Little John turned slowly and silently to see the source of the noise in the cavern entrance.
An overly chivalrous and uncharacteristic exclamation of "My lady!" escaped him as he realized the cloaked woman before him was Marian. The rest of the gang could tell who it was but responded with their own puzzled expressions.
"John?" Robin questioned.
Little John stepped aside so Robin could see her. His face lit with joy and surprise as he rushed to her and swept her up in a strong embrace.
"How did you get here?" he asked breathlessly, still holding her tight.
Marian paused before responding, "I had help from a friend."
"Who?" Much blurted on behalf of his Master.
Marian pulled away from Robin so she could see his face. "Gisbourne."
Perplexed and slightly irritated at the sound of Guy's name, Robin squinted his eyes and stared intently at Marian to read her emotion. "Gisbourne?" he repeated.
She nodded, but he still seemed not to believe her. In the silence that followed, Allan offered, "You know, he really isn't that bad."
Everyone turned to look at him as if they only just took notice of the fact that he was back with the gang.
Allan shrugged his shoulders and tried to smile.
"We'll get to the issue of you in a moment," Robin said to him, then turned back to Marian. "Did the Sheriff speak to you at all?"
"No," she replied. "Although I can only assume he is going to be upset about recent happenings."
Robin frowned. "That's what I'm afraid of."
After a moment, Marian took Robin's hand and gestured for them to go somewhere apart from the group. He winked and then announced to the others, "We're going to scavenge for firewood."
"Firewood is the new honey," Much muttered mostly to himself.
Left in the cave, the rest of the gang wondered what to do next when Allan broke the silence with, "Well, looks like things worked out, eh?"
Will was the first to respond to him. "We still don't know if the Sheriff has a bigger scheme in mind or how he's going to take out his anger on villagers in the shire, so no, not really."
"Yeah, but, I mean, for now it's all right," Allan tried to clarify.
"I suppose you think we're going to thank you," Much said.
"Well…" Allan replied.
"Unbelievable!" Much exclaimed. "You think we're going to trust you, just like that?"
"Much," Djaq interjected.
He turned to her and said defiantly, "He betrayed us!"
"And he has done much good since then. Just wait until Robin returns and we'll decide what to do," she responded.
Will looked at her with growing doubt that her remark was just a matter of keeping the peace until Robin came back. He felt his suspicions confirmed as he watched her smile beam when her eyes met Allan's. He burned quietly and inconspicuously with jealousy.
The Sheriff slammed his fist on his desk. He was in the middle of a tirade.
"Gisbourne, I wanted a head! Am I going to be fine without one? A clue: NO! So, since you haven't seemed to be using it, I'm taking yours!"
"Sir—"
"End of discussion. Guards!" he screamed. "Take Sir Guy to the dungeon."
Outside the cave, Marian and Robin were walking in no particular direction. She had shown him the letter from Carter and they were discussing it.
"Did Gisbourne say which Black Knight caught Carter?" Robin asked.
"No," she replied, "but I suspect that he is still alive. They may be cruel, but the Black Knights are not foolish enough to kill a source of information."
"I hope you are right."
"But, Robin, what of his message? Do you think the King really did leave the Holy Land?"
"If he did, there's no way of us knowing where he is or whether he's safe." He looked at her and sighed. "We just have to wait for word from him and continue our fight here."
"So, you've learned your lesson then?" she asked with a playful smile.
"There was a lesson?" Robin joked. "And here I thought it was just a game."
She elbowed him, he laughed and then grabbed her, kissing her passionately.
THE END.
So, there it is--my idea for the series 2 finale. But there seems to be room for another story...hmm...
Thanks for reading!