Disclaimer: I do not own Robin Hood, as it is the property of the BBC
Chapter 29
As Robin practised his archery on the edge of the camp, he realised that Marian had not come back to the camp after her spat with him.
He knew that she was strong willed and stubborn, but was worried that something would happen to her alone in the forest.
Remembering that John had gone after Marian put his mind at ease, until he begin to think that the pair of them had beengone a while, and maybe something could have happened to the pair of them.
Looking around the camp to be sure that they had not come back without alerting him, he noted that Will and Much hadn't comeback from their hunt, and Ava was still out collecting firewood.
Those three had been gone rather a while too.
It wouldn't have worried him if it were just Much and Ava, because he could guess what they were up to, but if that were the case then surely Will would have come back.
Going to ask Djaq if she had seen or heard anything from any of them, he found that she was not in the camp either.
This rather un-nerved him because he was certain that if Djaq were going somewhere she would have told him, and that some of the others had been gone for too long.
Sheating his short sword in his belt and grabbing his bow and arrow, he left the camp, heading through the forest, looking this way and that for any indication of where his friends were, and what had happened to them.
After a while he reached a clearing - in his experience, clearings were bad news. Major forest fights took place in clearings.
He looked around the place, which seemed quite eery and dark and his attention was caught by loud moaning, groaning and mumbling.
His head snapped up to see Much and Marian tied back to back, both trying to communicate with him through their gags.
His face fell as he saw them, wondering why stuff like this always happened, and looked around to see that John was a short way off...Ava and Will were tied together on the opposite side, with Djaq not far off.
He then heard footsteps behind him, and turned sharply to see Carter.
' Let me guess,' he said darkly, whilst his mind whirred, ' the Sheriff sent you? '
; He wants his pact back,' Carter said simply.
' No chance,' came the reply, which Carter had pretty much expected.
' Oh but I guarenteed it to the Sheriff,' the blonde said.
' Yeah? ' Robin smirked,' well, you made a mistake.'
' Tell me where you've hidden it,' demanded Carter.
' I'll die first,' Robin said, in all seriousness.
' No,' Carter said firmly,' your friends shall die first one by one until you tell me. '
Robin looked at his friends, trying to convey reassurance in his eyes to them, especially to Marian - so new to this forest way of living - and to Ava - the youngest, who he always felt compelled to look out for due to her age.
Carter laughed humourlessly, ' You see, with that little look back there, you just revealed your weakness. Never look back friend - now I know I've won,' he sneered.
He then looked around at Much and Marian ' So...who shall I start with? Your little sidekick from the Holy Land? Or do you have a soft spot for the girl? '
At this, Robin reached behind him to grab an arrow from the holder on his back and strung it in to his bow, firing it mere centimetres away from Carter's face.
Carter retaliated by beginning to throw his small daggers at Robin, who dodged skillfully, and ran at Carter, tackling him to the ground, where he held him down and punched his face once.
Much had at this point managed to pull down is gag by using his teeth and moving his head around and called out, ' Unbelievable! We took him in! Pitied him because he was wounded! '
' I think that was his plan, Much,' Robin said, in an attempt to shut his longest standing friend up.
' I know! Outrageous! '
Robin soon had Carter tied to a tree and then proceeded to send an arrow to the ropes holdign John and Djaq to the trees, who in turn went to untie Marian, Much, Will and Ava.
Once they were all sure that they were unharmed, they assembled on the ground with Robin, in front of Carter.
Marian thrust hersle forwards and delivered a sharp blow to his jaw, causing the others to exchange looks of suprise - they knew not to go against Robin's orders, and for the most part, did as they were told, whereas Marian had already had a dressing down for the day, but still continued to do her own thing.
' Marian,' Robin breathed, shaking his head in exasperation.
' No! ' Marian insisted, ' He'll tell us more if he knows we're willing to hurt him.'
' That's not how we're doing this, ' Robin declared.
' Speak for yourself,' Marian disagreed, swinging her fist back again, only for Robin to catch it in his arm and hold her fast.
' Just calm down and go and cook something, ' he told her with an edge to his voice as he let og of her hand.
Marian glared angrily, ' What - because I'm a woman? ' retorted.
