"The Nightwatchman did you a disservice. Did you know that, Hood, hmm? I wanted to keep you caged up much longer, and toy with you first, but now, thanks to that goody two shoe's interference, I will have to give in to Gisbourne's demands, and kill you straight away. What do you think of that, Hood, hmm? Personally, I find it a pity, really. I was so looking forward to the entertainment, watching your pretty little body writhe in pain."
Sliding a stubby finger and thumb up and down a stinging wand, the sheriff circled Robin's birdcage, accenting his "toy with you first" by a vicious slap to Robin's face.
As undaunted by the welt rising on his cheek as he was by the sheriff's threat, Robin answered, "Given a choice, Death sounds far more welcoming than any 'toying' you'd want to do to me, you murderous swine."
"Oh! Name calling! I'm hurt! A clue...no! Is that the best your clever little tongue can do, Hood, hmm? I'd have expected something far more stinging."
"I told you I wasn't much of a singer, Sheriff, when you locked me up. Let me out, and I'll do much better."
"Oh, this is good! This is good! What are you proposing, Robin, hmm? This isn't the first time you and I have enjoyed a little tete a tete in my bedchamber, yet you always leave me disappointed! Yet I think you want the same thing I do, hmm? Why else did you point an arrow in my face, and another time, a long, pointed dagger? I understood your little hints, Robin, my friend."
"Is that how you and Gisbourne spend time together? I'll be sure to mention that, the next time I see him."
"Jealous of Gisbourne, Hood? Don't worry, his buttocks aren't half as tight and saucy as yours!"
Robin wondered if the sheriff was drunk. Vaisey seemed far too open about his proclivities, which were widely rumored, but never confirmed.
The last thing Robin wanted was to confirm them. Yet he had to use his advantage, if indeed, it were true. At this moment, it seemed his only hope of escape.
"I always guessed you admired the back side of me, Sheriff," he said, hiding his queasiness behind a false swagger. "They're a bit sore now, crammed in your birdcage, with no room to move."
"Not as sore as I'll make them, Hood! Oh, yes! I have all kinds of ways to inflict pain on your other pretty little cheeks!"
"It's too bad you can't, isn't it?" Robin threw the sheriff a disarming grin, then continued, "But with me locked up, it looks like I'm out of your reach."
Narrowing his eyes, the sheriff sneered, "You're slipping, Hood! Do you really think I'd fall for your transparent little plan to escape? A clue...no! As tempting as you are, and part of your charm is you know very well that you're tempting, I prefer to watch you die, than risk any pleasurable delight I might have in hearing you scream first. For I'll still hear you scream, Hood! If you won't sing for me, like my other birds, you will scream!"
"I doubt it. I was once tortured in the Holy Land, by Saracens. I didn't scream then."
"Oh! But they don't have my mental capacity to think up pain! Do you remember Joseph, hmm?"
"Poison, Sheriff? And you claim I'm slipping! You'll have to do better than that, Vaisey, if you want to hear me scream. Even you managed only a few muffled moans, when you drank from Joseph's cup."
"I'm not talking about his scientific concoctions, oh, no! I'm reminding you how he screamed, when the two of you went tumbling out my window! Remember that, Hood, hmm?"
"I remember the rush I felt, slashing your banner all the way to the ground."
"Not quite all the way, Hood. I was still hoping you might break an ankle, once my banner ran out. But thank you for reminding me. This time, when I shove you out my window, there will be no banner, and you'll have no dagger, either! Oh, no! it will be just you, Robin, alone with the wind, and we'll see then how well you can fly!"
Wiping a nonexistent tear from his eye, the sheriff sniffled, then said, "So moving...so touching! I feel like a mother bird, pushing her baby from the nest! A clue...no!"
Robin's mind raced, trying to think of a plan to escape. The sheriff meant to empty him from his cage, out the window. Was this the way he would die, with no chance to fight back? He was glad Much wouldn't be here, to see it. But Marian would.
Marian! What would she do, when he was dead? He longed to send her a message, telling her again of his love, and asking her to go to his men in the forest, away from the threat of Gisbourne. But there wasn't any time, or method, to tell her.
Cackling with evil glee, the sheriff dragged his birdcage toward the open window, scraping its bottom on the stone floor. While Robin prayed silently for a miracle, Vaisey struggled to lower the cage out the window, suspending it just below. Securing the chain on its top to a post inside his room, the sheriff almost danced to find the key, then hooked it to the end of a pole so he could reach the lock.
"Ready to stretch your pretty little wings, Robin, hmm?" the sheriff asked, drooling with excitement. "Let's see, shall we, how well you can fly."