Fanny returned from the center of the camp with a triumphant look on her face.
"You're going then?" Mara asked.
Fanny smiled. "If you want to talk with a bear, you have to know how to roar."
Mara laughed. Fanny was indomitable, of course she had gotten her way. Once she had succeeded in the initial demand that she go, it had been easy to convince Robin that Mara should go too. Mara's reasoning had been flawless. She could help just as well as Fanny. Also, she was a valuable asset if anyone, heaven forbid, should be injured. And if he said no, she would follow along anyway. There was no arguing with her.
"Of all the obstinate, bloody-minded..." John sputtered.
"She's your sister." Bull reasoned. If John couldn't deter her, he didn't assume anyone else would have much luck either.
"The Little family resemblance is uncanny." Robin laughed.
It was barely past mid-morning, and things were going terribly. A noose was being roughly forced over Wulf's head, and Will's neck was in no less danger.
The morning had started out well enough. The band of outlaws had started their journey to Nottingham well before the first hints of daylight. As the gates to the castle were opened, they made their way in and to their appointed locations. For a while, Mara had thought it was almost fun. Not only were they ignoring very deliberate rules for the day, they were actively defying them.
As she made her way to the wall to meet Fanny, she overheard Friar Tuck being confronted by a soldier. It was clearly taxing his imagination, but he managed to persuade the young man to leave them alone. Once he found that the soldiers speedily responded to the word leper, Friar Tuck seemed to start enjoying himself.
Mara's task was to take some of the arrows John had smuggled in and deliver them to Robin. She approached Fanny under the guise of selling the long-stemmed wildflowers she was carrying in a basket. John made a great show of purchasing one of the flowers, and giving it to Fanny with a kiss to the cheek. Mara deftly slipped as many arrows as she dared underneath the flowers, and made her way to meet Robin.
After delivering her deadly bouquet, she made her way to the center of the crowd. John had instructed, ordered, demanded and pleaded until she finally agreed. She was to stay towards the center with Will until his signal to cut the men down came. Under no circumstances was she to follow or to draw any unwelcome attention to herself. Still carrying the basket with the remaining flowers, and a few prepared salves hidden beneath, Mara made her way to the center of the throng. Will took her hand and led her towards the sounds of the drums.
They had not counted on the crowd separating so quickly. They had not assumed Wulf would recognize Will, or react so badly to seeing him. None of them had counted on it taking so long for Azeem to light the arrow. It was all falling apart before their eyes.
When the soldiers grabbed Will, Mara had instinctively started to protest. They found the sword on him, and suspicion had fallen on her as well. Will was drug first to the front of the crowd, and then up to the gallows. Mara tried her hardest to keep silent, but could not mask her emotion as they put the rope first around Wulf and then around Will. A soldier had roughly examined the contents of Mara's basket. Finding nothing that interested him, he threw it aside, scattering the ointments that meant nothing to him. It was clear that she had been with Will though, and the soldier took savage delight in preventing Mara's retreat.
He grabbed her roughly by the arm and drug her to the front of the crowd. She twisted and pulled in vain, but he was forcibly providing her an unobstructed view of Will's imminent death. Mara defiantly turned her head to her extreme left. The soldier savagely grabbed her by the hair and forced her to face forward. She eventually stopped struggling as the soldier would only respond by tightening his grip. She finally looked ahead of her.
Wulf seemed to be praying, looking to the sky for a miracle. Will's eyes were frantic, desperately scanning the crowd for more immediate help. His eyes briefly locked with Mara's. She resolutely showed no signs of pain or distress. Rather, she willed her eyes to convey every peaceful thought, every serene image, and every word of comfort imaginable. She could not aid him, but she would not cause him to worry about her.
The first arrow came as a welcome distraction. Mara could see nothing, but heard the voices of Fanny and John in the crowd. The soldier holding her had attempted to turn in the direction the arrow had come from, roughly wrenching Mara too. She would have no better chance, she thought. He had loosened his grip in his distraction, and Mara hit him as savagely as she knew how. Bringing her foot down on his, she simultaneously elbowed him in the stomach. The unexpected force knocked him briefly away. It was the little space of time she needed to start running.
She heard the distinct cry of Maid Marian yelling Robin's name before a barrage of crashes and yells. Mara was trying to make her way to Wulf, but also trying to evade the soldier who was now pursuing her. The confusion of the crowd was working to her advantage, blocking him in as she ducked and climbed up to the gallows. She found John had already arrived, but that the executioner was kicking away the stools supporting the other men.
The noise and confusion was impacting all of them, and Mara felt every decision was a poor one. Wulf was attempting to support one man as the others gasped and convulsed around him. She was trying to retrieve the little stools, and John was just trying to knock the whole bloody contraption over. Mara was chasing after one of the stools that had been knocked to the front of the crowd. It had been repeatedly kicked away, and when she finally caught it she had reached the opposite end of the gallows. Looking to her right, she saw the soldier had finally reached her. Looking to her left, an ax was poised over Will's head.
She heard the grim chuckle coming from the soldier, interrupted only by the sound of an arrow slicing through the air. Mara did not wait for the sound of the executioner hitting the ground before she bashed the soldier across the face with the stool. The pathetic little thing broke to pieces in her hands, and the soldier still stood before her. She had stunned him, however. His next fully clear thought was to realize Will was leaping off the gallows and coming for him.
