Does He Understand Flight, the Pale One?

Chapter Nine

Once they started to walk back after waiting for John and Brother Tuck to catch up to them, Much spoke up again as he asked, "Look, it's obvious that something not right is going between your father's friend and Gisborne, I'm not disputing that, but why would your father's friend tell you about being robbed, if he didn't intend for you to investigate the theft? It doesn't really make a whole lot of sense now, does it?"

Robin looked back at him as he answered, "I agree, it doesn't make sense. However, we will deal with whatever is going on between them later, or when it becomes necessary. Right now, we have something more important to do."

"What I really want to know is, why hasn't Gisborne and his men attacked us by now?" Allan asked worryingly. "I mean, every time we come into town, we get attacked. That's just the way it is because our luck is nonexistent, or more like it's completely bad."

"Way to remain the optimist," Much replied sarcastically. "We ought to be grateful we haven't been attacked yet."

All of a sudden, the outlaws all heard Gisborne call out from the distance behind them as the man shouted, "Robin Hood!"

As he and the thieves all pulled out their weapons in preparation for the attack, Much glanced back at his friend, glaring at him and responded, "Allan, I bloody hate you, you know that? I hate you!"

"Just shut up and fight!" Robin yelled angrily, then charged against the oncoming soldiers followed closely by the rest of the outlaws.

The battle didn't last long as Robin and his men were easily able to dispense of the small troupe of soldiers, while Sir Guy stood in the distance to watch as the outlaws cut his men down, not killing them as the soldiers would do to the thieves if they were able to defeat them, but simply knocking them down until they were either unconscious or unable to fight any longer.

"I'm sorry to have to leave you so soon, Gisborne!" Robin shouted out to the man he saw was glaring at him from on a hill several feet away. "Perhaps if you fought with your men you might have stood a better chance against me and mine. I doubt it, but until next time!"

Once the outlaws were a safe distance away from those wanting to kill them, after they had finished making sure that Gisborne didn't have them followed, they all made their way back to their camp as Allan looked back at Much and said coolly, "That fight wasn't so much, was it, Much?"

Robin glared at his two men as he called out angrily, "That's enough! The two of you have been at each other's throats ever since Allan came back to us. I understand it will take longer for some of you to forgive him for betraying us before. It is taking me time too, but the important thing is that he realized his mistake and helped to save our lives when it counted. You will all stop your bickering and eventually, you'll come to respect one another again. Is that understood; Much, Allan?"

"Yes Master," Much answered ashamedly.

"Of course," Allan grumbled as he glared over at the man he still considered a friend, even if Much didn't feel the same way for him at the time. "Sorry, Robin."

Both John and the Fool laughed, while Tuck simply smiled at their friends' humiliation as Robin passed by them, then John, who carried the herbs with him, followed close behind their leader as they headed toward the shelter where Will was resting. However, when the two of them entered, they immediately knew that something was wrong upon seeing that their friends were no longer inside.

John was the first one to speak up as he stated, "It doesn't make sense that they're not here, Robin. They never would have left with Will being so ill."

Robin knelt down over the pillow where their wounded friend had laid his head and picked up the dagger, he recognized belonged to Djaq, then replied, "Not unless they were given no choice. Someone was here. Someone took them as prisoners."

"But that can't be!" Much responded worryingly after the rest of them came in behind them as Robin showed Tuck the knife. "I mean, no one else knows where our camp is other than us?"

"Well obviously that's not true now, is it?" their leader shouted again angrily, though it was clear that he wasn't really angry at his friends, but that three of them were once again in danger, one of whom was in danger of dying worse off than the others. "They can't be moving very fast. With Will in his condition, even with Djaq's and Luke's help…"

John pulled the herbs from the satchel he carried on him as he interrupted, "He won't last long if he is forced to travel far and even if whoever took them stays close, Will won't be able to hold on for long without these."

Much looked to his closest friend fearfully as he asked, "Master, what are we going to do?"

"We're going to find them," Robin answered resolutely. "Whoever took our friends, took Will thinking that they can use an ill man as leverage against Djaq and Luke. These men are going to find out exactly what happens to those who try to harm our own."

In the meantime…

Once the criminal and his prisoners had left the outlaws' camp, they had been travelling for over an hour when Djaq and Luke felt Will stumble as his body began to falter and hang heavier between them, needing his wife and brother to take on most of his weight despite how hard he tried to remain upright.

"We need to stop to rest," Luke called out to their captor walking behind them worryingly. "My brother can't keep going like this."

The man chuckled and then replied, "We'll rest when we've arrived at where we'll be hiding out until Guy of Gisborne and the Sheriff arrive."

Djaq kept her eyes between Will and the road ahead of them while they continued to walk as she responded, "So, they are the ones behind our capture. I thought as much."

"Only Gisborne was the one clever enough to use a bounty hunter to hunt down an outlaw as powerful as Robin Hood," the stranger answered smugly. "The Sheriff couldn't run this country without his second hand. In fact, he couldn't do anything without everyone else around always having to bail him out of the messes he causes for himself."

"Is that what Gisborne told you?" she asked. "What is it we should call you? Do you have a name?"

The man smiled as he replied, "I have a name. Call me Warin, Sir Warin of Gloucestershire. I was knighted two years ago when I took an arrow in shoulder for Prince John."

Djaq finally turned her head to look back at their captor as she responded with bravery, "Prince John is no more a nobleman than you or Gisborne are. Just because you both were knighted by a Prince, who will never be King, it doesn't make any one of you noble."

"The only one who will pay for words such as those will be the man that you love, Saracen," Warin answered cruelly as he walked around them while he pulled his sword once again and plunged the blade against Will's throat, cutting a long, shallow gash just beneath his chin, enough to make him whimper in pain no matter how hard he tried not to appear so weak in front of the vile man holding them captive.

"Stop!" Luke shouted in anger as he grabbed the blade with his free hand, not caring about being cut himself as he swiftly pushed it away from his brother's throat, then tightened his hold on Will, who weakly turned his head to look at the younger man with gratitude in his eyes until he could no longer keep his head up as his fever was once again becoming evident. "If there is anyone you want to punish, then let it be me."

The warrior stared at Luke with admiration until he finally turned to look over at Djaq as he replied, "Be grateful that I am well tempered and in awe at this boy's courage. The next time you say such words to me again, I will hurt your husband far worse than a simple nick to the throat."

Djaq glared at the man until he disappeared from her sight again when he moved behind them as they continued to walk onward, then she turned her eyes toward the younger Scarlett brother and asked worryingly, "Are you alright?"

"If you mean is my hand alright, then I'm just fine," he responded coldly, though his anger was not meant to be reflected at her. "But truthfully, I'm scared. Not for myself, not really, but Will is getting worse and we have no remedies or even bandages to treat him. What if Robin Hood and the rest of your friends won't be able to find us in time? It's as I said before, I can't lose Will too, not like we lost our mother and father."

"I promise you Luke, they will find us," she said with an unwavering confidence. "Do you want to know how I know this? Because, when I returned here to Sherwood Forest days ago with Will so near death, I was afraid then that I had failed him, that I was too late getting him back home, but Robin Hood appeared when I needed him most, as he does for so many. And not just Robin, but John, and Much, and Allan too. That is what they represent and why I fight with them. You will see."