Chapter 3
Robin had been following Tyrell through the forest for a long time now. He had no idea where they were headed. He had no choice but to follow Tyrell. The stone arrow that was around his neck, thumped against the base of his neck with every step they took. It served as a reminder to Robin that he was a dead man to his crew and probably a dead man walking around Tyrell.
Tyrell suddenly pulled up short, causing Robin to bump right into him. Tyrell turned to look at Robin in irritation while Robin just shrugged his shoulders and gave him a look that read, how was I suppose to know you were going to stop suddenly?
Robin tried to peek around Tyrell's shoulder to see why they had stopped. That was when he noticed that his gang was walking through the clearing. They all had solemn looks on their faces. Robin immediately noticed that Archer wasn't one of the people among them. Where had Archer gone? Robin wondered if Tyrell had something to do with Archer's disappearance. He kept thinking that until his gang stopped short and Friar Tuck looked at them with a burning intensity, saying, "Where is your fight? Robin wouldn't want you to be moping like this!"
"Robin's not here though," said Much in despair. "Neither is his half-brother. If Robin's own blood believes that our fight is useless, why should we have any more fight in us?"
Robin fidgeted in his position behind Tyrell. He had half a mind to stand up and show them that he was alive. Tyrell seemed to know what Robin was fidgeting for and reached backward, holding one of Robin's wrist tightly in his grip to prevent him from revealing his presence.
Friar Tuck turned to look at Little John who was now leaning up against a tree with his arms crossed across his chest.
"Little John, what about you? You still believe in our fight don't you?"
"I did yesterday," said Little John, "but we lost Robin's body. We couldn't even bury Robin and give him the burial that he deserved. It seems as if we aren't meant to win this fight Tuck, so why keep trying to fight it?"
"Kate," said Friar Tuck turning to look at her out of desperation. "You still believe in Robin's fight, right?"
Kate was staring off into the distance, in the direction of Locksley, saying, "I loved Robin. I believed that what he stood for was right and I still do. But I'm going to agree with Little John. There is no use fighting a fight that we aren't going to win."
Friar Tuck stared at them all in disbelief for a minute like Robin was. How could they give up on the fight? They had to team up and go save King Richard from the kidnappers! They had to team up and rid England of the parasites. Yet here they all were, with the exception of Friar Tuck, giving up on the fight just because he was dead. Robin looked at Tyrell's back for a minute, wondering how to break free of Tyrell's hold and show them that he was alive. Yet he knew that it would be no use. He was weaponless and so was his gang. They would be defenseless if Tyrell slayed them all like he promised he would if Robin showed himself.
"Well I am not about to give up on the fight!" declared Friar Tuck. "Robin wouldn't want us to give up like this. He wouldn't stand to see us defeated! He would want us to fight for England and for King Richard. We ARE Robin Hood and we have to act like it!"
Little John, Much, and Kate nodded their heads slowly. They all realized that Friar Tuck was right.
"We are Robin Hood!" shouted the four of them in one accord.
With a renewed vigor, they set off into the woods once more and soon disappeared into the forest. Once they were out of sight, Tyrell released his hold on Robin's wrist and hissed, "Follow me!"
Tyrell stood up and walked swiftly through the trees once more. Robin lost sight of Tyrell for a minute, but he knew that he had to try to leave his gang some kind of sign to keep their morale up. Robin walked up to one of the trees in the clearing and carved a message into its bark with the arrow around his neck. Robin knew that Tyrell would be angry if he saw that Robin had stopped to carve "We are Robin Hood" into the bark of a tree with the arrow around his neck. But Tyrell was too far ahead to turn back.
And Robin was too late to.