And with that, went any hope that Keighley had.

She remembered thinking how extraordinarily beautiful Marian was with long golden hair and bright green eyes. She could easily be one those fairy princesses' that her mother told her stories about when she was a young girl. Robin and Gisbourne couldn't look away. Keighley was completely forgotten.

"Someone please say something" Marian said, finding the silence just as uncomfortable as me.

"What are you doing here?" Robin finally asked.

"I had to come to Annie's wedding," she said "She keeps saying how she had to sit through my wedding so it's only fair I have to sit through hers. No offense," she quickly said to Gisbourne who was dumbstruck.

No one knew what to say. All was interrupted by the Sheriff, who walked in yelling Gisbourne's name but stopped when he saw the scene before him. He in turn, stopped abruptly mid-sentence.

"Well" he said "isn't this a tad awkward?" he said with great enjoyment. "Isn't this delightful? I hate to break up this lovely reunion but I have a job for you Gisbourne. Now." Gisbourne looked like this was the last thing he wanted to do, leave Robin and Marian alone but he had no choice. The Sheriff was not done. "Hood this isn't one of your allowed areas. Do I have to have you arrested?"

"No that's alright," Robin said and headed for the door, slowly. He was obviously hoping the Sheriff would leave and he could talk to Marian. The Sheriff grew bored of the whole scene and left, proving Robin's plan successful. He ran back saying, "so you're back."

"For a little while" she corrected him. "I'm heading back to France after Annie's wedding."

"Well that is not tonight" he said, "You should come to camp, see everyone again, catch up, change your mind about going."

"I think I'll pass," she said.

"Well I'm not taking no for an answer" he said. "Admit it, you want to see all your friends and they will all come and track you down if you don't come and visit. And they will be mad. Actually, mad is an understatement."

I could be silent no longer. Ignoring the politeness modeled by Robin, I leapt forward and swept Marian up in a bear hug.

"You can't ever go again. It has been hell with out you. And I mean hell. Trust me." I rambled on like that for a time while Keighley noticed that we were not alone. Juliana was spying behind a pillar. She saw Keighley staring and gestured for her to come and talk to her.

"Ill be right back," she told Robin but I don't think he heard her. His action was clearly far away.

"So" said Juliana "that is Marian."

"I guess so," Keighley agreed.

"So how are we going to get rid of her?"

This shocked Keighley a tad but then she remembered who she was talking too. Juliana had never been one for being subtle and Keighley knew it. "Seems harsh" she said but did not make a move to discourage her.

"She cannot simply come in here and expect to have him back," Juliana said as she flipped a long strand off hair off her shoulder. She began to twirl it as her evil mind worked. "It's a shame that I don't carry weapons."

"You would kill her?" Keighley asked, clearly shocked.

"Of course not," Juliana said, chuckling slightly. "But if someone were to stick a knife in her, I'm just saying, I would not be opposed to twisting it."

Keighley heard Robin calling her name. "I guess he finally remembered that I exist. I'll be in touch." And she ran back to him.

"Sorry about that," he said with a goofy grin on his face. Keighley didn't say anything.

Both women looked a tad uncomfortable at the unfamiliarity. "Oh uh," Robin said, "Marian this is Keighley. Keighley this is Marian."

"We've met," Marian said with a polite nod to which Keighley looked puzzled at. "Well sort of. Annie fetched me to help with your wound earlier."

"Right," Keighley said, clearly uncomfortable, "You had cold hands. It really helped with the fever. So thank you."

"I stood on the balcony for a bit. November is ending so the weather helped."

It would have been interesting to see if Marian would have helped Keighley at her own personal expense if she knew what had happened over the past year. Robin and I held our breathes with the knowledge that at any moment, Keighley could utter a few words that would send Marian away faster then we could ever imagine.

"Well thank you," Keighley said finally and we relaxed with the temporary peace.

I then knew why Annie had been so nervous out on the balcony. Marian could have walked back into that room at any second and seen Robin with Keighley. Annie had the same goal as the rest of us; make Marian stay.

Robin and I instantly began deep discussions about planning for the night. This involved many desperate and tactless ploys that Keighley obviously couldn't stand.

She hunched over suddenly, hand to her stomach. "I think I over estimated the wound," she said as Robin was instantly by her side.

"Can you make it back to camp?"

"Do you think you can take me to my family? I think I need to see them."

Robin swooped her up in his arms before I could point out the indecency. She seemed too tired to complain.

