*~How to tame an Outlaw~*
Will left to take Luke to Scarborough, climbing over the rooftops to escape the guards. Robin went off to find as much medicine as he could. Everyone needed his help but the fact Elaine was involved made him even more urgent. Elaine couldn't die but he had no idea how to stop it.
He couldn't lie to Allan, he really had no idea what to do. Over thirty people were ill. They had set up a camp outside of all the houses in an open space where all the infected people were so Djaq could get to them all easily.
"Hello? It's Robin Hood" Robin knocked on a door "Do you have a medicines or herbs you could give me?"
The door opened revealing a weak old man who had to hold onto the door frame to keep himself steady. The sounds of coughing could be heard echoing behind him "Robin, please, go away. We have the pestilence here, save yourself"
Robin sighed as the door was slammed in his face, his frustration growing each second. It didn't help that Djaq had no idea what it was either, though she agreed too it wasn't the pestilence. But without the right medicines how were they meant to save Elaine, he had no idea how much time they had left but by the way her lips were blue and trembling and her face pale white, it didn't seem long.
"What are you doing?" A man that Robin recognized from earlier, fighting with the guard to let him out, demanded. He was glaring.
Robin frowned "I'm helping the sick
"Leave them alone!" He strode forward and Robin's eyes narrowed at his change of tone "I mean… you could die"
"That's a risk I take everyday"
"no, you're right, forgive me. Let me help"
Robin didn't trust him yet "What's your name?"
"Joseph. I'm here by mistake"
"Yeah, you're from Leicester, I heard"
"Did you see the way those men treated me? Godless"
Robin shrugged; it was nothing new "Welcome to Nottingham"
*~How to tame an Outlaw~*
Robin helped Allan carry Elaine from her cot in the house to one based outside. She was mumbling something to herself and even as the two men held her they could feel sweat pooling her body.
"Robin, she's getting worse" Allan breathed finding the panic in his voice taking over "She's burning up, feel her head" Robin did just that and instantly felt his own hand burn with how hot she was.
"It's the same with Jess" Sarah nodded over at her own daughter who was lying beside Elaine; the two were hunched down in a similar rag doll posture.
"Djaq?" Djaq was bent over Jess checking her breathing, her temperature, her pulse. Nothing she did seemed to come up with any dieses that could plaque a whole village that quickly. It didn't seem to be contagious, other wise her and the rest of the gang would have picked it up, so how did it end up infecting a whole town? There was a few things she thought she could try, but nothing without a medical box.
She turned at the sound of her name and found it was Allan calling her. She should have guessed by the urgency.
"Can you check her again, you might be able to find something this tim-"
"Allan…" She began "I don't know what it is, I've checked her at least ten times, as well as the other villagers. It doesn't make sense"
"You know, perhaps it would be a kindness just not to interfere, not to prolong their pain" The new man… Joseph, who had joined them placed his input in.
Allan turned to glare at the man " Will you just shut up" He growled. Robin placed a hand on his shoulder to calm him, although, he too felt sick at the man's suggestion "I'm not leaving her" Allan mumbled, holding onto Elaine's hand tighter.
"THIS IS A MEDICINE CHEST!" Much suddenly called, running through the street clutching a box in his hand "Every medicine known to man, and some unknown" Djaq raced over to him and grabbed the box, getting to work.
"Allan" Came a weak whisper. Allan sharply looked up at the sound of Elaine's voice. A crack of her eye was open as she gave Allan's hand a feeble squeeze "I don't- it's-" She slurred over her words "I-I feel really weak"
Allan began to stroke at her sweat clad hair "Don't give up on me now" He tried to joke though he meant it seriously.
"Three months" She replied softly her voice cracking. She didn't need to explain what she meant. Allan knew.
"Two and a half actually so, well, don't die on me just yet. Wait a few more months" he joked.
Her lips, if only slightly, curved up into the tiniest smile.
"Will- Will I-I be al-alright?" She trembled.
Allan's eyes watered as she asked him this. Allan wasn't much of a cryer. When he was scared or upset, he got angry, he didn't cry. But he couldn't deal with this. Whilst he knew her chances were slim he told her "Yeah, sure, Much found a medicine box so you'll be fine soon" He tried to keep his voice from cracking as he spoke "I love you"
"I love you too" After that she stayed silent, Allan tucked in her sheets to help her feel the warmth.