Robin snorted at the stupidness of her question - he knew by now not to expect women to cook just because they were women. Djaq's cooking was full of so many spices that no one could ever eat it and Ava's cooking - despite the fact that she spent the majority of her time with the camp's resident cook - consisted of black burnt lumps.
' No, because I'm hungry,' he shot back to Marian, who stormed off yet again.
' What are we going to do with him, Robin? ' Ava asked, jerking her thumb in the direction of the currently tied up Carter.
' We'll take him back to Nottingham. He's failed to find the fact and he's failed to kill me. So what do you think the Sheriff will do to a man who has failed him that badly? ' he asked, eyes on Carter.
' Hang him by the neck, ' Will replied with an air of certainty.
Robin laughed, ' If he's lucky,' he smirked.
' To Nottingham then? ' Much asked as minutes later, they were gathering their weapons from the store.
' No,' Robin replied cheerfully, ' to Clun first. But no you Marian, you're staying here. '
' What? Why? ' Marian asked, with a sure frown.
' Because I think you need some time alone,' he replied simply.
' Why? ' Marian pressed on, feeling as though the gang were leaving her out.
' Because this isn't the Marian I know and love,' he informed her.
Marian glared,' I'm sorry if you're disappointed but this is who I am now,'
' Really? ' he asked, as his voice was tainted with disbelief, ' well, I really hope not. Come on you lot! Let's go! '
' Why Clun, anyway? ' Djaq asked in interest.
' Because there's something I want to show him. Now come on! ' Robin replied with a cool glance at Carter, who had been untied from the tree to get him back to camp, but was being watched closely by all people.
Once in Clun, Robin instructed John to keep a close eye on Carter at all times and then approached the cottage of a widow - a woman whose husband had died earlier that same day by the hand of the Sheriff's guards.
Robin and the others spoke to her and offered her their condolances, before Robin took Carter aside to speak to him.
Much took this chance in the village to pay a quick visit to the baker's, as the baker in this village often gave them bread in exchange for a little money to keep his wife and children fed and clothed.
This left the rest of the gang with the widow - whose name was Jane, and her children - a newborn babe, a small girl of around 2 years old, and a young boy of around 6 years of age.
John immediatly began to speak to Jane in a tactful way that the others- being of less life experience than John - would not have been able to do as easily.
The rest of them - Will, Ava, Much and Djaq, decided to try and keep the children occupied.
Djaq kept the boy - Edmund - occupied by showing him her bow, and letting him hold it - though of course it was not loaded.
The girl tugged on Will's pant leg and when he looked down, held out her arms to him, ' Emma lift! ' she said to him, with a smile spread across her face, ' Emma lift! '
' I think she wants you to pick her up, Uncle Will, ' Ava grinned, knowing that Will had a way with children.
And indeed Will lifted little Emma in to his arms and spoke to her as he bounced her up and down, causing her to giggle.
Jane stopped talking to John long enough to look up and see that Will and Djaq had each occupied a child, whilst Ava was stood like a spare part.
' Would you like to hold my baby? ' she asked Ava, nodding at the infant in her arms.
Ava blinked in suprise, ' M-me? '
Jane laughed, ' Why yes, you. I must say that my little Annie here hasn't taken her eyes off you since you got here, '
Ava looked a little unsure, worried that she would drop or otherwise harm baby Annie, but Jane was insistent, and handed the baby over.
Ava - though at first unsure - soon settled in to the way of holding the baby and cradledher gently in to her chest.
Baby Annie - who was just a few months old - grabbed hold of a lock of Ava's dark long hair that was dangling down, and played with it in her hands, whilst looking in to the young woman's eyes. She seemed transfixed by the vivid blue colour of Ava's eyes.
Ava smiled gently as she held Annie closer.
Will took a step closer to Ava and grinned at her, ' There you go, ' he said with an encouraging smile, ' natural mother. '
Ava tore her eyes from the beautiful child to stare at her surrogate uncle in shock, ' Me? A mother? '
Will's grin, if possible, broadened, ' Yes. '
' Not bein' funny Will, but I don't now the first thing about caring for children.' she replied, in suprise.
