(I have been having great motivation to write this story lately, but as such I need to get these first few filler chapters out of the way if all is to be well. So please be patient and know that not only will I be writing more often, but this story will pick up speed soon. I hope you enjoy, and once more I don't own Robin Hood no matter how much I wish I did. Forgive all grammar mistakes as well :3)
The Mighty Fall
2 : A Locksley's Tale
The trio of outlaws sent out to the Locksley estate upon the departure of the Sheriff's men, talking about trivial matters and merely catching up on the wasted time. The moor was less talkative, but Langley found his sense of humor alluring and aura calming, so she had no reason to object to being in his presence. Robin even liked him, though he wouldn't admit it. Even Spade had taken liking to the painted man, rubbing his snout affectionately on the man's head every once in a while in which he chuckled and pat the horse's neck affectionately. As of so far everything seemed perfect, that was, until the Locksley mansion came into view.
Langley and Robin both shared looks of joy until finer details could be made out. Ruins. The moon hovers ominously over the once-proud castle. Burned to the ground. Gutted and deserted. Towers demolished. Moat drained. Robin and Langley stared, struck dumb with horror. The courtyard was dark. Heartsick, Robin stumbles over the debris.
"Father! Hello!" His voice echoed around the fallen battlements. Azeem placed a hand on his shoulder and points upward. Suspended high on a tower wall is a decaying human corpse. Langley's breath caught in her throat at the bloodied remains of her beloved uncle and Robin's father, dread seeping into her bones at the sight. "No!" Amidst a paroxysm of rage and grief, Robin grabbed the nearest thing and threw it across the courtyard, then moving to the walls to release his anger on them.
"I should have been here." Spent, he leaned against the wall, his eyes closed and fists clenched at his sides.
"We all should have, Robin, but there is nothing we can do now." Langley said softly, her eyes not managing to leave the corpse that hung high in the rafters above.
In the silence, they heard an eerie tapping. Robin drew his sword... A hunched, old man emerges, walking with the aid of a staff, his body and face hidden in the shadows though his outline was clear. It was Duncan.
"Damn you, Duncan. Why didn't you cut him down?" Robin snarled, advancing on the old man with a fist raised with Langley and Azeem in tow.
"Master Robin, is it you? A miracle. I thought God had abandoned us." Duncan said in glee, his voice cracked and vintage like, contrary to how it had been years before Robin's leaving and the events of only a few nights ago.
"You left my father to hang like a common thief, carrion for the crows." Robin continued in rage, his voice low and accusing.
"Easy..." Azeem whispered, pointing to the old man's face which had been revealed in the moonlight. "Look at him." His face was heavily scarred, stitched running through his eye lids and blood staining heavily on his face.
Robin's face slackened as he gripped the old man's arm softly, his rage mixed now with concern and curiosity. "What has happened?"
"They say they captured him worshipping with the Druids. He signed a confession before the Bishop of Hereford." Duncan explained, causing Langley's mind to reel as she tried to take in all that was happening. Something fishy is definitely going on.
"Did they have witnesses?" Robin persisted, the conversation taking a turn to an interrogation as he had gotten the same thought his cousin had: this wasn't right at all.
"Just one. Kenneth of Cowfall. The Bishop decreed all the Locksley lands forfeit."
Robin's jaw clenched, and he gripped Duncan's wrists a bit tighter, though the old man didn't seem to notice. "Did you believe the charges?
"Not even when they took my eyes." Langley felt sick, the reality of this had yet to sink in. She hadn't expected a whole new ordeal of matters to have to fight for. She expected a life of trails when she left but nothing to the likes of this! The last of her family was falling apart at the seams, as was all of Nottingham frankly, by the hand of one man.
"Who did this to you, Duncan?"
"Guy of Gisborne. With the sheriff looking on."
Langley scowled and crossed her arms over her chest, the rage crackling in the air between the two cousins as their minds trailed to the same two people that had been today's flare. "Gisborne and the Sheriff seem to be much worse than either of us first thought."
"Indeed. I should have killed him when I had the chance." Robin snarled back his face turning red from the sudden lapse of emotion.
"And I. We won't make that mistake again either."
"Never again." Robin affirmed, stalking away to the tower to no doubt retrieve his father's body and any belongings the Sheriff and his cronies hadn't burned or stolen. She hadn't remembered feeling so much grief ever in her life. Not even when her family abandoned her for her refusal to marry. No, this was much much worse; Robin had to have been heartbroken to return from many long years of imprisonment to a sight as sore and cruel as this.
