Chapter 25
Another chapter! Yay! Thank you again for all your kind words and encouragements. We are getting to the end (I hope). Its been a remarkable journey. Everyone who has commented whether you've been here since the first time I've posted or just started recently have flattered me so much. I can't begin to thank you enough.
Regina insisted they eat something. Nobody felt like it much, it was clear that wherever the dark elf, they now knew his name to be Kristolf, escaped to with Roland, it would be unlikely be near. The beast he had conjured sounded like a Vukodlak, more like a giant wolf than horse. The animal could be summoned but eventually would have to be killed, as it was likely to turn on its master. The merry men's reactions to this was just as the queen expected but the good news meant that Kristolf only used the creature until he was sure he was safe.
"He could still be miles away though, right?" Robin asked, his voice sounding hoarse. He was emotionally spent and needed rest.
Regina nodded, wishing she had better news. Robin went back to eating his meal, his nose turned up at the stew John had hastily made for them, Regina's mind went back to that first morning, his expression matching Roland's exactly.
Regina cleared her mind from the happier memory and tried to formulate a new plan. There must be a way to find Roland quickly. Perhaps getting some distance away from everyone, Robin, Snow and that despicable Johnson, would help Regina concentrate on what needed to be done. Johnson's eyes followed her as she walked away, she knew he wanted to kill her.
It was sunset. Had it really been a whole day? Regina glanced up in the sky to look at the moon but it was gone, probably hidden by the sun's strong rays. She felt chilly suddenly, odd for this time of year but probably due to the leftover dampness of the short storm she conjured. So much for using her magic.
Hearing steps behind her, Regina turned hoping it to be Robin but expecting it to be Tuck. Instead, it was John, his large frame bending the trees branches past their limits as he got closer to Regina. Great, what does he want?
"Your Majesty," he started awkwardly. "I wanted to, um…thank you for what you did back there."
Was he serious? She thought at first he was being sarcastic but the look on his face was so sincere. "For what? We didn't get Roland back."
He shook his head, his face softening. "No, I mean for what you did with Robin. Stopping him from killing Johnson."
Now that did surprise Regina. She remembered the looks on their faces as Robin lost control, they wanted him to stop but nobody lifted a finger to do so. "Funny how you stood and watched. Given your size, you could have pulled Robin off."
"We've been through that before, Milady. Last time he was like that it did no good."
"What do you mean?"
John took a deep breath. "When Marian died. Robin was hell bent on finding those soldiers in charge that took her life. Once we found her body, he took after the men, following their tracks. I went with him, so did Alan…"
Regina was confused. Didn't Sara say that Robin took all the guilt of her death upon himself? "I thought…I thought Robin was so devastated at the attack he collapsed and had to be carried back to the camp."
John's eyes narrowed at her question. He leaned up against a tree and Regina could swear she could hear it strain under his weight. "How do you know that?"
"Sara explained it to me." At John's look, Regina finished. "When I was Lucille."
"Oh, right." He'd forgotten. "Sara didn't know all of it. After they took off with Marian, we sent her home with some of the other merry men, well most of them actually. We didn't know that she was dead yet but it didn't take long to find her body hanging by a tree. Robin was furious. He was wanting to go after the soldiers immediately. I think Robin was on a suicide mission.
We chased the squad that had attacked us. It wasn't hard, there were many men and I didn't know what Robin thought we were going to do. But he wound up kidnapping the leader in charge, the likely one that gave the orders."
Regina's eyes cast downward, imagining the scene. Hanging was a horrible way to die, primarily why it was used as an execution method. Coming upon a loved one that way must be awful.
John went on. "That guy wasn't like Johnson, he didn't want to die. He begged for his life. But Robin didn't care. Once he started hitting him, he couldn't stop. We tried to pull him off but he would jump right back on him. He beat him until he was dead. The reason we had to carry him back to camp was because he was so spent from that. I just told Sara it was devastation instead of…"
"Oh, Robin." Regina knew far too well had loss could make someone go on a murderous rampage. "He eventually came out of it right?"
"Yes, Roland was crying for his mother when we got back. At first Robin didn't know what to do, Marian had taken care of most of Roland's needs. But none of us could get him to stop crying, and after awhile, Robin had had enough and went to hold Roland and he just stopped. Just like that." John smiled then, he reminded Regina of Sara, his wife, as he recounted the story. He truly did care for Robin and hated to see his friend in emotional hell. "And Robin looked so shocked that his son knew him by simply being held. Roland smiled and coo'd at his father. It was enough to help Robin snap out of at least the vengeance path, though he grieved for a long time."