"We'll think of something" Robin, who had been listening on, told him.
Allan shook his head. He didn't want Robin to lie to him, they had been there for almost two hours and they still hadn't found anything "Will we?"
Robin sighed, scratching his head nervously. Who was he kidding? He had no plan what so ever, not even half a plan. Even with the newly found medical chest they had little hope.
When Robin didn't answer Allan continued "I deserve this, not her"
"No one deserves this, Allan. Not you, Elaine, or anyone here"
"She's getting hotter" Joseph observed as he stepped over Elaine. Neither Allan or Robin heard him appear behind them. Allan breathed in a deep breath not wanting him a foot closer to Elaine. He didn't trust him. There was something off about him.
"Good observation" He bit back dryly moving closer to Elaine to try and form a barrier between him and her. Joseph didn't notice this and inched forward, inspecting her closer.
"What's her name?"
Allan opened his mouth to say something along the lines of 'bugger off' when Robin replied "Elaine"
"She's very pretty" Allan turned to glare at him as Joseph stepped even closer "Look at the cheeks, the lips"
Allan snapped "I can see that! Can you just back off, mate"
Joseph took a cautious step back "Sorry, just hoping this poor girl recovers"
"She's not a girl, she's-" Allan was at boiling point with this man, if he wasn't so keen on not letting go of Elaine's hand the man would be knocked out by now. Robin pulled Joseph away by the arm before just that happened.
A woman, on a bed beside them suddenly cried out "Don't go! AH!" this followed by her weeping. Robin let go of Joseph's arm and dashed to the scene as an old man's eyes slowly slipped shut and he took his last breath. Allan was watching on from Elaine's cot, feeling his heart race pulse.
"I'm so sorry" Robin began trying to comfort the woman who was uncontrollably crying "I'm so, so sorry" Robin's eyes slipped back over to Elaine's cot, where she lay shaking. How much longer did she have?
"It's a shame…" Joseph said.
*~How to tame an Outlaw~*
Ten minutes later three more had died (thankfully none of them were Elaine) and the panic in the street was getting more hectic. More and more people came up to the gang asking for supplies. They were slowly running out as nothing was working on them.
"Djaq do you have any idea what this could be" Robin asked Djaq.
She paused and frowned "I'm not sure, from what I can tell it seems like it's something they've all eaten"
"But they can't have all eaten the same thing…" Robin thought about it "So you're all from different families and you haven't eaten together"
"We've all eaten the pies though" Sarah said, grabbing the interest of everyone around her "Jess and Elaine ate ours"
"How much did they have?" Joseph asked. She didn't answer him though as Robin then asked "What pies?"
"The nightwatchman's"
"What?" Allan breathed
"He brought them all last night. Every house in the street"
Joseph began to leave the conversations "Soup!" he called "I'll make some soup"
"The nightwatchman?" Allan mouthed to Robin who had concern written all over his face. Nothing was making sense and it seemed to only get more complicated.
"Do you think it was the pies then?" Sarah asked "Why would the Nightwatchman do that? He's never done something like this before"
Nothing was making sense.
Robin went off to think about it and came back five minutes later with Marian who was wearing a blue maid dress with her hair let down in curls.
"Why are you here?" Allan asked Marian as soon as he saw her.
She looked around and answered in a low voice "Someone's impersonating the nightwatchman, I couldn't sit back and do nothing. Where's Sarah?" Allan pointed where Sarah was sitting, all her intention invested on Jess when Marian noticed Elaine's motionless body.
"Elaine has it too?" Marian's eyes widened when Robin slowly nodded "Well what can we do?" John appeared and told the gang that food was ready "I'll take over" Marian said to Djaq. Djaq, not wanting to leave her station hesitated but left knowing she could trust Marian.
"You organized this?" Marian asked Robin who nodded a sad, distant looking flickering in his eyes.
"We had hospitals in the holy land, I thought it'd be the last time I'd see them" Robin sighed "this is worse, at least we knew what kind of injuries we were dealing with then, now, I have no idea. I don't know how to cure these people, Marian"
"And you have one of your own involved too…"
"That makes it worse" he said "I have to try everything I can" Robin looked back over at Elaine and saw Allan still sitting there "Allan, you should go eat something"
He shook his head definitely, his eyes not moving from Elaine "I'm not leaving, do you mind bringing me some out?"
