Hey everyone, I'm back! I know, I'm basically Satan for not logging in for so long, I'm a horrible human. But I had to do college applications, and then robotics, and then my laptop broke, and then more robotics, so… now that robotics and college aps are over, and it's a snow day, I finally have the chance to update. I know, saying "college applications" made me feel weird too… I've been writing fanfictions since middle school, so I've literally been doing this for six years. I feel old, even though I'm just seventeen…. Anywho.

Anyone still up for some Robin Hood-style Ranger's Apprentice? :3

Robin crouched behind a large stone as a couple guards clopped past on tall horses and waited until they had gone around the corner before rising to her feet. The castle walls stretched up before them in the pale grey of the morning, the sun not yet staining the sky with oranges and yellows. Will, Halt and Mauch waited beside her, and then got to their feet with her.

Adrenaline made Robin's blood roar in her ears – she was going to save Gilan and the others, if it was the last thing she did. Their plan was very simple; they were going to climb the walls and shoot them free of their ropes, and then they would make their grand escape back over the walls and into the woods.

Will crept over to the wall, ducking into the dark shadow created by the first few rays of morning light. Robin dashed after him, followed by Mauch and, finally, Halt. Will pulled his small throwing knife from his belt and wedged it into the mud caulk between two stones, then dug his Saxe knife in up higher. He used the knives to scale the old, slightly crumbling walls, testing his weight each time before trusting the ancient rock. He reached the top and disappeared over the edge, leaving Robin and the others to wait in silence. After a couple moments, he peeked back over the edge and motioned for them to join him.

Robin scaled the wall awkwardly, nearly slipping twice, but her determination saw her to the top unscathed. The top of the wall was about two meters across for guards to patrol and had large stone slabs on either side to protect anyone who might be on top of the wall. Every few meters along the outer edge of the wall there was a slit for an archer to shoot from. The internal edge of the wall was only to keep people on the wall from falling, but it served to keep Robin and the other Rangers hidden from view.

Robin wondered why there were no guards patrolling the wall they were waiting on. Even though they had picked the wall that required the least fortification – it faced the stables and, beyond that, the village, so no enemy would normally approach from this site – she would have thought there should be guards on every wall.

It didn't take her long to realize where all the guards were. Down below, in the open square where the guards barracks were, was a large hang-man's platform. A huge wooden crossbeam ran over the top, and from it hung three ropes each with a noose at their end. The dark and forbidding outline of a trapdoor lay under the ropes, and she could see that it would open over ten feet of open air. The ground below the gallows was bare of grass, revealing a handful of bloodstains on the cobble stones – perhaps from people whose necks didn't break when they fell.

Robin shuddered and held back a fierce gagging, trying to hold off the intense fear that washed over her. She knew this kind of fear was cowardly, but she tried to reassure herself: the bravest people are not the ones without fear, but those who see their fears and face them anyway. She would face her fears until the end.

Guards ringed the gallows, laughing drunkenly. The gates bellow shuddered as they opened, allowing the townsfolk to enter the square to watch the hangings. The peasants were shepherded in by more guards, but none of them wanted to be there – there was no cheering from them, only discontent grumbling and silence.

They supported Robin Hood.

A rising sense of pride flooded Robin's chest and she squared her shoulders; no matter what they had gotten into, she had done the right thing in their eyes.

The sun poked its rays over the horizon finally and the grey pre-dawn was burned away with hot streaks of yellow and orange light. The people stirred irritably as the bells began to ring, and after a few moments of breathless waiting the Baron walked up the stairs to the gallows, Sir Guy following him. A few other nobles stayed on the ground to watch, seated in comfortable chairs – one of them was Alyss. The Baron turned to face the crowd amassed before him and raised his arms to quiet them.

"Hello, and thank you for coming," he said with a wry smile. Anger bubbled in Robin's stomach; these people hadn't been given a choice. They didn't want to be here. "We have gathered to punish three outlaws… Two sidekicks, and one that you all know. Robin Hood."

Whispers whirled through the crowd, and Sir Guy yelled for them to be quiet.

