Sorry it's been so long, but when I realized the Netflix adaptation of this book was coming out so close to OQ Month, I knew I had to update this! Enjoy, and let me know what you think!
By the following day, everything was ready. Gold had sent Seb for supplies they would need- food and water, of course, but more importantly weapons, rope, and other tools that would ensure their success. After more persuasion, Eliot had used Locksley's intimate knowledge of the Pine Court to draw a map of the structure, and with Regina's thorough knowledge of Sherwood's customs (shared with the rest of them while Locksley glared at her the entire time), Gold had concocted a plan that he knew would ensure their success. There was an upcoming holiday in a few days, one that was celebrated every year in Sherwood, that celebrated the Tree of Life and all the Sherwood citizens believed it had given them that year. While some of the celebrations were in the form of religious rites, there was also a world-renowned festival, where visiting dignitaries from all around their world would come to Sherwood.
"The Court is divided into three segments," Gold said, pointing each of them out in turn. "The prison, the embassy, and the bowmens' headquarters." He saw Locksley's face turn white as snow at the reminder of the place that had once been his home, but he pressed on. He had made his choices, had decided to help them steal from the men who were his brethren. Any internal conflict, any remorse he felt was none of Gold's business, and needed to be extinguished long before they reached the Pine Court. Only direct interference with their plans would cause Gold to involve himself in Locksley's turmoil.
"During Arbolvida, with the visiting dignitaries and the ceremonies of the bowmen, all attention will be centered on the second and third sectors of the compound," Gold pointed out. "No one will be looking at the prison."
"Strike where the mark isn't looking," Seb murmured. It was a thieves' truth that Gold had drilled into the Foxes over and over again: that the best way to pull off any job was to ensure that they struck where no one would be paying any attention, and distract them from that point of entry whenever possible. On the night of Arbolvida, that place would be the prison.
"Precisely," Gold confirmed, his lips twitching, holding back the urge to beam with pride. He and Seb had been working together for three years now, and although he certainly had his weaknesses, vices that made Gold shake his head on occasion, there was also a reason Seb had been his second almost from the moment they met. He had the ability to read every scenario so well that he could see a situation from every angle, making him the ideal planning partner. Add to that his other gifts and Gold was certain that he would want no one else by his side in a fight. He turned to Robin. "We'll go in through the prison, out through the embassy since no one will be checking the visiting dignitaries on their way out, only the other way around. There are doors that separate the two. Do you know how they're unlocked?" he barked at Locksley.
A pause, then, "Keys and a riddle that changes every time the door is used," he supplied reluctantly.
Gold smirked. Good thing they had a riddlemaster as a member of their crew. "That's where you'll come in then," he said, turning to Belle, whose eyes had lit up at the prospect of an intellectual challenge.
"Of course," she readily agreed. "I'll study books for any common riddles in the meantime."
Plans finalized, they had gone their separate ways.
(********)
Now, twenty-four hours later, they were due to reconvene at the harbor to set sail for Sherwood.
Gold looked at his watch. It was five minutes before they were due to set sail, and Seb was late. He had specifically told him to arrive fifteen minutes early, knowing the sharpshooter would be exactly on time even if the time he told him was fifteen minutes early, but did he really have to cut it so close every time? It was one of the things that always made Gold antsy, and even the sight of Belle holding an armful of books didn't ease his worries.
She saw it, of course. She had always been able to read him like one of her books. She frowned, clearly concerned. "What's wrong?"
"Seb," he muttered. He knew that would be enough of an explanation for her.
She scanned the busy docks around them. They had chosen to leave at this hour to blend in with the crowd of other boats leaving the harbor, knowing that the Tidemakers were always watching from their tower at the borders of Neverland soil. "I don't see anything amiss."
"Just wait," he muttered. "Seb being late will spell trouble for all of us."
In the exact moment that he finished speaking the words, gunshots were heard close by- much too close for Gold's liking.
He cast a triumphant, knowing smirk in Belle's direction as if to say, what did I tell you? He found their pursuers on the rooftops, their guns aimed at them. Because Seb hadn't arrived yet, their best option was to leave as quickly as possible as Locksley shot arrows at their attackers. He had given Locksley money from the Foxes' coffers and allowed the bowman and thief to get himself a new bow and as many arrows as he thought he would need for their mission. He only hoped now that it would be enough.
As if he had read Gold's mind, Robin aimed his bow at their attackers and started firing arrows in rapid succession.
But it wasn't enough. He could just make out the gleeful grins of their opponents as they didn't cease firing at them. How had they even known they would be leaving? He doubted the Sherwood native had betrayed them- he maybe wouldn't have even known who to confess their plans to, let alone where the authorities could be found. No, if the bowman was going to betray them, it would be when they were in the depths of Sherwood Forest.
His eyes fell on Seb. Of course. He should have given everyone less time to prepare for their journey, less time to wander to the gambling halls. He could just make out the emblem on the jackets of their adversaries and knew that he had gone, gotten drunk, and spilled the beans to anyone who would listen.
