CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

"Robin, I think there's something up here you should see."

The fox outlaw and his growing band had spent most of the day celebrating their retrieval of Friar Tuck from Gisbourne's clutches, singing and dancing and carousing around the glade - and, in the case of their resident minstrel, striving to deflect the amorous attentions of a certain overly-amorous hen in blue. At one point, Alan-a-Dale scaled a particularly tall elm bordering their glen, climbing and fluttering all the way to the topmost branches. He often engaged in such activities anyway, as part of his avian nature and to spy out the lay of the forest around their camp. On this occasion, however, Lady Kluck gave him extra incentive to make a vertical excursion away from his companions below.

He'd expected, on this fine spring day, to encounter nothing out of the ordinary. Thus, he was most surprised when his eye met, far to the south, a column of smoke rising high into the blue sky. He knew at a glance that it originated from nowhere within Sherwood Forest itself - it was too far away, and had to be coming from Nottingham proper. But, to be seen so clearly at this distance, that had to be a major fire.

The rooster hastened down to the lower branches, from where he quickly caught their leader's attention. "What is it, Alan?" Robin asked, his lighthearted expression turning serious at the tone of urgency in the troubadour's voice.

"I think someone's house is burning down. Maybe several someones, by the look of it ... "

Alan-a-Dale led the way topside again, with Robin and Will climbing up behind him while Kluck, Bettina, Friar Tuck and Little John remained below, their festivities forgotten for the moment.

Alan took his place in the uppermost swaying branches while the two foxes stopped at slightly sturdier limbs just below their musical friend. Their vantage nevertheless gave them a clear view of what had so alarmed the rooster.

"Cripes!" Will exclaimed. "Is all of Nottingham burning?"

"That's what I was wonderin'," Alan said.

"Could be the castle," Robin mused. "It probably produced smoke like that when the Sheriff set it ablaze two years ago. Of course, that happened at night, and I wasn't this safely removed to enjoy the sight. I wonder if Gisbourne has something to do with this ... "

Will scowled at his cousin. "Do you really suppose Gisbourne doesn't have something to do with this?"

"Good point. If it is the castle, I wonder what's happening there. And if it's not ... well, I don't want to think about that."

"D'you s'pose it could be someone trying to signal us?" Alan asked.

Robin gave a halfhearted chuckle. "If they'd wanted to do that, I think they would have found some other way that wouldn't involve quite so much wood burning. No, this has me worried. As dangerous as it is for us to go near Nottingham anymore, this will have to be investigated."

Alan glanced down at the two foxes. "Well, I guess that'll have to be me, since I'm the only one of us left that Gisbourne hasn't definitely identified as ... hey, I think I just saw someone down there, outside the thorn hedge!"

Robin and Will immediately followed Alan's gaze, but could not make out anything through the greenery. "Could you see who it was, or how many?" Robin asked.

"I only caught a glimpse through the lower branches. Do you think Gisbourne might have found us?"

"I think we'd better get down there right away to let Little John and the others know we might have company."

"I'm on it," Will said, even as he took off in a reckless but unerring plummet from one branch to the next, descending to the glade like a red-garbed madman.

Robin tarried for a few moments with Alan, regarding the column of smoke on the horizon. "While it would be nice to believe that this could be the Sheriff burning down the castle again through his carelessness, or some of our supporters causing mischief of some kind for Gisbourne, I really think this is not good news."

"If Sir Guy's got a brigade of troops surrounding our camp right now," Alan speculated, "maybe some of the townsfolk knew he was on his way here, and this was the only way they could think of to warn us."

"Then let's not tarry here any longer. Heaven help us if Gisbourne's come upon us with any kind of large force, or this will be the fight of our lives!"

When Robin and Alan rejoined the others below, they found Will and Kluck working their way through the lower branches of all the trees bordering their camp, making a hurried survey of the forest immediately beyond. Will called down to Robin, "If there's any army out there, they must be invisible!"

Robin looked to Alan. "Are you sure you saw someone?"

"Pretty sure, but it was only a glimpse, like I said."

"Little John went out to investigate," Will went on. "If there's anyone loitering on our fine periphery, he'll find them."

"Unless they find him first," Robin worried. "Will, go make sure he's not in any trouble. And be careful! The rest of us will stay here until we hear back from you."

