A/N: Hey, it's me again! It took a long time again, but I think that's a necessary evil, hehe. I changed the listing of the story, since I figured it would get a little more publicity if people were looking for a Robin Hood-fic.

This chapter is mostly action-based, with a little talking in the end. AND, the first killing is a fact. Enjoy!

clanKorval: Thanks for reviewing! I dunno about the Sheriff's name. I base this fic on the movie, and there the Bishop says 'George'. But anyhoo, thanks for noticing how I tried to combine the two. Maybe I'll insert Marian as a secondary character later, but I don't know yet.


Chapter eight: Harsh reality

During Robin's little exchange with Sarah, all the other people had left the building. After making completely sure she was alone, Robin went up the stairs. They led to the bishop's private chambers, where the man himself was changing into slightly more modest robes.

Reaching the door, Robin softly pushed it open. As the bishop didn't notice her, she coughed. Startled by that sound, the bishop turned. His pale blue eyes were wide open and his fat pig face was flushed. He miraculously managed to sound fatherly when he said:

'These are my private chambers, my child. If you desire a confession, go downstairs and a priest will tend to you.'

Even though his voice sounded nice, he could barely conceal the disgust he obviously felt when the foul smell met him. Robin smiled.

'That's not why I'm here, Father. I came to ask your help.'

Surprised by the civilized accent of a person dressed so shabbily, the bishop eyed her more carefully. His mouth opened in astonishment when he recognized Robin.

'Lady Robin of Locksley? Is it really you? The Sheriff has been looking all over for you!'

Robin nodded. 'I know, Father. He is the reason of my visit. I humbly ask you for your assistance.'

'Whatever might you need my help for, my child?' He asked, concerned.

'Well…' Robin searched for a way to make it sound less crude, 'the Sheriff is sort of trying to force me to marry him.'

The Bishop's eyes widened again. 'A marriage should not be forced! Why would a noble man like George of Nottingham do such a thing? It must be a misunderstanding, my child.'

But Robin shook her head. 'I'm sorry Father. But he was implying that I have huge debts with both you and the Crown, and that to settle them I have to either marry him, or lose everything I own.'

She looked at him pleadingly. 'Can't you help me? Please?'

The Bishop looked at her thoughtfully for a while before answering. 'I fear you are overreacting, Lady Locksley. He did not force you, he was offering you a very fruitful bonding to ensure the safety of your estate. I don't see why you shouldn't take it, my dear. The Sheriff is a very good party.'

Robin was dumbstruck. She had been open for any reaction except this! She stumbled over her words to convince him of her righteousness.

'But, but… I can't marry! Not…not without my father here to give me away.' She finished, relieved to have found an argument. But Fortune was not with her.

'It is not uncommon for me to give young women away who are deprived of their family. There really is nothing opposed to it, my dear.' The pig faced man finished triumphantly. Robin felt like smacking him, but tried to keep her cool.

'Please, Father, please! Isn't there another way? Aren't these taxes a little strange really? Both my father and brother are on a crusade to defend both your and king Richard's honor, and still you tax us this high! It's not just!' She cried exasperatedly, her feeling of justice kicking in.

Now the old man was fed up with her, and wasn't afraid to show it. 'Now listen here, Milady. We cannot begin to give crusaders' families different treatments. That wouldn't be just! I say you go apologize to the Sheriff and humbly ask for his forgiveness. Then we can settle this affair with your marriage.' He nodded briskly and went to the door. He opened it heavily and called to one of the priests: 'You, fetch the Sheriff's guard! They need to escort a visitor to him.'

The Bishop's plan was now fully dawning on Robin, and at first she was flabbergasted to discover that the revered Bishop was not an Aid in Need as everyone had always told her he'd be. She felt feelings of betrayal and intense hatred boil up inside her as she turned to the traitor.

'No! I won't do it! I won't forget this, you old weasel. I'll will settle this new debt with you, say amen to that!'

