Chapter 17

Got this out earlier because the last chapter had such little OQ in it. This is full of it!

Meanwhile, some of y'all say the nicest things in your reviews. Please, keep it up. :D

Robin didn't know how he got here or what had happened, but he was suddenly surrounded by black knights. He struggled as hard as he could but three of them were practically on top of him, holding him to a wooden wall. He could feel the splinters digging into his skin.

"You need to calm down, thief." Robin froze at the sound of her voice: commanding and cold. Peering to his left, his eyes fell upon her and immediately his pulse quickened. He hadn't met her before, but the evil queen was easily recognizable. She was striking in her tailored riding clothes. If Robin wasn't so nervous about what was to happen to him, he would at least admire her beauty.

"What am I doing here?" he asked but hardly expected her to answer.

She stepped closer. "What do you remember?"

Everything was a blur. He remembered being at his camp with the merry men. Roland! No, he remembered Roland at the camp. He struggled to come up with something substantial, but his mind was too fuzzy for that.

She stepped away. "Clearly you don't remember. Guards, tie his hands behind his back." Robin's heart dropped, he was to be carried away to her dungeons. He wondered how much torture there might be.

He was forced to kneel on the ground while they bound him. When they were finished, both Robin and the guards looked at her majesty for her orders, the outlaw was just hoping they wouldn't drag him.

"Let him go."

Robin thought he'd misunderstood her. She probably said something like "Let's go" though that didn't sound very queenly. However, the guards immediately stepped away being sure not to turn their backs on him. Robin remained kneeling, confused.

The queen was putting on some gloves and waved for her horse to be brought to her. "If I ever see you again, thief, I will throw you in my dungeons." She wasn't looking at him.

"You're…you're just letting me go?" He couldn't believe it. It must be a trick. "Just like that?"

She mounted her horse, still barely looking at him. "Just like that."

Wondering if this was all a bluff, Robin got to his feet, watching as the guards circled around him, certain they were about to charge. None of them moved. "Why? Why would you let me go?"

Her eyes bore into him and he almost shivered. The intensity of her expression was startling. "Because I said so."

"The evil queen is going to show mercy to a common thief like me?" This had to be a trick.

Her expression softened ever so slightly. If he didn't know any better, he'd think she was hurt by what he just said, but that was unlikely, wasn't it? When she did reply, her face hardened and Robin assumed he'd just imagined it. "Let's just say I have more important things to do than arrest mere bandits."

Like Snow White, he thought but he wisely kept his mouth shut. "So why did you bind me?"

"To keep you occupied while we left, of course." She rolled her eyes at him. Robin had the strongest urge to smirk but quelled the desire. Without another word, she rode away and her knights followed, though not without spitting in his direction.

Once they were out of sight, he worked quickly and freed himself. Looking down, he saw they had left a bag and…his weapons! They didn't even take them? How strange.

The arrow wasn't really aimed to kill her or even hit her. Still, Regina snatched it out of the air once it came close enough. A small amount of pride welled inside her as Robin's eyes widened, she knew how impressive the trick looked. But what was he talking about? "What happened to Ro-your son? And why do you think I have him?"

"Roland was taken from one of my merry men this morning in Tylertown. I think it was you!"

Regina ignored the hurt she felt at the accusation, "Why would you think that? I don't go around kidnapping children!"

"Don't you?" He stepped forward, his hand going down to his belt, probably a dagger. He truly believed her capable of such a thing, and truth be told, she couldn't blame him. However, Robin's handsome face was full of pained emotion. She could see he was in hell, someone had taken Roland! She herself had the urge to tear someone in two. What must Robin be going through?

"I wouldn't take a child, Rob-, thief. I swear."

"It must be you!" he shouted, tears in his eyes. The old Regina would have been furious at such an accusation, but all she could see was her lover scared out of his wits at the prospect of losing his precious son. A boy who was very precious to her "If not you…someone like you."

She took a step forward so he pulled out his dagger. Regina steeled herself, if what he said was true, she couldn't take the time to allow hurt feelings to slow her down. She needed to get to the bottom of this. "Tell me what happened."

