Chapter 3
A Miracle
Marian covered Robin's body with her own, holding Robin close to herself. She closed her eyes and captured his lips with hers, kissing him with sudden desperation and possession, her tongue slipping past his lips. His stubble beard brushed her sensitive flesh, tickling it. She was kissing him on his lips, as if she were trying to breathe life into his body.
She didn't move for a long, long time, her lips on Robin's lips. Then she raised her head and looked into his face, tears running down her cheeks. She slightly changed her position and tightened her arms around Robin's back. She gently ran her hand across Robin's cheek, and then put her hand on his neck, on the place where pulse throbbed.
Marian dragged a deep, shuddering breath. She thought that she felt a slow, very slow heartbeat. She shook her head, thinking that she had imagined it. But then she felt it again. And then the sound disappeared – she no longer could feel it. She laughed aloud at herself, her laughter disrobing the black sorrow that nested in her heart. It was a dream that he was alive and his heart was still beating and that he was breathing: she couldn't accept his death and was desperately searching for any sign of life under her touch. It was now time to wake up from dreams.
She pushed her thoughts away, but the pain in her heart didn't let her even breathe. Then she again felt a slow, hardly noticeable throbbing on Robin's neck. She shook her head, confused. Was she mad? Did she imagine it? She slightly pressed her fingers to his neck, at the place where she thought she had felt a heartbeat before, but there was again nothing. The fog swirling in her head, she brushed her head across Robin's neck, and suddenly and she felt the same. No, she was not dreaming – she truly felt his heartbeat again and again.
Marian raised her head and removed her hood. "Djaq! Djaq! Come to me!" she cried out, her expression worried and yet hopeful. "Now! Now!"
Marian looked like a ghost of Lady Marian whom the outlaws had known before. Her cheeks were hollow, she was deathly pale and very thin, but still very beautiful. Yet, there was a visible difference in her: her features were harder, more determined, and probably even harsher. There was an imprint of countless hardships and corroding sorrow in the mimics of her face, in her demeanor, her posture, and in her every movement. Her alabaster skin and long chocolate hair, streaming down her shoulders, glowed in the orange colors of a sunset. Her long, dark eyelashes elegantly framed her sapphire blue eyes, large and expressive, swollen from tears.
Djaq immediately rushed to Marian. "What happened, Marian?" She arched a brow.
"Djaq, I can feel his heartbeat! He is not dead! He is alive!" Marian exclaimed.
The gang gasped in astonishment. They thought that Marian had imagined it.
Tuck shook his head in disbelief. "He was poisoned. He cannot be alive."
Djaq knelt to Robin to examine him. She gave Marian a quick glance filled with both doubt and hope. With trembling hands, the young Saracen woman tried to feel Robin's pulse, one of her hands on his neck. Not feeling anything, she unbuttoned Robin's jerkin and ran her hand across his chest, pressing it to his heart. Then her eyes went wide as she felt a very shallow rise and fall of Robin's chest and an extremely weak throbbing of blood on his neck.
"Dearest God! Robin is alive!" Djaq exclaimed. "He is in a deep slumber, but he is breathing."
Guy's face was cold-hard as iron. "It was a deadly poison. Nobody can survive." Feeling pain straight from the deepest pit of hell, Guy again was overwhelmed with guilt that his poison had killed Robin. He didn't dare hope that Robin was alive.
Djaq turned her gaze at Guy. "Robin is alive; barely alive. He draws shallow and irregular breaths, and it is very difficult to feel his pulse, and it explains why you thought that he had died," she explained, her eyes flashing with hope. "I need to know more about the poison. Maybe I can find a cure and save him. It is urgent, we have no time."
Guy nodded once more, slowly, his expression astonished and simultaneously hopeful. "This poison is the thick amber liquid with the bitter and tart smell. It is a deadly poison which usually takes its toll on its victim slowly, gradually draining strength from the body," he responded.
Marian's eyes locked with Guy's, and she narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously. "Ah, I see," she said quietly as she realized how Guy could have learned about that poison. But it was not the time for discussions because they needed to save Robin; she would talk to him about the matter later.
"Now please tell me that you can save Robin," Much intervened, his heart pounding harder in delight that his best friend still drew breath. "We must do everything to save Robin. We must go to the end of the world to find a cure if he is still alive and there is a small chance that he can survive."
"He must be saved if he… can be saved," Guy said resolutely.
"Robin must be saved. England and King Richard need him. We need him," Marian stated, the corners of her mouth going up in a tiny smile. "I need him alive," she added.
