Casey crossed Locksley manor bound for the stables that lay on the opposite side of the village. She anticipated the relief that a long peaceful ride in the forest would ensure, that is if her brother, Robin Hood, and his gang of their outlaw friends did not interrupt her. After the rush of the past couple months she needed a chance to be alone, away from the places that stressed her so.

She had not known a single thing about what had happened in the Holy Land when the sheriff and Guy arrived unexpectedly back in Locksley, though she had assumed it had not been entirely in their favor for they were both in excessively negative moods. The sheriff had forced Casey to marry Guy. She was his reward for killing Marian, though she did not know it at the time. There was no light in Guy's eye that night and it seemed that he himself was dead as he left her alone in his chamber without laying a hand on her. He spent the next few days drinking him numb, when finally a ruckus outside the manor had drawn Casey from her bed early to see Guy fighting with Robin. It was another week at least before she was able to get to the forest and find out exactly what had happened to Marian.

"Casey," a voice called from behind her, pulling her from her thoughts quiet suddenly as she started to open the door of the stables. She looked around to see Guy coming towards her from across Locksley manor. "Wait, Casey, I need to speak with you."

"What is it?"

He took her upper arm pulling her into the stable closing the door behind them completely. Light flooded in from the windows on the rood created boxes of light and shadow on the barn floor. There were only a couple of horses standing restlessly in thier stalls.

"I need your help, Casey," he whispered. "It's Isabella; she is ambitious and seeks the position of sheriff."

"I wonder where she gets it from," she said beneath her breath before. "But you are the sheriff now. How can she-"

"She'll figure it out. She's already tried to poison me," said Guy.

"She has."

"I know you despised Vaisey as sheriff," he started. He knew that she did not favor him very much more but that was beside the point he was attempting to make. "Take that twice over and you might have some idea as to what Nottingham would be under a Sheriff Isabella."

"You want me to help you remain sheriff," said Casey, incredoriosly.

"No, that is not what I'm asking from you. I want you to keep Isabella from becoming the sheriff. Against Isabella, against Prince John. I am practically an outlaw. I have no one but myself to guide me. I know that it is my own fault and I'm not asking for you to forgive me or for your sympathy. I just need you to understand that I want to change."

His heart poured out in his words and the look his eyes told her that he was absolutely sincere. For a moment, Casey forgot who he was and was willing to give him a clean plate. She did not know where it had come from but standing before her was not the same Guy who had murdered her best friend. It was a different man, a better man.

"I will help you, Guy," she said.

A smile flashed across his face and was gone again, just as fast as it had come. He pulled a rolled up letter from his pocket and pressed it into Casey's hand. "This letter is to Squire Thornton, he's Isabella's husband. Take it to him; let him know what his wife has been up to."

"And you?"

"Will mostly likely be an outlaw or a prisoner when you return. But that doesn't matter," he said, cradling her jaw in his hand suddenly, touching her for the since he had become sheriff. "You just make sure that Isabella's husband comes after, alright?"

She nodded and she kissed her deeply in a way she never thought anyone could do. He helped her mount on one of the nearest horses and as she prepared to set out, she looked back down at him with a smile.

"Go on," he said.

"You'll be careful," Casey said, unexpectedly. He saw how surprised she was at her own words that he returned them with a curt nod and sent her off.

Someone jerked her awake and she was back in the forest rubbing her eyes as they adjusted to the light of a single dying fire around which Tuck was returning. She sat up stretching out her arms felling as if she had not actually been to sleep for as long as she had. She shook stiffness out of her neck looking up to the sky through the branches in the tallest trees. The dusty gray-blue of the sky revealed that it was just before dawn. The outlaws were gathering together thier things noisily when suddenly Little John stood up strait looking around.

"What is it, Little John?" asked Tuck.

"Wait, shush." said Little John. "Listen... did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Casey yawned. Several of them shushed her as she folded her blanket away into her bag. There was a silence as all of them strained to hear what Little John had.

"I don't hear-"

The end of Much's statement disappeared into a flood of the outlaws shushes and as soon as they fell the hum of a voice in the distance reached them. It took another solid minute of silence until they heard it again, loudly and more clearly.

"Help! Please, help!"

"What were you saying, Much?" said Little John.

"Come on," interrupted Archer as Much opened his mouth to say something. Archer led the way in the direction of the voice, while Much watched him start off with a smug look on his face. Casey took his sleeve and pulled him off after the others.

"Who's out in the forest at this time of day anyways," said Much.

"We're here, aren't we?" said Casey, dodging around trees as they ran the hem of her dress held up around her knees freeing her legs so that she could keep up with the others.

"Yes, but we are outlaws. We haven't got any other place to be," he said, slowing to a stop with the others.

"Why'd we stop?" asked Little John.

"She stopped calling," panted Archer.

"She?" said Tuck.

"It sounded like a woman to me, but either way the calls stopped."

