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Olivia was sitting by the fire when Elliot woke. She stared unseeing as he walked from behind the waterfall, stretching and pulling on his shirt as he went. After she had run out of tears to cry she had stumbled back to the camp in a daze, only her muscle memory preventing her from falling down the rock face. She felt Elliot sit beside her and knew that she couldn't hide her red eyes so made no move to do so.

'Morning,' he said reaching over for their store of bread, 'where's Alex, I didn't see her sleeping.'

'Gone.'

'What?' Elliot replied absentminded, focused on retrieving his breakfast.

'Gone.' Olivia said again, clearing her throat that was rough from crying.

Elliot stopped what he was doing and finally noticed Olivia's dishevelment. 'What do you mean gone. Like escaped?' he said alarm in his voice.

Olivia didn't reply, only bent her head and ran a hand through her hair, feeling tears prick at her eyes again.

'Olivia we have to go,' Elliot said urgently, placing a hand on her shoulder. 'We can't stay here. She knows where we are!' When Olivia gave no response he got up and ran back into the cave, shouting at the others to wake and start packing their things.

The others came out into the sun in varying degrees of undress and confusion. Amanda was holding her sword as if she was expecting an attack. Elliot was still urging speed and used to a life of evading soldiers as they were Finn was quick to follow him. Move first, ask questions later.

Munch however, walked slowly over to Olivia and crouched down in front of her. 'What happened Liv?'

She shrugged slightly, and in a small voice replied, 'she had to go.' She felt the pain swell up within her again like the waves of the sea she had travelled to the Holy land and bent her back trying to survive the new swell.

It wasn't until Amanda came and started to scatter the fire that Olivia came back to. Her eyes that were before dulled by pain began to see the commotion going on around her.

'What's happening?' she asked of no one in particular.

The others all paused in their tasks and Elliot who was crouched behind her, tying the cooking pots in cloths to carry, answered. 'We're leaving Liv. Alex has escaped remember. She could lead the Sheriff here any minute.'

'We don't need to leave Elliot,' Olivia said twisting round to see him, 'she won't do that.'

'Why else would she escape Olivia?'

'She didn't escape.' Olivia's voice had grown stronger and she was once again fully back in control.

Finn, Amanda and Munch who had restarted their tasks paused once again and this time moved closer till all of them were gathered in a rough circle around the remains of the fire.

'You let her go?' Elliot said, anger dripping off every word. He walked round till her was face to face with her.

'She won't betray us Elliot.' Olivia said instead of answering.

'God!' Elliot brought his hands up to his short hair and grasped his head in disbelief.

'What happened Liv?' Munch asked quietly while Elliot tried to get his breathing under control.

'We were up over by the road…'

'What were you doing over there?' Elliot interrupted, as the others sat down to listen. He was still pacing slightly in front of Olivia, clenching and unclenching his fists, trying not to be too angry at his oldest friend.

'It was a warm night, we both couldn't sleep, and we went for a walk. Nothing sinister behind that El.' Olivia decided not to mention that she had followed Alex and that their 'walk' wasn't exactly a pre-arranged ramble. 'We were just walking when we heard people on the road. We hid and some of the Sheriff's men rode past surrounding a carriage.' Everyone was now silent, listening to Olivia talk and even Elliot had stopped pacing. 'I didn't recognise any of them but after they had passed Alex said the boy in the carriage was her brother. She was scared that her father would turn his attentions on him now she was gone,' Olivia felt tears pool in her eyes again and squeezed them shut to stop them falling. 'She wanted to go and protect him, said that they were her family. I couldn't stop her.'

Elliot looked down at his friend and saw the pain that she was in. He knew that her and Alex had been growing close and didn't doubt that their walk was perhaps just an excuse to be alone but he still couldn't trust Alex like Olivia did. He drew her to her feet and walked with her to the willow tree, so he could speak to her without the others overhearing.

'Liv,' he began quietly, catching and holding her eyes, 'I know how you feel about her but we have to leave.'

'She won't betray us Elliot. She won't tell anyone what she's learnt, she promised me.'

'I'm not saying she's lying,' Elliot replied trying a different tact- he did believe that Alex had been lying- 'but that she could be. If it were just you, just me even we could take that risk, I would trust your instincts; but it's not just us.'

Olivia looked over to the others, still gathered round the fire, watching Elliot try to talk sense into her.

'Liv, Amanda's only seventeen. She idolises you. You can't risk her life just because Alex fed you some sob story.' Olivia felt a flash of anger at his words. Alex had never lied to her about her life and her abuse was more than a sob story.

Elliot saw the anger on Olivia's face and quickly backtracked over his words. 'Maybe she did have a bad deal but that doesn't change the fact that you're not seeing straight. She's gone to care for her family but you're refusing to care for yours. It's not just your life that you're risking.'

Olivia knew the truth of his words and the guilt started to build low in her stomach but she knew that even still she couldn't leave. 'I'm not forcing anyone else to stay Elliot; but I'm not leaving.'

Elliot placed his hand against the tree trunk and bowed his head in defeat as Olivia walked away. He heard her explain loudly to the others what she had just told him and knew, just like Olivia for all her words, that if she was staying it meant that everyone would stay. He walked back across the stream and helped them all unpack their belongs.

