"Dear Sherriff, you seem to not understand that in order to get my head you would first have to capture me, and as seeing as I'm still standing here I'd say you weren't able to capture me!" Robin ended his statement with his hands on his hips and a smirk.
'Oh boy, someone isn't cocky at all…I hope he's not all talk at this moment, I would really hate to have to go back to the castle with someone's head in a saddle bag, yuck!' I thought to my self.
The Sherriff's men, including Gisborne, and Robin's men were fighting each other with quite a passion, swords, axes, fists, bows and arrows…you name it they were using it on each other, I was enthralled! This was way different than what I had seen in the movies, the hostility between the two parties was extreme, it seemed so real. These guys were awesome actors, I almost could believe that they really hated each other and wanted to cause harm to each other (at this point I still believed that this was L.A.R.P, Live Action Role Playing, or a re-enactment of some sorts). With all the men fighting this left Pookah and I forgotten in the midst, as Gisborne had cut the rope that was tied to his saddle horn and simply let go of Pookahs lead rope. All too soon the fighting came too close to Pookah and I. One of the Sherriff's men had one of Robin's men backing up against us. The poor man had no-where to go, so I decided he could use a little help, if nothing else to keep the fighting away from me since my hands were still bound.
"Pookah, get the solider, get 'em boy!" Pookah, being the good horse that he was, bit the soldier's hand that was closest to his mouth. The soldier was not happy, and redirected his attention to us. I hadn't quite thought of everything trough and cursed myself for not having free hands to grab a weapon with. Luckily the man that I just saved returned the favor by knocking the solider over the head with the handle of a short sword.
"Thanks" I said to him, "now you wouldn't mind cutting my bounds would you?"
"There ya go lass, now if you'll excuse me…" and with that my hands were free and he was off fighting the other soldiers. With my hands free I was able to grab Pookah's reins and get a quick look at was going on, there were men who looked to be bleeding pretty badly, and others who looked to be unconscious. 'Toto, I don't think were in Kansas anymore" I thought. These men weren't acting this was real! These men truly hated each other and they were after each other's blood! Well I wasn't going to just sit here and let the Sherriff possibly beat Robin and his men, I could help fight or at least provided a distraction long enough for Robin's gang to gain the upper hand. All I needed was a weapon, preferably a sword, but anything at this point would work I figured. I remembered the man who lay in a heap on the ground next to Pookah and I, he wouldn't need his sword anytime soon it appeared. I quickly dismounted and grabbed the sword and re-mounted; now we were ready to kick some Sheriff ass.
I wasn't picky about which solider I fought, I just picked the nearest on to me and urged Pookah forward towards the man.
"Oy, you there, up here!" I yelled at him as I brought my sword down upon him. He blocked my attack halfway, and tried to unseat me by pushing up and to the side with his sword while it was against mine. Pookah wasn't too happy with the man for raising his sword at me and promptly bit him, hard.
"Damn it! You bloody animal, you'll pay for that." The soldier shouted at him. He balled his fist up and was about to hit Pookah when I turned his head to the side so that his rear end would swing out knocking the soldier off balance and causing him to fall to the ground. I then gave the command for Pookah to rear up and paw the air with his hoofs for a few moments right in front of the soldier. Needless to say the man ran away, and if he had had a tail it would have been tucked under him. I was feeling pretty confident of myself at that moment in time. 'One down…ten to go…not a problem since there seems to be six total of Robin's gang, and now Pookah and me.'
The fighting was extreme, I don't know how long we were fighting each other before the sheriff called his men to retreat back to the castle. As he was riding away, like a coward, he shouted to Robin "You haven't seen the last of me Hood, I will have your head on a silver platter!"
"He's always saying that Robin, shouldn't you be a little bit concerned?" a man next to Robin said. This man, who was slightly shorter than Robin and had blonde shoulder length hair, with a blonde beard to match and dark green eyes, had a good point in my opinion, because Robin didn't look the least bit concerned, just the opposite in fact.
"Much, my friend, do not worry about the sheriff's empty threats. He hasn't caught me yet, and if he does I'll run him through with my sword or I'll shoot him with my bow. Now quit worrying about that, and let us find out who our friend is" He finished motioning towards me.
All eyes were suddenly on me, and not all of the gazes seemed friendly. As I stalled in what to say I looked around me to get a better look at Robins gang. I already knew who Robin and Much were, now I needed to figure out who the rest of the gang was, I really wanted to meet Marian, but I didn't see her among the men. Each man wore similar type of clothing, very earthy tones, mainly different shades of green and browns; however, one of the men wore color's that honestly reminded me of baby poop (not attractive colors). I recognized the young man in the baby poop colors (I would have to figure out a different way of describing him, I couldn't very well go around calling him 'the guy in the baby poop color clothes') as the man who cut my bonds during the battle. The more I thought about it, the more he reminded me of Will in the BBC series of Robin Hood. So if he was Will, then that left, Djaq, Alan, Little John, Kate, Marian and Friar Tuck for the Outlaws. The Sheriffs men, and the people at the castle/ court were a different story all together. I was trying to rack my brain for what each person had looked like in the series so I might be able to figure out who was who, when Robin spoke directly to me.
