Chapter 9

To all reviewers: Your patience is rewarded with another chapter (Or I hope it's rewarded). I hope you keep reading (and reviewing)!

"Magestry?!"

Regina calmed the panic inside of her. Did her disguise fade? Is she no longer an elderly lady? Judging by how those around her weren't giving her the slightest odd glance, only Roland could see who she really is. But how?

Her first instinct was denial. "I'm sorry, young man, but what did you call me?"

He giggled. "What you told me to call you. No, you said I could say Regina! But Papa said it wasn't…" he frowned trying to remember the word, "'popper."

Damn, she thought. How does he know me? Whispering, she got very close to the boy. "Roland, can you see I look different?"

"Your hair is weird. And your clothes don't fit. Why?"

"Because-" she stopped. Because what? She's here to spy? She's here to prove that his father is no different than any other person? She thought quickly. "Because I'm playing a game!"

His eyes widened. "A game? I love games!"

She shushed him. Some of the other peasants were playing music; so far at least they hadn't attracted any attention. "I'm trying to see how long any- to see how long it takes for the merry man to see me. It's a test, Sir Roland!"

He smiled, pleased he still was a knight. "And I passed it?"

"Oh yes, you most certainly did, but now we must continue on. To see if anyone else can pass." Please let this work.

"I bet Daddy will!" the boy said proudly.

She shuddered. "Maybe, but we have to wait and see. He mustn't get any help from anyone else. That would be cheating!"

Roland nodded very seriously. She studied him. She hoped he could keep the secret, she wasn't sure what to do with this new development. Her mind was still quite shocked that he even could see her. Could the young child have magical capabilities? Even so, being able to see through a disguise was extraordinary.

"So I can trust you, Sir Roland?" she whispered, allowing a faint smile to escape.

Standing at attention, he said, "You may, Mage-"

"No!" she quickly stopped him. "Call me Lucille. Okay?"

He looked around wildly to verify no one heard his mistake. "Ok, Lu-Cile."

Good. She had such an urge to kiss him, but that would look strange.

Just then, she heard his father calling. "Roland!" The outlaw was walking towards them.

"Remember," she reminded him but whether the child heard her or not, she didn't know. He had rushed off to see his father. Robin caught him and threw him up in the air. She waited for Robin to look at her but he seemed too absorbed in Roland. Standing up now, she walked closer to them, unable to help herself. "Bedtime!"

Roland didn't like that at all. He squirmed but now that he was in his father's arms, he didn't have much of a choice. She watched transfixed as the pair headed off.

"They really are cute, aren't they?"

Regina whirled around, facing a woman she didn't know yet. She was probably in her thirties and a bit on the large side. She extended her hand. "We haven't met. My name is Sara."

"Lucille." Regina shook the woman's hand. Her hands were rather rough.

"I'm Little John's wife."

Regina wasn't sure who that was, but she looked around to look for some clue. The lady laughed. "He's the biggest person here, over there!"

Regina nodded. "I don't think we formally met, but he was with Robin when they found me."

"I thought I'd come over and show you where you can sleep. John had told me what you went through, you must be exhausted."

Now that Sara had said so, Regina realized for the first time she actually was. Following the large woman, she came to a very small hut, near the kitchen. Walking inside it, a lantern had already been lit. There was a small cot with everything she needed to sleep. A table was in the corner but not much was on it. "This hut doesn't have a stove to heat it, but now that is warmed up outside, I don't think you will need it."

"I'm sure I'll be fine."

"I saw you met little Roland, he's the youngest we have here," she said, eyeing Regina. "He doesn't take to strangers that often."

"Really?" Regina tried to say nonchalantly. She was sitting down on the bed and removing her shoes. "The boy seemed quite friendly. I-I helped him tie his shoes."

"He's learning."

Regina nodded, trying to act like she didn't care but honestly she had several questions. Looking up now at Sara, Regina decided it wouldn't hurt to ask the obvious question. "So what happened to his mother?"

Sara had laid out what appeared to be a nightgown for her. At Regina's question, she gripped it rather hard. "A tragedy, I'm afraid. She was killed years ago."

"Years ago? Roland must have been a baby." Regina remembered the conversation she and Robin had earlier.

"He was, eight months or so." Sara was straightening the nightgown. She obviously was recalling, judging by how she was acting. "It was a horrible time."

Regina knew it was none of her business, Lucille's or the queen's. But what Robin had said was that Marian, she remembered he called her that, had died. Not that she had been killed. "What happened?"

Sara stared at Regina for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, she decided to go ahead and explain. "John, Robin and a few more merry men had gone on to do a job, you know what they do."

Regina nodded at her. Sara went on. "It was supposed to be easy. Except we got word at our camp that some troops had been alerted to the plan and they were going to ambush everyone."

"Troops? The evil queen's?" Regina's voice cracked. Was she responsible for Roland not having a mother?

