Part 12

Will had been back for ages and Robin began to pace up and down the camp.

"Where is she?" he asked, more to himself than the rest of the gang.

Will eager to explain when he last saw her told Robin. "We parted before the city walls. I saw her in the city, I was dodging guards, they did not seem to notice her though. I did not see her when I made my exit. I thought she would be; long gone by then as I had to hide so often."

"That does not explain where she is now," Much replied with a shake of his head.

"She must have encountered trouble," Alan said, shrugging.

"But what kind?" Robin said with a rather grim expression on his face.

Marian slipped into the trees surrounding the blue pool thankful that some were evergreen and still held the area secret from prying eyes. She was fairly sure that he hadn't followed her and sank to the ground. Gisborne's knife seemed to be the bane of her life. She winced as she moved and gingerly unclipped her cloak and slipped it off her shoulders. She knew that Robin and the gang would be worried by now, but what could she do? She couldn't lead Gisborne back to the camp that was asking for trouble. She hoped that he had lost her trail and headed back to Nottingham to lick his wounds.

Marian turned her head and prodded her shoulder, it was still bleeding, soaking through her dress, but she doubted it was deep. She pulled the fabric away and looked again. Right in her assumptions she sighed, with her opposite hand she pulled the skin back to see that the blade had only gone as far as her shoulder bone, not too bad at all. She needed stitches and would need Djaq to stitch it for her, it would be difficult task to manage by herself and besides that she had no needle or thread on her person. She decided to rest for a few more moments then head back to the camp.

Much scratched the back of his head thoughtfully as he, John and Alan walked along the path or one of the many paths back to Nottingham.

"I'm not being funny but she could have come along any number of paths we could be looking for the rest of the day?"

"We look until she is found," Much replied.

"I was just saying," said Alan.

John said nothing but led the trio through the forest, they continued on for a while until they were not that far from Nottingham and saw something on the path.

"What's that?" asked Alan.

Robin. Will and Djaq were tracing Will's steps and arrived in the clearing, which provided them the view of the city beyond the field.

"Are we going back into to city?" asked Will.

"Yes but this time we stay together," Robin replied.

"It is food," Much declared picking up the items and placing them back in the sack that John had retrieved from the ground. "Food that we asked Marian to buy," he continued. "I do not like this. I do not like this one bit. Where is she? And what happened here?"

Marian reached the camp, it was deserted and for a moment wondered if they had left for Markwick without her. But as she surveyed the area she realised that wasn't so, wherever they had gone it had been in haste. She rifled through their supplies in the cave and then made her way outside while the day light remained, armed with thread and needled prepared to do what she dreaded, stitch herself back together.

Much, John and Alan gave the nearby area a through search before declaring there were no leads. Hearing the oncoming sound of human traffic they prepared themselves to fight whatever came their way if necessary. But it was only Robin with the rest of the gang.

"Did you see them?" asked Robin.

"See what?" asked Much.

"Hoof marks."

"Gisborne?" Alan asked.

Robin shrugged. "They were regular hoof marks in this direction, look here is one."

"Here are several," added Djaq. "Look altogether, suggests a horse was tethered here."

"We found this," said Much holding up the sack, "we think it was ….Marian's."

Robin winced as he said it and looked thoughtful. "We will go back to the camp then head to Locksley."