"Marian," Much whined, "surely not!"
Robin, too, turned wide open eyes on Marian and looked at her intently, demanding an explanation.
"What?" she asked.
"Really? Did you really tell Kate to travel south…alone?"
"Does it matter?"
Isabella watched, gratified at the results of her telling Robin what Marian had done.
"Why are you being so accusatory?" Marian lifted her eyebrows and met Robin's exasperated, disbelieving stare with her own proud gaze. "She took her bow along. She'll be fine!"
"She won't be fine!" Much cried. "She won't! Unbelievable!"
"I should have thought you two would be pleased," Marian continued. "I kept her from tagging along with you on your hunt."
Robin reached up and grabbed a crossbar overhead. He threw back his head and moaned.
"Look," Allan interjected, "if you want to blame somebody, blame me. I was there when Marian said it. I could've stopped Kate, and I didn't. And I know what happens to her when she leaves the camp."
"What happens to her, Allan?" Djaq calmly asked.
"She gets captured, that's what!" Much exclaimed. "She gets captured!"
"But she took her bow!" Marian repeated.
"That makes no difference," Much continued anxiously. "She'll be captured, for sure! Alone…in the direction of Nottingham? And now, we'll have to go rescue her, and when we do, she won't be pleased! She'll scold us! I hate it when she scolds us! I hate it!"
"This, I do not like!" Little John said, scowling at Marian and Allan.
"Marian," Robin said, "I need to speak with you...alone." Marian tossed her head and looked away imperviously.
"I mean it, Marian," Robin continued. "NOW!"
She spun around angrily and faced him. "Don't raise your voice to me! Are you going to apologize?"
Isabella smiled secretly. This was priceless!
'Marian," Robin said, trying to keep his temper in check, "Kate's brother Matthew died because he fought alongside me. Kate's an outlaw because Much and I tried to protect her, when she said she didn't need protecting. She's an outcast, and can't return to her home in Locksley. As my wife, the rightful Lady Locksley, you're supposed to protect her...not send her into harm's way!"
"Well," Marian protested, "since you're so sure she's captured, without any evidence to back up your claim, I don't know why you're still here. Since you take your duty of protecting helpless females so seriously, at least the ones who fawn all over you and stroke your inflated opinion of yourself, you'd better hurry and save her. But if you want to know what I think, I think she's probably sitting outside a tavern, enjoying a cup of ale right now."
Robin breathed an angry sigh and groaned.
"Marian, you don't understand!" Much blurted out. "Kate's captured! She always gets captured! Why, it's...it's uncanny how often she's captured! Uncanny! One time, we were walking by the river Trent, and we saw some Sheriff's men ahead, and we all hid, but the first thing you knew, Kate was gone! Captured! I don't know how...none of us could figure it out! But she was gone...and Robin had to go to the castle dungeons and get her out. Gisbourne nearly killed him that time, didn't he, Master?"
"I nearly killed him, more likely."
"Inflated opinion," Marian murmured, just loudly enough to be heard.
"Right," Robin said, ignoring her, more furious than before. "Much, John, Will, Djaq...with me. Allan, you stay here and keep Marian from sending Isabella into danger as well."
"How dare you?" Marian demanded.
He merely laughed his unpleasant laugh in her direction.
Marian turned away, pulled Robin's knife from the neckline of her bodice, and studied her reflection in its blade. "I don't need anyone to 'babysit' me."
"I'll take my knife back now, if you please." Robin's voice was dripping with smugness.
She spun back around, launching the knife's blade into the trunk of a tree, not two feet from him. "Take it, Fool!" she called, before running off into the forest.
"Master," complained Much, as they grabbed their weapons, "the pig! Our roast pig!"
"Will have to wait for now, thanks to Marian," Robin said. "Ready, lads?" The other four agreed, and together, they raced toward Nottingham, leaving Allan alone in the camp with Isabella.
Allan studied her awhile. She strongly resembled her brother. On the outside, she was a smaller, feminine version of Guy. Same curly dark hair, same steely blue eyes, same pointed nose, same thin lips. Same cheekbones, same chin. The features themselves were not perfect, but their combination made for two stunningly beautiful people. But she was a very different person on the inside than Guy.
Having served as Giz's "man," Allan understood Guy. He was a tortured soul, who yearned for power and position to make him feel strong. He let nothing stand in his way to achieve his goals, and he had taken up with Crazy Vaisey as his pathway to power. But his sister was something else. Allan didn't know her well enough yet to have figured her out. But he could tell she was a liar, a manipulator of men, with absolutely no scruples whatsoever.
"What's yer game?" he asked her.
Isabella didn't answer. She rarely spoke to "lowlifes." Knowing that Allan A Dale had recently served her brother, she had made it her business to learn all she could about him, in case her knowledge might come in handy to hurt Guy. She definitely considered Allan a "lowlife." She knew his father had been a blacksmith, his brother had been a pickpocket and a thief who had been hung by Sheriff Vaisey, and she also knew that Allan was sharp and, in her estimation, dangerous. He was not so gullible as his handsome leader. Unlike Robin, he had no lofty ideals of honor and chivalry. He was practical and smart, and he called a spade a spade. He was also sexy. Very sexy.
"Not bein' funny, but I've known gents with their tongues cut out who are better conversationalists than you."
She shot him a dirty look, and he thought she looked incredibly enticing, now that it was just the two of them alone, with nothing else to do. He could tell she found him attractive, too, and, since they were alone, he wondered, "Why not?" He didn't like her, not one bit, but...it would be exciting.
Allan scoped out the area surrounding the campsite. No Marian in sight. Good. He wouldn't want to shock her sensibilities, if she walked in on them.
"So," he said, "like I said before...what's yer game?" He paused and approached her. "Any chance I might play, too?"
"Perhaps," Isabella answered, seductively. She looked into Allan's blue eyes, and thought how much she enjoyed it when she considered the man dangerous. Especially one with whom her brother had a score to settle. Perhaps, indeed.