Guy stared at Robin, his eyes vacant. "Robin should live because Marian is alive," he said, putting in his words his resignation that he had lost Marian forever.
Marian turned her gaze at Guy, and their eyes met. She gave Guy a suspicious glance, and he hung his head in shame, knowing that he didn't deserve even to look at her after what he had done in Acre. There was a visible tension between Marian and Guy, and the air was charged with it.
Djaq inspected the scratch on Robin's neck once again. She already guessed that it was a rare, deadly poison which was often used by the Saracens to torture the Christian prisoners and give them a slow, painful death in the end. It was a sheer miracle that Robin hadn't died and had succumbed to slumber and unconsciousness. It could have happened only if Robin had been given the same poison in the past for quite some time, which had made him immune to its lethal effects.
"The Saracens use this poison on their Christian prisoners, torturing them by giving them a tiny dose of poison every day throughout several weeks or months and then a large dose that finally kills a long-suffering victim," Djaq said, looking at the outlaws; her expression remained shut, as if it was a subject she preferred not to discuss.
Archer frowned. "That sounds awful."
Djaq turned her gaze at Much. "Robin is alive only by a miracle. Also, it is possible that he has already been given the same poison in the past, for example, in the Holy Land." Her eyes pierced Much's face. "Much, was Robin ever captured and held captive when you fought in the Holy Land?"
Much sighed. "Yes. Robin and several other guards had been captured by the Saracens several months before King Richard's troops conquered Acre. The Saracen soldiers from Acre's garrison intended to capture Robin for a long time, but they always failed. They needed Robin because he was the Head of the King's Private Guard, the King's right-hand man and close confident. Robin was kidnapped not at Saladin's order, but at the initiative of someone from his entourage." He inhaled and exhaled sharply, his mind blocking memories about the horrors of Robin's captivity. "We didn't know where Robin was held for more than a month, fearing that he was already dead. The King sent several search parties in various villages and towns, but everything was useless. Fortunately, Thomas, Carter's brother, as well as Robin's friends Robert and Raymond, and I eventually found Robin in the dungeon, in the catacombs under the city of Acre."
"Much, we don't have time. Make a long story short," Djaq nearly screamed.
Much turned his head away, staring somewhere among the trees. "It is just not easy to talk about these things." Fear gripped him as he remembered how Robin had looked like when they had finally found him: Robin had been lying on the floor in his cell, half naked and half dead, moaning in pain, his back covered with numerous welts after he had been flogged many times by his captors.
"Much, please," Djaq prompted the man to talk.
"Sorry." Much nodded, struggling to concentrate. "Robin was brutally tortured and beaten. He was barely alive. He was also drugged." He emitted a heavy sigh. "The King's physician took care of Robin and saved his life. Robin awoke in a couple of weeks after we saved him, and he told us that they had him poisoned every day, and he was sure that he would die from the poison that accumulated in his bloodstream. But, to our surprise, Robin only felt better and better with every day. The physician explained that a small dose of poison was administered into Robin's body every day to make him suffer; they planned to kill him by giving him a critical dose in the end."
Little John whistled, his face dark. "Poor Robin."
"The Holy Land is not a paradise even for the King's friends," Archer made a lame attempt to defuse the tension, but it didn't help anyone. John, Much, and Will only glared at him.
At the thought of what had happened to Robin in the Holy Land and what horrors he had witnessed and had endured as the King's soldier, Marian trembled all over. The feelings in her heart were as black as death itself. She had also spent many months in captivity, but she hadn't been tortured because she had been a sick woman who had been barely clinging to life. Since the realization of her importance, Marian had been treated with utmost respect and had been even personally greeted by Saladin. Saladin himself had sent his envoys to negotiate with King Richard the terms of her release.
"Excellent!" Djaq cried out as warmth filled her heart. "What a great luck! This is just perfect! Robin is alive because he must have been tortured with the same poison. He may stay in slumber for several weeks or even months, but he has a good chance to survive."
Archer smiled heartily. "So his body is resistant to this poison."
Djaq gave a nod. "Yes, young man."
Marian tugged at the sleeve of Djaq's tunic. "Can you save him?"
Djaq gave a laugh. "If Robin is immune to this poison, then it means that he is not going to die. Still, there can be some consequences from poisoning, and we must wait until his body cleans out of poisonous toxins. We will help him by giving him some antidote pills. He will need quite some time to recuperate." She pointed at finger at Robin. "This man is very lucky."
