"Leave it, Marian," Robin ordered. "I'm not leaving this cell."
Disregarding his words, Marian continued her frantic search for the correct key. "You may not have forgiven yourself for whatever horrors you committed in the Holy Land, Robin," she told him, scoffing off his command, "but the rest of the world has. Don't forget, you won't be the only person harmed, by sacrificing yourself. What about Ellie, and our new baby? What about me?"
Robin stared at his wife, looking so unlike herself in her whore's disguise, in disbelief. "That's not what this is about, Marian."
"Isn't it? Then tell me. Why won't you escape?"
"Because," he impatiently explained, amazed that his highly intelligent wife could behave so foolishly, "I don't need to. I'm not an outlaw, and the sheriff's not Vaisey. If I go with you, how will that look?"
Before she had a chance to answer, he shouted at her, "What's happened to you, Marian? I remember you showing up when I was locked up here before with a clever plan, pretending I had a ring of yours; not this foolish masquerade, flaunting your body at the guards! Do you have any idea what the sight of you, dressed like that, does to a man?"
"Don't raise your voice at me. So, it's the costume you object to, not me trying to get you out of here! It worked, didn't it? Besides, I remember you had no trouble when Allan, Much, and Little John rescued you, with the same plan."
"They didn't dress up like whores!"
Maggie, hanging on every word, exploded into laughter. "Lovely ladies them three would make!" she chortled merrily. "Though you orta see Allan in that same wig your ladyship's wearing. Made all us girls collapse with laughter!"
Ignoring her, Marian grew more and more frustrated when key after key failed to fit the cell door's locks, adding fuel to her argument with her husband. "They made the guards drunk," she reminded him, "and helped you escape. That's exactly what I'm trying to do. But when they did it, you bragged what a brilliant plan Allan had come up with!"
"I was an outlaw," he said again. "I'm not anymore."
"Really? So, that's why you're in jail."
Clenching his teeth, he shook his head and laughed, unpleasantly.
He remembered the escape she had mentioned. It had happened shortly after Djaq had joined his gang. He'd been practicing archery with Much and Allan, giving them pointers, and Much had just made a brilliant shot. Robin was planning to split his arrow, when Allan spoke up, saying, "Is that Marian?" causing Robin's arrow to fly offcourse.
Because he and Marian had argued over something he couldn't remember now, Robin had been touchy, and had stormed away, upsetting and alarming Much. Feeling a hunger in his soul, he'd gone to Nottingham, and had snuck into the back of Saint Mary's Church, where he saw Vaisey asleep in the front pew, snoring loudly, with Gisbourne by his side. Putting his hatred for the man out of his mind, Robin had worshipped his Lord and savior, realizing how very much he missed doing so in a public place of worship.
After mass, feeling renewed and refreshed, he exited the church, only to be surrounded and captured by sheriff's men. And then, to his delight, John, Allan, and Much had appeared with wineskins in the dungeon, to trick the guards and get them drunk, and had freed him. Just as Marian was trying to do tonight.
Except, of course, he couldn't leave. There was no need. Doing so would only make him look guilty, when he was innocent.
He was so angry at Marian tonight, so frustrated by her...so attracted. He hated the wig and the paint on her face, but her body spilling out of that gown! No! He needed to somehow pull his eyes away.
"I've heard of women losing their reason when they're with child," he smirked at her now. "I never expected it to happen to you."
"How dare you?" she asked, flinging the keyring to the floor. "You just don't like to see me in costume, do you? It's fine for you, of course! You shaved the top of your head, and put on a monk's robe and a holy expression, and made that stupid girl fall in love with you! You started this whole entire mess."
"I didn't try to draw her to me, not like you're doing, in that gown! I wore a clergyman's costume, Marian. What could be more innocent than that?"
"Not wearing a costume at all! You should have gone to that party, dressed as yourself. You only did it for adventure, Robin. How are you liking your adventure, now?"
Maggie noticed the guards beginning to stir. "You two better hurry up and finish, or all that good wine will of gone to waste," she warned them. "These gents are waking up!"
Quickly, Marian reached for the keyring, realizing too late she'd have to start completely over.
"Go, Marian!" Robin ordered her. "Go home. NOW!"
"You just don't like the fact that I'm a woman!" she cried out to him, in frustration.
He stared at her, liking nothing so well. "You really have lost your reason, haven't you?" he smirked.
Tearing off her wig, Marian hurled it at him through the bars, along with the keyring, then grabbed Maggie by her hand and tore off running. "Let yourself out, since you're so smug," she sneered back at him, over her shoulder. "But don't expect any kind of warm welcome back home!"
...
(Note: Robin's memory of losing at the archery lesson, his skulking off to church, subsequent capture and rescue, is taken from a very old Robin Hood ballad called Robin and the Monk. Although Allan was not mentioned in the ballad, just Robin, Much, and Little John, who else but Allan would cause Robin's arrow to go astray by his Marian comment, and who better than Allan to come up with the plan to get the guards drunk? Will and Djaq, of course, stayed behind at camp, to get better acquainted, in their own shy way!)