"Like you don't-"

"Robin, I don't know! I swear I know nothing about this!" Regina inwardly flinched at letting her emotions get the better of her, but if someone had kidnapped him there wasn't a moment to lose! "You barged in here and brought me into it, so now I'm going to become involved. I can help with this, especially if what you say is true, that it's someone with magical abilities, but let's not waste any more time. I want to help Roland, too!" Her voice cracked at saying his name. She really had missed that darling boy.

Robin lowered his arm, he appeared to be in agony, probably in large part to whether he could actually trust her. "You do know my son then!"

Memory potion or not, she knew Roland would still remember her. She wondered if it would be enough for Robin to seek her out, she had dreams of him showing up. But not like this. "Yes, and I can explain that…later, but right now just tell me what happened."

Robin put away his dagger, deciding to trust her for now.

As he told Regina what she needed to know about the circumstances surrounding his son's abduction, Robin's mind reeled as he relived the moment in full:

"Okay, everyone, I don't want to linger too long here in town. Let's just go find Cecil and be out of here." The merry men disembarked from the wagon they had brought, it was supply day and they were going to trade some of their bounty for needed items back at camp. Cecile was one of the few tradesmen who they trusted inexplicably. He knew how to take their "goods" and fence them on the black market.

Robin had brought three men: the friar, Alan and Sade. Sade had wanted to come so badly and Robin didn't see any reason why he couldn't join them. It was just a market trip after all. Truth be told he was proud of Sade, the initiative he was taking, he insisted since being in charge of their inventory, he should come along, no matter how tedious they often proved to be.

They got to work taking what they would need for Cecil. It wasn't long until they realized they had brought more than originally planned.

The Friar had seen him first. The boy had hidden himself fairly well but now they were all grabbing at boxes, he noticed his feet under one of the tarps. He smacked Robin on the shoulder and pointed. Robin was so shocked, he reached out and grabbed the boy's feet. "Roland!"

His son popped up, not the least bit sorry or ashamed at being caught or being somewhere he knew very well he shouldn't be. Standing up in the bed of the wagon, Roland was eye level with his father which pleased him. His grin was so big it looked like his teeth would burst out. "I want to go see Cile!"

Robin was confused. He knew the boy meant Cecile but why would he want to see him, especially enough to stow away on the cart to town? "Roland, I said goodbye to you last night. I put you to bed."

"I went to bed, Papa!" he answered. "But when you kissed me this morning, it woke me up. So I thought I'd come along and see Cile with you!"

"You stowed away you mean!" Robin couldn't believe this.

Roland didn't understand. "No, I hid. As you left camp, I jumped up and climbed in."

"You've been down there this whole time?" the Friar asked. He was trying his best to keep a straight face.

"Yeah. I thought it was going to be hard at first but I fell asleep. I woke up a few minutes ago."

Robin heard Sade and Alan laugh behind him. "Well, I guess that explains why you managed to stay so quiet this whole time. But why did you want to come here to see Cecile?"

Roland wasn't really listening by now, he was trying to get down off the wagon. Sade stepped up to help the boy. Friar took Robin aside. "I don't think he wants to see Cecile. I bet he wants to find Lucille."

Lucille? Oh yes, one of the people Robin had forgotten. Since returning back to camp, there was a number of incidents that had happened in the previous months that Robin had no recollection. It was very troubling and strange. Lucille was the last person he was seen before being apprehended by the queen. Sade had approached him, worried about her. Apparently she helped inspire him to take his job seriously at camp. Whether he remembered her or not, Robin was grateful. He liked seeing Sade taking pride in his work. On the other hand, how did she know Roland?

"I believe she spent some time with Roland." The Friar's eyes were on Roland as he ran up besides his father and taking his hand.

"I want to see Cile!" He was jumping up and down now. Robin looked up to the skies trying to calm himself. He vowed to never lose his temper on Roland like his own father did to him. "Roland, we came here to see a man named Cecile, not a woman named Lucille."

His son's face fell and in spite of being angry with him, Robin hated to see the lad disappointed. "Oh."