Will shrugged, choosing to ignore the fact that she had just used her father's saying, ' You'll learn in time for when you've your own. That is, assuming you and Much want children? ' he asked, curious of her answer.
Ava looked as though the thought had never even crossed her mind, ' We've never spoken about it...' she told him, as her cheeks flushed with embarrassment, ' I'm too young yet, only a few months until I'm 18. '
Will nodded, ' Of course - but in the event that you do have any children, I think you ought to name one after your dear favourite uncle. '
Ava fixed him with a stern look, ' Uncle Will! ' she cried, in a tone thta told him not to argue with her.
Will smirked and turned his attention back to the child in his arms, as Much snuck up behind his beloved fiance and wrapped an arm around her waist.
Ava turned around to smile at him, only to see that his face was twisted in to an expression of pure shock, ' What is that? ' he asked, looking down at Annie, and removing his arm from Ava.
' It's a baby, of course,' she replied as though it were obvious - which it was really.
Much frowned at her, ' I leave you alone for 10 minutes and when I come back, you have a baby? '
The others - Jane, John, Will and Djaq - laughed, as Ava informed Much that he could stop worrying because the baby was Jane's, and in case he had forgotten, they hadn't done anything that would result in a baby, and nor had her body expanded from pregnancy.
After relaxing a little, Much had re-wrapped his arms around his girl, and joined her in cooing over the baby, whilst the others stole glances at them and decided that they would make good parents, even if they didn't yet think so.
Robin then decided that he had finished his converstaion with Carter, and made his way back over to the others.
He passed Will, who was stood a short way off from the others, examining wood which he and his father had put down for a friend in the village a while ago.
' Alright Will? Let's go,' he said.
He had just gotten past Will, and assumed that Carter was behind him, when he heard Will cry out in pain and turned around to see that Will was on the dusty ground, clutching the side of his head.
He called over to the gang who said heir quick goodbyes to Jane and the children - and rushed to their friend and leaders aid.
Robin looked around to see that Carter had gone.
' John, Will, Djaq, down by the road. Ava, Much, go down there,' he commanded, pointing them on different directions.
' What about you? ' Ava asked her leader.
'I'll stay here, don't worry about me,' he replied quickly, ' just go, both of you.'
Doing as they were told Ava and her fiance drew their weapons and ran off down the road, making sure to keep together.
After what seemed like an ages of searching where they should be, Much sighed in frustration and stopped to look at Ava,
' This is hopeless isn't it? We're not going to find him, are we? '
Ava gave him a look that told him she didn't thnk they would find the man they seeked out either, and interlocking her fingers in to Much's, followed as he deicided they ought to head back up to the village and see if Robin had had any luck.
As they walked, Much decided to bring up something thta was troubling him, ' Do you think I'm old? ' he asked her.
She gave him an incredulous look, ' You what? '
' Me - am I old? ' he pressed on,
' Much, you're 28, ' she told him, shaking her head at the idiocity of his query.
He sighed, ' I know, and you're 18,' he said.
Ava, realising what this was about, shook her head at him again, ' You're worried that you're too old for me, aren't you? What have I told you about that, you prize prat? Stop it! There's nothing wrong with you. '
He sighed and pulled her a little closer, ' It's jut that...seeing you with the baby made me think about children of our own...and how most people start a family years younger than I am...more around your age.'
Ava let go of his hand and instead wrapped her arm around his waist and snuggled closer to him as they walked and she continued to reassure him, ' Much...if we have children, I won't care how old we are, because if there's one thing being an outlaw teaches you, it's that you have to get on with life and enjoy it while you can. '
Much in return draped his arm over her skinny little shoulders, ' Just think what a house - no, the manor of Bonchurch - would be like with beautiful little chilren running around, whilst you're cooking them their dinner. ' after a moment his face changed as he realised something,' oh no, you can't cook. '
She swatted his arm playfully, ' When we're finally out of all this outlaw stuff, and you make me your Lady Bonchurch, we shall have servants. Many many servants, so that neither of us have to cook.'
' A brilliant notion as usual, my love,' he replied as they reached the place where they had left Robin.
Dropping her arms from her fiance, she looked around, ' Where do you suppose he is? '
Much also severed the physical contact as he drew his short sword, ' I'd try that there barn, ' he decided.