He would deal with his careless second later. Right now, he needed to focus on getting them all out of this mess- preferably alive. Six million fairlets had their names on it, and he for one wasn't going to miss his chance to have that kind of money.
Suddenly, he spotted Locksley on the roof, and he grinned. How the bowman had gotten up there, what skills he possessed, Gold didn't know and would find out from Locksley himself (or Regina, if his honor refused to let him talk) later. All he could hope now was that he had a plan to end this conflict so they could be on their way.
Sure enough, Locksley knocked out each of the sharpshooters in such rapid succession that none of them saw it coming. Even as the last of them, more alert than the rest, turned around, ready to defend himself (or herself, Gold couldn't quite tell in the dim light), Robin knocked them out, sending them tumbling onto the street below.
Once they were all safely on the ship and had set sail, Gold rounded on Seb. "What were you thinking, telling them what we were up to? You could've gotten us all killed before we even set out! You want this money, don't you?"
"Of course I do!" Seb replied, his eyes still hazy from whatever he had been drinking earlier that day.
Gold raised his eyebrows. "Really? Are you sure? Because we'll never get that money if you're telling the competition about it. As they just demonstrated, they'll stop at nothing to bring us down."
"Who was it?" Locksley asked, clueless to the inner workings of Neverland as always. Apparently, his time in Hellgate had taught him nothing.
"The rest turned their gazes to Gold, who replied, "The Lost Boys." He had spotted the emblem of their rival gang, a fairy, on each of their jacket sleeves and immediately known who they were facing. Pan had been a thorn in his side for more years than he'd like to recall, and apparently this expedition was no exception to that rule.
"Of course," Belle breathed. "They would want the money for themselves."
"Exactly," Gold responded, turning his furious gaze to Seb. "Which is exactly why we should have left as soon as possible, so that some of us couldn't go blabbing to everyone they met about what we were up to. Just how much did you tell them, Sebastian?"
His use of the sharpshooter's full name did not have the effect he was hoping for. Seb didn't seem cowed by Gold's fury at all, only answered, "All I told them was that we were doing a job far from here and the reward amount."
"Are you sure?" Gold asked, his eyes flashing. "You didn't let anything else slip?" The reward amount was bad enough, but if anyone found out what they were up to… Anyone would want to get nostos potencia for themselves, Gold was sure of it.
Seb shook his head adamantly. "That's all, I swear."
Gold sighed. "It could be worse, I suppose. Now get out of my sight before I do something I'll regret."
Seb went belowdecks while the rest of them busied themselves with ensuring that the ship was sailing directly to Sherwood.
The majority of the journey passed without any further mishaps. The next day, when they were about an hour out from their destination, Gold saw the bowman standing alone at the bow of the ship, perhaps eager to see his homeland as soon as he could. He watched as Regina walked up behind him. This would be an interesting reckoning… hopefully not another mess he would need to clean up. Though he didn't eavesdrop, he watched them closely, wondering how this would turn out.
(********)
Robin heard someone approaching where he had positioned himself at the bow of the ship. He wondered who it was at first, then caught a whiff of that scent, a mixture of apple and vanilla, that clung to only one person he had ever met, and immediately knew it was her. Not bothering to turn to face her, he asked, "What do you want, Regina? Haven't you done enough damage in my life already?"
She sighed. "Would it help at all if I said that I'm more sorry that I can say? That I did what I had to, I didn't have a choice in any of it?"
Robin whipped around to face her. Her hair was windswept from their journey, and there was a part of him that longed to sweep that wayward strand back from her forehead. Then he remembered what she had done and he immediately squashed that instinct that would have him fall for this woman again after everything she had done to him. She was a witch, just as Nottingham had taught him all of her kind were. No matter what she said now, nothing could change his opinion of her, not after what she had done, what he had had to suffer because of her. "You really expect me to forgive you, just like that?"
"Well… no," she admitted softly. "I can imagine it's difficult to forgive me. But doesn't your code push you, make you want to know what really happened?"
"I was arrested under false claims and thrown into Hellgate for a year," he reminded her. "That's all I need to know." Yes, there was a part of him, the part that got lost in those eyes the color of whiskey, that wondered if there was more to it than that. But he couldn't afford to fall under her spell again. Hadn't he learned his lesson the first time?
Her beautiful face showed nothing but sorrow, and he had to tell himself to ignore it, that it was a mask designed for people like him to get them to fall for her charms. But those brown eyes were so earnest that he couldn't believe that the entirety of her emotions were false. "Please," she whispered.
He sighed, but before he could answer her a second time, he heard the others shout that there was land ahead, that they had reached their destination.
He looked ahead at his homeland, the oh-so-familiar lush forest before them as far as the eye could see. Home. He was home. It didn't matter how he had gotten there- he knew that no matter what happened next, everything would be all right.
He just had to betray his companions- betray Regina. And he would do it, no matter what the cost.