"Sure"
"How did you know there wasn't some infectious dieses?"
"I didn't"
"That was brave"
"How did you know?"
"I didn't"
Suddenly Joseph appeared and spotted Robin "Robin? Are you eating?"
"In a moment, the others can start without me"
"No I need you!"
Allan rolled his eyes at Joseph thinking about all of the different places he could punch the man "He said he'll be there in a minute" He snapped. Joseph looked between Robin and Allan, contemplating saying something and then decided against it.
When he was gone Marian moved away from the shadows where she had been hiding. Robin's eyebrow knitted together as he wondered what she was doing "Robin! I know that man. I've seen him before in the castle! He's advising the Sheriff"
Allan's jaw was set "I knew there was something fishy about 'im" he finally let go of Elaine's hand and went after Joseph, closely followed by Marian and Robin who were both torn between wanting to stop Joseph and wanting to stop Allan from killing him.
As they chased to the house where the gang was based they heard Joseph speak "And the lord said 'take, eat, do this in memory of me'"
"You make it sound like the last supper" Much said. The gang raised their spoons to their mouths and Robin drew back his arrow, knocking it out of their hands.
"Robin! WHAT?" Much cried having just lost his food.
"This is the last supper for you, Joseph"
Marian entered the house along with Allan "You poison people, then keep a record of their suffering!"
Joseph grinned as though his work was something to be proud of "My poison has no taste no colour, no odour. It's a beautiful thing"
Allan growled and dived at Joseph who tried to jump out the way but only ended up tripping. Allan's hand curled around his shirt as he pushed him roughly against a wooden post behind him "What's the cure!" Joseph's smile widened "WHAT IS IT!"
Robin fired an arrow, only just missing Allan's head and striked Joseph across the cheek leaving a bloody cut.
"There are people out there dying! Children"
Allan pushed him against the post again. Joseph winced "I swear…!"
"it's made from an extract of the amanita mushroom" Allan looked behind him at Djaq to see if she knew what this was. By the looks of it, she did, and whatever it was, it wasn't a good thing "The angel of death. The devil's cap. There is no cure!"
"You're lying"
"I'm telling the truth, I'm an artist, I make no mistakes in my concoctions" he smirked even with Allan pinning him down against a wall.
Allan turned to Robin and mouthed "Elaine" this second of distraction was all Joseph needed as he kicked Allan in the leg causing him to fall back and loosen his grip. The gang reacted instantly and reached out to grab Joseph but he darted and jumped out of the window pane. The gang chased him as Joseph yelled to the guards "Open the gates! Let me through it's me!"
The guards did as they were told and opened up the fence whilst John screamed at him to let them through. Allan was the last to reach the gate where Joseph had disappeared thinking they may as well let him go. If there was no cure and he wouldn't be able to find one. What use was he?
"They knew him! He tricked us!" John cried.
"He nearly poisoned us" Much moaned "What about these people?"
"What about Elaine?" Allan added in and the gang fell into silence. Much looked around at everyone in turn for a solution.
"Well surly she can't die…" Much said. The realization hit them all. There was no cure and therefore no one to save anyone here "Surly… there must be another way…"
Allan sat down, feeling his knees buckle underneath him.
"Belladonna" John said.
"Bella what?"
"Belladonna" He repeated "For mushroom poisoning"
"Belladonna is deadly nightshade" Djaq seemed to be understanding as the rest of the gang looked around in confusion at one another "It is a poison"
"I'm not being funny but does anyone know what these two are on about"
"We might be able to save Elaine and everyone else here" Djaq lit up, her eyes sparkling as the physician had found a cure for her patients "Poison to fight poison"
"Was that meant to make more sense?" Allan said though by the tone of Djaq's voice he found hope beating in his chest as his heart beat quickened. Was they able to save her? Djaq darted off without another word towards the medical chest. Allan went back to Elaine and found her condition had worsened.
"Djaq!" He cried, her forehead was boiling, her face was dripping in sweat, her mouth was blue and her face was a pale sheet. She had increasingly got worse as he'd been away "DJAQ!" He yelled when she wasn't by his side immediately "She's gotten worse!" he couldn't keep the panic out of his voice "What do I do?"
