What have I done?
A thousand reproaches sped through Robin's mind, swifter than arrows, as he sadly watched Marian ride away.
How could he have doubted her, a woman of character and principle? He knew that his love did not give her heart, let alone her body, lightly. Amazingly, she had trusted him with both, loving him with total abandon, and a tenderness and passion as boundless as his own.
Despite his misery at watching her go, Robin felt a sense of infinite bliss, remembering her as she'd looked at Bonchurch, flushed and happy and breathless, enthusiastically adoring him with warm moist lips, eager caressing hands, and bright shining eyes, clothed only in her breathtakingly incredible beauty. Alone together within the private, sheltering walls of his hunting lodge, nothing had come between them...no jealousy, no distrust, and certainly no Guy of Gisbourne.
But now, all because of a few words centered around that vile traitor, their perfect union was shattered.
Robin blamed himself, believing what he'd told her dying father proved to be true...he probably didn't deserve her.
And yet, her own words haunted and tortured him. "It's over," she had stated, emphatically.
What did you mean by that, if not your relationship with him? And just what, exactly, is that relationship?
"Now, don't get downhearted," Much was saying, trying to sound soothing, but coming across anxious. "You've had an upset, I know. But it's not the first time Marian's marched away, if you can call it marching, when she's on the back of a horse. Maybe it's the horse who marched. Or should I say 'trotted?' "
"Shut up!" Little John ordered.
"For you information, Badger Beard, I wasn't talking to you! Anyway, Master, look at the bright side. My mother always used to say there was always something good, if you looked for it. And the good thing today, I think you'll find is, you won't have to worry about Marian getting hurt, fighting the sheriff's men! You have to admit, Master, when she said she was rejoining us, you were more than a little concerned-"
At that very moment, a breathless Will Scarlet staggered in among them, silencing Much with loud heaving breaths, doubled over with his hands on his knees. When he finally caught his breath, he could barely get out the words, "They've got Djaq!"
Instantly, Robin pushed his own troubles from his mind. This would not be like the other time Djaq had been captured, when he hadn't cared enough to save her, being consumed instead by vengeance toward Gisbourne. Never again would he put his own needs before the needs of his men.
"Right," he said lowly, without a trace of reproach toward Will for disobeying him. "We go to Nottingham, now!"
...
"Marian, where have you been?"
Furious at the world, but mostly at Robin of Locksley, Marian wanted to turn and scream into the face of Gisbourne. It seemed she couldn't even stable her horse without Guy coming up behind her, questioning her every move.
"Are you going to apologize to me?" she asked him, curtly, without expecting him to.
Surprisingly, his mood changed, from suspicion to meekness. "I'm sorry," he said, confusing her by his sincerity. "I didn't like the way the sheriff let that man taunt you."
"You didn't object at the time! You were perfectly content to stay silent, and let me be humiliated! Why didn't you challenge him?"
"I've told you, Marian, he's all I've got!"
"Is it any wonder, when you choose to follow him? Since that's your choice, Guy, he's all you ever will have."
Without waiting for a reply, she turned from him and stormed away, up the stairs to her lonely room in the castle. Yet when she reached the door, she found she wasn't alone.
"Not bein' funny, but you gotta help me."
Allan! Another man who couldn't wait to watch me dance, for Ruthless Rufus' pleasure! "What are you doing here?" she snapped, so angrily that Allan took a step back.
"Oi!" he cried, throwing up his hands. "Thought you nobles were supposed to have manners! Isn't that what Robin meant when he scolded me, sayin', 'Don't you know it's rude to read other people's mail?' "
"Keep Robin out of this!"
"Look, Marian, I don't care about what's goin' on between you and Robin. What I do care about is this...they've got Djaq, and we gotta help her!"
"Djaq? Who? Who's got Djaq?"
"The sheriff, and Ruthless Rufus."
Just as Robin had done, Marian pushed aside her own troubles at hearing the awful news. "Do they know who she is?" she asked, her mind racing with concerns for the pretty young Saracen.
"What do you think?"
The implication made Marian catch her breath. "You're right," she agreed, "we have to help her! Do you have a plan?"
"Me? Not bein' funny, but I was hopin' you'd have one."
"Where is she? The dungeon?"
"Naw." Allan, usually so debonair, seemed more upset than Marian remembered ever having seen him. "She's locked up in Ruthless Rufus' room. He's braggin' about how he's gonna..."
Allan didn't finish. Marian guessed it was because he couldn't bring himself to say the words.
"Don't worry," she said, realizing she needed to be strong for both of them. "We'll get her out."
Brave words, she knew, but the situation called for them. Now, if only they had a plan.
