Robin crouched in the bushes, watching the road. Halt was with her, leaning back against a tree with his cloak pulled down over his eyes, apparently fast asleep. They had been waiting here for the last three days to see if a messenger would appear with a reply to Halt; they had no other way of getting a return message.

Robin heard footsteps and glanced over at Halt to see his eyes wide open, watching the road in front of them. A young man was walking down the road with something clutched in his hands. Robin got to her feet and melted out from the bushes.

"Hello," she said, greeting the man. The man jumped, watching her with wide eyes, and he took a subconscious step backwards. "Might I ask what you are doing so far from the city?"

"I am delivering a letter," the man said, his voice trembling ever so slightly as he regained his composure.

"I don't suppose that would be for the Ranger Halt, would it?" Halt's voice asked from the bushes, and he walked out through the same path that Robin had taken.

"It would be," the man said. "From King Duncan himself."

"Well you are in luck," Halt said. "For I am Halt."

"I'm going to need some form of identification," the man said, a little bit uneasy.

Halt just stared at the man, his face taking on an are you f*cking kidding me expression.

"How about the ranger's cloak? The knives? The bow? Surely you can see that I am a Ranger, and a Ranger would not lie."

The man looked like he was prepared to argue but he decided not to, which was probably the best option, and handed Halt the letter. Halt took it and gave the man a fake smile until the man got unnerved, turned around, and returned the way he came. Halt rolled his eyes and glanced over at Robin, smirking somewhat.

"I'm glad to know my letter was in such safe hands," Halt said.

"Well, you've got it, so can we please go meet the others? The next tax car is supposed to go by in under an hour," Robin said, impatient as ever.

"You are far too anxious," Halt sighed. "Lead the way." Robin bounced on her toes and slid back into the underbrush, creeping along the road to where she knew Will was waiting to stake out the next tax cart.

The taxes worked on a rotating cycle, and one cart would go to each of the eight sections of the barony, one approximately every four days. They all met up on this main road before heading up to the castle to deposit their share of the taxes in the treasury. The Rangers had successfully stopped and robbed five of the last seven, but they were getting harder and harder to catch. They went with more armed guards now, and they had reached the end of the list that Alan A Dale had supplied with the dates on them. Additionally, some of the carts were traveling at night now, and so if they didn't have someone watching the road at all times a cart could slip through their fingers.

Robin was sure about this one, though. It was the very last one on Alan's list, and it was the cart from the Northern section of the Barony. The Northern cart hadn't come down here before, and she hoped that the snow had kept them from hearing about the recent strings of ambushes.

A mile of walking later, she saw Alan's bright blue hood pulled up over his head. After she saw Alan, she was able to pick out Mauch and Will's indistinct forms in the leaves, Ranger's cloaks pulled over their heads. Halt had, of course, already seen them and was a step ahead of her.

"Where's Gilan?" he asked, scowling darkly. Alan and Little John looked up, surprised to see Robin and Halt, but Will just frowned back.

"I don't know. He headed back to camp about an hour ago, and he didn't come back," Will replied.

"I'll go back and look for him, if you'd like," Alan said. "It's boring hanging out around here anyway. You Rangers always take all the fun."

"Aye," Little John agreed. "I'll head back with you, in case something happened. You're too scrawny to pick 'im up if he's fallen."

Alan glared daggers at Little John, rolled his eyes and jumped to his feet. "I'm trusting that the four of you ought to be plenty to deal with this cart?"

"Of course," Halt said breezily, but Robin wasn't so sure. The last few carts had been heavily armed... She considered saying something, but she decided that she trusted Halt's judgment more than her own gut feeling. Alan and Little John disappeared back through the trees, not nearly so quiet as a Ranger but quiet in their own rights, leaving Robin, Will, Halt and Mauch to wait for the tax car.

They didn't have long to wait. A few minutes later, Halt and Will perked up, Robin and Mauch soon on their heels. The sound of horse hooves and the rattle of a cart across the uneven road made them glance out from the bushes.

"The cart is under-armed," Robin breathed, relief flooding her chest. The north must not have known about the mysterious Robin Hood. Only four guards walked around the cart, but an additional armed guard was driving the horses forwards. That was hardly going to be a challenge, she knew.

Her side had healed, so that was no longer a tactic that they were tempted to use. Additionally, if the carts had been warned, they would have been warned about a young boy faking an injury. So, there was a new tactic.

Mauch threw off his cloak and then ran out into the road, yelling at the top of his lungs. What he was yelling was completely incoherent, and Robin sighed. It would be so much better if they could understand what he was saying... Robin pulled out her bow and ran out into the road after him, her bow drawn and trained just over his head in case she accidentally lost her grip on the arrow (which she wouldn't, of course, but she was paranoid).

"HALT!" she yelled, smirking to herself at the play on words/names. "YOU ARE AN ENEMY OF THE STATE! YOU ARE UNDER ARREST!" Mauch looked back over his shoulder at her, grinned, but kept running up the road towards the carriage. She looked ahead and saw that the guards had paused, staring ahead, uncertain of what was going on.

"HE IS A THIEF! HE HAS STOLEN TAXES FROM THE BARON!" she yelled again, letting the arrow fly into a tree-trunk to Mauch's left. He yelped, surprised, and darted to the right, weaving from side to side as though he was afraid of being shot.

"Halt, citizen!" one of the guards said, stepping towards Mauch's oncoming form, and drew his sword. Mauch skidded to a stop a few feet from the blade and threw his hands up into the air. Robin ran up behind him, another arrow notched and ready. She felt a surge of victory rise up in her chest. The entire point of this play had been to stop the cart; when it was still moving, as they'd discovered, they were much harder to catch.

"He is a prisoner of the state," Robin said, her voice breathy.

"Can I see some identification?" the guard asked, staring down his long nose at Robin.

"Nope," Robin said, and let her arrow fly. It thudded against the metal of the guard's helmet and he fell to the ground. Before he had even hit the ground, arrows had slammed into the helmets of two more guards, one from Will and one from Halt. Mauch spun and slammed the hilt of his saxe knife into the fourth guard's head, causing him to crumple in a heap by his feet.

Will sprinted along the open street to the cart, heading for the door of the carriage while Halt felled the driving guard, who had just managed to untangle himself from the reigns. Robin turned quickly and met Will by the door. They made eye contact for a split moment and then Robin reached for the door. Will armed himself with his knives, waiting for it to open, and Robin held up her fingers. They had no idea who or what was inside the cart, but Will was prepared for anything he might face. Her fingers counted down; 3... 2... 1...

The door to the cart slammed open, and Will lunged inside. He paused half way through the door and fell flat on his face. Robin stared, wondering why he fell, and stepped around the door to see.

Will was staring at the occupant of the carriage from the floor, his eyes wide as he scrambled back to his feet.

"Alyss?!"