'You think I'm mad Finn?' Olivia asked him later as they both sat apart eating their breakfasts.

'No, not mad,' he replied after a while, 'just in pain.'

'I never meant to risk anyone's life, I just can't leave… I just can't.' She wasn't sure what she wanted from Finn. Perhaps support, perhaps a person to say that she was making the right choice. She could have gone to Amanda for both but knew that the response would be biased by Amanda's respect for her and for that fact that out of the four of them the blond seemed the most understanding and accepting of Alex.

Finn, although he didn't have Elliot's level of mistrust, had always been wary of Alex, never truly forgetting who she had been but Olivia trusted that he would never lie to her; that he would tell her if she was making the wrong choice.

'I know you didn't Liv,' he comforted, putting his bowl to one side, 'but you've done it all the same. I trust that you trust Alex and I'd trust you with anything but I can't say I'm not worried.'

'She won't betray us, I'm sure.'

'I know you are Liv, I don't question that but what I'm wondering is why you have to stay.'

'What?'

Finn looked at his friend, the person he trusted to cross continents with and saw the truth she was battling not to accept. She had watched Alex's back disappear into the forest, watched as she had walked away but Finn knew that part of her was still expecting Alex to come back. That going to castle was just a visit and that she would soon be back to finish whatever her and Liv had started. He hated to hurt his friend but knew that her hope could see them all dead.

'There's no point in staying Liv, we have other nicer camps' he started watching her fight tears, 'if Alex has gone home, she's never coming back.

'So this is home?'

'Yeah.'

'It's smaller than I expected.'

'You've said that about every English place we've ever visited Rafael. God we got to London and you said it was small.'

The older man laughed, turning away from the window. 'No I never said it was small. Just smaller than I expected.'

'Yeah well you're smaller than I expected.'

Rafael laughed again, knowing that William didn't mean it; that he was just nervous about being home. When he was younger he was self-conscious about his height but now the illustrious age of twenty four he'd learnt to use it to his advantage. His chestnut hair and beard and Spanish accent meant that getting girls, and boys for that matter, was never a problem while he'd found that people preferred a minstrel to be short. Men didn't want to be intimidated by the man singing to them after dinner.

'You're still nervous.' He stated to the worried boy in front of him.

'I'm not nervous.'

'You're wearing a hole in the floor Will.'

William stopped pacing. They'd arrived at around dawn but his father had been busy so one of the lieutenants had shown them to their quarters and they'd been left to freshen up after their journey. At first they had tried to show Rafael to different rooms but he'd stopped them. They'd met when he was just eight in Northumbria and still scared of the place he was supposed to call home. Rafael had taught him how to play the lute while everyone else was trying to teach him how to use to a sword. He'd choose the lute any day. Since their first lessons they'd become inseparable, Rafael surprising himself and actually enjoying being around the boy. When the letter had arrived from his father ordering him home he'd begged Sir John to allow Rafael to come with him and not being much taken with music anyway Sir John had agreed.

'You'd be nervous too if it were your father.' He said sullenly, wrapping his arms around his tall but bony frame and unconsciously beginning to pace again. He'd heard stories about the Sheriff of Nottingham and most, if not all, added to his fear.

'Oh I am nervous, don't you worry about that. I just use humour to deal with my problems instead of a useless waste of energy.' Rafael smiled again but William wasn't in the mood for jokes.

They both turned suddenly when the door was flung open and the Sheriff walked in. He was dressed in a loose red tunic that fell to his knees and was belted at the waist.

'William!' he said walking forward pulling his son into a hug. Although only fourteen William was almost as tall as his father. 'It's been too long. I hope you've been keeping well.'

'Yes father.' William was happy to hear that his voice didn't break.

'And this must be your minstrel.' After looking William up and down the Sheriff turned his attention to Rafael standing in the corner.

'Rafael Barba my Lord.' He said stepping forward and bowing.

'Yes yes, from Italy no?'

'Spain my Lord, but when one reaches the mainland it's all one and the same.' Rafael was proud of his homeland but had learnt that the English viewed anything other than their rainy Island as akin to, if not the devil's arsehole, then at least some part of his body.

The Sheriff laughed and clapped him on the back before leading them both over to the table that had been set for their noon day meal.

Things didn't go as badly as William had feared they might. His father seemed interested in his studies and even seemed happy at his musical prowess. He didn't ask too many questions about his sword skills, of which he was sure Sir John must have written they were so poor, or tell him he was too skinny. No, the meal went well and he was happy to see that Rafael was good at making his father laugh. There was only one thing that happened that could be slightly considered of note.

About half way through, when Rafael was telling his father about how he had travelled to England there was a knock at the door and a woman stepped through. She hadn't looked that special to him, white shirt and blond hair but his father had frozen. She had said that the cook had sent her to see if they needed anything and though the minute before his father had been complaining that they'd been given too much food he suddenly stood up and said that in fact they needed more meat and he had followed the woman out.

Rafael had shrugged and they had gone back to eating and even when his father returned a short while later, without the promised meats, he hadn't questioned it, but now he was lying awake in a strange bed he let his mind replay the event.

He was sure he hadn't seen the woman before, but there was something strangely familiar about her grey eyes and he slowly drifted off to sleep wondering where in the world he could have seen her.