A/N: Thanks to Emmithar for the beta! :)

Chapter 6: Trust

The torch on the bare stone wall flickered, the only movement for a few moments, as Marian held Gisborne's furious gaze, before she turned back to her father. The exhaustion shone on the man's face and through his whole posture, but now there was fear, too, fear for her, she knew. She could hear his laboured breathing and then the approaching foot steps of the other man.

"Get out," Gisborne said, his voice resounding in the quietness of the dungeons where no screams of pain echoed tonight, as the man who reveled in that kind of malice was lying on the ground outside the cell, unconscious. The anger Marian had previously seen in Guy's expression she could now also hear as he spoke.

She took her father's hand. It felt way too cold to her touch. "I'm not going to leave without my father," she replied, knowing her resistance would anger Guy even more so, but she had nothing to lose; she was caught.

"Get out," Guy repeated, stepping yet even closer to the open cell door, the key she had taken from the knocked-out jailer still in the lock.

Marian looked up again, once more meeting his gaze. This time she did not only see anger, but also something like a silent plea.

"He is dying," she said quietly.

"If you keep going like this, you will die with him," Gisborne returned and beyond the warning she could hear a touch of a threat in his voice. He took another step, reaching out to her and taking her arm.

"Come," he said in a way used to giving commands. He had not yet called the guards, Marian noticed and understood that he was offering her a way out, if she would leave her father behind and forget about it. At least this was how she interpreted his behaviour. Still, she shook her head; she could not go back.

Guy leaned in to her, glancing briefly at Edward, before turning to her, his expression grave. There was still an eerie silence around them, and the feeling of entrapment returned, as voluntary chosen as it might seem to be in his eyes.

"Let the old man die in peace. Don't risk your own life for this." His voice was low now, but she could hear that he had the hardest time not to just force her to go. It was only a matter of time until he would.

She didn't answer.

"In time..." Guy went on, but Marian looked away, trying to free her arm. Her view fell on the man who was lying on the floor outside of the cell.

"The jailer is going to know. He will tell the sheriff what happened," she pointed out, showing Guy that there was no way out for her but to let her go as she wanted.

"I can get rid of him," Gisborne returned matter-of-factly and Marian knew that he meant it.

"I'm not going to leave my father here," she repeated. Guy had to know she was serious. The matter had stood between them for weeks now; if he knew her better, or maybe if he were just willing to consider what he really knew, he could have imagined that it would come to this, that she would not just sit by and do nothing.

Guy shook his head at her insistence. "I cannot let you go." He scowled, grabbing her more tightly. "Why did you have to do this? You're acting foolishly, risking everything, for the old man..."

"If you don't let me go now, I'll try again later," she assured him.

He gritted his teeth. "The sheriff will catch you and then you'll both hang."

"Yes," she said simply.

There was silence until it was interrupted by the croaking voice from behind her. "Marian... go."

"No," she opposed her father, a sense of anger creeping into her.

Gisborne ignored the old man. "Even if you got him out of here, he wouldn't be able to make it far."

"We would need a carriage," Marian nodded once, trying to calm.

Guy looked at her for another long moment, before he turned around. "Get him up."

After a second she nodded, moving to Edward and helping him to sit up properly.

Guy meanwhile dragged the unconscious jailer into the cell. While her father was leaning on her and she encouraged him to stand up, she swallowed as she got a closer look at the sheriff's man who was lying face-down on the ground. She had missed it before in the dim light of the dungeons, but now she could see that the man was not actually unconscious, but dead. His throat had been slit and a pool of blood had collected under the man's face.

Gisborne had to have killed him in a moment that she had not paid attention to him. She shuddered at his efficiency.

He then moved to the outer dungeon's door and up the stairs that were illuminated by a flickering torch, and she could hear his voice sounding through the dimly lit place as he spoke to the guard outside.

"I am going to need a carriage to go to Locksley as soon as possible," he explained."Get me one. Now. I will take over guard.."

Marian could imagine that these orders perplexed the castle guard but she was sure he would follow them anyway, unwilling to get on the wrong side of the Master-at-Arms.

Every second of the next half an hour she was convinced the sheriff would catch on to them, either because he was alerted by a guard seeing them come out of the castle, step into the carriage, or go out of town, or by Gisborne himself turning them over. It was only when the carriage was well out of Nottingham's gates, on the way to Locksley, that she could breathe more easily.

Guy had stayed behind in Nottingham, having to conceal his involvement, as she knew, though he had left her with little explanation. The driver of the carriage had received instructions to take them to the village and to breathe no word to anyone save for the housekeeper of Locksley Manor who would take them into the house.