I had always favored Keighley and Greg's family. The instant they were in sight, the whole pack came racing over the pull us into inescapable embraces while they showered in comments of our good looks and bravery.

This was slightly dulled down today at the sight of Keighley's wounded state.

"Oh you're fine love," her grandmother said as Robin carefully laid Keighley down, "you just wanted an excuse for this fine young man to have you in arms."

Both Robin and Keighley quickly dropped their eyes and took deep breaths.

"We best be going," I said, quickly grabbing my friend and dragging him to safety. "We have a lot to plan, you know, the importance of England and all. Wonderful to see you."

Neither of us wanted to see Keighley cry.

Everyone else in the gang was thrilled that Marian was back. Apparently Robin did talk her into dinner tonight and Amelia panicked about how little time there was. "Right" she said, "I will get cooking and you all come up with a plan to make her stay."

Michael stepped forward "I wouldn't worry. As soon as she remembers how much she enjoys spending time with me she will never leave."

"That's actually a good idea," I said. "Michael, you were her best friend. Talk her around."

Everyone was instantly incredibly busy. Either they had been roped into helping with dinner or they had been roped into helping with plots.

Meanwhile, Keighley wondered about making herself scare for the night. All these men going crazy over a women was making her sick. But it would be more helpful and see what she could learn while sabotaging at any chance she got. She wondered if Marian knew about what Robin had been doing with herself and Juliana. But Keighley couldn't come right out and tell her. She had to do something that didn't trace right back to her.

Keighley thought she would return to camp to see a bunch of fake smiles and awkward silences but of course this was not the case. Every one was to busy with Marian to notice. Of course there were the three other new members who did not know her but this was quickly taken care of. Much introduced Bryce and Marian mainly to prove that he could be friends with someone like her. He wasn't subtle about it either. He bounded up to her and gave her a big bear hug. "I couldn't do that unless we were friends right?"

"Uh" she said, confused "yes?"

"Ha!" Much exclaimed as he began his victory dance. "Take that Bryce."

Bryce still wasn't convinced. He stepped forward and also gave Marian a big bear hug. "I would just like to confirm that we are not friends and I could still do that."

Much pleaded "Please tell him we're friends Marian."

"Much is a very good friend of mine" Marian assured Bryce "so stop picking on him. He's told me all about you."

Bryce complained "But it's so easy."

"I know" Marian agreed "but we all must learn self restraint."

This joke at Much's expense seemed to make Marian and Bryce friends and they shared another bear hug to show how Bryce now respected her. Bryce's bear hugs could hurt people. It was rather funny seeing him stand next to Marian as they were opposite sides of the height scale. Thanks to her shortness, the hugs became even more dangerous than before as he easily picked her up and almost flung her over his shoulder. I forgot how tough she was and she seemed to recover fine.

Mark saw it upon himself to stride up to Marian and say, "now I know my charm and good looks have a kind of hypnotic effect on women but please try and restrain yourself. Robin might get mad at us."

"Ill try but there's something about your eyes," she whispered to him. "I just can't look away."

Mark turned to Robin. "Sorry mate" he said as he scooped her up in his arms. "I was all set to let you have her but you didn't prepare me how beautiful she is." Both were laughing so hard that I'm surprised he didn't drop her. I'm sure she must have been thanking the Lord for her small structure, what with every ones current obsession with picking her up.

Keighley even saw Greg deep in discussion with the apparent enemy. She dragged him away saying, "you cant be friends with her." He began to complain and she began to hiss "she is stealing him from me."

He had to go a step further to turn his sister against him and said, "well technically he was hers first which makes you the thief and she's just taking back what you stole which was what she used to own."

Keighley stormed off, once again extremely mad at not getting her way. Marian was too busy with everyone else to notice. Namely Michael. He was almost crying with happiness when he saw her. He later claimed that world had almost gone into slow motion when he saw her again. The new members were a little confused at the two of them, wondering if Robin and Gisbourne had more competition and it was hard for the rest of us to explain that they are just the best example of best friends that we had ever seen.

Marian did however; figure out that Keighley was mad at her and did not try to approach her. It was obvious that Keighley refused to be sucked into friendship that everyone else seemed to be.

"So tell us everything about France unless it boring" Much said, " and if its boring then make something up."

"Please tell us you still cause some good old mayhem on occasion" Will said causing everyone to cheer at the prospect. That's another thing about Marian. Even Roger and Will liked her. They didn't like anyone.

