Thank you so much for reading my story and reviewing it. The next few chapters will start diverging from the narrative of the film and heading into AU territory. Hope you still like it.
PetiteDaisy – Thanks for your input. I will admit that I spent far more time than is healthy staring at pictures of Christian Slater's eyes, trying to work out what colour they were! I shall bow to your superior wisdom! Green it is!
**DISCLAIMER **
I own none of the characters from the film, I have merely borrowed them for a time.
The woodsmen were positioned around the square, waiting with bated breath for the morbid display to start. Robin took a deep breath as he concealed himself on the battlements. The space below was packed with peasants and commoners all here to watch his friends die for the sake of the sheriff's greed and their entertainment.
Their plan was risky and bold. But it had to be. They were seven against Nottingham's hundreds. Success depended on their ability to create disorder and move quickly within the chaos to secure their loved ones and end the sheriff's reign of terror.
Robin knew they had a good plan. The only part that made his heart clench with an uncertainty verging on panic was the part that involved Will. His gaze lingered on the burgundy cloak weaving itself stealthily through the throng. His brother was right in the middle of that crowd, closer to danger than any of them. And further from rescue if it came to that.
He tore his sight away from his brother's form as the drums began to beat and the crowd fell momentarily silent. People started to jeer and the captured foresters came into view, dishevelled, bloody, hands bound before them. The guards shoved them along, jabbing them with spears, herding them to their deaths. Robin scanned the faces. These were the men they'd come to save. Everything depended on the next few minutes.
And then it happened. Wulf saw Will. His brother was tackled to the floor by the small boy, then hauled in front of the sheriff. Despite his bravado, Robin could feel the fear in Will's voice as he tried to convince the sheriff that his brother was dead. When the soldier held up Will's sword, he knew what would happen next. Will was sentenced to die with the others.
Robin froze. His world narrowed to a pinpoint focussed on his brother. He couldn't breathe. His hands were trembling uncontrollably. Will… His brother's terrified eyes briefly met his before he forcibly ripped his gaze away to avoid betraying Robin's position. It was all the older man could do to stop himself from screaming as his brother was manhandled across the crowd. He shouldn't have brought him. Will should have stayed at the camp, safe. They had needed every man they could get, but this was Will, his brother. How had he been so careless as to risk losing him less than a day after finding him?
Time seemed to grind to a standstill and then speed mercilessly past all at once. Robin signalled frantically to Azeem, but by the time the moor had lit the tinder for the arrow that was to ignite their distraction, Will's head was being forced down onto the barrel of gunpowder.
The next few minutes were a blur of noise and motion. Robin vaguely remembered firing the arrow that freed Wulf from the noose, Marian screaming his name, a number of explosions around the courtyard. But the moment he would never be able to shake from his nightmares was the moment he looked up to see Nottingham's executioner squaring his axe above his brother's exposed neck. Bile rose in his throat and everything around him ceased to exist as his locked eyes with Will. There was fear in those eyes, but it was the confidence he saw reflected there that spurred him into action. Will knew Robin would save him. His hand reached to his quiver only to grasp at thin air. He was out of arrows. He didn't allow himself to think, but whipped around, looking for anything he could use as a projectile. Again, the memories of the next moments were blurred, faded, but somehow, a burning arrow had streaked its way from his bow and buried itself in the executioner's chest.
Robin threw himself across the space between them, sliced his brother's bonds, grasped Will by the back of his hood and yanked him from the stump just as another axe fell to lodge in the spot that his head had been resting on just moments before. Will moved to leap into the fray, but Robin kept a strong hold of his cloak and pulled him roughly into his arms. He hugged his brother tightly to his chest and felt like he could breathe again. He couldn't speak. All he could do was cling to Will with shaking arms. He was alive. He was ok. He let go and the brothers' eyes met briefly, the mistiness in the elder's blue orbs mirrored in the green ones of the younger. They grasped forearms tightly. "Stay safe," Robin managed to croak through the lump in his throat. Will swallowed and nodded quickly. He quirked a grin at his sibling and launched himself into the fight. Robin felt a flutter of fear at seeing his brother throw himself headlong into danger once more, but he knew where he was needed now. Marian.
The battle was chaotic and bloody. Although it was less frightening than when they had fought the Celts in the forest, it felt more urgent, more real. They weren't fighting for their homes, but they were fighting for their freedom and their lives. Will felt like he could hardly take his eyes from the last man he had defeated before another rose to take his place. The foresters fought side by side, defending each other as much as themselves with no one able to take a breath, so intense was the foe that came against them.
And yet he couldn't stop his thoughts from straying to Robin. He had grown increasingly anxious every moment since he had sent his insane brother and his friend catapulting over the wall of the keep. The last he had heard from Robin was a brief shout that they had made it. That felt like hours ago.
He couldn't stay here any longer. He had a desperate feeling that Robin needed him. And needed him now. Heedless of the shouts from his friends, he ducked beneath the arm of the latest of the sheriff's soldiers to confront him and sprinted for the point in the wall that Robin and Azeem had cleared. At least he knew that there he had a chance of a soft landing on the other side. He didn't pause to sheathe his daggers, shoving one into his belt and grasping the other between his teeth as he reached the wall and started to climb.