"You cannot leave," Gisele told Marian. "When Guy comes home and finds you gone, he will hurt me!"

Marian did not like the woman. She seemed less than human somehow, unthinking and uncaring, but Marian did not want anyone harmed. "Come with me then," she suggested.

"No."

"Then tell him it wasn't your fault. Tell him you tried to stop me but I knocked you out. He'll know I'm capable."

"It won't stop him. He will be furious when he finds you gone, and take out his rage on me."

Marian was sorry for her, but more determined than before to escape. If Guy would harm this woman, what would stop him from hurting her?

"I am sorry," she said, "but I have to go."

Wasting no more time, Marian ducked out the door into the driving rain, relieved to be fleeing the depressing village and heading toward the tree line.

A forest! A forest where she could be free and breathe, disappear from Guy and somehow feel that Robin was not completely lost to her!

The canopy of trees overhead grew thicker as she made her way deeper into the woods, sheltering her from most of the rain. She did not know where she was going, only that she wanted to lose herself deeper and deeper into the heart of the forest, where Guy could not find her. Every step she took made her feel closer to Robin and further away from Guy. She almost felt herself communing with the man she loved, as if she were running away with him the time he had been forced to escape into Sherwood.

Robin of course had not been alone. He'd had Much with him, and Allan and Will. But Marian was used to working by herself, and besides, she did not have the feeling of being alone. She felt close to Robin here, as if he and her father were together in Heaven, watching over her, only a prayer away.

A cave! She was happy to discover it, a place where she could get out of the rain and spend the night. Entering it, she sat down to rest and to think.

It had been raining that day, too, she recalled, the last time she had been inside a cave. She shuddered, remembering her fear and feeling of being trapped as Gisbourne had threatened to kill the Night Watchman. Robin had rescued her and first led, then carried her to the cave, where they had argued, made up, and been close to declaring their love for each other. Djaq had interrupted them but had also saved her life, and Marian had believed for a time that she would not have to marry Guy after all.

But she was married to him now, apparently, and carrying his child.

She suddenly realized how hungry she was. She had not eaten all day, though she'd drank her fill of rain water. She needed to eat, but she needed to think first and make plans, so that she could eventually find food.

She was shivering with cold, and needed a fire to get warm. She realized she would not have one tonight, with everything so wet. She would just have to suffer through the night, knowing that tomorrow would be better.

Marian was grateful for the time she had joined Robin's gang, having learned how to survive in the forest. She knew how to make fire once she had dry wood, and how to set traps to catch game. She herself had once been caught in one of Will's traps, but she wouldn't make anything as elaborate as his. Little John's simple ones would do for her survival. She also needed a weapon, and knew how to make a bow and arrows, if only she could find flint for points, or cast off pieces of iron.

Marian did not plan to remain living in the forest indefinitely. After she was able to arm herself, she planned to venture forth and try to find King Richard's army camp. The king would help her, and tell her the truth about all that she could not remember.

She longed to return home to Locksley, for it was home to her now, she knew it somehow. That must mean she was truly married to Guy. Wanting to avoid him at all costs, she felt she could never go home again. Yet she felt she must. She must protect and care for Robin's people, even if it meant being Guy of Gisbourne's wife. But if it did, why had she now run away from him?

If only she could regain her memory, she felt she could accept her lot in life, and face nearly anything, even a husband she did not love. But to be subjected to his brutal "love making," night after night? It was horrible, and humiliating!

Guy was attractive, Marian knew, tall and strong, well built and handsome, but she was not attracted to him. She had seen him kill, watched his pleasure in killing and in brutalizing the good, innocent people of Locksley, even the children. Someone had told her...Much! Much had told her Guy wasn't above using a little girl as a shield against Robin, that Guy had dangled the child over the cliff above Robin's village, threatening to drop her to her death unless Robin threw down his weapons.

What a coward! She could never be attracted to, let alone love, a man so cowardly and cruel.

A little girl...another very small child Guy had abducted and locked in a chest...a little girl with a sprinkling of freckles over her cute little nose and beautiful eyes like Robin's! A sweet little girl who mothered an even smaller one, a funny, fearless little toddler with sturdy arms and legs and hardly any hair!

"My babies," Marian said, her voice hushed. "Robin, are you alive?"

She began to sob, frustrated at not knowing the truth, and mourning again his likely death. She lay down and allowed herself a moment to cry before gathering herself together to face whatever life threw at her, so that she could best determine the choices she needed to make. Holding firmly in her mind the images of those two little girls whose names and histories she couldn't remember, she fell into a restless sleep.

...

Cautiously in fear, yet determined to succeed in his mission to kill the king, Gisbourne drew near King Richard's camp.

Unknown to him, Robin of Locksley was also approaching the camp, to ask for the king's help finding Marian.

A mile from the camp, as their separate paths converged, the two enemies suddenly found themselves face to face.

"Hood!" Guy cried, though Robin was the more surprised of the two, not knowing Gisbourne was anywhere in the vicinity.

Robin leaped from his horse, unsheathed his sword, and strode toward his enemy, who remained on horseback. Even if Robin hadn't recognized the horse under Gisbourne, he would have guessed the truth.

"It was you who took Marian," he shouted. "Where is she, Gisbourne? Where is my wife?"

Gisbourne knew he faced a decision...turn the horse and gallop away, only to be chased by Hood and viewed as a coward, or get down and fight him. He chose the latter.

It was his chance, after all, to kill Hood, the second part of his four tiered plan. If successful, he could proceed into King Richard's camp and kill the king. If he chose not to fight Hood, he would only lead him to Marian, and all would be lost.

Hood had bested him many times before, but now he was wounded. He walked with a limp, and so much of his ability at sword fighting depended on his quick agility. Without it, Gisbourne believed him as good as dead.

But Gisbourne didn't want Hood to die until he made him suffer. As the two circled one another, swords in hand and ready to strike, Guy lashed out at Robin with words sure to hurt.

"That's right, Locksley, I took her," he gloated. "She hit her head and can't remember you. She is convinced she is married to me, that the child in her womb is mine. And I took her Hood, had her in the marriage bed. She enjoyed it, as she never could with you! I told you before, she is stirred by me, and now, she is more than stirred!"

Robin did not hold back, but struck to kill. Guy effectively parried his thrust, and the battle was on.