Chapter 12: Dungeons & Dragons


"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away."

— Philip K. Dick

A goddess dies and Judy meets a human time traveler. In Nottingham, Marian is in the clutches of the cruel King John.


Nottingham: 1215

In another reality, the large wounded Tyrannosaurus-rex would ultimately be named Sue long after her life had ended and she would die in her twenty-eighth year in a stream. Her body would be covered by mud, which would hide her fossilized remains until she was found by an intrepid team of explorers and fossil collectors led by Sue Hendrickson. In that reality, her reassembled skeleton would greet young and old to the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago as a reminder of a long-gone time in history. But for now, she would lay by another river both bleeding and afraid.

She lifted her head and looked around at the trees and grasses, everything around her was strange and she was hungry. There was none of the large prey she was used to hunting or scavenging a meal from their dead carcasses here in this odd place where she now found herself. The dinosaur was also cold and longed for the hot and humid bayou which was her hunting grounds. The sharp-pointed object which had struck her caused great pain on her side and little did she know it had broken one of her large ribs. With a huff, she sadly laid her massive head down on the soft grass and rested, hungry and lost. Something white floated from the sky and landed on his muzzle, she tried to focus her eyes on the feather that had landed there and shake it off, but it stayed.

Miles away from where Sue laid, Judy stroked the large dying owl's head as the goddess stared towards the sky above. "Oh dear, that didn't go as planned," the owl groaned in pain. "As I said my little one, we are ageless, but not…" She never finished what she was saying before she seemed to dissolve into a pile of snowy white feathers, which the wind blew across the nearby field and joined those already afloat in the midsummer's breeze.

"What twas she?" a kindly voice asked and the rabbit looked up to see a handsome fox in a green tunic standing there holding his strange cap clasped in his paws near his heart as a show of respect for the slain.

"She was a goddess named Arianrhod," Judy softly answered. "We were trying to save time and space together, now she is dead and I am lost." She hesitated as she picked up a large feather and held it to her chest, her nose twitched in surprise when she saw the human. Standing, she stared at the strange being and asked with a faint hope in her voice's tone, "Are you a god too?"

"I am nothing but a traveler," Tony answered. "Lost just like you, but what were you saying about time and space?"

"There is a cosmic god who has gone rogue and is damaging all of reality and time," the rabbit replied as she looked at all the animals who had gathered around her. "In some ways it may be my fault, for the other gods say I am his mother."

Tony only nodded as he two looked at the others, who were gasping at what they had seen and now heard. "Does this god look like a fox with long ears?" he finally asked.

"Yes, how did you know?"

"Because I'm a scientist and I was with my partner testing Project Tic-Toc, a time machine. We went someplace what wasn't our past, but found ourselves in a meadow, there was a small tent and when we looked inside we saw a long-eared fox with a vixen. He shot white light at us from his eyes and I found myself here in another reality."

"So you lied," Little John growled. "You're not traveler from across the seas?" The large bear held his staff ready to thump the human.

"I am, but not from across the seas that you might know of," the human quickly answered. "However, I am from another place where we humans are the dominant species and you bears and foxes walk on four legs and are more primal."

"Well if you are from heaven or hell, it doesn't matter right now because we still have that dragon out there and we need to withdraw to safety in the forest!" a black wolf wearing armor interjected. "We need to regroup, for an injured creature like that is more dangerous than before."

"Aye, the good Sheriff is right!" the fox said as he nodded. "Come let us haul our big arrow shooters back into Sherwood Forest and decide what to do one we are there!"

"Are you Robin Hood?" Judy finally asked. He looked almost like the cartoon books she had read as a child.

"Aye that I am mistress," the fox answered with a bow as he swept his hat from his head. "So come hither to safety and to a warm fire, there we shall share a jug of wine while you tell us more about these gods."

"Robin," a voice called and another fox approached. "Skippy and Tagalong want to take some of their sons and track down the dragon…"

"Nick?" Judy suddenly asked. The fox standing before her in the gaudy, well-worn tunic looked just like her partner and best friend.

"Nay my lady," the fox answered. "I am Alan, Alan-a-Dale, just a poor wandering minstrel."

"You look and sound almost like someone I know," the rabbit continued.

"Come on Robin," the wolf called out. "We can talk where it is safe."

Still grasping one of Arianrhod's white feathers, Judy followed the human into the thick woods ahead.

Miles from the so-called dragon and the rebels in Sherwood Forest, a thin lion rubbed his chin as he leered down at a vixen in a black and white habit. "So my dear Marian, it has been years since we last saw each other," King John chuckled as before he picked up an emerald encrusted chalice of red wine. "Now tell me, my dear, where is your husband Robin Hood?"

"Your highness," the still beautiful vixen bowed as she replied. "After my former husband ran off to join good King Richard's army, I forsook our marriage vows and became a daughter of the church. What my that tod is doing is no longer a concern..."

"Shut up!" the lion roared. "I know how much you two loved each other all those years ago, that fox even risked his life to impress you by winning the golden arrow and setting off the trap I had planned. I should have beheaded him right away and not listened to your stupid pleas."

What the lion didn't say was that he only released Robin because Little John was disguised as a noble bear named Sir Reginald, the Duke of Chutney, and he had gotten close enough to threaten the prince with a knife. Robin and his merry followers had won the day and Marian had fled with the tod into the leafy maze of Sherwood Forest where she became his lover. There they hid, causing mischief and aggravation as they upset many of Prince John's schemes to overthrow his brother Richard while the king was overseas on the Great Crusade.