With a last glare at the smug-looking man she rushed to the window and climbed out before he could say a thing. Not long afterwards, four guards came in, whom the Bishop told to go after her. The bravest, or most foolish of them, actually went out, onto the roof.

By then, Robin had already reached the top and was preparing to jump to another roof, from which she hoped to slide down to the ground. She looked back when she heard the noise the man was making, and her first panicked reaction was to pick up one of the roof tiles and throw it at him.

Even though her aim wasn't very good at this point, the tile was quite large and hit the man painfully in the side. It made him lose his balance, and to Robin's slight horror, he fell backwards from the roof. She cringed when she heard the dull thud that announced his arrival downstairs.

Robin was tempted to go see if he was alright, but canceled that when she saw the next guard's head coming up. She turned, took a deep breath, and jumped onto the Inn's roof, from which it was easier to slide down, since it's roofing was made of hay.

She looked down, and could see that people were now gathering to watch, pointing up at her, and calling other people to come and have a look too. This definitely wasn't good, as growing mobs tended to attract guards to disperse them. She looked around, and saw fresh patrols of said guards enter the square from all sides.

The two soldiers that had remained in the church, now burst out of the old doors, shouting to their companions. 'Seize her! Don't let her get away! The Bishop's orders!'

This kicked Robin into gear again, and she scrambled to the other side of the roof, that came out on an alley. Finally she reached the other side and jumped. It was still a considerable way down, and her knees couldn't absorb the full shock. She fell into a roll, and got completely entangled with a passer-by and her big cloak.

'Sorry, sorry!' She called back to the cursing man, trying to get to the main gate as fast as she could. Behind her, she heard the man shout even more horrible curses, from which she gathered that her pursuers were catching up. She sped up again, almost losing her balance as she skidded around the corner.

Robin had now come to the small clearing in front of the gates, and to her horror, several soldiers were closing the heavy doors! Behind her she heard a captain yelling to close it faster.

With a last explosion of energy, Robin charged towards the exit. She pushed past the startled guards and managed to just sidle through the opening. She now heard the captain shouting to open it again, but the thickheaded men weren't fast enough.

Fully energized with relief, she threw of her cloak and ran towards the group of trees, where her faithful Pilgrim was still waiting. Panting, she yanked the rains loose from the branch and swung herself onto her horse. She risked a mocking wave to the city walls, where a lot of people were gathered, but kicked Pilgrim into a gallop when the first arrow soared over her head.

'Come on, Pilgrim,' Robin said, 'Let's go back!'


'WHAT?! SHE WAS HERE AND YOU LET HER ESCAPE?!'

George's face was a deep crimson and the veins in his neck and temple were pulsating disturbingly.

'Y-yes, Milord. B-but we didn't recognize her, and-'

George seemed to try and control his anger, but the way he now whispered was even more frightening than the yelling he had done previously.

'You didn't recognize her?! All of you worthless maggots have a full description of her, and you still don't notice her? You must be even more retarded than I had already feared. How, pray tell, had she disguised herself?'

The poor man was positively trembling with dread, and his voice was barely audible when he answered: 'W-well sir, she was wearing a cloak.'

George took a deep breath, narrowed his eyes and leaned closer.

'A cloak?'

The soldier swallowed heavily and nodded.

'Yes sir, but it was a very big one. And it was hooded. We couldn't see her face.'

The Sheriff wandered away, murmuring to himself.

'Why do I even bother to put guards at my gates…'

He then turned back to the unfortunate soldier and said calmly: 'But surely you know that someone is going to pay for this.'

Before the man could reply, George unsheathed his sword and stabbed him deep in his gut.

'And that someone is you.'


Robin retraced the way she had come at flying speed, expecting that a patrol would be sent after her soon. It had been nearing 3 pm when she had left the city, and it was not until an hour later that she reached the village where the food transport had been raided. She could see the aftermath of the affair clearly, as people were piling some corpses into a deep hole, and one of the huts was in ruins.

