Chapter Fourteen

"There was a fire in the castle last night," Marian told Robin as she dismounted from her horse. "In the alchemy room."

"A fire?" Robin echoed. Suddenly they both heard the sound of pounding hooves, so Robin dove behind a tree.

"Charlotte?" Marian asked as a white horse that looked a lot like the Sheriff's cantered towards her. Astride was Charlotte, her teal coloured dress flapping in the wind.

"How...?" Marian began, but Charlotte interrupted her.

"Give this to Robin for me, would you?" Charlotte asked, tossing Marian a leather bound book, which she deftly caught. With that, Charlotte was off again, her white horse nimbly dodging trees as they strayed from the well-worn path.

"What was that all about?" Robin asked, emerging from behind the tree. He couldn't help but notice how beautiful Marian looked in the dappled green light, her expression puzzled. Her deep blue eyes studied the cover, then Robin's face.

"I am not entirely sure," Marian replied, frowning. "She said to give you this." She handed the book to Robin. For a moment their fingers touched and a ripple of warmth coursed through both bodies. Robin gave Marian a boyish grin before opening the book.

"It's something to do with alchemy," Robin mused, his eyes tracing around the intricate pictures and darting from one foreign word to another. "Djaq should have a look at this."

* * *

"So Djaq, what does it say?" Robin asked as Djaq studied the mysterious notes. Her face instantly lit up.

"This is a book of alchemy. It contains many secrets, which we can use to our advantage! This is excellent!"

"How did Charlotte get her hands on that?" Much asked, looking up from his task of preparing dinner. Will shrugged his shoulders.

"I'm not sure…" Robin said, but then ran his fingers through his hair- a sign that he understood. "The fire, of course!"

"What fire?" John asked.

"I don't know how she did it, but Charlotte must have set the room on fire so that Lord Arthur would not find out that his book had been stolen."

"That was a bit risky," Will observed.

"Risky but wonderful!" Djaq cried. "We now have all the science we need to rob the Sheriff's stronghold!"

"What?" Much yelled, standing up suddenly. "No! I refuse to be a part of this!"

"Oh, yes!" Robin said, grinning from ear to ear. "But we're going to need cunning as well… I'll ask Marian to tell Allan that we need him back."

"Whoa!" Will interrupted. "Wait a moment. Why would we rob the Sheriff's stronghold? As much as I hate the Sheriff, I don't quite understand why we would want to rob the most heavily guarded room in the castle."

"Something fishy is going on," Robin began to explain, but Much interrupted.

"Something fishy is always going on at the castle!"

"I know, Much," Robin said patiently, "but our informant, young master Matthew (A.N. A young guard that I just randomly came up with), has told us that the Sheriff has something unusual in the stronghold. It may give us a bit more information about what he's up to."

"All right," Will agreed, nodding his head.

"Sounds good to me," Djaq said.

"Mmmmm," John grunted, also nodding his head.

"Master!" Much moaned.

* * *

The Sheriff circled an uneasy Charlotte, observing her every move. The Sheriff was mad… in fact, mad was an understatement. He was furious.

"It was you," he spat, his pacing coming to a halt. "You filthy, deceitful leper! I should have known. It is always the woman."

"I'm not sure what you mean," Charlotte objected. The Sheriff leant in closer.

"Oh, I think you do."

"Oh, I think I don't," Charlotte replied, her tone annoyed.

"Then let me refresh your memory," the Sheriff hissed, seizing a fistful of Charlotte's hair. Charlotte winced. "The fire in the alchemy room?"

"I was in your room at the time, my lord Sheriff."

"You thought you were being so clever; what better alibi to have than the Sheriff himself?"

"I still don't get what you're on about."

"No, of course not. Let me warn you, Charlotte, you left out one major detail- where had you been before you came into my room?"

"Sleeping in my bed."

"You told me that you couldn't get to sleep," the Sheriff teased, his eyes lighting up. Vaizey loved to torment people- it was his favourite pastime. Charlotte glared at him.

"Okay, you got me. Congratulations, whatever."

"Oh?" the Sheriff asked. That wasn't part of his plan…

"Earlier on, Lord Arthur told me that because I am a girl, I wasn't able to understand his work. I wanted to prove him wrong, and when my experiment didn't turn out the right way, I left the alchemy room. I must have left the fire slightly alight. It was a total accident," Charlotte lied, praying that the Sheriff would buy it. Luckily for her, he did.

"Haven't you ever heard of male superiority?" the Sheriff asked, tugging on her hair. Suddenly a malevolent grin spread across his lips, making Charlotte nervous. "We must make an example of you," he said, frighteningly strange delight seeping into his voice.

The rabbit was caught in the trap.