Un - sheathing her sword too, Ava moved forward and burst in to the barn, closely followed by Much.
They had both expected to see some sort of fight, but instead, Robin was crouched on the floor embracing Carter, who seemed to be crying, in to a hug.
' Everything all right? ' Ava asked, her face softening when she saw that no one seemed to be in any danger.
Over Carter's shoulder, Robin nodded and gave them both a smile.
Much frowned, ' Why's he crying? ' he asked in wonderment.
' He's not crying, ' replied Robin, meeting Carter's eyes,' he's laughing on the wrong side of his face.'
A few moments later, when Carter had composed himself, he apologised to both Ava and Much for the whole hostage / tying to other people incident that had occured earlier that day.
Robin then suggested that he share a little about his brother (it turned out he was trying to kill Robin because his brother, Thomas, had been under Robin's command in the Holy Land, and had died in battle. Carter believed that Robin had killed him, although he now knew otherwise)
' Thomas was my hero, ' Carter told them, ' wherever he went, I had to go too. And when he joined in the in the Holy Lands, I knew that I had to follow. I had only just joined when he...when he died, ' he told them, as they sat in a circle on the ground - just the four of them.
Much spoke up,' Thomas...you look like him - I suppose that's why I recognised you.'
' I was determined to carry on for him,' Carter admitted,' to be as good as him, to get to the very top. I joined the King's private guard.'
'Like us,' Much grinned.
Robin shared his grin, and threw him a friendly wink. They were proud of what they'd done in the Holy Land and even more proud that they had been there and come back with their best friend.
Carter also grinned, and Ava couoldn't help but grin - through her sadness at hearing about the death of Carter's brother.
Carter continued, ' That's where I heard about you. I was Robin this, Robin that - how great you were...and it made my blood boil. And everytime I killed, I imagined I was killing you. The man who took my brother away from me. And when I returned...I came straight to Nottingham. Heard that the Sheriff has a contract on your head - 500 pounds. '
' 500 pounds? ' Robin asked, clearly not happy - surely he was worth more?
' So I figured, ' Carter pressed on, ' that with the plan to lure you to the village, I'd get to you quicker.'
Ava frowned, ' So all this death - those innocent villagers who the guards killed - it was all ofr personal revenge? '
Carter nodded, ' Yes, and I'm sorry about it - about everything. '
There was a short silence in which everyone knew notwhat so say, until Robin looked directly to Carter and asked him,
' When did you last see the King? '
Carter was slightly confused by this question, ' Why? '
' Well...because we sent him a message - a very important message. The messenger was a man named Roger of Stoke. Do you know him? '
Carter bit his lip and nodded, ' I know Roger. But no, he was expected but did not return. '
The other two men, and the young woman each bore the same look on their faces, the same look of dismayal at realising their plan had failed.
' Great,' Robin said sarcastically, ' so the King knows nothing about Sha-Mat? '
' Sha what? ' Carter asked.
' It's difficult to explain,' Much sighed.
' What can I do? ' Carter asked, genuinly wanting to help after finding out that these people were not so bad.
' What can you do...' Robin asked himself, thinking of it in side his head before coming up with, ' you can do what you set out to do. Go back to Nottingham, give the Sheiff back his pact, and one dead outlaw. '
Throwing their leader a questioning look, Robin told them that they ought to be getting back to camp, as they had work to do.
Just outside the barn, they met up with Djaq, Will and John.
Robin told the three of them that he had resolved his differences with Carter, and had a plan. He then told Djaq they woulod need a potion that made the person appear dead, to which Djaq replied that she knew just the thing.
As they all walked back to camp, John took the lead, striding ahead on his own. Will and Djaq were behind him, sharing one of their usual tension filled conversations that made the others wish they'd just hurry up and get together.
Carter and Ava were quite a way behind, chatting easily after finding that they got on well with much of an effort - there could be a good friendship there.
Much and Robin brought up the rear, talking about goodness know what.
Carter and Ava's conversation flowed easily.
'So what's a girl like you doing in a place like this? ' he asked with, with a lop sided grin.