"Excuse me?" she said, sounding very hurt "I never cause mayhem." Everyone raised their eyebrows. "Mayhem causes me," she corrected.

John came in and we all felt guilty for not noticing his absence. We all noticed the woman he was helping along. She was quite pretty, for a women of her age, something Amelia was clearly not happy about. It was also noticeable how she was limping. "John, would you kindly explain?" Robin asked.

"Well I was watching the North road, hoping to do some good old road side robbing. Sorry for not telling you Robin but I was feeling down about our failure with the clue so I wanted to do something I was good at. Anyway I heard some yelling and went to interrogate. I saw some men pushing around Rose here and I politely reminded them of the polite way to treat a woman. Don't worry they're alive, just. Well I could tell what their intentions were and it made me mad. They had to be taught a lesson. Rose had been walking through Sherwood when they started following her. She tried to run but she sprained her ankle and they caught her. It looks kind of bad and I thought, rather then have her hobble all the way to Nottingham and make her ankle worse, I figured that we have an amazing trainee physician, hello Marian, who could easily help a sprained ankle."

"Of course" Marian said "but do we have any supplies?"

Much ran to our supply cabin and came back "We have some of Luke's old things."

That ruined the happiness of the moment. "About that" Marian said, "can someone please explain to me exactly what happened." She began to work on Roses ankle but kept on enquiring. "I know he was always an idiot but I never thought he would do something like that."

"Well he just kind of lost it after Matthew died" Michael explained "and he's always had this darker side to him."

"I don't think so," she said. "If someone told me that we would have a spy in the gang I would automatically assume it would be Roger."

"What?" Roger said with mock hurt.

"Just because it's always the quiet ones. And it can't be Will because he hates the Sheriff too much. Other wise I would also think him."

"What?" Will also said with mock hurt "watch it or Roger and I will teach you a lesson and we won't go gentle just because you're a girl."

"You probably will, since you're best friends and all."

Both instantly jumped to their defense as they continued the charade of having no friends for the sake of their dignity.

All the while Robin was smiling some special smile that he only seemed to have when she was around. Keighley could see that it was going to be harder then she thought to break them up then she initially thought.

Marian took this opportunity to finish Roses ankle. "There. All done," she said as she tied the bandage with a flourish. "Try to walk on it as little as possible."

"Thank you dear" Rose said and Marian winced but gave Rose a polite smile. She walked away mouthing what looked like very rude things. "Marian has issues with being called a child." Lilly whispered to Greg and Keighley. "Even something as small as dear gets her angry."

"Well she is very young" Keighley said, wanting to hurt her, even if she couldn't hear. Lilly shushed her hurriedly and looked around to make sure Marian had not heard.

"I should be going" Rose said, wincing as she stood "Thank you John for everything."

"Hey, what did Marian just say?" John told her "you have to stay off that foot. Stay for dinner."

Amelia didn't look happy about this. She didn't like all the attention John was giving her.

"I couldn't intrude," Rose said as she politely declined.

"I insist," John, said, as he didn't notice Amelia's glare.

"Well at least let me help prepare something" she said to Amelia who plastered on a fake smile. "It's all done but if you really want you can help me serve."

John tried to protest under the protest of Rose's foot but both women said it would be fine. This resulted in Amelia bringing out the heavier items and leaving Rose in the kitchen. We waited and eventually heard shouting. "I'll be right back," John said as he went to enquire. He came with back with Rose and Marian yelling threats at each other.

"What's going on?" Robin asked, voicing all of our thoughts.

"She's trying to poison you" Marian said which Rose quickly interrupted with denials. "I saw her put something in the soup" Marian told Robin.

"Why would she do something like that?" he questioned.

"She's making it all up," Rose told us "She wants me gone, I don't know why."

Marian was about to deny it when Robin stopped her. "Rose has nothing to gain from poisoning us. Your eyes must be playing tricks."

"You're trusting her?" she asked with disbelief, not used to not automatically getting her way.

"I have no reason not too" he said "you on the other hand-" He stopped himself but the damage had been done. She shook her head in disbelief and walked over to the table. "What are you doing?" he asked. She said nothing but reached for his portion on the soup. "Stop it" he told her but it was too late she downed the whole thing.

Everyone waited as she cursed from it burning hot temperature. But aside from her scoured mouth she seemed unharmed.

Robin turned to Rose. "I'm so sorry about all this and I understand if you want to go."