She was holding a vial in her hand as the rest of the gang surrounded her bed.
"You gonna tell me what that is?" He nodded at the vial.
"I could kill her or save her. I don't know which" Djaq told him and he felt his hope plummet a little.
"What's her chances?"
"None if she does not take this, a little more if she does"
"Do it" Robin decided and Allan wasn't in the position to disagree.
Djaq looked around at the rest of the group of support as she hesitated to come closer. She sat down on the cot and took the cap of the vial, placing a little on her lips. Everyone held their breath. No one moved as their eyes lay on Elaine's closed one.
After a few seconds she still had made no movement.
Allan's eye's watered "Come on Elaine, please!" He cried, shaking her shoulder slightly "ELAINE!" When she made no sign of recognition to his voice he collapsed onto her, letting his tears fall lose. Djaq moved away from the scene, her eyes overloading with tears as well. Marian placed a hand on Robin's shoulder whose jaw was set as he tried to not weep.
"What's going on?" Came a weak voice. Robin heard the voice. He looked up and saw blue eyes staring back at him.
"It worked! I thought you were really gone" Robin cried, a grin now on his teary face.
Much tapped Allan on the shoulder, who still had his head tucked under his arm couldn't hear or see anything that was happening. Allan shrugged Much off but eventually looked up "Elaine!" He said, jumping up instantly realizing she was awake and wrapped his arms around her.
Robin noticed the fazed look upon a face as she awkwardly hugged Allan whilst laying down "You were poisoned" Robin explained "Someone was impersonating the nightwatchman…"
"I remember"
Allan lifted his head from around Elaine's arms "I can't believe you did that to me. I thought you'd really died" He smiled as she beamed back.
"Sorry"
Robin stood up and faced the gang "We need to get this cure to everyone, spread out and we should be done before" He was about to start talking again but he stopped and placed a hand on John's shoulder "Well done, Thank you"
John shrugged it off.
"How did you know it would work?"
"I know some things"
"We also have to stop Joseph before he's poisoned again" Robin continued "He'll have gone to the castle; we have to find a way to get in after him"
"Well how did Will get in?" Marian asked, the gang turned to look at her, confused "He's in the castle, didn't you know?"
"Oh no…" Robin groaned "he's going to kill the Sheriff"
"Can someone please tell me what's going on?" Elaine fussed trying to sit up but Djaq ushering her to lay back down "I'm fine, I promise" Djaq nodded before going off to help the other infected people "Why is will going to kill the Sheriff. He knows that Prince John will destroy Nottingham"
The gang went silent and exchanged glances. Marian and Elaine looked between them, waiting for an answer.
"The Sheriff killed Dan" Robin said and then cast an eye to Marian who still looked confused "His father"
"Who's Joseph?" Elaine questioned.
"He's the thing that poisoned you" Allan growled. He still had his arms wrapped around Elaine as she was still shaking "He's a bastard, I knew I never liked him…"
"So you need to get into the castle to stop Will and to stop this Joseph person?" She concluded. Robin nodded to confirm she was right "How did this Joseph get out?"
"The guards knew him, he's working for the Sheriff"
Elaine thought about it, trying to formulate a plan. This was usually Allan's area, though he didn't seem particually interested in coming up with a plan to get into the castle, he was too happy at having Elaine awake to care "I have an idea, though you're not going to like it" She begun, waiting for their reaction.
Robin nodded "Tell me, anything's better than what we've got now"
"I could play dead-"
"I'm already not liking it" Allan said.
"Hear me out, it's really not that bad" She rolled her eyes in reply "I could play dead, say Joseph wanted a body. The guards, knowing Joseph, will probably let us out. I say probably, I mean hopefully"
Robin crossed his arms "You know this doesn't seem like a half decent man, you sure your alright to do this?"
"it's not like I'd have to do much, just pretend I'm dead. I feel half dead anyway" Elaine confessed causing Allan to give her a light squeeze on the arm as he hugged her.
*~How to tame an Outlaw~*
Elaine's POV
We created a make shift stretcher. Although without Will's help it looked as if it was going to fall to pieces with odd parts sticking out of it. I was almost afraid it was going to break as soon as I lay in it.