Much took a step towards Djaq. "Save him, Djaq! Save Robin! I beseech you to save Robin!"
Tuck eyed everyone. A little smile moved his lips. "It is God's will that Robin Hood is alive. Robin has divine power, like Lady Marian." His smile grew wider. "England needs Robin Hood and Lady Marian." His voice sounded dangerously confident.
Guy smiled at Marian, his heart gentled by the beauty of hers and warmed by the good news about Robin. "Robin Hood must survive. The legend must live."
"Robin will live," Marian asserted, her eyes sparkling with mirth as she looked at her husband.
With the resiliency of youth, Kate recovered from her tears and smiled. "Please save him."
"Save Robin," the outlaws said together.
"I love Robin, he loves me, you love us, and I love you all," Djaq said, winking at Will. Then her eyes darted to Robin. "As I said, Robin may stay in his slumber for many weeks, but I don't think that he will die. We must be patient and take good care of him."
"The Lord brought Marian and you to us today. You will save Robin. And we all will be happy," Much prattled, his face lighting up with a content smile. "We missed you so much!"
Will smiled. "We missed you, too."
Little John gently took the hero's body in his arms. He carried Robin to the outlaws' camp and placed Robin on his old bunk, thinking that it was good that Robin hadn't shared his bed with Kate, which was so important on the back of Marian's resurrection. Much had the same thoughts, wondering what Kate would do right now. Marian and Djaq also came to Robin's bed, the outlaws following them. Everyone's mood greatly improved with the news that Robin Hood was alive.
Kate and Guy trailed after the others. They stopped in the clearing, from which they could observe the outlaws' camp. Neither of them wanted to be in the overcrowded camp when everyone was fussing over Robin Hood. They needed solitude before their lives became exceedingly full.
"A lovely evening," Guy told Kate who walked next to him. "Glory be to God."
"Yes," Kate answered. "Robin is alive."
A contented smile formed on his lips as Guy looked at Marian who was trying to help Djaq. "Thanks to God that Marian is alive," he said huskily. "It has been my most cherished dream to turn the time back for so long, so I could have acted differently in Acre." Then, all his features clouded, and he growled in a hoarsened rasping voice. "I hate myself for what I did to Marian, but at least she is alive."
Kate looked at Guy in amazement. "But Lady Marian is not yours," she remarked sarcastically.
"The most important thing is that Marian is alive," Guy answered with emotion in his voice. "And Robin is alive as well." He paused, sighing deeply; it was so difficult to think that Marian had been so close but that she hadn't belonged to him. "They still have a chance to be together."
"Only if Robin survives," Kate said in a throaty voice.
"He will recover," Guy said.
Kate nodded at Guy, then turned around and stalked into the forest, wishing to be alone and think of her life. Guy stood in the clearing for some time, watching Marian and Djaq sitting next to Robin's bed. Then he also went to the woods, in the opposite direction where Kate had gone before.
Djaq spent the whole evening near Robin. She poured sweet, green liquid down Robin's throat, hoping that antidote would increase the cleansing of Robin's body. Although Robin was relatively immune to Guy's poison, he still needed some antidote to alleviate the pain he felt in his body even in unconscious state and guarantee that his body would be free from poisonous toxins. Djaq informed that they had to give Robin antidote every five-six hours during the first week, every day during the next two weeks, and then depending on the speed of his recovery.
Robin Hood was alive and everyone hoped that the hero would cheat death again.
In the evening, the outlaws gathered around the fire to eat the food Much cooked for them. Smoke from the fire filled the air like a thousand species, and the wind carried their voices through the silence of the night. The gang discussed the siege of Nottingham, Vaisey and Isabella's deaths, Allan's tragic death, and Robin's poisoning. The atmosphere was tense, but everyone was delighted that Marian returned and that Robin was alive. Much, Guy, and Archer asked Will and Djaq many questions about King Richard's capture; they even began to make plans how to save the King.
Marian didn't need the outlaws now: she wanted to spend all her time with Robin. She sat on the edge of Robin's bunk, holding his limp hand in hers, her eyes taking in his face. Robin still was a devilishly handsome and charming man she had fallen in love with many years ago, and yet he was not the same man. Robin's features became sterner and some new, hardly noticeable lines creased his forehead and skin under his eyes. Now Robin looked exhausted and older than he had looked in Acre when Marian had seen him for the last time as she had been dying in his arms. Yet, he still looked younger than his real age, but the trace of hidden suffering was undeniable.