"I saw her," Marian said, more to herself.

"Well obviously you didn't" Robin angrily told her "now are you done making drama or are you quite finished?"

She was silent for a moment. "I'm finished" she finally said, "coming here was clearly a mistake."

"I guess it was," he agreed. "I think its time you go."

Everyone was shocked and no one dared say a word. We all just watched with our mouths open as she stormed towards the exit. She stopped when she was about half way, seemingly to gather herself. She began walking again but only managed a few steps before falling forward. Robin had raced over before she hit the ground. He caught her and tried to control the shaking that had taken her over. Rose tried to run for it but John grabbed her and slammed her into the closest tree. Everyone ran around panicking. Will was the only one who seemed to know what he was doing. He dropped down beside Marian and announced "she's choking."

"I can see that" Robin said, trying not to panic "what do we do about it?"

Will didn't respond but turned Marian slightly and ordered her "breathe Marian. I need you to breathe."

"Is she breathing? Why isn't she breathing?" Robin was panicking.

Will turned to me, "take Robin over there, his panicking is not helping and its really distracting." It was clear he was trying to stay calm but was close to losing the calmness at any given moment. I'm not sure if it was wise sending me. I was pretty close to panicking myself but thankfully I pulled through.

Robin stayed put. "I'm not going anywhere." Roger wasn't taking no for an answer as he grabbed Robin by the arm and pulled him away.

"Everyone else too" Will yelled "You're crowding her."

Robin refused to sit idly by. He stormed up to Rose and yelled "what's the antidote?"

She smugly kept her mouth shut. John refused to wait and punched her hard in the face. "Don't make him ask again," he roared. She didn't look smug anymore but still said, "there isn't one."

"Do you want me to punch her again?" John asked.

"I have a better idea," Michael said. "Block her nose." Much was happy to oblige. Michael then grabbed another serving of soup and she had no choice but to open her mouth in order to breathe. Michael then poured the contents down her throat.

"Ill bet there's an antidote now" Ben said as her eyes filled with fear.

"I need you to promise that I will be given a portion," she said.

"Talk fast and we'll consider it" Roger growled.

She could see that we weren't bluffing. "There's a herb that grows on the outskirts of the forest that reverses the symptoms" she finally said but had to be prompted for its description. She was beginning to look dizzy and had to be supported by Mark and Bryce.

"This had better work" Robin growled "or the poison will be the least of your worries." She could see by his expression that he was really not bluffing and looked terrified. Robin was trying to keep calm but it was clear he was in no state to give orders. Luckily Roger stepped up and told everyone "pair up and scale different sides of the forest. We'll meet back at sundown and at least one group will have found something." He didn't look sure but turned away from Robin before letting this show.

Will seemed to have helped Marian a little. John helped to carry her to a bed. Everyone ignored Rose, despite how she was beginning to look rather sick and was shaking herself.

Robin whispered something to Marian and kissed her forehead. It was one of the moments that you felt rude for watching and everyone gave them privacy.

"What do you say? Partners?" Greg asked Keighley, knowing the answer full well.

"I'm not helping her," she told him. "I know it sounds harsh," she said in response to his shocked face."

She was expecting him to rant at her about the importance of helping others but he simply shook his head and muttered "I thought you were better then this."

Keighley thought she was too. It seems that she had stooped lower then she ever thought possible. This woman had saved her life without a second thought and here she was, directly ignoring her. But Keighley could not help it. She knew that she hated Marian. No one said anything when they saw Keighley wasn't going. Some gave her disgusted glances but still said nothing. So they all ran off leaving only Keighley and Amelia. Even Lilly had gone as she insisted "just sitting her will drive me insane. I have to try and help." Amelia was running around doing little jobs, just to keep herself busy. She was trying very hard to keep calm for Marian's sake but was struggling to control herself. It didn't matter really, the fever was getting to Marian and she was barley awake. To Keighley this was a good thing but Amelia didn't see things the same way. "She's getting worse," she hurriedly said. "I have to go see Pete, see if there's anything that can slow down her symptoms. I know it's hard for you but could you please watch her? She'll need these herbs soon so slow the fever but they will not work for long."

"Couldn't I go and check with Pete?" Keighley practically pleaded.

"There is no nice way of saying this" Amelia told her, "Pete really doesn't like you. I don't think he would help you. To be honest I don't think he likes me that much either. But he does like Marian and I will beg and plead until he comes."