I was feeling better. At least I was able to stand without my head going cloudy and a numbing pain going through me.
"Look what I found" Much appeared having had no hand in help at making the failed stretcher. He was holding a book of some kind in his hands as he passed it to Robin.
"It looks like a log" Robin said, flicking through the pages.
"What's in it?" Allan asked.
Robin paused before nodding with a defeated sigh "As I thought, it's Joseph's"
"Is that where he keeps all of the people he's poisoned details?" I asked suddenly curious. I had never met this Joseph person, all I knew was that he'd try to kill me and for whatever reason I wanted to know why. Why did he want to kill people who had never done him any wrong?
"Here, let me have a look at that" requested Allan who drew his hand out to take the book. He flicked to the last page "It has your name here"
"Mine?" I pointed at myself, my eyebrows rising.
"Look" Allan passed the log to me "see…" he said pointing at her name that was looked as if it had been scribbled quickly on.
"How did he know my name?"
"Robin told him" Allan explained "He tricked us, fooled us into trusting him. Of course I never believed a word of it"
"I'm sure you didn't…" I rolled my eyes, looking closer at the page. It was hard to read his writing "hm… Say's I looked around twenty three – I'm starting to like him" It mostly just said symptoms of what I had; stomach ache's, winging, headaches. What bothered me was that he'd written down my estimated time of death "Look at this! He's guessed I would die around mid afternoon" I scoffed.
"But you didn't" Allan confirmed with a grin.
"Well obviously"
"Are you ready Elaine?" Robin asked "I think we're all set to go. We need to leave as soon as possible, we have no idea how long it took Will to get to the Sheriff"
"I'm ready" I nodded firmly going over to the Stretcher and lying down.
"Oh crap" Robin suddenly said going into his pockets.
"What's wrong?"
He pulled out a letter "It's a letter for Roger of stoke, he leaves in half an hour. It's a letter to the king, I need to give it to him, but-"
"You need to go to the castle to save the Sheriff" I replied, finding it ironic "So you can't sent the letter that reveals the Sheriff's betrayal to the king and will ultimately kill him because you need to save his life. Sounds like a plausible excuse"
"I'll do it" Allan shrugged, taking the letter as Robin held it out for him.
I was a little disappointed that Allan wasn't coming with us but I understood why. The gang picked up my stretcher as I laid down on the stretcher trying to remain still, though now having the need to laugh for no apparent reason. It's funny whenever you have to stop laughing is the time you want to.
"Nobody passes" I heard a guard tell them.
"Master Joseph asked us to bring the body to the castle"
"What for?"
"He didn't say"
There was a moment of pause where I thought they'd never let us through "What, d'you want to take it!" John cried.
I heard the fences open up as we walked through.
I cracked my eyes open a little and as soon as we were free from the gates I saw Allan walk off.
We got through the castle with ease and as soon as I knew it I was being placed down on the stone floor.
"That was harder than expected" I said, taking the sheets off of me "So where do we start looking for Will?"
Robin surveyed the area "John, you go that way" Robin pointed down a corridor "Elaine, you good?"
"A bit better, remember I was only poisoned a few hours ago" I replied with a smile.
"What do we do if he doesn't come quietly?" Much asked, a second of silence followed.
"Make him, whatever it takes"
"Whatever it takes? We kill one of our own?" Much stared shocked.
"It won't come to that" I said firmly "We'll speak sense to him, I'm sure"
"Let's get going, just find Will. Much and Elaine you two pair up. Together we can cover the whole castle" Robin instructed. We ran off, me and Much following each other.
"Find Will, just find Will" Much repeated over and over as we ran. It was starting to drive me crazy.
"Much, we will find him just please shut up" I told him starting to get out of breath quickly, which wasn't a usual occurrence but considering I had just been poisoned I thought I was doing quite well.
"Sorry I'm just worried"
"I know"
"You know we all really thought you'd died." Much continued to speak not at least a bit concerned about how loud he was being. I looked around a corner for guards, I saw no one and turned around the corner, signalling Much to follow me "I mean, it was horrible. The last time we lost someone was Roy and we don't want to go through that again"
I felt guilty for putting the gang through this. Did they really worry about me so much that they thought I was going to die?
