"Hood!" Gisbourne shouted, pounding his fist on the door to Sarah's house. "Come out now! There's no escape! We have the house surrounded!"
Turning to his sergeant, he ordered, "Help me break down the door."
Gisbourne jumped, as an arrow from the upper story window struck the spur on his left boot.
Before he could get his breath back, more arrows followed, raining from above, making Gisbourne and his men hasten a retreat.
"Does anyone feel it raining?" Robin called cockily down. "Just when I thought it had cleared! Looks like I'll have to postpone my picnic."
More than anything, Gisbourne hated the outlaw's smug attempts at cleverness.
"You won't be picnicking ever again," Gisbourne snarled back, making Robin snicker at the man's thickheadedness. "You're going to die, Hood! Shoot at us all you like! You'll run out of arrows, soon enough!"
Unable to resist, Robin sent an arrow sizzling past Gisbourne's ear, nicking it. He laughed merrily down at the stream of oaths pouring from his enemy's lips.
But his mood toward the trembling Sarah and Jess showed how seriously he was taking this assault upon their home. His first thought was for their safety. Making certain Jess fully understood his next words were a ruse for her protection, he called down to Gisbourne, "Congratulations, Gisbourne! You just turned an innocent robbery into a hostage situation. Call off your men, or I can't answer for what will happen in here."
"You're getting desperate, Hood, robbing the poor! I thought you and your men only stole from the rich!"
"Times are hard for everyone, Gisbourne. Now, call off your men, unless you'd like a notch in your nose to match the one on your ear. Or better yet, an arrow through your eye."
Gisbourne ducked behind a shield. Hood might not be willing to kill, but Guy wasn't sure how far he'd go, realizing he was trapped like an animal.
"So, Robin Hood's turned to hurting innocent women and children," Gisbourne shouted back, triumphantly. "Where are your lofty vows of chivalry, Hood? Who's showing his breeding now?"
"You turned me out of my home, to live like an animal in the forest. And so, like an animal, I do whatever it takes, Gisbourne, to survive."
"If we make it out of here, Robin," Sarah quietly promised, "I'll tell everyone you were lying, to protect us."
Touched, Robin responded, "No need. My people trust me, I think. Don't endanger your lives, for my name."
Robin was getting dangerously short of arrows. He wished he could snag the crossbow bolts that had missed him. At least he had cleared Sarah and Jess from suspicion. He needed to bargain with Gisbourne now, to exchange their "lives" for his escape. He only prayed Gisbourne would value his own reputation enough to want to bargain.
"Call off your men," Robin demanded for the third time. "If not, the sheriff will have to hire a new cook for the castle, and Nottingham will have one more orphan."
Sarah surprised Robin by screaming, quite convincingly. "Help us!" she cried.
"Save us!" Jess echoed, grinning at Robin.
He realized the small child had complete faith in his ability to save her. He puffed the air from his cheeks, not wanting to let her down.
"Let me go free," Robin shouted down. "Their lives, in exchange for mine."
Unwittingly, he had said the wrong thing. Gisbourne wasn't about to lose his quarry, not this time. Making a snap decision, Gisbourne ordered his men, "We'll smoke him out. Torch the house."
His sergeant, used to his master's brutality, still hesitated. "My lord?" he asked, not believing he had heard the man correctly. "There's an innocent woman and child inside."
"They're not innocent," Gisbourne sneered. "They're outlaw collaborators. Torch it."
When the sergeant still resisted, Gisbourne seized the torch himself, and circled to the back of the house, throwing the flaming stick through an open window.
In very little time, the wattle and timber house caught fire. Smoke billowed throughout the home, rising to the upstairs room where Robin, Sarah, and Jess hid.
"Robin!" Sarah shrieked. "The house is on fire! Save us!"
...
(Note: I discovered an ancient Robin Hood ballad, in which Robin visits a widow and children, bringing food, and is trapped by sheriff's men, who torch the house with him inside. It reminded me a lot of the scene in the tree in Lardner's Ring, with Robin shooting arrows at the feet of the soldiers before they set the fire, and I suspect it seved as inspiration for that episode. What happens next? Well, please look for tomorrow's installment, and you'll find out!)