"If you had talked to me about this plan, I could have made you understood. Now you are here with us. I told you this isn't the place for young boys. There isn't anywhere for you to play and it's not safe for you to explore."

Tears weld up in his eyes and Robin gave him a hug. "There, there. It's okay. Don't cry." That would be the last time he had seen him.

"…So I sent him off with one of my merry men while the rest of us went to go find Cecil. After we were done, we went back to the wagon and both of them were gone." Robin shifted, his face going pale from the memory. "We found…some blood. A trail. We followed it and it took us to one of the alleys. We found my man but not Roland."

Regina longed to put her arms around Robin but knew that was out of the question. "Was he dead?"

"No, he was alive but stabbed. We immediately got him back to the wagon. He could talk, at least then. He told us two men had jumped him. They wanted him to find where I had gone, Robin Hood."

"They were looking for you?"

"Apparently," he snapped. "I have no shortage of enemies. It happened so quickly and Roland was right there. Hearing my name, he was quick to tell them who he was."

Regina winced. "He loves you very much. He wouldn't like anyone to threaten you."

"That's true!" Robin spat out, clearly angry she knew that. "I don't know what they want exactly but having my son appealed to them. I can't imagine what Roland thought when they stabbed-" Robin had to stop, everything getting to him. He placed his face in his hands to try to pull himself together

Regina reached for him, but managed to stop herself before Robin noticed. Concentrating on the facts as she was told, something bothered her. "Why did you come to me?"

His face darkened. "Whatever was used to stab him…it was poisoned."

"What kind of poison?"

"If I knew that-" he snapped back at her but stopped at her hurt look, this was all so troubling she wasn't doing a good job masking her true emotions. Whatever he thought of her reaction he kept it to himself. "Friar Tuck thinks it was a cursed blade or there was poison on it because he's changing into something."

Regina thought at the possibilities. "Into what?"

"If I knew what it was, I would say." Robin was looking past her, his face fluctuating between all the emotions he was experiencing. "What is this?" Regina didn't need to turn to know he was looking at Roland's gift. She had forgotten about it falling to the ground.

"Roland made this for you!" Robin brought it to her. "How did he do that?"

At least he wasn't accusing her of stealing it. She knew everything was too much to process but they needed to get back to the obviously more urgent matter. "I need to be taken to your wounded man. Where did you leave him?"

Robin was still staring at the squirrel cone. But he answered. "They took him back to the camp. If they hurried, and I bet they did, they probably are already there."

"Well, that's where we need to go." She got some things together. She always had a go bag ready to take in case she had to leave the castle quickly. She stood in front of her mirror and clapped. Her attire transformed to traveling clothes. She took her bag and grabbed some potions on her vanity thinking that they may come in handy later.

"If you think I'm going to lead you back to my camp, my secret camp that nobody knows how to get to except-" He was interrupted by Regina grabbing hold of his arm and pulling him close. "What are you doing?"

He probably thought she was going to kiss him. His eyes so close to hers and their noses practically touching, she was tempted. She shouted out the words and purple smoke engulfed them. When it dissipated, they were no longer in her chambers but in the merry man camp, in Robin's tree house to be more precise.

"How did you do that?" He was shocked to say the least. She placed her bag on the nearby table and tried to act like what just happened was commonplace. However, transporting herself was one thing, transporting another human being plus their baggage took a lot out of her. She needed a moment to regroup.

He asked again. "How did you do that? How did you know where I lived-"

She wanted to lie and say using magic she could zone in on anyone anywhere but with Roland missing that was too dangerous. She didn't have the ability to find him like that. The look Robin was currently giving her, he almost looked murderous and she knew if she was to gain his trust again, she'd just have to tell him the truth. "I've been here before, that's why."

"When?" he yelled, stomping around the room.

"You wouldn't remember." Damn, she had greatly underestimated how draining porting multiple people would be. Otherwise she'd be down the ladder and going to look for his wounded man.