She couldn't see any familiar faces, so she assumed the gang had left for the Forest again as soon as possible. Seeing the logic in that action, she ushered Pilgrim to go faster again.

It took a while, but finally she could see the border of the Forest come into view. Robin sighed, relieved, as she was starting to feel tired. Both physically and emotionally.

When she entered the Forest, Robin realized she had no idea how to contact her newly found friends, lest where to find them. Unsure of what to do, Robin tentatively led Pilgrim into the dark woods.


After walking around for almost an hour, Robin was quite frustrated with her situation. And the sun was setting as well, so she decided to just stay where she was and make a campfire. She was to far away from the borders to be seen by anyone anyway.

She was just roasting a pheasant she'd caught with a snare, when she heard several twigs snap. She jumped to her feet and took out her dagger, trying to determine where the noise was coming from. Another twig was broken, and a figure stepped into view. Robin instinctively took a battle stance, ready for anything.

'Please don't throw tha'. I like the use of me two eyes, thanks.'

Robin lowered her weapon, surprised.

'Is that you, Wulf? Step into the light.'

The figure raised his hands to show he was unarmed and stepped forward.

'Are ye always this jumpy in the dark?' He asked, with a big grin plastered on his face.

Even though Robin was immensely relieved, she managed to look slightly offended.

'No,' she answered pointedly, putting her dagger away, 'I'm just not accustomed to having scary Forest giants budging in on my comfy campfire.'

'Well then ye best keep the giant as a friend, eh?' Wulf answered sticking his tongue out at her.

Robin laughed, and motioned for him to join her.

'Dinner's not ready yet, but I think you could use a bit of a warm-up.'

Wulf accepted the offer gladly, immediately stretching out his hands to the flames. They sat in silence for a while, and as the pheasant was almost roasted, Wulf pulled a small bread and large flask of drink out of his traveling sack. Robin eyed it interestedly.

'Were you counting on spending the entire night out?'

Wulf shrugged. 'The gang that did the raid waited for ya at the village for half an hour before returnin' to camp. When you didn't turn up when the sun was gettin' low, we decided I better go look for ye. I didn't know if I'd find ya. This Forest is pretty big, and we hadn't set a meetin' point, so I figured I might as well be prepared for anythin'.'

Robin merely nodded, and handed him a large chunk of the roast pheasant.

After they had eaten in a comfortable silence, making sure every scrap of food was being put to good use, Robin cleared her mouth and turned to Wulf.

'So how'd the raid go? I came across the village on my way back, and it looked as if there'd been fighting.'

Wulf sniggered. 'What'd ye expect? For those men to hand over an entire provision transport calmly? No, they put up a very good fight from what I heard. Will told they had to kill all of them.'

When he saw the look of distress on Robin's face, he hurried to add: 'Some of ours were injured as well.' If he had hoped that would soothe her, he'd badly mistaken. He shrugged in exasperation, feeling the urge to defend his friends' morals.

'What would ya have us do, Robin? Let 'em go back to Nottingham? The army'd be after us in no time! 'T was a necessary evil.' He assured her.

'And frankly, if it was us or them, I'd rather let it be them.' He added lightly.

Robin nodded, struggling to understand. She'd never been exposed to the cruelties of the real world. She had always firmly believed in the ideal of caring for one's fellow man, but now it seemed that society didn't really work that way. She examined her fingers sullenly, finally realizing it wasn't a game anymore, that she was really miles and miles away from the safe life she'd always enjoyed.

She looked up startled when Wulf put his big hand on both of hers.

'I know it's hard, but this is the way things go. Ye'll get used to it. I'll help ye.' He looked at her reassuringly.

Robin felt the need to be childish, and answered with a tiny voice: 'Promise?'

Wulf smiled and squeezed her hand.

'Promise.'


A/N: Phew, chapter eight, people! Just in time for my exams. They start next Monday… -.-; It's gonna be three weeks of cramming, but hopefully, the weather'll be good and when it's over, I'll finally be free! (Well, at least till September 1. ) See ya!