Ava smirked, liking the feel of having a good looking man flirting with her again - although that was all, since neither of them felt a proper attraction.
She grinned as she spoke, ' Oh you know how it is - one day you're living in some boring godforsaken village, and the next you're seeking out relatives you've never met who happen to be in Robin Hood's gang. Said relative insists you stay, and the rest, as they say, is history. '
' One of the gang is a relation of yours? ' he asked in interest, ' who might that be? It can't be Much, since you two are all over each other, not the sarcen since...well she's a saracen. Little John's daughter? Robin's younger sister? Will's cousin..or a niece? '
Ava sighed, ' No. My father was in the gang...but he...left.'
' Oh, I'm sorry, ' Carter said sincerely before his lips twitched in to a cheeky smile, ' but if your family isn't holding you here, what say you and me get far far away from here and start a life all our own? '
' Tempting,' she replied as they entered the camp,' and were I not engaged to the man I love, I would have to seriously consider that. '
Carter shrugged, ' Ah well, just so long as you invite me to the wedding - I reckon I'd make a good bridesmaid.'
Marian, on seeing the gang return from their day's excursion, stood up from her seat and offered Carter a rather hostile stare, ' What's he doing here? '
' It's a long story,' Robin replied shortly, ' but everything's fine. '
' Allan was here,' Marian said casually, although she knew this statement would catch the attention of the whole gang.
Ava managed to hide her smile at the mention of her father.
John, Robin, Much and Djaq looked murderous at the mention of their former friend, whilst Will looked angry, though to a lesser extent.
' Allan? ' echoed Little John in disgust.
' Who's Allan? ' Carter muttered in to Ava's ear.
' Allan? ' echoed Robin in hatred.
' My father, ' Ava replied in a low mumble, so as not to disturb the rest of the conversation.
' Yes. Gisbourne sent him to find me,' Marian replied grimly.
Carter poked her in her side to keep her attention and whispered, ' What's wrong with him? Why does no one seem to like him? '
' I'll kill him! ' John roared.
' Because he betrayed us all to go and work for Gisbourne and the Sheriff,' Robin replied snappily, as h elooked over at Carter, relieving Ava of the responsibilty of answering the question.
' No, he was trying to help,' Marian countered.
At hearing her father was helping, Ava resisted the urge to shout at the rest if them that he was a good person.
Marian continued, ' He sent Gisbourne a letter saying I'm at Ripley Convent.'
Djaq here interuppted by telling Robin - who had a face of thunde, as though he didn't believe that Allan was doing good, ' The medicine is ready for you whenever you want...but this could be dangerous. '
Robin turned to John,' What is it you say John? Today's a good day to die! '
Marian - who had no idea what was going on here - asked, ' What? '
' We're going to Nottingham - to collect Carter's fee. We're going to give it to the people of Clun.'
' We? ' Marian asked, raising an eyebrow, ' am I to take it that that includes me? '
The outlaws listened as Robin asked Marian to stay in the camp for the day - just for today - and Marian reluctantly agreed, which came as a suprise.
' Im ready, ' Robin told Djaq.
' Do we really have to do this? ' Much asked, in concern for his friend.
' Well the Sheriff's not going to give the money to anyone else, is he now? ' Robin asked rhetorically.
' And if he betrays us? ' Much asked worridley.
' Then on my head be it! ' Robin cried, in an attempt to put Much's mind at ease, 'If je does, you can all blame me.'
' Good,' Much responded firmly, ' I will. '
' Good,' Robin agreed, ' and there's a rule I would like you to stick to, Carter. No killing unless absolutley neccesary. '
' Spoilsport,' Carter smirked.
Robin grinned at this, and looked over at Djaq, ' Djaq - do your worst. Today's a good day to die. '
' I hate sayings,' Much sighed, with an exasoerated shake of his head. Between Robin's " Where's the fun in that? ", John's " Today's a good today to die" and " We are Robin Hood" and Allan's " Not bein' funny", which Ava had recently adopted there were too many sayings around.
Then Djaq began to give Robin the potion, which would reduce his breathing to a minumim, to make him appear dead.
This was how, a short while later, the gang were dressed in their cloaks - not their thick winter cloaks, but the full length black ones with hoods, that were often used whne the gang were going out somewhere tha they didn't want to be seen.