He grabbed her arm, hard enough she yelped. It didn't seem to faze him. "I don't understand what you did to me, and I know you did something to me. But even if I could no longer recall the evil queen in my camp, my men sure as hell would have brought it up!"

At the title he used, she jerked her arm away, rubbing it. Her eyes fell on a toy behind him. Something of Roland's. Where was he? Who had taken him? Was he hurt? It didn't matter what Robin thought of her. She had to save his son. "I was Lucille."

"Lucille," he nodded. "That's why I didn't remember her."

"I wanted to spy on you. I didn't trust you, I never trust anyone. I thought you were up to something so the clay I gave to you to give to Roland had a homing spell on it. It would allow me to port almost directly to it. From there I disguised myself and tricked you and your men into thinking I was hurt."

He didn't say anything but if looks could kill, Regina knew she would be dead. "I'm sorry, Robin."

"How did we meet?" He crossed his arms. "The short version."

"You found me in the woods, I was hurt. You brought me back to a cabin you had used for shelter. You didn't realize I was the queen until you got me inside and dry."

"And Roland?" Robin's glare wasn't weakening.

Regina felt a bit of strength returning, but confessing all of this out loud under Robin's accusatory glare was just as demanding. She pulled out a chair and sat down. "He was with you at the cabin. You were careful to not let me know who you were but once I was awake, I made it clear you were in the presence of the queen. The evil queen.

"Roland was very charming. He liked me a lot. It's not often someone likes me-" she stopped herself. This wasn't about her. "Anyway, he had given you that squirrel cone to give to me. You explained he makes figurines."

"He sure as hell does." Grabbing her arm, he jerked her from the table and led her to the room next door.

Regina didn't have to guess where he took her, it was obviously Roland's room. The area itself wasn't very big, it couldn't be sitting in a tree if it was. But there was a bed and a small table that was perfect for a boy of Roland's size. On the table sat her clay. He'd been using it. But she didn't have to see the opened clay box to know that. The entire room was filled with knights like he had first made her. On the window's led, along the short shelves on the far wall. In the nooks of the walls. Some branches of the tree house were coming in. He had obviously gotten better with the swords as he made some knights with axes that were like a hook and could hang from the branches. There had to be dozens of them and Regina's eyes filled with tears.

Robin regarded her for a few moments. "He says he's made an army for HIS queen. I kept thinking he would run out of clay but it seemed to go forever."

Oh yes. "I put a….regeneration spell on it." She cringed at the sound of her voice, on the cusp of crying, she sounded like a frog.

"You have a spell for everything it seems." He leaned into her. "Do you have one that will bring my son back?"

She blinked the tears away. "I wish I did." He remained close to her. His eyes locked on hers. She'd give anything to know what he was thinking, but he was careful not to reveal anything.

When he finally pulled away, Regina scanned his son's room one more time. She could picture Roland sitting at the table making a knight.

"Follow me, your Majesty," Robin headed for the door. "You're here now, so let's take see if the others had gotten back."

Evidently they had arrived merely an hour before so the timing was good. The Friar had instructed those that greeted them to take the injured man to the medical tent, at least to make him more comfortable.

Regina followed Robin even though she knew the way but thought it best not to remind him. She could hear whispering as they walked by. She was sure none of them would be happy at her presence but she truly hoped they were willing to put Robin and Roland's needs first. She was going to help and nobody was going to stop her.

As they entered the medical hut, Regina had to pause as Robin warned everyone to keep an open mind. She could hear the man's screams and she rolled up her sleeves, hoping that she'd recovered enough magic to do something about his condition. Healing was never one of her strong suits though.

When they entered the tent, her eyes went to Friar Tuck's first. She remembered them being so warm and friendly before, but now they were cold and almost angry. Looking to the left, she planned on helping this man who was screaming and sobbing, if there was anything she could do. But her eyes fell on his form and though the magic had already begun to alter his appearance, she immediately recognized him. "Sade!" She shouted in horror.

So poor Sade! The one person in camp other than the Hoods that Regina cared about and this has befallen him. Please let me know what you think. And if you have any ideas who kidnapped young Roland, let's hear 'em.