Regina smiled too, glad to hear the story but knew if they never got Roland back, Robin would be forever lost. "Thank you for telling me that. It means a lot, you trusting me with that story."
"I never thought I would trust you with anything," John said, "but you just touched Robin and he calmed down, I didn't…I wish we knew you back then actually."
Regina shook her head, blinking away tears. "No, I had my own grief at that time, I'd have probably encouraged Robin to go after those he felt responsible. That's what I've done." Her mind went to Snow White briefly. But she shook that off, there wasn't time for that, she gestured for John to turn around, they needed to get back.
Robin was pacing back and forth. He had finished his stew but he was going to be damned if he went to bed. There had to be a way to find Kristolf and Roland. His eyes kept going to Johnson. Whenever the former soldier sensed he had Robin's attention, he would sneer. It took all of Robin's self control not to attack him again. But Regina was right, the man actually enjoyed whenever Robin would lash out at him, he truly was evil.
"You need to conserve your strength, Robin," Tuck said, trying to be helpful. Robin glared at him and the friar broke eye contact, frowning. Feeling slightly guilty, Robin approached and sat down next to him.
"I know, Tuck, I just, can't just sit here and do nothing!" He hated to admit defeat. He also hated to know that Johnson probably heard that, but at least his back was to the man now.
Tuck nodded. "We aren't doing nothing. We are regaining out strength as we are about to come up with our next plan."
"What plan? Go back to tracking them? We already know he has the MacGuffin root and he may have made enough of that stuff to start making more of those monsters."
"He did! It's just a matter of time now!" Johnson shouted, eager to annoy Robin some more.
"Remind me why I don't just kill him?" Robin asked, though he wasn't serious, not yet.
Tuck couldn't joke about such things though, probably the religion in him. "Because we don't just kill people because they did bad things to us, Robin. You know that."
"You also don't know how someone can change, either," Snow White offered up. Robin had almost forgotten about her. She'd been so quiet.
Robin cocked his head in Johnson's direction. "You think he can change?"
"Maybe. Maybe not," Snow said, still serious, "I used to go back and forth on this all the time, but after what I saw today I'm becoming truly hopeful." Robin didn't have to be told she was talking about the queen.
The queen. Robin could still feel her hand on his arms. He didn't know how she stopped him. If it had happened yesterday he might have guessed she'd used her magic but now he was sure whatever passed between them wasn't it.
Just then Regina came walking back with John behind her. Her eyes immediately looked for Robin and he felt his pulse quicken when she found him. She nodded her head at him and he returned it, a small blush creeping upon him. She went to get herself some more water.
"So if you aren't going to kill me, your Majesty," Johnson said. "What are you going to do to me?"
Regina didn't answer right away, she kept drinking her water. When she got done, she looked at him. "Put you in prison where you belong. We'll give you a trial."
Johnson laughed at that. "A trial? That will just result in my execution. Why not just kill me now?"
There was an edge to Johnson's voice, making Robin swear it was fear. Was the killer starting to finally panic about his fate? Regina sensed it too, she glowered at him. "Because, it's the law. Processes are in place for a reason. As a former black guard, you were supposed to honor those laws, apparently you rarely did."
"Are you actually claiming that you did any better?"
She poured herself more water, her eyes away from everyone around her. Robin sensed she needed time to compose herself before answering. Finally she did.. "No, that's how I got to be known as the evil queen. But I promise from now on I'll do better." She quickly glanced at Robin who smiled at her.
"Well you probably need a whole new group of men. The knights trained by me are just like me."
She stood up then, getting into Johnson's face. Robin watched as she approached him, part of him hoping she'd give in and just go ahead and kill him. But that wasn't her intent at all "I hardly think they are just like you. But even if they are, I can find out quickly enough. And get new troops."
He laughed again. "Really where?"
"Tripp's Landing for one. I understand the people there are good and loyal." She turned and smiled at Robin who was confused by what she was talking about. He couldn't remember his time over there, but he understood the people there actually didn't fight.
Johnson snorted. "You'd be better off with toy soldiers. Perhaps the ones that Roland makes with his clay."
Hearing Johnson utter his son's name, Robin jumped up, the anger taking control again. He began walking over there but before he could do anything, Regina held out her arm stopping him from getting too close. She asked. "The clay? How do you know of the clay?"
"He had it with him. In that pouch sewn into his cape. We weren't going to let him keep it but it was the only way to make him stop crying."