"I'm sorry, Much" I whispered "But I'm here, alive"
"But what if little John had never worked out the cure" Much told me making me think. What if John had never worked it out? I would be dead. It was something I had to get my head around.
"I don't know, Much, I suppose it's just a good thing it didn't happen"
"I would be distraught" He went on "Robin would be distraught, so would Allan. I know me and you aren't the best of friends and we disagree a lot but I do love you" Much was welling up a bit "I just thought you should know that" I stopped for my search for Will, we weren't getting much done anyway with Much chatting in my ear.
I smiled "Much, that's really sweet. But, really I'm fine, you don't need to worry"
Much looked as if he was about to speak when we heard footsteps. For a second me and Much stared at each other with wide eyes befpore going for our weapons at our sides. I pulled my dagger out and pointed it at the direction of the footsteps.
"Whoa!" Robin cried jumping back from my dagger "It's just me! Where's Djaq?"
"uh…" Much began "We split up"
Robin sighed "Will has poisoned the Sheriff and Djaq's got the remedy"
"It's ok, we'll find her. The Sheriff's still got some time, right?"
John appeared from around the corner, hearing the commotion. Robin noticed Will walking through the corridor behind us "Will!" Robin called. Me, Much and John turned abruptly "I know what you've done"
"Will, it's alright" I said trying to keep the situation calm as Robin began yelling. Will noticed us and stopped but his face remained emotionless "We can sort this, just tell us where Djaq is"
"What I did was the right thing. Djaq has the remedy, I can't let the Sheriff get that"
"Yes, the Sheriff deserves everything he got" I told him moving closer "But does Nottingham? Because if the Sheriff dies, so does the whole of Nottingham"
"That's not my fault"
"Will there is another way. Robin sent a letter to the king telling him all of the traitorous stuff that the Sheriff has done, he will get what's coming to him without harming the rest of Nottingham" Will shook his head as though not taking in a word of what I was saying "The Sheriff will pay for what he did to your father"
"I can't save him, my father did it for me"
"Will!" Robin groaned "We need the cure" suddenly, without warning, Robin launched himself at Will who jumped back against a wall but rather than hit him Robin went for his pocket pulling out a vial.
"Robin! NO!" I yelled just as he put the vial to his lips.
"MASTER NO!"
"Listen to Elaine, people will die if the Sheriff dies and if you want to watch people die, you can start with me"
Will had tears escaping his eyes as he watched Robin drink the vial of potion in order to prove a point "Robin! I can't let the Sheriff live"
"Yes, you can!"
"My dad, he did it for me. He stood up to the Sheriff to prove himself to me!
"Then prove yourself to him. Show that we are stronger men than the Sheriff"
Robin suddenly fell back, I rushed forward to catch him remembering the pain of the potion.
"Robin you're an idiot" I screamed as Robin groaned in pain.
"Why did you have to do this?"
"To prove my point, that Will Scarlett still believes in the right thing"
"WILL!" I cried, making Will flinch at the noise. Robin couldn't die, not this way and I'd be damned if I let Will be the cause of it. I didn't even care about the Sheriff anymore, or Nottingham, just as long as Robin lived.
"I'll take you to her" Will nodded running off.
"Go, go to the sheriff's quarters, go"
"I'll go with you, Robin"
"No, go with them"
"Robin" I warned "I'm coming with you" the rest of the gang had already run off, following Will to where Djaq was.
"Well then I suppose I should tell you something" Robin said, I looked down at him and found he was grinning at me.
"What?"
"I didn't drink the poison" He smirked, I frowned at him as he untangled himself from my grip and stepping up without a problem.
"Wha- but- how?" I stuttered "I just saw you drink it!"
"Never took of the lid"
"You- you – you sneaky… thing" I grinned hitting Robin on the shoulder in irritation "I thought you'd just committed suicide in front of us!"
"As if" Robin smiled "Now come on"
We ran to the Sheriff's quarters and when we arrived I saw the Sheriff, and who I supposed was Joseph, crawling across the floor in agony. They were clutching their stomachs in pain and groaning. It was an awful sight.
"Ooo!" Robin mused "Nothing like the taste of your own medicine, is there, and you have an announcement to make"
Joseph looked up at me on the floor as Robin pulled the Sheriff by the scuff of his shirt to the open window.