Marian let her eyes travel down Robin's prone form. She prayed that Robin would be able to recover from poisoning. She wanted him to live and be with her for the rest of their lives. For the first time in many years, she didn't think about the poor and England, about fight for justice and peace. England, King Richard, Prince John, the poor, the outlaws, and everything else perished and only Robin remained in Marian's world. She wanted to think only about Robin.
Marian was grateful that the outlaws didn't ask her how she had spent all those months without Robin. She hated talking about her time in the Holy Land, wishing only to forget the days when she had been on the brink of death. It was too painful to remember how she had been spending hours in a bed, struggling to break from the clutches of death and fighting with fever and infection. She even didn't like to remember the days when she had already awakened and had been waiting for news from King Richard about her ransom, then overcoming miles and miles on the open stillness of the sea on the way from the Holy Land, and finally languishing in the Austrian dungeon.
She lovingly caressed Robin's cheek with her thumb. "Robin, you must live. You are strong, but together we are stronger: I will give you my strength to recover. Your mother called you a little bird, and you justified this nickname because you left me too many times like birds leave when seasons change. But you will never leave me again – I won't let you leave me," she thought.
Maria heard someone clearing his throat, and raised her head. As she stared at the intruder, she felt her heart skip a beat and then hammering harder. Guy of Gisborne stood in front of her, and she didn't want to talk to him. As she saw him, all the gentleness was gone from her face. Her features hardened, her jaw clenched, her lips thinned, and her eyes focused and narrowed at him. She instinctively grabbed Robin's scimitar and jumped to her feet.
"Gisborne," Marian began menacingly, her hand gripping the scimitar, "what do you want?"
Guy cringed at the sight of Marian in a defensive position. Her predatory gaze and the firm lines of her mouth scared him. He again recalled how he had injured her in Acre, and his heart swelled with remorse for all his crimes, for all the lives he had taken and all the blood he had spilled.
"Marian, you don't need to fear me. I will do nothing to hurt you," Guy said softly.
She laughed bitterly. "Not this time?" she asked sarcastically.
"I'm not going to attack you physically or hurt you emotionally," he continued, struggling to keep his voice steady. "I came to tell you that I'm happy you are alive."
She eyed him attentively, and she could see that he said the truth. She sighed, then shook her head. "I'm sorry for my reaction." She put a scimitar on the ground.
"I understand."
"Please take a seat," she invited as she seated herself onto the bunk.
Guy's body slumped to the ground, not far from Marian. He looked at her and sighed with relief as her expression softened; then he looked down at Robin. "I hope that Robin will recover soon."
"And so do I," her metallic voice resonated.
They stared at each another in an ominous silence. Guy waited for her to speak, but she was silent. She gave him an expectant look, and he realized that she expected him to continue. He lowered his head, staring at his boots, unable to bring himself to talk to her.
"You are angry at me," Guy broke the silence. He finally lifted his eyes to look at her.
"Angry, disappointed, hurt, and remorseful," Marian said firmly, holding his gaze. "It is difficult to find words to describe what exactly I feel now." She brushed away the dark curls from her forehead. "When we were in the Holy Land and the Sheriff shot the King, I knew that I had to save King Richard. I couldn't allow you to kill him." She swallowed heavily. "I taunted you with my true feelings for Robin. But I didn't think that you would run me through with your sword."
Guy hated himself for what he had done to Marian. "When we stood in the courtyard and you… told me about Robin and yourself, I didn't understand what I was doing. I was enraged and blinded by jealousy." That didn't justify his actions, but he couldn't offer her any other explanation.
"When Robin was jealous of you to me, he never hurt me physically," she countered.
He raised a quizzical brow, a part of him pleased to hear that Robin had also been jealous. "I'm sorry." There was nothing more he could say to her.
"You must be." There was a touch of sarcasm in her intonation.
"I know that nothing can change what I did to you in Acre. Nothing can justify my actions," Guy said honestly. "But I want to become a better man. Maybe one day you will see that I changed."
Marian leaned forward and put her hand over his. "I definitely need time to adjust to your presence close to Robin and myself, but I'm glad that you finally turned against the Sheriff and Prince John." Then she took her hand away and folded her arms over her chest.
He smiled wanly. "Thank you."
"Welcome." She talked to him in a half welcoming manner, not able to be completely friendly with him. She was civil and respectful, but cold, half-hearted and careful in choosing her words.
Guy wasn't astonished by her chilly attitude to him after what he had done to her. He was worried about her heath and interested in how she had spent those months in the Holy Land. He hoped that there were no consequences from her injury, but he didn't dare ask such details.
