"Unbelievable! Outrageous!" Much complained, as he and Robin hid within a grove of ash trees along the Great North Road, waiting for the king to ride by, astride Pox.
"What's outrageous, Much?" Robin asked, knowing Much would tell him anyway, whether he asked or not.
Robin thought it wise to make polite conversation with his best friend, to help calm Much's anxious nerves over their simple errand. Daniel had alerted them that King John was heading their direction, and all they had to do was to wait for him to appear, pass by, and then, using Daniel's slingshot, shoot a few well placed pebbles at Pox, and watch the fun unfold. But Much couldn't help but project all kinds of "what ifs" on their mission, causing him untold anxiety. Robin thought the least he could do, was to distract Much's mind from his worries.
"Look at you!" Much complained. "I can't believe your manservant Thomas, if you can even call him that...'Slacker' would suit him better, I think you'll find!"
"He's very capable, Much," Robin sighed. "No one could ever measure up to you, my friend. But what about Thomas?"
"Him! I can't believe he let you out of the house, wearing that!"
"What's wrong with my clothes, Much?"
"I suppose you think yourself so good-looking, it doesn't matter to you what you put on your back! Unbelievable! I should have thought, after wearing that day after day in the forest, you'd never want to see it again! I know I don't! Look at all those places I stitched it up, after you tore it! Did Marian see what you were wearing?"
"Marian's taking a nap. At least, she was when I left."
"I knew it! I knew she wouldn't have let you set foot outside Locksley, dressed in tatters!"
"I wore this because it makes me invisible, Much," Robin explained. "It worked all those years we were outlaws."
"Please! You just like living dangerously! Oh, yes you do! Don't try to deny it!"
"Shh! Get back! If I'm not mistaken, I hear the king approaching!"
Robin's hearing had not failed him. Within moments, King John appeared on Pox, accompanied by Queen Isabella and several guards, all on horseback.
"Remind me again," Much whispered, staring at the queen, "why we can't aim a few pebbles at her?"
Silently chuckling, Robin winked at Much, then loaded a pebble on the slingshot and let it fly. The pebble struck Pox's back right haunch, causing the horse to neigh and bolt.
"Whoa!" King John shrieked, almost losing his seat. Regaining control of his horse, his face flushed angrily. "What happened here?" he cried out in fury.
Immediately, Isabella suspected Robin to be behind Pox's unusual behavior. "Search for a blunt arrow," she ordered the guards. "There must be one nearby!"
"My dear!" the king whined. "Do you suspect foul play?"
"I'm sure Hood's behind this, my king," she answered. "It reeks of him!"
"No arrows, Your Majesties," the sergeant reported.
"There! You see," King John told his wife. "There's nothing to fear, my pet! Something merely spooked this horse. Probably a toad in the road, or some such-AH!"
Unseen, Robin loosed a second pebble, hitting Pox and causing him to rear up, spilling the king onto the ground.
This time, King John was so enraged, when his sergeant dismounted to help him rise, he seized the guard's sword and strode toward the horse.
"How dare you?" he shrieked. "I'll teach you to unseat my royal buttocks!"
Pox screamed a neigh, as a crimson river streamed from his underbelly, followed by slimy grey entrails spilling into the dirt. Robin and Much watched, horrified, as the dying horse's knees buckled, making him drop and then fall onto his side, covered in his own blood and gore.
Laughing merrily, the king handed his sergeant back his bloody sword. "I love it when they scream," King John chortled. "Such a high pitched, nasal sound! Now, you!" he ordered a guard. "Dismount! I'll ride your horse back to Nottingham!"
"Yes, Your Majesty," the unhappy guard agreed. "I am honored to serve Your Majesty's most regal person."
"What should they do with the beast?" Isabella asked, wrinkling her pretty nose with distaste. "Bury it?"
"Whatever for?" her husband answered. "It's perfectly good meat! If the peasants are hungry, let them dine! After all, that's what my brother's soldiers feasted on in the Holy Land, didn't you, Locksley?" he asked, lifting his voice. "Anytime a horse fell beneath you and your fellow crusaders, you ate it, didn't you?"
Laughing gleefully once more, King John smirked, "He doesn't answer! Playing coy, Locklsey, are you? I know you're hiding somewhere in those trees! But never mind! How will your horse-loving wife take it, when you tell her her precious gift was slain, all due to your schoolboy tricks? Pity I can't be there to witness her dismay!"
Joined in laughter by Isabella, King John flung himself upon his guard's horse and led the way back toward Nottingham, leaving Robin and Much alone with Pox's carcass.
"Robin, what do we do?" Much asked. "Ugh! I hate the king! He is revolting!"
Robin's eyes were wide with shock, guilt, and grief. "We need to bury Pox, Much," he answered solemnly. Dropping onto his haunches beside the horse's dead body, Robin breathed, "I am so sorry. I never meant..."
"I'll find a shovel," Much offered.
"I promised Daniel I wouldn't hurt him," Robin realized, staring up at Much. "What am I going to tell Marian?"