The silence that weighed upon us was so great it spoke more words than either of us could have, because in the silence we heard the wailing of passed souls and the pleadings of the tortured ones. And accompanied by the darkness of the night, Langley could only follow Robin in silence, hoping that it would speak for her, as he dragged his father's body to its new resting place.
-0-
Silence had ensued Robin's oath to avenge his father, the only sound the sloshing of every step and clamp of every trot Spade took through the mud. Duncan rode Langley's horse while the other three walked, Robin leading the way to an unknown place; she didn't care to ask either, sure Robin knew what he was doing.
"We make a fine army, do we not? A blind man, an Arab, an outlaw, and a fool." Robin said lowly, his voice cracking slightly as he let out a breathy laugh.
"A fine, wet army." Azeem said, picking up his robes so they didn't get further drenched in the mud. "When does summer come in this blasted place?"
Langley smiled, the only thing covered in mud her boots. "This is summer, Azeem."
The Arab scoffed, "Then Allah is truly great."
Langley raised a brow as she turned to the painted man. "Why, pray tell?"
"No food, no shelter, and weather that would curse the end of Earth; we will all be quickly dead and I shall be rid of my vow." He said a matter-of-factly, smiling almost smugly at the girl who snickered.
"You despair too soon my Arabian friend," Robin said after clapping a hand on the moor's back and gesturing to the castle that had come into view on top of a hill with his free hand. "We shall find all those things in the home of an old friend."
"This is Peter's home!" Langley gasped upon realizing it, a smile breaking upon her face.
Robin laughed at her excitement before nodding, "That it is." He walked forward and knocked on the door, waiting a few moments before the hatch slid back to reveal two beady eyes.
"We accept no more beggars!" Then the hatch promptly shut.
Robin looked shocked before shaking it off and knocking again, this time speaking as well. "Open up!" The hatch slid open again to reveal the two same beady eyes, "tell the mistress of the house that its Robin of Locksley."
"Her ladyship is not at home." The hatch slid to jam Robin's fingers, and he pulled back while clutching his injured hand.
"This hospitality here is about as warm as the weather." Azeem observed quietly, glancing about the land with s small smile on his lips. Langley huffed, silently agreeing, though her mind was elsewhere. Her mind had not rested since she'd come across the town; missing blacksmiths, taxes for everyone, outlaws left and right, unfair men, word of a cruel Sheriff. She didn't know what was brewing, but she knew it wasn't good.
They all went to leave at the rejection when, once more, the hatch slid back again and the old woman's voice spoke through it. "Leave your weapons out here." Everyone began to strip themselves of their weapons but her voice cut them off. "No, only Robin may come in." Azeem and Langley stopped, shrugging at Robin who had an odd look on his face before ridding himself of his sword and entering through the small gap in the door. It closed behind him, and concern flooded through all three people outside.
"So, how'd you and Robin meet?" Langley asked conversationally glancing at the door before turning to the moor across from her.
"We were in the same Turkish prison, Locksley set me free and now I owe him my life." Azeem explained, a small smile on his wise face as he looked back at the black haired girl.
Langley chuckled, "Owing your life to Robin is like trying to follow a gazelle amidst a den of hungry lions, it's hard, but it's one hell of a fight."
Azeem's smiled grew wider, "As I'm sure. How did you get in this mess?"
"I refused to marry my betrothed and was therefore decreed an outlaw by my own father," Langley returned with a shrug, fiddling with a knife in the palm of her hand.
There was a crash inside, and whatever Azeem was about to say was lost over the echos of a battle inside the castle. "Well that's not good."
"Definitely not," Langley amended, going to try and open the door when she realized it was locked. Azeem tried opening it by force, but Langley knew the oak door wouldn't budge under the weight of ten men, let alone one. "Here, let me try." Taking the dagger she was playing with, Langley approached the door and stuck it into the lock, fiddling with it for a while before it clicked. Azeem looked impressed, and nodded at her thoughtfully.
"You must teach me that one day."
"Another time, but lets go fulfill that vow. Duncan, stay here." Then both of them entered the castle.
-0-
As it turned out Locksley was fighting Marian the whole time, but they were talking now and thankfully not at each other's necks. Langley had come upon them fighting and stopped it, and though she hadn't spoken to Marian often, she noticed the woman was wearing a guard's drab and not a lady's dress. She promptly changed though and brought them a quick lunch, however now her and Robin were off doing god knows what as her an Azeem stood atop the wall of Marian's estate. Langley was sharpening her sword, and Azeem was doing something with a glass ball when he suddenly shook Langley and pointed in the distance. "Look! Gisborne and his men!"