"What announcement does he have to make?" I tried to ignore the crazed stare I was getting from the pained man on the floor but it was distracting. I frowned at him but said nothing more.
"Why he said there was a pestilence, operation shah mat" Robin explained to me.
"People of Nottingham! There is no pestilence!" The Sheriff began shouting down at the entirety of Nottingham "An experiment for which I'm truly, truly sorry"
"No!" Joseph cried, staring at me "There is no cure!" he began to get up on his feet. I took steps back away from him as he began to approach me.
I would be lying if I said I wasn't afraid of this man. He looked so crazy, prowling towards me.
"Its okay" I assured stepping back but realized I had hit the wall behind me "W-we can cure you too" The man's eyes were red, I wasn't sure if it was in pain or sorrow "My friend, sh-she'll be here in a minute, b-but she has a cure"
"I can't be cured! There is no cure" He repeated "I created an incurable poison"
"Please don't hurt me" I whimpered away forgetting everything about all of my weapons. He lunged at me but didn't hit me. Instead he covered my mouth as the Sheriff's door burst open revealing the rest of the gang. Joseph had pulled me behind the door and out of sight of the gang. I struggled away but even Joseph being poisoned he was still stronger than me.
"Djaq! The remedy!" Robin yelled at Djaq "will, this is your call. Prove to me Will Scarlett believes in dong the right thing"
"You didn't drink the poison, did you?"
"no but I think my point still stands"
"yes, yes it does" I heard Will walk towards the Sheriff who was now lying limp on the floor "This is to the memory of my good father, Dan Scarlett and the people of Nottingham"
The Sheriff woke up seconds later.
"Finish the speech!" Robin ordered trying to pick him up and drag him back to the window.
"Oh, I don't think so. Guards! Guards!"
"Let's get out of here!" Robin told the gang as they all began to run for the door, then, robin noticed my absents "Where's Elaine?"
Suddenly, with a jolt I was pulled by the hair. Joseph had somehow managed to pull my dagger out from my pocket and had it pointed at my neck.
"Then he looked and saw the angel of death standing between heaven and earth"
The gang had formed a circle around me and Joseph. There was now way Joseph was going to get out of this alive unless he let me go now.
"Just let Elaine go and we can give you the cure"
"I was going to be remembered for a thousand years, the creator of the perfect poison. There can be no antidote!"
"There is!" I whimpered out "I'm living proof, you saw me before. I was poisoned but I was given the cure and now I'm fine. Please believe us"
"How can I?" He cried tugging at my hair. I cried out "I was going to be legendary. You know what it's like to be legendary don't you Robin. Everyone has heard of the great Robin Hood and his gang. I wanted that!"
The dagger was placed closer to my throat and for a second my heart stopped beating for fear.
"I will have no choice but to kill you if you harm her" Robin clearly told him.
"I don't want to hurt her, but she's proof! Proof my poison isn't victorious"
"Your crazy!" I screamed against the dagger trying to put as much distance between the dagger and me "Let me go or so help me!"
"All these years have been wasted, working out the perfect p-"
"The perfect poison, I get it!" I yelled before slamming my elbow back into his ribs. He jolted back, slamming into Much who was behind us. He hadn't let go off me completely and as he went back the dagger cut against my arm. I hissed in pain when Robin fired an arrow at Joseph's hand that was still clutching onto my shoulder. Joseph flinched away from the arrow, giving me my freedom back.
I ran over to Will when we heard footsteps running towards the Sheriff's chamber. Guards.
"Go!" Robin told us to run. We did just that, only just missing the guards. It was only when we were outside that I noticed one of us was missing.
"Where's Robin!" I cried looking around for any sight of the green eyed archer.
"What do you mean, where's Robin, he's-" Much began but then looked up "MASTER!"
I followed his gaze and saw Robin dangling outside of the Sheriff's chambers, holding onto the large banner that was strung down from his room. Joseph helplessly clung onto Robin's foot. The Sheriff's window was broken. Robin had been pushed.
My heart beat quickened as I tried to think of something to do. All of a sudden Joseph's hand slipped and he fell, tumbling towards his death. I looked away as the many sounds of cracks followed as well as the gasping of surrounding peasants and guards who noticed the scene.
"We have to go up there!" I gripped onto Much's arm but he was staring, opened mouth at Robin's helpless figure "We can't leave him!"