They were just at the gates of the castle, when Much realised that there wa one extra person there.
' Marian! ' he hissed sharply,' you ought to be back at camp. '
' I lied,' Marian shrugged, ' what are you going to do about it? '
' Nothing,' Much sighed, fixing her with a glare that was meant to tell her that she would be in trouble when Robin found out.
As they stopped at the castle gate, a guard met them.
A chestnut horse was pulling a contraption made up of a stretcher with a lifeless looking Robin Hood on it.
The hooded and cloaked gang were stood in front of the horse in an orderly fashion. They were stood in twos, each pair behind the next - Carter at the front, Djaq and Marian next, John and Much next, with Ava and Will bringing up the rear.
One of the guards put his ear to Robin's chest, and unable to detect a hearbeat, nodded and let them through.
The gathered crowd let out anguished sobs at thinking thier Robin Hood, their saviour, the war hero, the Prince of Thieves himself, rightful Lord of Locksley and Earl of Huntingdon was...well...dead.
Once the gang, being followed by the horse pulling Robin on the stretcher cart, stopped once they reached the top of the courtyard.
They watched as the two leather wearing men came in to the courtyard.
The pair of them stopped on the stone stairs, observing the scene below them.
' What's this? ' Guy asked.
' Robin Hood. As promised,' Carter said, doing a good job of keeping up the game.
' Dead?' Gisbourne asked, as though hardly daring to believe it.
' Dead,' Carter confirmed.
Gisbourne was still unsure whether he ought to believe this - so many attempts to kill Hood and so many plans he had seen of the outlaw's told him that there must be some sort of catch.
Allan, meanwhile, was certain that this had to be some sort of plan, and knew that the hooded figures were not - as Gisbourne and the guards thought - Carter's faithful entourage, but the outlaws themselves.
Although most of them had gone to stand on the corner of the courtyard, hiding around the corner where they could see the scene without being seen, and only two were visible to the rest of them. Allan was sure that these two were the outlaws.
If he were to venture a guess, he would say that one was Will - as the figure was too short to be John, too tall to be Much and too bulky to be Djaq or Ava.
The other was wearing a cloak which was clearly not their own - being too long at the hem and sleeves. Allan realised that it was his cloak, which he had left behind at that camp after leaving, which made him realise that this had to be Ava, since none of the others would wear something which belonged to him. The height of the person confirmed that it was Ava, because she was very short compared to the others.
All eyes were on Gisbourne as he moved closer to Robin, ' Really? ' he asked,' did you check him.'
'Yes, my lord, ' replied one of the guards who was standing by.
' Wel let's make doubly sure shall we? ' Gisbourne breathed, ' show me his neck,' he commanded.
The guard in question pulled down the neck of Robin's shirt as Gisbourne drew his sword slowly and swung it up in the air.
Ava, who was stood to the side of the cart, caught the eye of Will, who was stood in front of the cart, and they both watched in horror - Robin wasn't dead, but he would be.
Gisbourne swung the sword down sharply, but stopped suddenly when something else happened.
Marian ran out from where she was standing with Djaq, Much and John, flung the hood off herhead to reveal her self and stood near Gisbourne.
' Guy! ' she creid as she made her way over to him.
' Marian? ' he said in suprise, as he put his sword back by his side.
' What's happening here? ' she asked for good measure - it seemed like a good idea to ask this because otherwise someone might suspect some thing.
' Robin Hood. Is dead,' Gisbourne anounced proudly.
' Congratulations,' Marian replied, without a hint of emotion before continuing, 'I need to speak with you. In private, please? '
Gisbourne did not speak but jerked his head back towards the castle and walked away, leaving her to follow him, and the others to wonder what she was playing at.
' Carry on,' Gisbourne said to the people assembled in the courtyard as he left.
Carter, Ava and Will proceeded to go and see the Sheriff, entering his board room silently.
Carter stood at the foot of the table which the Sheriff was sat at, whilst Ava and Will stood to the side, side by side.
' Anywhere on the table will be fine, ' the Sheriff told the guards who were carrying the stretcher on which Robin lay.
The guards did as they were told before leaving.
