and Robin continued. "In the chaos we will take Marian away and you Allan make your own way back to Nottingham, without killing Winchester. Do I have your word?"

Allan looking shifty weighed the plan up and finally with a nod and a."Yes." he agreed.

---

It was easy for Djaq and Much to create a diversion by ordering some ale in the Inn so that Robin, Will and Allan could climb the stairs to the bedrooms above. They located Winchester immediately, Robin and Will entered the room leaving Allan in the corridor outside.

Marian was there, sitting on a hard wooden bed, her hands still chained together. With a look of relief that washed over her features, she prepared herself mentally and physically to move as soon as it was possible.

"What are you doing here?" Winchester said. His voice was soft but held an anger and a force, suggesting that Robin's plan might not be as straightforward as he hoped.

"Taking what is mine," Robin replied, his manner just as fearsome.

"I am not anyone's to be taken as and when they please," Marian blurted out. She had experienced a day which had tested her nerves to the limit and now Robin and Lord Winchester were verbally fighting over her.

Robin shot her a 'do not be difficult now' look and she had the grace to keep further comments to herself.

"See Kate does not want to go. She likes it here with me." Winchester said. It was clear he had been drinking and was perhaps lost in memories of the past.

"I did not say that and please stop calling me my mother's name." Marian protested evenly but with a hint in her timbre that she had been tormented by him already with his words.

"She is so like her mother to look at, shame about her temperament. Kate was the gentlest creature on earth." Winchester went on to say, more lucid this time.

"Please stop talking about my mother," Marian added with a deadly glare, far more so than the looks Robin and Winchester had exchanged.

"About your mother, she was the prettiest thing I had ever laid eyes on, and your father took her away from me. She should have been mine and would have been if he had died as I planned. However no matter I have you now, and you I will keep."

"No," said Robin. "Enough. We are here to take Lady Marian back where she belongs."

"What if I do not let you?" Winchester said with a false laugh.

"There is not a choice," Will replied. He held his axe at Winchester's throat and Robin dragged Marian to stand. Her chained wrists could wait.

With a loud shout, Winchester called for his men, they came rushing in from the main door and behind them was Allan. A fight ensued, Alan getting the brunt of it and Robin escaped with Will and most importantly, Marian.

Back in the room in the Inn both Winchester and Allan lay unconscious and bleeding. Winchester's men tied their new prisoner up and went to look for a physician's assistance for their master.

Back in the cover of the trees. Djaq asked "Where is Allan?"

"Dead I hope," Much offered.

"No I doubt it, but he will wake with a sore head in the morning." Robin replied.

"I do not think Winchester will let him escape, Allan I mean." Marian guessed.

Robin looked thoughtful. Will suggested. "Let him rot after what he did."

"No," Djaq said. "He does not deserve it. Robin you know he deserves a second chance."

"I do not think we should leave him in the hands of Winchester," agreed Marian.

"Alright," Robin declared. "Djaq, you and I will go back for him. The rest of you will return to Sherwood in the morning if we have not joined you." Marian looked unsure about this and he added. "And you Marian, your father is at the camp, with Little John."

She nodded then, she knew he had called her weakness and nothing would separate her from the man who loved and raised her; her father Edward.

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