"Got it!" Will jumped down from his tree, grabbing up his sword, quiver, bow and cudgel as he raced for the waterfall cave. Robin, meanwhile, gathered up every arrow he could find, refilling his quiver and laying out the extras on the ground alongside him even as he snapped out orders to the others.

"Tuck, I know you can handle a staff fairly well, as can you, Klucky. Arm yourselves and be ready to fight or flee as the situation warrants. Alan, I hope that trick of shooting arrows off your lute strings is more than just a parlor game. Tina, grab whatever you think you can wield best and be ready to use it. We might all have to fight our way out of here ... "

Before they could all even finish preparing themselves as Robin had ordered, Will emerged from the cave again. "At ease, everyone," the gray fox announced. "False alarm. There's no army on our doorstep."

"Oh, thank the fates!" Bettina exhaled in an extravagant show of relief.

"So, was it anyone at all?" Robin asked.

"Just an old friend of yours," Will grinned. "Johnny'll be in with him in a trice."

"An old friend? You don't say! Well, friends are always welcome here! You going to give us any other clues, or do we have to stand here guessing?"

"Yes, you do!" Will replied impishly, going to their stock of ale and helping himself to another brimful cup.

The mystery wasn't immediately cleared up even when Little John ambled back into the camp, alone and unaccompanied. Robin went to him, curious as to the absence of anyone with him. "So, who was it?"

"Skippy's out there, Rob."

Robin's face brightened. "Skippy! Why, that's ... that's ... " His brief smile faltered at the bear's unfrivolous demeanor, along with the realization that a royal courier would hardly have been dispatched to bear a message to the middle of Sherwood Forest. "Is everything okay?"

"Oh, he seems to be all right. But this is the first time he's going to be talking to you since Marian died, and he's not sure what to say. It's a pretty awkward thing for someone his age."

Robin closed his eyes and nodded. "I'll go out and speak with him."

A minute later, Robin found his young rabbit friend sitting outside the thorn barrier bordering the east side of their camp, knees drawn up to his chest and a sad cast to his features. When that sadness didn't immediately disappear at the sight of his idol, the fox crossed his legs and lowered himself to the ground alongside the child. "Hello, Skippy," he said cheerfully. "Why so glum?"

"Oh, Mr. Robin, sir, I'm ... I'm so sorry about Lady Marian."

Robin threw a companionly arm around Skippy's shoulders. "Why, thank you, Skip. I know you were very fond of her as well, so I'm sorry for you too. She'll be missed by everyone who knew her. Now, was that the only thing that's got you looking so sour, or was there anything else?"

Skippy still refused to meet Robin's gaze. "I ... I ran away from the castle. Sir Guy knew I'd helped you in the past, and wanted me to lead him here. But I wouldn't tell! I'd never do that!"

The archer studied his young friend with new concern. "Skippy - he didn't hurt you, did he?"

The rabbit shook his head. "No ... well, not much."

Robin raised himself one knee and pulled Skippy up to his feet as well, giving the child a thorough inspection. His heart fell when his gaze came to Skippy's wrists, which were still rubbed raw from his time in the manacles. "Oh, Skippy, I'm so sorry ... " Robin took the rabbit in a fatherly embrace, hugging him hard. "No one your age should have to go through anything like this."

For the first time since his ordeal had begun, Skippy allowed the tears to flow freely. "The Earl freed me," he sobbed into Robin's shoulder. "I'd still be there if he hadn't ... "

"Then I owe him a huge thank-you the next time I see him." Robin let Skippy have a good cry, then stood and took the rabbit by the paw. "Don't worry, Skip, everything's going to be all right now. You're safe here with us, and you don't have to fret yourself about Sir Guy anymore. He won't be able to find you here."

As the two of them walked back to the secret waterfall entrance to the camp, Skippy said, "That fink Avery told Sir Guy everything! I thought he was my friend, but he's a traitor and a tattletale and a stool pigeon, and I hate him!"

Robin patted Skippy's shoulder. "No, you don't. You might be mad at Avery now, but you don't know what Gisbourne might have done to him to make him talk. It could be that Avery had it even worse than you did."

"I ... I didn't think of that."