"How was your time in the Holy Land?" he questioned, the words sticking in his throat.
"Fine. I will tell you," Marian conceded, with a dubious, hard glance at him. "I'm alright now, but I felt very bad for a long time. I spent many months in captivity, and it was hardly easy for me. At first, I was held somewhere near Acre, but then they took me to Jerusalem. I was alone and wounded, in a foreign land, surrounded by strange people, who, to their respect, treated me well and saved my life. Yet, everything was uncertain and my release was not guaranteed."
He arched an eyebrow. "Why?"
Marian shivered as the memories replayed in her mind. "I was unconscious for several months and couldn't tell the Saracens my name. In the worst case scenario, by the time I awoke I could have already been given to someone as a gift or could have become a woman in a royal harem."
"But it didn't happen."
"Yes, it didn't."
"How did you avoid that?"
She sighed. "I owe many thanks to God and the rumors that helped the Saracens understand my true identity. Two things saved me – the reputation of the infamous Captain Locksley in the Holy Land and the tragic story about the English woman who had saved King Richard in Imuiz and then had married Robin of Locksley with her dying breath. If the story about my death hadn't reached Saladin and his advisors and if they hadn't remembered the former Captain of King Richard's Private Guard, I would have probably ended up in the harem of Saladin or any other rich Muslim."
Guy sighed. "I beg my pardon that I reminded you about that."
"King Richard paid a huge ransom for me. Saladin turned out to be a greedy man." She scoffed, but her mouth still was in firm lines. "Despite the peace negotiations with King Richard, Saladin didn't order to release me immediately. The King spent two months discussing the size of ransom."
"Then we all owe our thanks to the King."
Marian studied Guy's face for a moment, and then looked at Robin; she pointed a finger at Robin. "I suppose that Robin and I did enough for our King to be saved by him at least once."
Guy followed her gaze, lingering his gaze at Robin, and then looked back at her. "You both deserve that more than anyone else."
"Of course," she replied, looking between Guy and Robin.
"Marian," he called as though tasting her name, "will you ever be able to forgive me?"
Marian turned away. She caressed Robin's cheek, looking at her husband with longing. She was silent for a while, thinking what she could say to Guy. Finally, she decided to tell him the truth, even if it enraged him. There was one thing that she would never forget and, perhaps, not forgive.
She stiffened as she faced Guy's pleading eyes, her gaze icy. "I will try to forget, but I'm not sure that I will be able to forgive." She took a deep breath. "You killed our child on that day."
Guy gasped and shut his eyes as her words sunk in. He was shocked because he had never thought that there had been something more than a romance between Marian and Robin. Yet, it seemed that he didn't know many things about Marian. In contrary to Marian's expectations, Guy wasn't angry and even didn't feel betrayed and used: instead, he felt much guiltier than before.
He opened his eyes, but he was unable to look at Marian. "Your child? You and Robin…"
Her eyes flashed with anger. "I was carrying Robin's child when you stabbed me. I lost the baby because of my injury and because of your inability to control your anger."
Guy's face was glowing with pain and remorse. "Robin never told me about that when he… blamed me for your death. He shouted that I killed his love and his wife, but he never… mentioned… his child."
Marian glanced back at Guy and was pleased to see his painful expression. She knew that it wasn't a good emotion to feel satisfied with Guy's torments, but she could do nothing with herself. When she had realized that she had been pregnant, she had felt the joy of her life and she had laughed with the foolishness of a child in spite of the fact that she had been the Sheriff's prisoner. She had wanted Robin's child with a fierceness she had never known in herself before, thinking that Robin had died.
Her features softened at the sight of Guy's pain; she felt pity for him. She knew that she would have done the right thing if she had stopped the conversation and had spared Guy the knowledge about the death of her unborn child, but she wanted Guy to feel the pain he had caused her.
Marian again felt determined to tell Guy only the truth. She took Robin's hand in hers and squeezed it. "Robin doesn't know about the baby. I didn't tell him before I died. He was absolutely heartbroken when we exchanged marriage vows, and I didn't want to cause him more pain."
He buried his face in his hands, biting back tears. "I didn't know. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
"I realized my condition on the ship to Acre. I couldn't tell Robin because the Sheriff kidnapped me." She raised Robin's hand to her mouth and pressed her lips to the knuckles before laying it back on the sheets. "If we hadn't gone to the Holy Land, I would have left the castle. I would have found refuge in an abbey or a convent; probably some of Robin's friends could have helped us."
