Presenting himself at the Palace of Westminster, Robin was immediately granted an audience with Queen Eleanor. Marian accompanied him, as together they led Isabella to Her Majesty, believing she would face justice.
The Queen Mother, studying a map depicting King Richard's victories in his French war, was not alone. Richard's queen, Berengaria of Navarre, sat quietly with several ladies, embroidering a tapestry. Prince John, recovering from last night's revels, sulked in a corner. The prince lit up considerably when he noticed Isabella, and Robin grew suspicious at the questioning look he shot her, and her answering, triumphant smile.
Prince John, Robin noticed, could barely contain his excitement. Robin's eyes questioned Marian, who was wondering what it could all mean as well. A sliver of dread began to plague Robin, as he remembered Isabella's veiled threats along the journey.
"Robin of Locksley!" Queen Eleanor, as always, was delighted to see him as Robin knelt on one knee before her. "And your lady wife! Arise. There us no need for ceremony among friends. But who is this?"
Isabella remained kneeling, her head bowed to conceal her smile.
"Isabella of Gisbourne, Your Majesty," Robin answered. "His Majesty the king commanded I bring her before you, to face justice for poisoning my wife."
"I'm alright, Your Majesty," Marian spoke up, in answer to the queen mother's questioning look. "But she did try to harm me, with poison."
"A grave charge," Queen Eleanor decided, "which shall be dealt with gravely. I am relieved you are unharmed. But tell me, Robin, how is my son, King Richard?"
"He is well, Your Majesty."
Robin and Marian saw Prince John send Isabella a seething, questioning glare. The sense of dread within them grew when they heard Isabella boldly say, "He was wounded, Your Majesty, by a stray arrow."
Robin saw Queen Eleanor take in her breath and steady herself, while Queen Berengaria went pale. "It was nothing," he hastily assured them. "A mere scratch to his shoulder. I was with him when it happened, and I spoke with him the following day. He is fine, I swear it."
Both queens breathed sighs of relief, but Robin and Marian grew increasingly uneasy at Prince John's trembling excitement. Something sinister was happening, and Marian, remembering the poison Isabella had used to coat the paring knife that almost killed her baby, guessed the truth a second before Robin did.
"The arrow," she whispered in her husband's ear. "She poisoned it."
Robin did not want to believe it, but he couldn't stop his suspicions. He wanted to rush back to France, to make certain King Richard was unharmed. But the entrance of a courier, sent from France to deliver a ghastly message, spoke the words that began a nightmare for all of England.
"The king is dead!" he proclaimed.
Marian, seeing Robin's distress, took his hand in hers.
Isabella rose to her feet. "God save King John!" she announced, smirking triumphantly at Robin before throwing herself at Prince John's feet.
"Alas!" Prince John cried, pretending to weep while staggering to the center of the room. "My brother...dead! What happened, Messenger? How did Richard die?"
"A peasant boy shot an arrow in his shoulder several days ago, Your Highness...Your Majesty," the courier corrected himself. "It was thought to be nothing, and the king pardoned him. But the wound must not have been thoroughly cleaned, and the king took a fever, grew steadily sick, then passed away this morning." He made the sign of the cross over his chest.
"I want that boy caught!" Prince John demanded. "My first act as...as KING...shall be to put him to death!"
John, not knowing the youth had been framed, wanted to silence him.
"Not so fast, John," Queen Eleanor warned. "You are not yet king. You have not been crowned."
"I must plan my coronation!" Prince John proclaimed. "Alas! Princes have not the luxury of grieving, as peasants do! I know my duty! My coronation shall be glorious, one such as has never yet been witnessed on these shores, nor on any other! No expense shall be spared to celebrate my ascension to the throne!"
Silent tears flowed from Queen Berengaria's eyes, but Queen Eleanor, equally stricken in grief, was strong. "Enough, John!" she commanded. "Your claim to the throne is not as secure as you think."
"What?" John asked, mockingly. "I am next in line in the succession, since Geoffrey died. You can't be thinking, dear Maman, of putting Johanna on the throne?"