As she looked out into the darkness, the driver letting the horses go in a maddeningly slow pace to avoid any accidents, Marian started to make plans for their further escape, knowing that they would not be able to stay long at Locksley. Probably it would be best if they would be gone even before the present owner of the manor would have opportunity to follow them to Locksley. Still, the likelihood of this was slim. If she were on her own, escape would have been easier. She still would have needed to find shelter, but with her father as weak as he was, every step needed to be planned, a new sanctuary secured, before they could go on. In any way, they would have to leave as quickly as possible, and as they were driving through the woods outside of Nottingham, she knew that she wouldn't only have to leave Guy behind, but Robin as well.

Robin had left the horses with Much, taking Allan with him to follow his next plan. A few hours earlier Will, Djaq and John had left with the first part of the food for Nottinghamshire, but this was only one reason why Robin had chosen to come to York.

Much hadn't liked to be left out of Robin and Allan's tour, but Robin had told him quietly, out of Allan's earshot, that he was the one he trusted most and that he needed to take care of the horses as well as the little baggage they had brought from Sherwood. And truth was Robin still had a nagging feeling in the back of his mind. Perhaps it was the strain of the situation, of the unaccustomed feeling of not sneaking around, but acting openly in the town that made him feel this way. He didn't want to leave Allan with the horses only to find later that their means of transport back to Nottingham was gone.

Robin gritted his teeth as he thought about it, realising that was he was possibly being unfair to Allan. He still didn't have any solid proof that confirmed Marian's suspicion, but it was probably a good thing that he could keep an eye on the man. He had long suppressed the question. The worries about there being a traitor had come up again from time to time, but he had shoved them aside, feeling that it was only the sheriff's poison that was working its way into his mind and his dealings with the gang. It was one thing Vaysey would love to see, the outlaws mistrusting each other. But then Allan's strange behaviour in Nottingham and Marian's suspicion had coincided, and it had caused the doubt to be on Robin's mind near-constantly, especially now that he could afford it the least to have a traitor work against them.

They were making their way through York now, slowly moving through the cobblestoned streets up to the castle. Robin had every intention to talk to some of the nobles at court, although he wasn't quite sure if they were willing to speak to him. While the merchant had had an interest in turning a blind eye and forgetting about any knowledge he might have about who Robin was known as today, the nobles would have no such interest. They might refuse to even acknowledge him, a wise move naturally, if it was known he was an outlaw. They might even alert the Sheriff of York, maybe some of them were even hand in hand with Vaysey, might even happen to be Black Knights. On the other hand there might be nobles loyal to King Richard, too, men who maybe knew of Robin's stance, who just might be willing to help.

Robin was slightly frustrated about the amount of uncertainty in his plan. This was yet another disadvantage of not working in the system as Marian and Edward had advised him to do right after his return from the Holy Land. He had lost connection to the nobles, a source of any information that concerned the kingdom. The nobles were useless when it came to helping the poor, most of them not caring at all about these matters, but when it came to supporting the king, they were crucial, he alone having no stance in the politics of the country, especially as an outlaw. Nowadays though, one could not even know anymore who was not secretly trying to get rid of King Richard, no matter what they claimed outwardly.

Allan caught up with Robin, as he had slowed his step.

"So what are we going to do first?"

"Go to the castle," Robin repeated the obvious matter-of-factly, moving faster again.

"And you think they'll let us walk in there just like that?" Allan wondered.

"If they don't, we get in our way."

"And then?"

"You'll see," Robin replied impatiently, unsettled by Allan's questions. He now wished to have taken Much with him. The man would ask all kinds of things too, would rattle on about many matters, but at least Robin would be able to trust him absolutely.

Robin now felt the emptiness on his back even more so. He hadn't taken his bow and quiver with him, leaving it with Much as well, as not to appear too much like he had come for a battle when he entered the castle. His sword at least was at his side.

"Why don't we just visit the nobles at their homes?" Allan shrugged. "We'd get them alone, instead of here at the castle, with the guards and all. I'm just saying."

"We don't have time for that."

Allan didn't reply anything to that and Robin didn't bother to add any further explanation. Allan had to know just as well that their time was limited. They would have to go and take another part of the food back to Nottinghamshire where it was needed. Before that they had to gather as much information as possible.

As they had almost reached the castle yard, Robin turned to address the man again, to give him further orders, but found himself staring at empty air. No wonder it had been so quiet. Robin frowned.

They didn't have any time for detours...