Sara shook her head, sitting down on the bed next to Regina. "No, King George's. Though I don't know if it ever was a direct order, more like the mercenaries he had hired. Anyway, I went with her too. We both were frantic to get to our husbands and save them, plus the others you know.

At first we did catch up to them, we thought we had made it in time. But it seems we only got there right at the exact moment the troops did too. They attacked. Marian was hit."

"Hit? With what?"

"An arrow. It had meant to hit Robin but she jumped in front. Robin caught her. She had just gotten it in the shoulder and told him she was okay. Without thinking, he went after the archer. He…was going to kill him. But he didn't make it. Some of the troops had grabbed Marian once Robin had ran away and took off with her. I saw it with my own eyes, I tried to yell for Robin but someone threw their hand over my mouth. So far the troops were only aware of a few of us, hadn't seen everyone. We couldn't let them know we were there."

"And then?"

"Robin realized Marian was gone, he came running back and down after the horses that took Marian away. John had to wrestle him to the ground to keep him from giving chase. That was what they wanted. They wanted him to follow. Robin would have gone, never mind they'd had orders to kill him on sight, and then what? Roland would be an orphan. But he wasn't thinking clearly, he doesn't do well when he sees those he loves in danger."

Regina's mind went to Cora smashing Daniel's heart. "Don't we all?"

Sara patted Regina's hands. "I'm sorry, dear. You didn't mean to hear all that. It's just…once I get talking, honestly I just have to voice it all out, I have to get it out of me."

"I understand, that must have been awful. What happened after they took her?" Regina wasn't sure if she wanted to know.

"Oh, well, we immediately got to work on rescuing her. Like I said, Robin wasn't much help, he was so torn up about the situation, thinking it was all his fault. We were going to find where they took her but-" She just stopped at that.

Regina waited as patiently as she could, but it was like Sara was stuck in time. "But?"

"They went and hung her immediately. I know they had orders to do that to Robin and probably the rest of the men, but I didn't think they would do it a woman, I'm sure she tried to tell them about Roland but obviously it didn't do no good."

Regina flinched. It wouldn't have. Her men would have done the same, especially if there were orders. And now realizing she had men like Johnson there, they might have done far worse things before ultimately killing her. Regina sat, reminded of the women who came before her, begging her to have mercy, they were mothers and for their children's sake. "Why did she leave? She left Roland and took a big risk!"

"She had to get to Robin! It was mainly just us women left behind, we weren't as large back then as we are now. Even so, she wasn't going to just entrust this to anyone. I mean, if your true love was in danger, wouldn't you drop everything to save him?" Sara asked and Regina couldn't deny she would. She would have for Daniel. "Besides, it's not like Marian had planned to die. Of course, it was there, the danger, but we really thought we could catch up to them. We were so close!

"Anyway, I've talked too much. I'm so sorry to give you such sad stories before you sleep. I'll go now." She had stood up to leave.

"Wait," Regina had gotten this far with it. "So, after losing his wife, how did Robin cope?"

Sara shook her head. "He was devastated. We had to actually carry him back here. He was…it was like he was done with life. He didn't want to get up, he didn't want to eat or drink. He was miserable."

Regina certainly couldn't understand that. That was what she had wanted until her revenge for Snow gave her new life. What was it for Robin? "Until he found the soldiers that killed her?"

"Oh no," Sara shook her head. "It was Roland. It took a couple of days but he saw Marian's smile in that boy's face and he knew what he had to do. He owed it to Marian and Roland." With that she left, leaving Regina alone in her thoughts.

Morning arrived earlier than Regina was accustomed, or so it seemed. The light came in unfiltered and in her small hut it seemed everything was lit up. It was almost like the door was open. Turning her head, she plainly saw her door was open and in it, was a figure, a very small figure. She shot up faster than an elderly woman should.

Roland was watching her intently. "Morning."

She narrowed her eyes at him. She had hoped that by this morning he might have moved on from knowing she was here but of course that would have been too easy. "Good morning to you. What-"

"I wanted to give you this." He ran up to her and tossed something on the bed. Regina had to catch it or it would have hit her.

"What is this?" She asked. He had used the clay to make her something. Now that she had it in her hands, she could see that the clay was a by far more accurate material for him. At least this did resemble a figurine. "Is it a man?"

"It's a knight!" He had jumped into bed with her. She knew this was a bad idea. She needed to get him out of there. But he was so enthusiastic. Plus she hated to admit it but she loved his gifts.

Now that he told her what it was, it actually did look like a knight, sort of. "Is this a shield?"

He shook his head. "Yes. I tried to make a sword but it kept breaking off."

She chuckled. "It's very good, Roland. I thank you for it."

"He will protect you when I can't."

