Climbing into bed that night, Marian cocooned under the bedclothes, exhausted but happy.
The familiar sounds of the manor settling down for the night, shutters closing, goodnights spoken, footsteps receeding, brought a contented sigh to her lips, and she closed her eyes, knowing all was well in Locksley.
Within a few short moments, Robin enterred their chamber, and Marian opened her eyes to smile at him as he undressed. His body, marred by battle scars, was nonetheless a sight so beautiful, Marian never tired of feasting her eyes upon it. Tonight, through eyes that blinked, fighting back sleep, it blurred against its own shadows, cast from two burning rushlights.
There was barely any moon tonight, so Robin left the rushlights burning, knowing he'd need their dim light to see by, once Marian was safely asleep. It wasn't that he wanted to deceive her by hiding his plan. It was necessary, he told himself, to keep her safe. If all went well, and he was confident it would, he'd be safely back in bed tonight before she awakened.
Once he had climbed into bed beside her, their bodies snuggled together almost instinctively, for they were deeply in love and longed for one another's touch.
Robin lay on his back, his arm protectively around his wife, his hand resting lightly on the small bulge on her belly. As he lightly traced caressing circles over where their baby lay growing, he pressed his lips against her hair, kissing her goodnight.
Tired as she was, Marian wanted a real goodnight kiss. Disentangling herself from his arms, she lifted herself on one elbow, ran her other hand through his hair, and sweetly kissed his mouth.
"What's wrong?" she tenderly asked him, for his kiss was decidedly self conscious, nothing like the warm and loving kiss she'd been expecting. "You're not still angry?"
"Angry? No."
Her cocky Robin seemed embarrassed, a feeling so foreign to him, Marian at first couldn't recognize it. Kissing him again, her eyes opened wide in surprise and amusement when she realized what was wrong.
"Robin, I love your beard," she assured him, smiling brightly.
"So, it's not like kissing a hedgehog?" he chuckled back to her.
"Never having kissed a hedgehog, I couldn't say. All I know is," she told him, temptingly running one finger over his mouth and along the scruff on his face and neck, "I adore kissing you."
He pulled her to him to kiss her again, all hesitation gone. He knew her skin would feel like warm silk beneath her gown, but he also knew she was tired, and needed sleep. Holding back the passion her closeness stirred within him, he kept his kisses chaste and tender, perfectly content to hold her in his arms until she dropped softly off to sleep, too tired tonight even to talk.
Once he was certain she was in a sleep so deep she wouldn't feel him leave her side, he eased himself from the bed, quickly dressed and armed himself, and stole away into the night, back to Nottingham, with two missions on his mind.
...
Years of practice, coupled with the absence of Sheriff Vaisey expecting him, made his stealthy entrance into Nottingham Castle almost too easy.
Despising the sight of the gibbet ready to hang an innocent, Robin chuckled wickedly under his breath as he dislodged the heavy rope. Why not use it for good, instead of evil?
Tying it securely to an arrow, Robin bounced it in his hands, judging the weight and pull it would have upon his arrow's flight. He broke into a jubilent grin when his arrow soared true, straight through the window of the keep, where he believed the barber was passing a sleepless night.
Robin couldn't tug on the rope dangling from the keep's window, for its end was well above his head. He could only hope his arrow lodged deeply embedded in a wooden beam so the rope would hold him, as he leaped and caught its end to begin pulling himself up.
In no time at all, he had scaled the wall and climbed through the window, ready to shush the prisoner and assure him he meant him no harm. But the room was empty.
Where was the barber? Had he heard wrong, or had the man been moved to the dungeons? Robin froze with unblinking eyes, trying to think what he needed to do.
There was no remedy but to try the dungeons, though that would require an entirely more intricate plan. Pulling his arrow from the beam where it rested, Robin untied the rope and let it fall to the ground beneath the window. Gone were the days when he'd leave his taletell arrows behind to mock the sheriff. Now, no longer outlawed and with everything to lose, his part in this rescue must remain a mystery.
Drawing forth the snake shaped lockpin Marian had long ago slipped him, he placed a kiss upon it, then tried it in the door's lock, only to find he didn't need it. The door was already unlocked. Of course! Why lock a door, when there was no prisoner within? Taking it as a good omen, Robin cautiously pushed open the door, and crept into the corridor.
Rather than heading straight to the dungeons and having to backtrack later, Robin decided to complete his second mission and recover Maggie's "jewels" from Annora Fitzhugh's bedchamber.
It felt odd to think of anyone sleeping in those chambers other than Marian, but Robin was glad it was the case. His love slept forevermore in his bed, and he wanted nothing so much as to complete his missions so he could return to her warmth.
His lockpin proved useful now, as the lock on Annora's door sprung open. Silently, he crept into her room.
He was surprised not to find her elderly attendant sleeping here tonight, but confidently took it again as a good omen. Sneaking through Annora's pitch black bedchamber, looking for Maggie's jewels, he silently cursed himself when his knee knocked against a small table, rattling its wooden legs upon the flagstone floor.
"Who is it?" Annora's voice called frightenedly from behind the bedcurtains.
Robin froze. It seemed his good luck had run out.