"Lady, I thank you for your help in this battle against the sheriff, but with times being as they are we have to be careful. What is your name, and where are you from?" he asked me.
"You can drop the 'Lady' title, I'm just an average person no titles, nothing special. My name is…" I didn't finish my sentence because someone had snuck up behind Pookah and startled him, causing him to rear up and nearly unseat me.
"Shit!" I exclaimed, grabbing onto his main in order to keep my seat. "Pookah, easy boy, shhh, settle down boy…" But Pookah wasn't listening and I was going to get thrown any second if I didn't do something. The outlaws took a few steps back to make sure they were well out of the way of flying hooves. I quickly swung out of the saddle and grabbed Pookahs halter and managed to pull his head down to bring his body down. "Whoa boy! Steady, steady now…" After what seemed like a lifetime I finally got him steady and to relax. Now that I had my horse under control I looked around ready to lay into who ever had run up behind him. Whom I saw I wasn't sure if it was a man or a woman, it took my brain a few seconds to realize this must be Djaq! Short, petit, dark skin, dark hair, this person defiantly had the look of a foreigner to them. Seeing as 'Jaq' was the only one in the series to look and be a 'forgiver' who else could it be?
"Don't ever run up behind a horse like that! He could have easily kicked you in the head either killing you, Djaq, or in the best case knocking you unconscious. I would think that if you've been with Robin long enough you would know how to act around horses…Oy vey! Any who, as I was saying before, my name is Arianna O'Conner" I wasn't about to say where I was from; I already learned my lesson there with Gisborne and the Sheriff.
"Lady Arianna, I apologize for Djaq's behavior" Robin said as he started walking towards me "but how did you know that was Djaq?" he finished as he was right in front of me. He could be intimidating when he was up close like this, with his blue grey eyes starting at me, almost like he could see into me…and he was tall, taller than I originally thought him to be, with his mousey brown hair and beard…
"I'll repeat the question for you Lady Arianna, how did you know that was Djaq?" He emphasized the know…
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you, Robin. Look all I want to know is how to get back to where I came from. I'm no threat I promise you that, you just have to believe me" I started to back away from him, and indiscreetly moved my left hand up to Pookah's main, being ready to jump up into the saddle and ride away if need be. I was getting nervous if he chose to he could turn me into the sheriff, so much for the hospitality that he was supposed to be famous for.
Robin frowned at my answer, not what he wanted to hear. "Lady if you are working for the sheriff we will gladly return you to him..."
"Robin, I don't think she works for the Sheriff, Gisborne had her hands bound and a lead rope around her horse when the fight broke out." Will interrupted Robin.
"Will if that was true then how dose she know who Djaq is?" Robin argued.
"Umm Robin..." Much started to interrupt Robin.
"Much, not now!" Robin said turning to his partner. Just as Robin turned back to Will to continue his argument, there was a shout from where Arianna had been and then a cloud of dust as the horse and rider flew by them. "Damn it, she IS working for the sheriff, why else would she flee?" he said as he ran to the nearest horse and mounted it. "Well come on don't just stand there, we must get her back here. Will and Much you come with me Djaq and John you stay here in case she comes back. If she does come back restrain her and don't let her go until I have a chance to get the facts from her".
I looked back, my heart pounding in my chest Robin was faster on his feet than I gave him credit for. I hadn't thought that he would catch up to me so quickly, I had no idea where I was running to or what I would do once I lost Robin. This was not how my trip was supposed to have turned out! It was supposed to have been a fun relaxing time with my friends, and even if I going back in time or to another plane was part of the plan, it wasn't supposed to end up with me being chased by the one whom I had admired as a literary figure all my life. He was supposed to be charming, witty, and be known for his great hospitality.
"Lady Arianna, stop! I want to know the facts about how you knew Djaq and who you are spying for!" Robin shouted from behind me. He was getting much to close for my liking. I turned back around in my saddle to face forward and was suddenly thrown from my saddle, hitting my head on something hard when I landed on the ground. I couldn't move and I couldn't get enough air to my lungs it seemed. As I lay there unable to move I heard voices, but I couldn't make out what they were saying. Then the last thing I saw before my world went black was Robin's concerned face leaning over me, saying something.
I know I know I know...My muses have been punishing me enough...They thought it would be funny to inspire me to write a one shot for Les Miserables...I didn't write a single word down, and it was driving me nuts! But finally the idea faded away and I have decided for the next few days I will make my self sit down and write at least one decent chapter a day. I want to leave you with something that a author wrote in his book, I thought it made a lot of sense and I am finding that this is very true for my story.
"The next problem was larger. One of the greatest pitfalls for writers of historical fiction is to establish how much truth-and how much fiction- is contained in their sources, which should (but may not always) show scrupulous respect for the facts"-Antoni Garrido: The Corpse Reader