Regina eyed the boy, he really did mean what he said. She thought of the last person who would protect her, did she ever have that? Her mother did more harm to her than anything, Daniel died for her. Her father loved her and treated her with kindness but he rarely came to her defense. And the King's idea of protecting her was forcing her to remain in the castle like a prisoner. Now this son of a thief seemed to understand better than most what it was to protect someone.

Without thinking, she kissed his forehead. "Thank you. But don't forget our secret!"

"I haven't!" He placed his fingers to his lips. She couldn't help it, she laughed.

"I see you met my son." Robin was just stepping up to the doorway. Regina's face fell, had he heard anything? It didn't look like he did, but his eyes were mainly on Roland. "You're not bothering the lady, are you?"

"No, Papa!" He jumped down from the bed. "I just wanted to give her a knight!"

His eyes fell on what was in her hands. There was a twinkle in his eye and Regina hated how it made her heart flutter. She placed it on the table trying to act like it meant nothing. Robin stared at her gesture but then returned back to his son. "Are you ready for your lesson?"

"No!"

"Roland, you know, Miss Sara is waiting on you. You need to practice the alphabet."

"I already know it!" he stated, like that was all that was needed in life so he was set.

"Roland," Robin's voice was lower now. Roland seemed to realize the battle was lost, for now at least, and stomped off. Robin stayed with Regina, watching his son head off. "I know my son woke you, sorry, we tend to rise early here at camp."

She nodded, of course they did. "What time is it?"

"Mid morning."

"Oh," Regina hadn't realized how late it was. "I don't normally sleep in this late."

He shrugged. "It's understandable with all you've been through."

She nodded not sure if she could add anything to that. He pointed behind him. "If you want breakfast, you should hurry and change. I instructed them to hold a plate for you."

She watched him go. Getting up, she dressed in a hurry. From now on, she needed to avoid Roland completely.

Outside, Robin was gone again. Regina headed over to the kitchen area. Inside, someone smiled at her and handed her a plate. She smiled back, it was becoming easier to do that here.

Sitting down, her food was cold but really good. Around her the camp was bustling with activity, obviously people were busy with the morning chores. On the other side of the bonfire area, she saw some men in the open field, practicing using swords. It seemed like it was training, her mind went to the battle earlier. Many of the merry men had participated even though having her army there meant they didn't have to.

Eating quickly, she headed over to see if she could overhear anything useful. By then, the swords had been put away and body attacks were on the agenda. One at a time, men were charging Little John who was on one knee. Regina could see it was mainly the younger man. They weren't making much of a headway, the large man easily over powering them and throwing them over his shoulder. Sade's turn came up, and he charged with all his might, but out of the men there, he was clearly the worst. John practically tossed him to the side.

Once he landed, the young man looked down, upset with his performance. One of the women called to him and he left the group. Apparently he was supposed to be doing something else. Following him, Regina noticed how sullen he looked. Though she told herself she could care less, she felt like maybe she ought to talk to him. "Something wrong?"

"No, just…I wish I could be more useful to the camp." He started gathering up branches and leaves that had freely fallen from the trees.

"Seems to me you are very useful."

Sade shrugged, barely looking at her. "I was never useful at home either. Even before, my brothers would to tell me to get out of the way while they trained like real men do."

Regina wanted to say all their training didn't do any good in the end but knew that would be too harsh. Instead she watched silently as he gathered the sticks and trees, placing them into a wheelbarrow. He'd obviously gathered enough of it, as the pile was quite high. "What are you doing now?"

"Just gathering the fallen limbs from the storm yesterday."

"Some of this looks heavy." She pointed to one limb that was as thick as her arm.

He nodded. "Yeah, it will take awhile to pick this up. I brought this wheelbarrow over to just gather it all together, otherwise I'd walk my feet off going back and forth."

She smiled. "Sade, you can say what you are doing isn't important, but I know for a fact that the first thing villages and castles do is organize these types of jobs. It takes jobs like this, with capable men like you organizing it for a community to come together."

He paused, letting her words sink in. "I'm hardly capable."

"Really? Did the person before you use a wheelbarrow?"

"No." He continued to pick up items. "He'd warn me though about the walking so that's why I grabbed it."

She placed her arm on his, stopping him. "See, that right there. Some people just do as they are told but never think to improve upon it. 'This is the way it's always been done before' and no need to consider if there is a better option. Don't sell yourself short."

He was looking at her with a perplexed expression. Regina now realized how odd it was for her, to be this…what was it? Encouraging. "Well, I'll leave you to it then."

Walking away, she shook her head. She felt silly, what did she care about helping a man feel better about living with thieves and outlaws? Rubbing her face, she realized this trip was just a waste of time. She needed to get away from here. She needed to deal with that other problem out there, those damn orcs.

As she headed off to gather what few things she had, she didn't notice a pair of blue eyes watching her from his tree top home.

So Sade is an OC obviously. I had written for him in my other story (You Were Missed). I rather like him.

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