Marian froze as Much's words sank in. Then, white hot fury overtook her. Like a loosed arrow, she shot towards Kate and knocked her to the ground.
"You stupid, stupid girl!" she shouted, sitting astride the flawling girl's body as she slapped her face.
Robin grabbed Marian by her arms and pulled her to her feet. Although Kate was whining, no one made a move to help her. Allan was actually smiling.
Struggling to be free, Marian cried out, "Get off me! Robin, she burned the Pact!"
"I know," he told her firmly. "But that doesn't give us cause to hurt her."
Marian's fury found a new home in the man who held her. "My father gave his life for that Pact, and you defend her?"
"He died a hero, Marian, but we don't need it any more. Alright?"
"How can you say that, and let me go! You are a fool!"
"The King has all the proof he needs against the sheriff and Gisbourne. The arrow wound on his back is enough to condemn them a thousand times over."
The outlaws fell silent, as relief over the truth in Robin's words sank in. Much, of course, was the first to break the silence.
"Well, I must say, I am glad! I'd forgotten that! I mean, I hadn't forgotten the sheriff shot the King, I'd just forgotten- Oh! He's crying!"
Everyone seemed to notice Bat's tears at the same time. Marian shook herself free from Robin's hold, and the couple rushed to the weeping boy, crouching down on either side of him.
"We're sorry," Marian told him, gently wiping away his tears. "We didn't mean to make you cry."
"It's alright," Robin said, smiling kindly into the boy's eyes. "Sometimes my wife and I have words, but that doesn't mean we've stopped loving each other. And it goes no farther than arguing. You have my word on that."
There was something about the way Robin talked to him that always made Bat feel special. He was consoled. Blinking away the last of his tears, he gave Robin and Marian his shy smile.
Marian's heart soared as she took the boy in her arms. Robin's brilliant smile seemed to cast sunshine over the forest. Reaching down to tousle the boy's hair, he proclaimed, "If only the rest of our troubles were so easily solved!"
Brownie threw his front paws on Robin's chest and licked his face, making Robin's laughter bubble over like a boy's. It proved so infectious, everyone but Kate either laughed or smiled.
Kate was even angrier than before. Pulling herself up, she rose and strode to face Friar Tuck.
"They're living in sin," she spat out, wiping the smile from Tuck's face. "They say they're married, but they're not!"
"Not this again. Shut up," Allan fumed, weary from Kate's bitterness.
"We are married," Marian corrected her, trying to control her anger for Bat's sake.
"Where's your ring? Hmm? I don't see any ring!"
"I sent it to Germany, to help free the King," Marian told her, with a mixture of pride and sadness.
She had loved that emerald ring from the first moment Robin slipped it on her finger, in the topmost branches of a tree. She'd worn it whenever they stole their few precious moments alone together, and had been overjoyed when they'd recovered it from Isabella. But then, she sacrificed it to help bring the King home, hoping he would indeed make it back to England alive.
And now, that screeching scarecrow of a woman had burned the Pact, for some unknown reason, wiping out further proof of the Black Knights, and assurance of the outlaws' pardons. Robin had spoken truth when he'd said the King's wound was proof against the sheriff and Gisbourne's treason, but the Pact would have gone a long way to secure the pardon the outlaws needed. And now, thanks to Kate, it was nothing but ashes.
And now, she dared accuse them of living in sin? If Bat wasn't watching, Marian would fling herself at Kate again and knock her senseless.
"Kate," Robin was asking, "why are you doing this?"
Kate marched straight up to Robin and stared into his eyes. He looked so confused. How could he not know, she wondered. With a deep breath, she stood on tiptoe and pecked at his lips.
Robin took a step back, looking surprised and upset. This was not the result Kate had dreamed of!
"Kate," he told her passionately, "you've got to forget this! I'm married! I'm very happily married! I love Marian. I always have. I always will. If you cannot stop, I'm sending you away."
The other outlaws had to bite their tongues to hold back their cheers. Much even crossed his fingers behind his back, hoping against hope that they might finally be rid of her.
"Not bein' funny, but I hear Kirklees Abbey has a vacancy," Allan suggested.
That decided Robin. "Tuck," he said. "Will you kindly escort Kate to Kirklees?"
Marian smiled gratefully at her husband. She made up her mind to reward him warmly as soon as they could slip away together.
Kate was screeching. "No! I won't go! You can't do this to me! You need me!"
"You'll be safe at Kirklees, so long as you stay there," Robin told her. He felt a lightness of heart he couldn't explain. "And when the King returns, you can go back home to Locksley."
And so can I, he was thinking. With my wife.
He'd make King Richard believe him somehow, with or without the Pact. The King trusted him. And as Marian's father had once said, it was good to dream.