He walked back a few paces, looking around corners to see if he could spot Allan anywhere. He only saw empty alleys, the only sounds coming from the work of a blacksmith at the other side of the street, a rhythmic clanging sounding through the neighbourhood. Robin shook his head in annoyance, deciding to move on without the other outlaw. Allan would hear about this later on. He turned around again, intending to move on where he had been heading to.

He had only enough time to see the shine of metal coming his way.

Much was nervous and the horses seemed to be nervous too, which made him even more agitated, especially because neither Robin nor Allan had returned yet from the trip they had undertaken. Robin had assured him earlier that they would be back before dark, would seek shelter somewhere then, right when he had also told Much that he trusted him and that was why he was leaving the horses in his care.

By that logic, Much figured, Robin didn't trust Allan. Why he was taking the man with him on this important mission then, he didn't know.

Much kept by the horses that were tied up not far away from where they had dealt with the merchant. As the day came to a close, he watched people walking by, carrying food and water from the well to their homes. His own stomach had started protesting, too. He wondered what he was supposed to do once the night came. He would probably be expected to stay here, to keep looking after the horses and the little baggage they carried. Even Robin's bow was there, the man having decided to leave it behind. Much had not understood why, but was glad that the man had at least taken his sword.

The night would become a cold one though, the winter not yet passed and the sky a clear one during the day. Much wished they were back at camp, shivering already now, and moved to pull out another tunic, fearing it wouldn't help much. At the same moment someone stepped next to the horse and Much looked up in surprise to see Allan there, looking rather worn and... wet. Much frowned, glancing up in the sky and seeing no trace of cloud there.

"Where have you been?" he then asked Allan who was rubbing his head. Much looked around. "And where's Robin?"

Allan seemed confused, the weariness in his face rather increasing. "He hasn't come back yet?"

"You went together!" Much exclaimed, not believing the question. "Where is he?"

The other man shrugged and the gesture angered Much. "Don't know, honestly," Allan said. Glancing around and seeing that no one else was near, he added, "I've honestly no idea what happened. I just woke up a few streets from here. Bar maid poured a bucket of water over me. Not being funny, but I figured the two of you would be here."

"Why would she do anything like that?" Much wondered, now pulling the tunic he had retrieved over his head.

"Thought I'd had too much at the inn," Allan shrugged again.

"You were at the inn? You were supposed to go with Robin! Now he's in trouble for sure, and you were out drinking?" Much couldn't believe it.

Allan held up his hands. "I wasn't, I swear. I was with Robin. And then I was out on the street. Honestly, I've got no clue what happened."

Much was alarmed. "We have to find Robin!" The man was surely in trouble.

Allan looked around again. "We can go look there where I last saw him, but if he hasn't come back yet..." His glance fell at the horses. "What are we going to do with them?"

Much shook his head. "Robin..." He retrieved the small bag of supplies from his horse, before he looked at Allan, expecting the man to do the same. But the other outlaw just stood there.

"Aren't you going to come? You have to show me where you and Robin went to."

"I'm going to take care of the horses," Allan said simply, motioning up to the castle. "We went up towards the castle yard."

"What is wrong with you?" Much asked, growing tired of this. Robin hadn't wanted to leave Allan with the horses, had said that he only trusted Much with them and their baggage, so why would Much now leave Allan with them?

The man held out his hands. "Look, we don't even know where Robin is. Looking around here isn't going to do us any good, apart from getting one over the head again. I've got no idea what happened, but I sure didn't land in that alley on my own."

"So you just want to leave Robin all by himself?"

"He can take care of himself. What do we know? He's probably just snooping around somewhere, figuring he's better on his own."

"He needs us!" Much declared angrily. How could the other man not understand this? "The last time-"

"It sure wasn't us who saved him the last time. I'm not kidding, but we don't know exactly what happened. It's not like Robin told us anything."

Much had been about to continue arguing his point, but fell silent, when he realised that he did not even need to know what instance Allan was talking about now. The man could mean the days back in the autumn, when the gang had almost met their ends in Nottingham, and something had hit Robin deeply, though Much did not know to this day what it was, as his former master had never told him. Or Allan could be talking about now, for neither did Much know in detail what Robin had planned for this day.

What he knew was that Robin had wanted information, and that he had planned to go up to the castle. According to Allan this was what they had been about to do, when they had been separated, by whatever means this had happened. But Much also wondered if he could even rely on Allan with this, as Robin's words wandered back in his mind, that he did not trust the other outlaw. And Robin surely had his reasons for that. Much did not know them, but neither did he have any idea where he was even supposed to start looking for his friend.

TBC