"Not Johanna, though she'd make a better ruler than you. Richard expressly desired Geoffrey's son, Prince Arthur, to succeed him, should he die without issue."
Marian's heart went out to Berengaria, who hung her head in shame because she had not borne an heir. Marian remembered how unhappy she herself had been, when she thought Gisbourne's wound would prevent her from ever conceiving a child. But her main concern now was for her husband, whose hand in hers was cold, and whose handsome face looked stricken.
"I will be king!" John shouted, stomping his foot. "I will not be denied!"
"We shall see," Queen Eleanor quietly insisted.
Prince John refused to let his moment, the moment he and Isabella had orchestrated, be ruined by his mother's threats. "Bells!" he cried. "I want every bell in London to dole out my brother's death, in solemn peal. But then, after a quarter of an hour or so, I want them to change, to ring out joyfully for me, England's soon-to-be-crowned savior!"
Strutting, he approached Robin and Marian. "Still luscious, aren't you?" he asked Marian. "You grow ever prettier and prettier! Tell me, my sweet, have you ever enjoyed the delights of a sovereign's bed? I insist you come with me and help me celebrate my ascension! What's the matter, Locksley? Jealous? Or simply worried about what I'll do to you, once I'm crowned your monarch?"
Robin put himself between Prince John and Marian. "You lay one hand on her, Prince John, and I swear I will-"
Marian stopped him before his words became treasonous. "What will happen to the queen?" she interrupted.
"Who cares?" Prince John asked. "Let her go back to Spain, with her tail between her legs. She rarely had my brother between them, with him always preferring battle and bloodshed over her bed! Lucky for me, though. God live me, the king!"
Berengaria would not return to Navarre, but chose to enter a convent in England and become a nun, grieving the husband she loved. But none of them knew it at the time.
Robin felt he truly was living out a nightmare, and the feeling increased when Guy of Gisbourne entered the room and threw himself on his knees before Prince John.
"God save Your Grace!" Guy shouted.
"Gisbourne?" Prince John sneered, surprised. "You have some nerve, showing your traitorous face before me, England's king!"
"I am no traitor, Your Majesty," Guy insisted, rising to his feet. Catching sight of Marian, he sharply drew in his breath. Soon, he hoped, she would at last be his!
Guy lowered his voice, so only Prince John would hear him. But Isabella crept close, so she could hear as well.
"I shot the arrow that poisoned King Richard," Guy whispered.
"You?" Prince John could barely believe it.
"My brother's lying," Isabella insisted. "Nice try, Guy. You had nothing to do with it! Do you really believe, my king, I would let my brother, the man who failed two times before, to have any part in our plan?"
Guy could not believe his sister's treachery. "I shot the arrow that killed King Richard!" he insisted, so loudly Marian heard him.
"It was a boy," Isabella laughed. "A youth. Isn't that what you staged, Brother? Your cowardice shall be your undoing? Not to mention your stupidity, coming here, when you might have remained safe, hidden away in France."
"Guards!" Prince John shouted. "Take Sir Guy of Gisbourne to the Tower, to await my punishment!"
Guy struggled to throw the guards off him, but there were too many. Isabella snickered happily, then realized what would be the icing on her cake.
"My king," she whispered, licking his ear. "Why not give my brother company? Throw Locksley in the cell with him, so we can really enjoy your ascension!"
"Oh, you adorable girl! Guards! Not you...hang onto Gisbourne! I want more guards! Seize the earl of Huntington, and throw him in the same cell as Gisbourne!"
"On what charge?" Marian demanded, as Robin unsheathed his sword to prepare to fight off the guards.
"Are you prepared to plead for him, my dear?" Prince John asked.
"I'm prepared to fight for him," Marian said, pulled a jeweled dagger holding up her hair.
"Lock her in the cell with them, Sire," Isabella advised. "Let the three of them be together, and we can enjoy watching them behind bars, like your zoo menagerie."
"Oh, you adorable girl!"
Vastly outnumbered, Robin and Marian were forced to give up their fight, and found themselves, together with Guy of Gisbourne, chained to a river barge, on its way to a prison in the Tower.