Keighley wasn't surprised. No one seemed to like her. She finally nodded and Amelia ran off, leaving her alone with Marian. Well there was also Rose but she was also unconscious. Keighley just sat around, wondering what to do. She wondered if she was the kind of person who could just sit and watch, neglecting to give her the herbs and watch as she died. Keighley was certainly tempted as she sat with them, knowing that she held the key to Marian's life. It was the kind of thing Juliana would do in a heartbeat. Keighley didn't want to be like her. She saw Marian begin to stir and tried to wake her to take them. It was clear that she was in a lot of pain as Keighley tried to lull her into taking them. Marian just kept on muttering something as she feebly tried to bat them away. "Amelia said you have to take these," Keighley said, trying to contain her anger. Finally, Marian managed to sample a few small leaves but struggled to keep them down. Keighley could see why she initially refused them. She didn't know why but she held Marian's hand as the poor girl cried from the pain. Eventually she slowed but would not release Keighley's hand. She was very delusional so Keighley wasn't sure that she really knew whose hand she was holding. She just needed someone.

So Keighley stayed and even ended up singing to her so she could sleep again. It looked like Marian was asleep but Keighley didn't risk pulling her hand away. A crash on the other side of camp brought her to her senses and she had to leave.

Something wasn't right. Rose was gone. In her place was a letter.

.

.

.

Meanwhile we searched all afternoon. No one dared suggest we take a break. There was still nothing that matched Rose's description. "We should check in back at camp," Ben told me "I'm sure someone will have found something."

I knew something was wrong when I saw a group of the gang just pacing around nervously when they should have been searching.

I was too afraid to ask, luckily Robin wasn't. "Why is everyone here? You can't have checked the whole forest already."

Keighley stepped forward. "There is no antidote. Rose sent you on a wild goose chase." She handed me a letter. It said, "Terrowyn told me it would be easy to trick you all but I didn't realise how easy. My people have been working on this poison for years and I have worked up an immunity. There is no antidote, we made it this way. Thank you for your hospitality."

"We don't have to worry about her telling the sheriff of where our camp is," Thomas told me. "John and I ran into her when she was trying to escape. She fell again but this time for real. There was a cliff." He trailed off as we all realised.

Robin didn't know what to say. "How is she?" he finally sputtered out.

Keighley just shook her head, not allowing anyone to hope for a miracle.

.

.

He had to see her. She was barley awake but fought to keep her eyes open. There was so much he had wanted to say to her this past year but hadn't been able. Now he couldn't think of a thing. He knew he had to appear like he knew what he was doing so he reached for a nearby rag to mop her brow. This seemed to amuse her slightly. "You know that wont do any good," she told him. Her voice was barley above a whisper as each deep breath seemed tiresome.

He didn't trust himself to speak. "You forgot that I'm always right" she continued and despite the situation, he laughed.

"I also forgot how much you enjoy being right and love to rub it in peoples faces, no matter what the circumstance." Their laughter was cut short due to her going into a deep coughing fit where once again, he didn't know what to do.

"I'm so sorry" he said, "I should have listened to you."

She mumbled something that he guessed was "I told you so" but she was slipping away. He grasped her hand and had never felt more useless.

Will called him but he did not want to leave. "I love you," he said, praying it wouldn't be the last thing he ever said to her. She mumbled in response but it was inaudible by this point.

Will seemed to have an idea. "I'm not saying this will work and it will probably only make things worse. But when Rose described the antidote to us, some of the things she was saying about it made a lot of sense. Maybe it will really work."

"But we couldn't find any" I said. Lilly cleared her throat and pulled something from behind her back. I knew I shouldn't dare try to hope but it seemed we could have found the answer.

"The answer was in the inch of truth," Lilly said. "To tell a good lie there's got to be something true about the lie otherwise you'll lose track of what you said. She told us about the herb was located but the characteristics were slightly different."

"Hang on" Michael said as he snatched the herb out of Lilly's hand. "We are going to trust Rose now? The one who poisoned her? How do we know this won't make her worse?"

"She's going anyway", I said and Michael reluctantly handed it back. There wasn't much and I was terrified of what it could do.

She was barley breathing which motivated Robin. Everyone crowded in the tiny cabin to watch and held their breaths.

She opened her eyes feebly after taking the herb. She looked right at Robin and they didn't need to anything.

Then her eyes closed.

She stopped breathing.

She was gone.