Casey looked around the forest. "There's probably not another soul in a mile from here. What are the chances someone else heard?"

"Not high," said Archer.

"Help," came the voice again, more distinctively a girl's voice. "Somebody. Anybody. Please, help!"

They set off again. Rounding a bend in the land the gang could see a large figure up ahead and as they drew closer, they saw that it was two people. A young woman was trying to support an unconscious man, whose weight was too much for her small body to lift. She looked stunned at the sudden appearance of assistance as Little John lifted the man away from her and she stood up, long brown ponytail falling to her lower back, flat as sheaf of parchment.

"What happened?" said much.

"We've been traveling for days. He said that we were almost there when he collapsed... just like that. I really don't know what happened," she explained.

"Where were you going?" said Tuck.

The girl watched as Casey checked her companion's heart beat through his short, dark beard. She swallowed. looking extremely worried. She was no more than seventeen, Casey was sure of that, as for the man. He looked to be in his twenties. She wringed her hands together before returning her gaze to her inquirers.

"Sorry?"

"I asked you where you were heading," he said.

"I... I don't know. I never actually asked him," she said, slowly, aware of how ignorant she sounded, but she continued. "He risked his life to help me. I did not ask questions. Please, just help him and when he's better he'll tell you anything you want to know."

"How long were you traveling," asked Casey.

"I'm not sure," she said, dropping her gaze to the ground.

"You don't seem to know anything do you?" said Much.

"Two days and three nights," said the girl in contempt.

"They need food and water," said Casey to Much, who volunteered and was gone before she could speak again. "Don't worry. He should be fine just as soon as you both have had something to drink. Could you tell me where you were coming from?"

"I can't tell you," she said.

Casey looked up at Archer, who raised his eyebrows and half-shrugged in response to the expression on her face asking for his opinion on the girl. She rolled her eyes and turned back to the girl.

"What about your name? Can you tell me that?"

"Tatianna," she said. "And that's Will, Listen I know I must sound extremely suspicious, personally I would not be up for trusting me at the moment. I mean a young woman traveling with an older man she doesn't know to a place she hasn't asked about but I trust him"

Dawn edged ever closer as Much returned his pouch full of his pouch full of water and what seemed like an entire bush of berries cut right off from the roots. After being nursed the water, the man, Will, turned his head and groaned. Tatianna helped him to a sitting position the moment he opened his eyes.

"Will, are you alright?" she asked.

"Yeah," he nodded. "I'll be fine. The sooner we get to..."

His eyes fell on the outlaws with a smile from ear to ear, which, when it was not returned, faded slowly from his face. Clearing his throat, he stood and brushed dirt from his clothes. Casey exchanged glances with Much and Archer, who were standing on either side of her.

"Little John, Casey, Much, none of you recognize me, do you? Its me. It's Will Scarlett."

The man before them suddenly melted into one they remembered. The moment he said his own name they felt foolish for not having seen it the moment they saw him. For the first time in days, smiles stretched across thier faces.

"Will, a beard? Really?" said Much as he and Little John separately shook his hand giving him quick one-armed hugs. Casey, however, wrapped them in a quick embrace.

"It's so good to see you all again. Where's Robin?"

Stepping back Casey looked to the others for the explanation they should give him. It was Archer who stepped up. "He's dead."

"Oh," said Will, inviting the awkward silence after him.

"I'm Archer, by the way."

"Nice to meet you," he said.

"He's my half-brother and this is Tuck, They are both outlaws like the rest of us," Casey explained. "But I thought you and Djaq were in Palestine. What happened?"

"We came back about a month ago. We were going to come see you as soon as I got back from getting Tatianna," said Will. He looked around at her. "She was raised by the circus but left. Show them what you can do."

Nervously, Tatianna got to her feet. Jumping to take a hold of the branch of a tree above thier heads and pulled herself up easily. The movement revealed that her dress was not actually a dress but pants stretched wide so that they blended with one another to give the illusion of a dress. Tatianna rocked her torso, pulling her knees in she dropped, spinning her entire body around the branch twice she pushed off flying into the air. She twisted her body so her back curved over another branch before flipping back to the ground, landing light as a feather.

"After the circus I became an outlaw. I stole food and necessities from the people who could afford so that the people who could not would have a chance. It wasn't too much... but the lord of the land had a bit of a problem with me. No one knew who I was and I so I became known as the Runaway," she explained. "I thought it was pretty exciting to have a reputation like that."

"I heard about her. I went to convince her to join the rest of in Winchester," said Will.

"Winchester?" repeated Much.

"You don't know about Winchester? I thought for sure that's where you all were going. It is the last city in England completely loyal to King Richard. But if you're not going to Winchester, where are you going?"

"We don't know, exactly," said Casey. "We sort of just decided that we couldn't stay in Locksley anymore."

"You'll come with us then," suggested Will, though they would not turn the offer down.