"You'll find as you get older that a friend is the most precious thing you can have in this life, and you should treat them like gold. Avery may have made a mistake, or he may have been as much a victim of Gisbourne's cruelty as you were, but I'm sure he's still your friend."

"Yeah, maybe," said Skippy. "But I think I'm still gonna punch him in the nose the next time I see him."

00000000000

"Looks like they finally got it under control," the Sheriff said to Gisbourne.

The two stood on the low roof of the house across from the conflagration. Below them, the street was filled with stupefied onlookers, displaced victims, milling guards and tired firefighters, most of the latter volunteers who'd now either lost their homes or had only narrowly averted such a thing.

"Five houses burned," the Sheriff went on, taking stock of the situation from their elevated vantage. "The way that spread, I'm surprised it wasn't three times that many ... "

Several of their archers maintained positions flanking panther and wolf on the rooftop. Now that the flames had abated and no further homesteads were under threat from fiery destruction, many of those in the street turned to glare upward at the instigators of this calamity. The archers tensed, and the Sheriff could not keep a measure of nervous apprehension from showing on his face.

Gisbourne, far from cowed by the ire being directed his way, surveyed the crowd as if regarding his own private playthings to be used or disposed of as he willed. His paw never strayed far from his sword's hilt, and the Sheriff half-worried that Sir Guy might leap into the gathered peasants at any moment, cutting them down left and right with his skilled blade.

"Get me Robin Hood!" Gisbourne roared at the crowd. "Or, I promise you, that - " he pointed to the cluster of smoldering houses, " - is just the beginning of what I'll do to you!"

Saying no more, he leapt from the rooftop in a single bound, striding through the throng without a backward glance. Townsfolk scrambled to get out of his way, pushing back from him as if he was poisonous to the touch, while the others his in posse - the Sheriff included - scrambled to keep up with him. The wolf remarked to himself that he'd never been able to instill the kind of fear Gisbourne could create with his mere presence, and the Sheriff didn't know whether to admire this trait or be as intimidated as the rest of the local population. But right now, he suspected Gisbourne's aura of menace was the only thing keeping these peasants from openly attacking the royal force, so he and the soldiers quickened their pace to keep up with the panther.

As Gisbourne passed Otto, who stood on the outskirts of the crowd looking on in disbelief, the panther said, "Thanks for the use of your brand, friend. Feel free to lodge a request for reimbursement anytime ... "

00000000000

The Earl of Nottingham was actually angry, and had no qualms about showing it.

"Where is Gisbourne?" he demanded to know of those around him as he stood on the ramparts, watching the smoke rising in the distance against the afternoon sky. The castle staff and nobles had been watching the spectacle ever since midmorning, when the dark column had appeared from the outskirts of Nottingham, most of their normal duties and routine forgotten in light of this unanticipated event. The Earl had sent out a runner to report back to him what was going on, and was enraged to hear what Sir Guy was up to. The panther and his contingent had returned to the castle a short time ago, but Gisbourne had not seen fit to check in with the Earl upon his arrival.

"I ... I think he's in the jailhouse, m'lord, tryin' to figure out how that bunny escaped," one of the guards answered, and then pointed toward the prison door. "Look, there he is now ... "

The panther stalked out into the courtyard, seemingly lost in his own brooding thoughts. "Gisbourne!" the Earl yelled down. "I would have a word with you - now!"

Sir Guy responded with a malevolent grin and a wave of his paw for his summoner to come down to him. But instead of proceeding to the wall stairs to meet the noble or merely standing where he was to await the Earl's arrival, Gisbourne strode into the castle and disappeared before the white cat was even halfway down the stone steps.

"Why, that insolent, arrogant ... Well, he's gone too far this time," the Earl muttered to himself. "King's orders or no, he's got no right to terrorize the good people of Nottingham like this!"

Passing into the castle himself, the Earl searched high and low, but could not find Gisbourne, and nobody he asked had seen where the panther had gone. Returning to the great hall, he was about to settle himself into his seat there to await Sir Guy's reappearance when the very beast in question stalked into the chamber. "You wanted to see me, Earl?"

"Yes, I must - "

"Well, that is good, because I wanted to see you too," Gisbourne interrupted without even a pretense of courtesy. "Come with me."

"After today, Gisbourne, I will no longer take your orders!"