"Robin Hood has tormented this state, robbing people of their rightly earned money." The Baron spat to his left, splattering the deck. "Today… you will see what happens to those kinds of people. Bring out the prisoners!"

Robin tensed and tightened her grip on her bow, reaching over her shoulder to draw an arrow. She knocked it silently and waited, watching the scene below her.

They waited for several minutes, the silence dragging out and slowly giving way to anxious whispers. After another minute, a guard ran up the steps and whispered something in the Baron's ear. The Baron's face flushed an angry red and he barked something back, then called Sir Guy over. Those who were nearest the gallows turned and whispered to those behind them, until everyone knew what had happened. The whispers raged and became loud, spoken comments:

Robin Hood has escaped.

The guards were found locked in his cell.

No one knows where they've gone.

There's no trace of them.

"Silence!" the Baron yelled, waving his meaty fist through the air. "SILENCE!" The crowd quieted, but they had been given new life by this news. Instead of standing angrily and beaten down, they perked up. "Robin Hood is an outlaw! He is a fiend! We caught him once, and we shall do so again! No one will help him or accept his offers, and anyone who does will be hung right here, in the noose that was meant for this satanic vigilante!"

Robin's grip on her bow tightened. Emotions conflicted inside her; a soaring joy at the news of Gilan's escape, and a seething anger at the Baron's words. She shifted her weight to sit back, contemplating what they should do now – but someone saw her movement and cried out below.

"What's that, up on the wall?!" the voice cried from the crowd. Robin ducked low, but it was too late. They'd been spotted. She lurched to her feet, drawing her arrow to full length and shooting it into the deck between the Baron's feet.

"I am Robin Hood!" she called, and the crowd below cheered wildly. "And he never caught me!" The cheering grew while the Baron stared at her, spluttering with complete fury.

"Robin Hood!" came the cries from below, and fists pumped in the air, cheering him on.

"SEIZE THEM!" Sir Guy yelled, jabbing an angry finger towards her. The guards started pushing through the sea of common-folk to get to the stairs leading up to the wall, but the peasants soon started pushing back. A ring of young men formed a barricade between the guards and the stairs.

"Too long you have lived under this man's thumb!" Robin yelled, anger filling her voice. "You are not his game pieces! You are not his piggie bank! You are people, you are each an individual with a life, with a home, with a family! You deserve the respect he would never give you."

"Oh, and you would?!" the Baron screamed. "GUARDS. KNOCK DOWN ANYONE WHO STANDS IN THE WAY."

"I would!" Robin yelled back. "I was just no one, someone who had slipped through the cracks – but I was never no one. And neither are they! Anyone who seeks to escape your tyranny has my support!"

The guards started pushing and shoving, and even started beating on the men who blocked their path.

"Any one who protects Robin Hood from this point on will be killed!" the Baron yelled, but the men stood their ground.

"Any one who would fight for your own rights, I cannot offer you sanctuary," Robin yelled, and the men who were protecting them looked at her uncertainly. "But I can offer you a guarantee: you will have the chance to fight for your freedom! This will come to war, and it is up to you what side you will be on."

The men and the guards tangled, and it was evident they would only come to a steel mate. Halt and Will, who had stood up but said nothing, obviously assessed the situation in the same way. They each drew an arrow and shot it, Will's arrow going through the corner of Sir Guy's cloak and nailing it to the deck, and Halt's going through the curling tip of the Baron's shoe. They stood, shocked, and the guards hesitated.

"The battle will not be today," Halt yelled angrily. "We will let you keep your lives if you let us leave. Draw back your weapons, and we won't draw another arrow; if you decline, you will die."

The guards hesitated and drew back slightly. The men (and a couple women) who had struggled and fought against them inched around toward the gate and then backed through it. Robin walked down the stairs silently and followed them to the gate, never turning her back on the Baron or Sir Guy. Halt followed her easily, and Will dragged Mauch to his feet and followed after Halt.

Once outside the great iron doors, the guards glared after them and shut the gates with a sense of angry finality.

War was finally coming.