Sure enough Gisborne was riding towards them with a group of men in tow, even from the length between them Langley could see his smug smile on his grimy face. "We've got to leave, and quick." Langley muttered, turning to Azeem who nodded quickly.
"Agreed, now get the Christian!" The two of them jumped from the wall and into a pile of hay, gracefully untangling from the straw and calling out for Robin who appeared with Marian at his side.
"Langley, Azeem, what is it?"
"Gisborne and his men are coming!"
"Here? Now?"
"No in two days Robin!" Langley said sarcastically, "yes now you numskull, we must get a move on, and quick!"
"I fear I have placed you in danger," Robin said after turning to Marian, an almost grim smile on his amused features. Her only reply was a 'hm' before she turned to Azeem, who had mounted a gray speckled stallion.
"No that's my horse!"
He smiled at her, "And it's a truly magnificent animal."
Langley beckoned Duncan forward and helped him mount a caramel colored stag before turning to Robin, knowing that her horse would be ready at a moment's call. "Robin, time is pressing."
He promptly ignored Langley and turned to Marian who pressed it was time to go. "But I say I'm not leaving." He amended, the sound of Gisborne's shouting and fast approaching hooves sounding in the background.
"And I say no more boyish gestures." She retorted furiously, Langley waiting impatiently on the outskirts of the conversation as she thought about leaving her cousin or dragging him away.
"Robin-"
"I have sworn to protect you!" Just then Gisborne rounded the gate, though he was a good thirty yards away when Marian turned to him.
"Stop them! They are stealing my horses!"
Langley would have to praise Marian for that quick thinking later, but Robin finally moved and went to jump on the horse with Duncan, taking the reins and spurring him off. Smiling triumphantly for but a moment, Langley forgot she was not mounted and that Gisborne was no more than ten feet away. "Spade!" She called hurriedly, running from her pursuer who was grinning malevolently at being the one to capture the woman who had sparked the Sheriff's attention.
The black stallion rounded the corner with fervency at the sound of his master's call. Charging ahead of his sprinting rider that had cleared a crumbling stone wall and was pumping her arms for the sake of her freedom.
Six feet. The gap between them was closing. Three feet. His arm was reached out, so close to grabbing her hair but- in one leap she had placed her foot in her horse's stirrups and was off, kicking him furiously as she smirked at her small victory of escaping his clutches by mere inches. "Hya!" She spurred him on after her friends in a quick fashion, the sound of Gisborne's strangled cries of loss only making the smirk grow wider on her face as the wind whipped through her braided black hair.
"One hundred crowns for whomever brings me the girl alive, and ten for whomever brings me Locksley's head!"
She rounded the wall and followed the path that Robin and Azeem were riding upon, cutting the space between them quickly and eventually catching up. They rode far into the hills, jumping over walls, straying from the path; all the while in close following of the Dark Knights and their gruffly voiced leader, all of whom were closing the distance between them quite rapidly. "We cannot outrun them; my horse is lame, and your horse carries two. The girl's is the only hope."
"Yes well what shall she do with my one horse-" Robin began, but Langley interjected, having caught the drift Azeem had been hinting upon.
"I could turn myself in. Gisborne shall have every reason to stop chasing after you if he has me. The bounty over my head is already higher than yours, and if I must I shall." She reasoned firmly, not particularly afraid of the Sheriff or his men, but rather glad to have the opportunity to put them in their place.
"No. I shall not have the last of my family dieing for my sake, not while I can help it. We can escape into Sherwood Forest." Robin said firmly, gazing back upon Gisborne's men with unfading hatred before turning his horse in the direction of the tree line.
"But Sherwood Forest is haunted Master Robin." Duncan whispered ominously, as if he was afraid of dishonoring the ghosts himself. Langley shrugged, any alternative was better than all of them being captured.
"Either we take our chances with the ghosts or we become ghosts ourselves."
They all spurred off in the direction of the trees, finding solace and protection from the Dark Knights the further into the forest they went. But as the wood thickened so did the fear, as mysterious sounds became louder and louder and much more common. Duncan gripped to Robin for dear life, the latter looked unfazed, Azeem was better at schooling his expression, but Langley was neither scared nor unperturbed, but rather ready for an attack at any moment, and as so she was stiff in her saddle with one hand on the hilt of her weapon.
"The forest has eyes." Azeem began, looking about the greenery with suspicion before turning to Langley. "I don't suppose you know where we are going?"
She shrugged, "I need not know directions, only that we are now safe and that there is a water source ahead."
The warrior girl was correct, for in no more than twenty feet was a large river with an even larger purpose.