"You offered me to marry you if I killed the Sheriff and saved the King." His voice was shaking.
"I thought that Robin was dead, and I had to save the King and myself." She knew that her words were a painful blow for Guy, but the truth was better.
Guy hung his head. A sharp feeling of guilt ripped through his chest. His world came crashing in around him. He feared that he had damned himself with the double crime he had committed in the Holy Land – the attempt on Marian's life and the murder of Marian's child. He wished a thousand times over since the events in Acre that he had let Marian go and be happy with Robin Hood, but his wishes count for nothing. He couldn't undo the harm he had caused Marian and Robin.
Meanwhile, Kate was hiding behind a tree, observing Marian and Guy. She couldn't hear them, but their conversation interested her very much. She wanted to know how Marian was treating the man who had almost killed her in a jealous rage. She knew that Marian had once run away from the church in Locksley, leaving Guy at the altar and riding off on Robin Hood's horse.
Kate was very interested in Marian's relationship with both Robin and Guy. She watched Guy lower his head. With heart pounding in jealousy, she watched Marian caress Robin's face and stroke his hair. Her heart was dark and filled with unshed tears, which lay within her, but she was trying to remain composed and stoic. She couldn't let anyone see how heartbroken she was.
"Ah, you are here," Kate heard the voice behind.
Kate turned around, still hiding behind the tree, and her gaze locked with Archer's. "What do you want?" She gnashed her teeth in the impotence of anger. "Are you spying on me?"
Archer returned her unwelcoming greeting cordially, laughing at her and bowing to her. "I'm very glad to meet you alone, even if you don't want to see me now."
Kate stared at Archer with dazed eyes, charmed by his handsome appearance for a moment. She had a queer feeling that she was in the presence of a superior being. Archer's voice was marvelously deep and musical, even deeper than Robin's voice at the moments when Robin had talked to her in privacy. Archer was a handsome man, and he attracted her. His athletic body and his broad shoulders betrayed the real strength of the man. Kate looked at him in wide-eyed wonder, thinking that she liked his appearance more than even Robin Hood's.
"What do you need?" she repeated at last.
Archer grinned at her. "You are a very pretty, girl. Do you know that?"
There was a pause between Archer and Kate as they stared at each other. Archer seemed ravished with delight when he looked at her, and his face expressed joy, his eyes sparkling. Kate lowered her eyes, feeling her cheeks flushing with pleasure as she enjoyed his attention to her.
But Kate wasn't going to permit herself to be charmed by another cheeky rogue. "What are you trying to achieve?" she asked rudely as she lifted her eyes and stared with a challenge at Archer.
Archer was attracted to Kate more than to other women, but she didn't appear to understand his feelings. He didn't know what his sudden affection for Kate meant to him, but he wanted to talk to her and know more about her family and her. Some conversation had already taken place between them during the siege of Nottingham, but he craved to know her closer. Now, when Kate had lost Robin, Archer thought that she wouldn't mind his company.
Pointing in the direction of the camp with his hand, Archer said, "I was strolling in the forest when I discovered you behind the tree. So I came to ask whether I can somehow help you."
Kate eyed him suspiciously. "I thank you, but all your attention is nothing to me." Her expression evolved into sadness. "There is no comfort which I'm capable of receiving now."
Archer offered her a bright smile. "I know that the sympathy of a stranger can be but of little relief to the former girl of Robin Hood, but you will, I hope, soon quit this melancholy." He made a step to her. "Then you will be free to look around." His smile widened. "The camp is full of boys."
"How dare you tell me these things, you brute!" Kate cried out. Momentarily she felt her eyes tingle with tears of shame and humiliation. "You may be Robin's brother, but you are not like him!"
"Yes, I'm not a married man," he said simply.
"And you will never marry a girl because you are a crook and a knave," she replied, trying to sound indifferent and trying to ignore the fluttering in her heart. She really liked Archer.
He only laughed at her. "Your rudeness doesn't worry me because I like your spirit."
"Don't come close to me! I don't want to ever see you again!" Kate almost screamed. Then she stalked into the forest, angry and offended, listening to the distant sounds of Archer's laugh.
Fortunately, Robin Hood is not dead. He is slowly recovering from the poisoning, but he hasn't emerged from his slumber yet, and Marian obviously wants to spend all her time with Robin.
Marian has a frank conversation with Guy as they need to talk after what the tragedy in the Holy Land. They will continue their conversation in the next chapter.
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