"Gisbourne, I've got one of Hood's gang in the dungeons. A girl. Fancy a gander? You'll like her."
Prince John strutted beside Guy of Gisbourne through the castle corridors. He was looking forward to witnessing Gisbourne's reaction to the outlaw.
Guy was pleased. He never knew for certain how many people belonged to Hood's "gang." Sometimes, there seemed to be only a handful. Other times, when showers of arrows rained down upon his men, and Hood's men fought like beings possessed, there seemed to be dozens of them. But a girl? Intriguing.
Guy could use a girl right now. He needed to vent his frustrations, and what better way?
When he had captured Marian, he was sure he would have her. His manly pride had suffered a tremendous blow when he watched her ride away with Hood on the back of her horse. Guy still couldn't believe she had chosen Hood over him! The lying whore!
Gisbourne felt his loins begin to burn as he anticipated his rape of the unknown female outlaw. His breathing deepened, and he pictured Marian completely under his control.
Arriving in the dungeons, Prince John led him to a cell, and jumped back, laughing gleefully as Guy stared into the face of Kate.
Kate was standing at the front of her cell, gripping the bars. "Let me out!" she shrieked.
Gisbourne turned to Prince John, his face a study in bewildered rage.
"Sire," he breathed, "you cannot be serious!"
"Of course I'm not serious, Gisbourne! This is a joke! You should have seen the look on your face! Oh, I'm so clever!"
"This is the girl?"
"Yes. Isn't it amusing? Oh, cheer up, Gisbourne. Go and take your pleasure with one of the kitchen girls. We still have reason to celebrate this blond screech owl's capture! Hood will arrive any time now, to rescue her! What he doesn't know is, we'll be waiting for him. And this time, there will be no escape! I have a secret weapon even Locksley can't defeat."
"Let me out! Let me out!"
Gisbourne covered his ears. "I'll inform the Sheriff. He won't want to miss this."
…
Back in the outlaw camp, things were heating up between Allan and Isabella. Lips pressed against lips, and hot hands groped each other's bodies. As Allan's highly practiced hands began to unfasten Isabella's bodice, he suddenly stopped. Something had fallen out of the neckline of her gown. Something Allan recognized.
He pushed himself away from her devouring mouth, and stooped to pick up an emerald ring. He had held this ring in his hand once before. Marian had given it to him to use as a signal to Robin that she had sent him with a message, the day the Sheriff had been missing.
"Where'd you get this?" he asked Isabella.
"Don't stop!" she pleaded breathlessly.
"Where did you get this, I said. I wanna know."
Isabella huffed. "It's mine. Robin gave it to me."
"Like hell he did! This is Marian's ring. And neither Robin nor Marian are gonna like it that you stole it."
"It's so amusing how you people act so lofty about your own acts of thievery, yet are so quick to chastise anyone else who tries to have a go."
"I'm finding Marian. She'll be happy to have her ring back. Just wait till she hears where I found it!"
He ran off, and Isabella whispered, "Good. My plan exactly."
...
Allan had a pretty good idea where he could find Marian. He went straight to a stream with a fallen log stretched across it. Sure enough, there she was, sitting in the center of the log, dangling her toes into the water.
Since Marian had returned from Acre, Robin had been trying to make up for his many years of neglecting to surprise her with gifts. She truly had never minded, but when he had believed her dead, he had reproached himself. Now that he had another chance, he thought hard for little ways he could surprise her. The log stretching across this stream was one of her favorite surprises.
When they were growing up, there had been a log over the stream, at this very spot. They had called it their "bridge," and it had been a favorite place to play. As they matured, it became a favorite rendezvous spot for romantic moonlit chats, and it was the site of their very first kiss. Eventually, the earth holding the log in place had eroded, and the log had given way, crashing into the stream below.
But now, thanks to Robin's brain and Little John's brawn, there was a new "bridge" across "their stream."
Allan approached Marian and sat down beside her. "Whoa!" he cried. "Not bein' funny, but your bridge is slippery. I nearly took a spill!"
"That's why you take off your boots," Marian explained. "It's easy, when you use your toes to grip the log."
Allan chuckled. Marian was some fine young lady, running through the forest, balancing over logs in her bare feet, flinging knives into trees. Robin had certainly met his match in her!
Marian sighed. "Do you think they'll be alright?" she asked softly.
"Yeah. Nottingham's guards are no match for him, you know that."
"I said, 'them.' "
"Yeah, right."
She turned to Allan quickly. "We need to go help him!" Leaping to her feet, she began wending her way across the log.
"Hold on there a minute," Allan begged. "I got something for you, and I don't want you runnin' off before you see it. I gave up quite a lot to bring it to you straight away." He opened his palm to reveal the emerald engagement ring Robin had given her when they were trapped in a tree.
Marian gasped, and her eyes welled up with tears. "Where did you find it?" She ran back to him, and slid the ring onto her finger, kissing its green stone, then smiling at it romantically. "Thank you!"
Allan changed his mind, and decided not to answer her question honestly. She was too deeply in love for him to spoil her happiness. "Believe it or not, it must've been in one of those bags of jewels you brought back from the castle. Yeah...it must've slipped through a hole in one of the bags, 'cause I found it on the ground, back at camp. Speakin' of which, we need to get back there right now. Robin gave me a job to do, watchin' over you two ladies, and I don't trust that Isabella."
...
As soon as Allan and Marian set foot in the camp, Isabella greeted them with the command, "Give me back my ring."
"Your ring?" Marian asked, amazed.
"Yes. It was a special gift from Robin. He gave it to me when you were busy being Prince John's concubine, in honor of the child I'm to bear him. You see, Marian, there is a special bond between us. He still loves me, his own true Isabella."
Allan let out a tremedous snort. "Ha! Not bein' funny, but if you're so true, then I'm the Sheriff of Nottingham!"
Isabella ignored him, once more refusing to degrade herself by speaking to such a lowlife.
Marian studied her carefully. "Isabella," she said, "Do you want to know something? Allan and I suspect you're not with child at all. Your recent lies only serve to reinforce our suspicions. I'd like to know how you first discovered you were going to have a baby, as you claim."
"It's not a matter for men's ears," Isabella stated, feigning modesty.
"Very well then," Marian continued. "Allan, you are dismissed."
Allan was always amused and slightly nervous whenever Marian adopted her high and mighty attitude. She wore it well, having been born and raised a noble, and the only child of the former Sheriff of Nottingham, but it still made him chuckle. He stepped away, out of earshot, but remainded close enough to keep his eyes on them. Robin's orders, after all.
"Now," Marian said, finding it difficult to speak, "how did you first know?"
Marian was surprised how emotional she felt. Her question brought back her memories of being pregnant. She pictured again the little boy her imagination had conjured up during that time, a boy who looked just the way she remembered Robin from their childhood. She choked back a sob, and turned away.
"I don't need to answer you. Face it, Marian, Robin and I are bound together by something you shall never have. I cannot tell you exactly when I conceived...we made love so often. He never tires, does he? Such stamina! So much passion! I consider myself quite feisty in bed...but Robin! He's just amazing! He's a-"
She was interrupted by Marian's fist pummeling her eye. Isabella lay on the ground, senseless.