After Prince John left Nottingham and returned back to his own lands, the Sheriff of Nottingham was charged with bringing in this Robert of Loxley, nicknamed Robin Hood, to justice. Not impressed with the Sheriff's lackluster attempts to capture or kill the outlaw, John sent one of his trusted followers Sir Guy of Gisborne, who was another red fox, to kill Robin. After slaying Sir Guy, Robin disguised himself as the knight and freed his friend Little John from the Sheriff's dungeon. Marian had suspected that the Sheriff was not too enthusiastic in stopping Robin and his followers, that the wolf's loyalty had always remained with King Richard.

When King Richard returned, he had banished his brother and his followers. But Richard was not a peaceful king and soon he led his army across the sea again to do battle, this time forcing Robin to join him. Now Richard was dead and without an heir, his brother John sat upon the crown. But King John was vain and cruel, soon his own barons objected to his demands and now he faced a rebellion by many of his kingdom's nobility. He was here at Nottingham because the Sheriff had openly spoken in support of those barons.

"That was a long time ago, my king," the vixen sighed. "I was but a foolish girl in love with a dashing legend. The great bandit who stole from the rich and gave to the poor, what did that infatuation leave me but a broken heart?"

"No my good vixen, I cannot believe that Robin Hood would dare leave you in my merciful paws again," King John snapped in agitation. There was a chopping sound and Marian looked out of the castle's window to see that another of the villagers had lost his head to the king's executioner's sharp ax. Wailing from the victim's wife and children could be heard inside where she stood. The vixen looked disapprovingly at the king and saw he was smiling as he listened to the cries. "Yes, but my mercy only goes so far my dear."

Marian winced yet again when she heard more crying and another chop.

"Your majesty," a voice called out from the other end of the room and a sinister-looking gray furred stallion in black armor entered. He dropped to his knees before the lion and bowed. "Our scouts say the dragon is down by the river, should I muster the army to attack it?"

"Why?" King John asked as he looked down at the knight. "Sir Hoofler, can't you see that we are safe behind this castle's stout stone walls? Let Robin Hood and that traitorous sheriff deal with the beast. Now take this vixen down to the dungeon where she can spend time with the Sheriff's wife and his daughter."

Sir Hoofler stood up and grasped Marian's arm, but as he began to pull her out of the room, the king called out, "Wait…maybe we can use her as bait! Strip her and the Sheriff's daughter and then hang them from iron cages before the castle's walls. That should draw him out!"

"You want to draw the dragon to the castle walls?" the knight asked in confusion.

"No you idiot, it will draw out both Robin Hood and that treasonous Sheriff," King John laughed in a sinister manner. "And when they come to save the ones they love, which they will do, then either we will get them or the dragon will."

"But your majesty, she is a nun and the Sheriff's daughter is but a child!" Sir Hoofler objected. "Surely to treat them so will incur the wrath of the Church itself?"

"As long as the bishop gets his tithes, he won't care about some mere females," the lion answered with a flick of his emerald rings covered paw. "Now do as I say or else!" As if to reinforce his threat, there was another chopping sound and the sad sounds of sobs from outside.

"As you command," the knight gulped.

Hours later Marian listened to the steed as he read the king's proclamation. She huddled inside of the small cage fashioned from steel bars and wood which hung high off the castle's walls near the stout drawbridge so that all could see her shame as they entered the castle. On the other side of the bridge, the Sheriff of Nottingham's twelve-year-old daughter Margaret was suspended in a similar cage.

It turned out that Sir Hoofler feared the damnation of his soul more than the removal of his head, for although he did as his king commanded and had them stripped naked, he also gave them each a heavy wool tartan blanket so they could cover themselves. Of those villagers who listened while the steed read the king's proclamation, none objected but only looked sadly up at the two females hanging there in the late afternoon sun. Anyone who would have dared to speak out in their defense was now either beheaded or with the Sheriff in the distant woods. "Robin will come and save them," she heard someone say. But Marian prayed that the Robin would not come for it would take more than a fox's guile to escape this trap.

The vixen's ears flicked when she heard sobbing from the cage nearby and she looked over at the young she-wolf. "I want my daddy!" Margaret whimpered. "I want my mommy!"

"Have faith, Margaret!" Marian called over to her. "The gods will show us mercy even if the king does not." Silently she began to pray, just as something fluttered by her and she quickly reached out to grab a large white feather which was floating on the breeze. With curiosity, she held the strange feather to her chest and wondered what kind of bird it could have come from? Was it a sign from the gods, perhaps even a feather from an angel's wing?

The vixen looked in concern when she heard a distant roar and watched as the villagers all hurried toward safety, for the evening was descending and the mighty dragon was on the prowl.


Sue Hendrickson really did find the bones of the T-Rex who would be named Sue in her honor and her or his skeleton is found at Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History.

Hanging female prisoners in cages was not an uncommon practice in medieval England. King Edward imprisoned the sister of the "rebel" Robert the Bruce, proclaimed King of Scotland, in a cage hung from the walls of Roxburgh and also the "traitor" Isabella MacDuff, the Countess of Buchan, was hung from a cage in Berwick-upon-Tweed for four years.