The panther warrior crossed to the Earl and grabbed him by the arm with such force that he nearly pulled the cat off his feet. "Oh, no, Earl - after today, it is you who will no longer be giving orders to anyone!"

"Release me!" the Earl shrieked as he found himself being dragged out of the great hall by the powerful creature. "Release me at once, or I will have you arrested for assaulting a member of the nobility!"

"Oh, that is too rich! You really do know how to play a bluff, don't you? But your bluff has just been called, Earl. Now, one more word about arresting me, and I will rip out your traitor's tongue with my own claws!"

The Earl's heart sank as he realized where Gisbourne was taking him. At the top of the stairs leading down to the wine cellar, Sir Guy began talking almost as if to himself. "Now, I was telling myself, if our escaped fugitive did not get out through the door or the windows, there must be some other way in and out of our jail. I couldn't find any hidden entrance when I inspected the jailhouse from the inside, but then I recalled that you were up and about last night not long before the prisoner was seen running from the castle, so I decided to have a look around your precious wine cellar for myself. What do you suppose I found there?"

By this time they were down the stairs and into the cellar, Gisbourne not caring how the Earl stumbled as he was dragged down the steps. The white cat's throat went drier than dry as he saw that the secret door in the wall stood half-open at the end of one aisle, and could not mouth a single word of explanation, protest or denial as he was brought before it.

"You see, Earl, I know something of concealed doors and hidden passages. The Turks could be very clever about such things in their own structures - far more clever than you, in fact, judging by how easy it was for me to find it, once I knew what to look for. Now, where do you suppose this passage leads? Let's find out, shall we?"

The Earl's hopes fell even lower upon being dragged into the tunnel and seeing that the secret door at the far end also stood open. That second door was not designed to be opened from inside the jailhouse; Gisbourne must have already been through here from this end and discovered the lever for himself. He'd certainly made a quick job of it, considering how recently he'd returned from town. Or had he already started to figure this out that morning, even as he marched out the castle gates to inflict his arsonist's terror upon Nottingham?

"And what have we here? Unless my eyes deceive me, Earl, this is the basement of the jailhouse, is it not? Come, let's see how easily we can climb these stairs to where the prisoner was chained, shall we?"

Before he knew it, the Earl found himself standing before the spot in the second story cell where just the night before he'd freed Skippy from the boy's fetters. All the doors in the jailhouse seemed to be standing open now, but the white cat knew if he tried to break free of Gisbourne and make a run for it, the panther would probably slay him on the spot without a second thought. Given what Sir Guy had already discovered, the Earl was half-surprised he was still alive at all. What did not surprise him was when Gisbourne proceeded to manacle him to the wall.

"Why so silent all of a sudden, Earl? Where has all your outrage and umbrage gone? Maybe now that you've been revealed as the traitor you are, you know how meaningless I would find any words that spill from your mouth."

The Earl glared at his tormentor. "You've gone too far this time. You'll be stopped."

"Not by you."

"You have overstepped yourself, Gisbourne. I doubt even King John himself will condone what you have done today when he hears of it. He sent you here to capture Robin Hood, not to burn Nottingham's peasants out of their homes!"

"Nottingham has fallen under Robin Hood's sway, and must be saved from such shortsightedness. And sometimes one must destroy the village in order to save the village."

"More wisdom you picked up on the Crusade, Gisbourne? You are a savage brute, not a knight, unfit for civilized society. It is no wonder King Richard never brought up your name. He must have been ashamed to have someone like you serving under him."

Gisbourne's paw went around the Earl's throat in a visegrip. "One more word, Earl. One more word, and I will knock out your teeth and make you eat them."

Being half-strangled, the Earl was in no position to say anything.

"I will see you hang, Earl. And do not think anyone will come to rescue you like you rescued that rabbit. That trick will only work once." Gisbourne released his grip with a disgusted flourish and spun, striding out of the cell without even bothering to shut the door.

Outside in the courtyard, some of the guards had gathered around the open jailhouse door, curious as to what might be happening. When Sir Guy stormed out into the daylight, he seemed hardly to notice them.

"Um, should we, uh, lock the door?" one querulously asked the panther.

"That won't be necessary. Now, one of you go tell the Sheriff he no longer needs to sulk in his chambers, hiding from the Earl's censure, and have him come down here. We must finish putting this house in order."