We watched as Robin took hold of a dagger and used it to rip through the banner as he fell to the ground quickly. I allowed myself to breath as he reached the bottom, safe, only stopping to put his shoe on.
He jogged over to us with a grin plastered on his face.
"What happened!"
"I just got pushed out of a window" Robin said obviously "Guards are coming, we better get out of here!"
Without another warning we were off running. As we exited the castle gates we were greeted by applause as villagers, mostly from Pitts Street swallowed the streets up as they stood and clapped as we ran past.
In the crowd I spotted Allan looking lost and confused as the massives of people blocked the streets only allowing entrance for us as we ran past. I stopped and pushed through the crowd to get to him.
"There you are!" He said as soon as he spotted me making my way towards him "What happened, why are there loads of people here?"
"Dunno, guess you guys did something good again. I was out of it for most of it"
Allan rolled his eyes. There was a pause in our conversation as I went to wrap my arms around Allan's neck and his snaked around my back "So what happened up at the castle"
"We found Will, he had poisoned the Sheriff, Djaq had the antidote to cure him so he locked her up, Robin pretended to drink the poison to bash some sense to him, I was attacked by that Joseph man, the sheriff was cured and Robin was pushed out of a window" I concluded with a grin "The usual"
"Wh-what, Joseph attacked you?" he frowned, slowly I nodded "Where is he?"
"He's dead" I added sadly "Fell out the window with Robin. You never told me how crazy he was, he kept going on about how he was going to be legendary or something" The crowd was dispersing leaving me and Allan exposed. I didn't have my cloak with a hood and with the Sheriff's guards looking for us we were easy bait.
"I always knew he had something a bit weird about him" Allan scowled.
"Did you deliver that letter?"
He looked away from me before nodding "Easy, he was waiting for Robin to come. Sure it'll get to the king in no time"
"Good" I nodded firmly "The sooner the King knows about the Sheriff and Gisborne the better. Maybe he'll come home soon"
"I thought you didn't want him to come back"
"Well now that we have a future ahead of us, I do" I said "Before I didn't want to leave the gang, it was my new home but now I've found that with you" Allan gave me a smirk at that to which I responded by rolling my eyes "You know what I mean. Anyway if the King returns the sooner war in the holy land ends, the Sheriff will leave and we'll have an actual excuse to leave this place and start new. Why do you not want him to return?"
"It doesn't really bother me either way to be honest. As long as I still have you" Allan added quickly with a wink. He leant in for a kiss. I moved away, teasing him a light giggle escaping me.
"I'll always be here" I whispered before moving in to let our lips meet.
A/N dun dun dun! And now the drama begins. I was actually going to have Allan tell Elaine about him betraying the gang in this chapter at the end but decided against it.
Thank-you everyone who has answered my poll, I all of a sudden just got loads of people answering it (THANK-YOU TO EVERYONE WHO ANSWERED IT, YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING) and Robin will NOT be dying (you can all breath now) – but on a sadder note, Marian is (agh, tell me again why I'm doing this!) but that's all I'm going to tell you on the plot of season 3. No more spoilers :P
Art clockwise: Thank you so much for reading and reviewing (it makes me so happy when I get a review) I'm so glad your liking Elaine, I wasn't really sure what everyone's thoughts on her was so thank-you. Ok so I've decided, after reading the poll results that Robin won't be dying (thank you so so so much for answering) I have a plan and I'm planning on continuing the story a few chapters after season 3 ends (only a few, I won't be doing another season) To be honest I doubt if I'll include Kate, when I was planning the story I kept her in episode 3x02 but then left her out of the rest (I cannot stand her, it's not even because she's Robin's love interest for season 3, I just find her so annoying) But Isabella will be there.
Mediterranean Rose: Thank-you for reviewing :D don't worry I plan on keeping him alive now, after reading the poll results and obviously with Marian still dying I doubt Robin would ever find true happiness but with the ending I have planned I he won't end entirely unhappy.
TurquoiseCobat: You have DA! I'm the opposite way around, I do have a DA but have never used it (I tend to find that whenever I'm on there I get insanely jealous of everyone's skills) and am all the time on tumblr (ugh, I really need a life, lol) Next chappy Allan's betrayal is revealed, so excited for it! Eeek.