Disclaimer: I own all the characters in this chapter. YAY!!

Chapter Two: The Mysterious Outlaw

Forrest Manor

'I don't know if I can live like this anymore. The days are so long and the nights are too short. I am so alone. I'm going crazy. I need help.'

"Jonnie, Come here," Marianna shouted.

Her blonde-haired brother peeked around the doorway. "Marianna, what is it?"

"I have a letter from Rob," she answered. "Here, read it."

Jonnie quickly scanned the letter. He looked up. "She's asking us for help. Robyne never needs help. She thinks she can do anything. I can't believe it. Robyne admitted she needs our help. She actually asked--"

"Yes, I know," Marianna interrupted him. "I read it too." Marianna paused. "Well, what do we do? There's no real way for us to help her. We're being watched. Robyne wants us to meet with her this afternoon."

"You will have to go alone," Jonnie said slowly. "The constables are already suspicious of me. They follow me everywhere. I won't let them find Robyne."

The Haunted Woods

'I can't believe I actually asked for help. I don't want to drag them into this, but I have no choice, I can turn myself in, but I will never do that. This is too important. I can't give up now.'

Robyne paced around the clearing, anxiously waiting for Marianna and Jonnie. They had to come. They just-they just had to. She whirled around as she heard a twig snap. Marianna walked through the cover of the trees.

"Jonnie couldn't come," she said, "People are getting suspicious."

"I need help," IRobyne said. "I can't handle this alone. I need to be around people, not trees and birds. I feel so alone."

"I would stay with you," Marianna answered, "but I have my own people to take care of. Just as you take care of your own people. I can't neglect them, neither can Jonnie."

"I know. I just need advice. I'm thinking I should I turn myself in," she stated "I am sick of being an outlaw, and living on the run."

"Do not give up. I have heard rumors that someone may be coming to help you, from the south. I don't know who it is and when they are coming, but they may help."

"How did you hear this?" Robyne asked anxiously. "Did this mysterious person contact you, was it a letter? Can I contact this person?"

"I have to go now. I have been here too long already." Marianna quickly turned around and disappeared into the forest.

And now I am alone, Robyne thought. She walked back to her tree and climbed up. The trees are the only safe place for me these days. The foresters are too dumb to look up. Robyne curled up on the platform and quickly went to sleep.

Robyne slowly awoke as the sun began to dip beneath the horizon. "It's time to go hunting," she told herself. She crawled clumsily down the tree, grabbed her pack and started walking.