The Sheriff then turned his gaze to Ava and Will - who he did not recognise as they were fully concaeled in their cloaks and were keeping their faces shielded.
' Exteunt,' he said briskly to the pair of them, ' means get out. '
They looked at each other briefly and back at Carter.
Carter thought on his feet, ' They're with me,' he declared.
' Not any more,' the Sheriff dismissed.
Carter sighed and turned to the two outlaws,' Wait for me outside, I will pay you then.'
Knowing they could do nothing else, Ava and Will bowed to the Sheriff and then left as directed.
The plan was, that while the Sheriff engaged Carter in a sort conversation, Carter would give Robin a potion when the Sheriff's bck was turned. It was the counter concuction to the pne that made him appear dead, and would bring him back to 'life'
' We shouldn't have left him,' Ava said softly as they walked through the corridors flanked by four guards, who thankfully were rather stupid and payed them no attention.
' We didn't have a choice,' Will whispered - always the one to be rational about things.
' What if Carter kills the Sheriff? '
' Then Robin's dead, ' Will replied grimly, in a tone that told her the conversation was over.
Just as they were nearing the door to the castle courtyard, the guards told them to go through that door, and then left them alone.
They were about to leave when something caught their eye.
Allan was stood not far off, down a corridor that joined on to the one they were in. Gisbourne was stood behind him on the doorway of another room with Marian.
Gisbourne was about to turn around and see them, so Marian grabbed his arm and kissed him.
Exchanging looks of disgust, Will and Ava grimaced and moved on.
Once they had reached the courtyard there was the sound of a bell ringing and the Sheriff shouting out, ' Alarm! Alarm! Hood is alive! Hood is in the castle! '
' Looks like the plan's in action, ' Will grinned, looking over at Ava.
' Yes. We should get ourselves out of here before we get caught,' she decided, to which Will agreed, and making sure she was in front of him where he could keep an eye on her, ran for the gate.
They made it out un detected since the guards were all focusing on Robin and Carter, and got back to their camp to ind that Much, Djaq, John and Marian were all there. Robin and Carter arrived not long after.
After everyone swapped tales of exactly what had happened, Carter stood up,
' Right. I'd best be going,' he announced as the whole gang made their way over to the entrance of the camp, where Carter's horse was, so they could see him off.
' Are you sure you don't want to stay? ' Robin asked firmly.
' Yes, we could do with another man around the place,' Much nodded,' there are too many women here now - they're almost out numbering us.
Instead of the three women in question scolding Much, they turned their attention to Carter.
' Yes do stay,' Ava grinned, with a sly glance at Much, ' we could do with a handsome man around the place - one more for us to quarrel over. '
Much stuck his tounge out at her childishly, and she smiled softly to show she had not meant it.
' I do want to stay,' Carter admitted,' but I'm going back to the Holy Land to visit my brother's grave. Say goodbye properly and tell him I'm sorry. And I can do something useful - I can warn King Richard for you. '
As Carter quickly fed his horse, Robin glanced over at Marian.
' You disobeyed me,' he said.
' I saved your life,' Marian countered.
' And you kissed Gisbourne,' Robin said, in a sort of amused disgust.
' You tied me up,' Marian continued.
' And you could have gotten us all killed,'
' I'm sorry,' she said sincerely, as she really was.
' Truce? ' Robin asked, hopefully.
' Yeah, truce,' Robin grinned, taking her hand before stepping forward and nodding at Carter, who had mounted his horse by now.
' Safe journey, my friend,' he called out.
Carter grinned, ' I thank you all for making me a better person - for clearing me of my wrongful thoughts. Djaq - I'll be sure to tell the King how amazing Saracen potions are. Will - good job, the camp is fantastic. Little John - may you continue to be so tall. Marian - no more kissing Gisbourne, eh? Ava - I'll be awaiting that wedding invitation. Much - look after her. And Robin - you truly are a legend - you all are. The King shall hear of the good work you are all doing.'
' Make sure you come back and visit us some time, ' Robin told their new found friend.
' I will, ' Carter vowed.
As they watched Carter leave, they waved at him, and hoped that there were more people like him surrounding their King - people who believed in Robin Hood.