Regina's eyes widened and she looked at Robin happily. He didn't understand what was so important. "So he brought it with him?"
Johnson glared at her, recognizing this was good news for some reason. He shut up then, though Robin was glad to finally have silence from the soldier, he wished he knew what was going on.
"Regina," Robin asked, "what does the clay have to do with anything?"
"The clay is how I found you in the first place, your camp," she explained. "I put a trace spell on it. It should still be in effect, I can use it now to transport myself within a mile of where Roland is!"
Everyone was excited at the news, and they began gathering their weapons but Regina had to stop them. "Wait, I can't…I can't transport all of you."
"Why not?" someone asked.
She turned to Robin. "Remember when I transported the pair of us yesterday?" Had it really just been yesterday? "It drained me so much, I can't do all of us."
Robin nodded, recalling. "Okay, we'll just transport me then."
"No, Robin, it doesn't work that way, I'll have to go."
"What?" Robin didn't like that at all. She being alone near a dark elf? "All by yourself?"
Regina stood, indignant at his implication. "I can take care of myself."
"Not if he uses that poison. For all we know he could have come upon another person and started the process." Robin knew Regina could take care of herself and he trusted her with rescuing his son, but he didn't like the idea of her being that close and all alone.
"Then I'll end it." She really wasn't listening to him. She was gathering up her own things.
Robin wasn't going to give up that easily. "Regina, you need to wait. Remember, if you get too close he'll smell you."
"The spell will keep me far enough away," Regina said, though she had seemingly forgotten. "But we may not have a choice on that. If I get that close to Roland again, I'm going to go after him."
John reached out and took her hand. "Please, not by yourself. Can't you…make those traveling stones again?"
She paused, realizing it was a good idea. Sighing, she said, "Alright, please go look for two stones that are similar to each other. But hurry. We're wasting time!"
As the men went off, her eyes fell on Robin who finally gave into his feelings. He reached out and hugged her. Having her in his arms, she relaxed and he let himself feel the warmth from her body. "I don't like you going out there by yourself."
"I'll be okay," she whispered. "And this is the best news we've had all day."
"I know." He pulled back. She was so close, his eyes went to her lips but before they could linger she pulled back. She then turned rolling up her sleeves. "What's taking so long? Honestly I would think they'd be used to gathering rocks. Don't your people use them for money or jewelry or something?"
In spite of everything, Robin laughed.
The men found several stones actually, and Regina got to work making them enchanted. After she was finished, she felt a wave of dizziness overcome her. Her magic was getting low. She looked around the men to see if any of them noticed. Nobody did, not even Robin. Gulping she handed one of the rocks to Robin.
"Remember, once activated, it takes five minutes for the stone to warm up and send everyone within the perimeter. You better move him closer and…" she paused as her eyes fell on Snow. "…Snow too." She wasn't ready to deal with Snow. She knew her words earlier were in direct conflict with her actions against Snow over the years and even now. But Regina still felt the agony and bitterness whenever she looked at her stepdaughter.
Getting herself ready, Regina placed the other stone in her pocket. Making sure she had everything she needed she gave one last look at everyone. She was so glad they couldn't tell what she was thinking, she really needed to recharge but she knew she had enough magic for transporting and she wasn't willing to let Roland spend another second with that elf.
Once she transported herself, Regina realized she was still in the forest. That was good, maybe Kristolf hadn't gotten too far. She knew the tracking spell would allow her to face the direction the clay was in and she was looking west. Not wasting anytime, she put her rock down and triggered it. She should be a mile from the clay and not close enough for Kristolf to smell her.
The rock began to glow and Regina stepped far enough back so there would be plenty of room for the men to appear. As she waited, she put her things down, trying to think of what should be next. With John giving her more information to Robin's life, Regina it was even more imperative to save Roland because two lives were at stake.
A scream broke her out of her thoughts, it came from the west. She took a few steps and listened again. Another scream. It was Roland! She whirled to look back at the stone but it hadn't even been two minutes yet! She gripped a nearby tree, trying to restrain herself from going after him. But what was that blue devil doing to him?
But time ticked slowly by, another scream and Regina cried out. Glancing one last time at the rock, she only had to hear the scream one more time to know she couldn't afford to wait for everyone. She had to get to Roland now!
Again, thank you for reading. I hope this chapter isn't too hammy. For those of you that wish to see Johnson meet a very deadly fate, it may happen. It may not. But let's see how things go with Outlaw Queen right?
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