A.N. In the last chapter I mentioned robin drinking wine. It was more of a type of mead like honeymeade it wasn't the wine we have today. So don't accuse him of underage drinking, if he had drank the water he probably would have gotten cholera. P.S To uweesomegirl99 thanks so much for the review! I'm glad you liked it.

I was starting to get bored of winning, when I heard some commotion near the entrance to the dungeons. A guard ran up to me and said 'Sir, she has escaped.' He sounded out of breath.

'And I'm the useless one?' I shouted at him. Just then, I saw a flicker of red hair run past one of the nearby huts. I chased after it and sure enough there she was. I had to laugh out loud. My princess had left her dress behind and was standing on the stone wall in her underclothes. 'Princess' I called to her. 'What are you going to do now?'

She didn't answer me instead she just stood there looking nervous and scared. Suddenly she fell back. I heard her scream and I knew I wasn't going to forget it easily. I stood over the edge shocked by what she had done. As I saw her roll down that hill, I began to worry not for myself but for her. Will she be able to run? If not what will father do to her? Torture? Death? I shoved the thought out of my mind and ran back the way we came and into the forest.

'Quick, after her' I called to my friends. There was only one way to find out, I ran to wear she had jumped but she wasn't there. She must have been able to run. We headed in the direction of where she most likely had gone.

When we arrived in the centre of the forest father was already there on horseback. He had just sent one of his birds to find the princess when he said to George who was on his left 'I want her killed' wait what? Maria? 'I won't let her stop the curse' he spoke a little quieter but I mustn't have been hiding my emotions very well because his next words were spoken directly to me 'their death is our victory'

I started to walk away from the horses and found myself saying 'stupid girl. You should have stayed where you were.' We broke into a run again. I only hoped father wouldn't find her or at least found her first. I could never turn her in, but being called a traitor by my father, after doing my best in everything he tells me to do, it would just kill me.

I suddenly stopped when Tom called out 'Hey, Robin'. He had found one of Maria's blue ribbons. As it hung from the tree I could imagine it tied up in Maria's red hair. I reached down and pulled it off the tree I smiled at tom and we ran off again. We nearly ran past the hole, between the branches of the trees, that had been recently pushed through.

'This way' I called out. And we followed the route obviously taken by Maria. When we got to the clearing Maria was already gone.

Father came through the trees just after us, when he saw me he said 'she got away again. I've got a new job for you, Robin. The next time you see that dog I want him killed.'

I stared at him in shock. K...kill the demon dog? I gulped. I couldn't possibly kill that dog. It would kill me first; I guess I'm too much of a coward.

When we got back to the castle, Elizabeth came up to me 'Robin, I've decided to forgive you for what happened with Annette. Maybe something could happen between us after all.'

I smiled at her 'thank you Elizabeth. But I just can't, I would much rather be friends. I'm sorry for the way I treated you.' As I said this I realized it was the right thing to do it would be unfair to date her while I had feelings for Maria.

She smiled back 'that is quite alright Robin, and I would love to be your friend.'

That night as I lay on my bed, I took Maria's ribbon out of my pocket. I held it in my hand, and thought about her. She really was quite courageous. I laughed again remembering her in her underclothes. I didn't lie to her; I really do admire her spirit. I sighed and put the ribbon back into the pocket of my jacket. I slept deeply that night and dreamt of nothing but my princess, if only one day I be her protector.