Chapter Text
CHAPTER I
Everything was set.
The ship had been found. The crew had been talked to. The fees had been paid. The plans had been made. All that was left now was waiting for the tide and then they would be gone.
Robin Hood waited.
It was hard to believe that it had only been a handful of months since he stood here, at this very spot, gazing at the ship that had just brought him back home after a long journey and vowed that he would never, ever be in this situation again. And yet here he was, about to set sail to the Holy Land for the second time in his life.
So much was the same as it had been before, and yet so much had changed in the last two years. For one, he wasn’t Robin of Locksley anymore. That young nobleman who had come to Portsmouth looking to make a difference –maybe seeking some glory in the process, he might as well admit to that–, frustrated because the woman he loved didn’t seem to understand just how important this was, had long since ceased to exist –probably from the moment he set foot in that desert, he thought.
He wasn’t after glory either. He had the truth on his side: he was leaving because he had to, because he was the only one who could have any hope of saving his King and not even Marian could disagree with him this time.
That much hadn’t changed, he reflected with a smile. Marian. It might be seven years later, but the fear of losing her was just as strong as it had been the first time that he had been in Portsmouth. Except that now, it wasn’t his own safety he was worried about –or maybe it was, just a little bit. He wasn’t afraid of not coming back to her, but rather of what he would find when he did.
She had told him the first time that she wouldn’t wait for him, that, should he return, he would find her a married woman, surrounded by children, living the life he had obviously not wanted for himself. He had believed her, or at least tried to. Standing at the very spot where he was standing now, waiting for the ship to be ready as he was now, he had seriously considered the possibility of turning back and going to her. Because no amount of glory would ever compare to the joy of being around her, of holding her in his arms or running after her in Sherwood Forest. But he hadn’t –he couldn’t have. He had made up his mind and given his word to the King. If Marian didn’t understand that... Well, maybe he ought to find himself another woman, one who saw how important his role was. And so he had left, and he had deluded himself into thinking that he didn’t care about what became of Marian. But he had never given up on her completely. He had realised that as he saw her stepping out of her father’s house –gloriously unattached and with no kids in sight. She had waited for him –whether she cared to admit it or not– and in that moment he knew that whatever happened, whatever came their way, they would be together. They were meant to be.
But it was different this time because England was different. Before, it had been their own pride that could have torn them apart. Now, there was some real evil lurking, and Marian was currently standing in the middle of the lion’s den.
She would disagree, obviously. She would argue that she was perfectly safe, since the lions were currently out. But for how long? What if he failed? What if he succeeded but the Sheriff got away? What would be of her then?
And it wasn’t just her that he was worried about either –that was different too. He had people now, people who counted on him to protect them, to provide for them. He couldn’t simply disappear –he owed them better than that. But he couldn’t go back now. There wasn’t enough time –the Sheriff and Gisborne had already left, so they couldn’t afford to miss this particular ship– and even if he could go, he knew Marian would never agree to being left behind again.
But what could he possibly do?
He cast a look around himself, as if he expected the answer to all his worries to materialise out of thin air. And that’s when he saw it.
His gang.
We are Robin Hood, he had told them once, many months ago. He had meant it then and still meant it now. Because Robin Hood was so much bigger than himself: Robin Hood was the whole of Nottingham, every peasant that suffered from the Sheriff, every parent that didn’t have enough to feed their family –they were Robin Hood. His gang was Robin Hood.
Robin had to go to the Holy Land to save his king, but Robin Hood didn’t. Robin Hood belonged in England.
Smiling now, he cast another look around himself, this time paying a closer attention to each of the members of his gang. He knew that he could only leave one –they would never agree to let him go alone, much as he would prefer it–, so he needed to decide who was better suited for the job.
Much was the closest to him, as usual. He was getting everything ready for them, sorting their weapons and whatnot, at the same time keeping a vigilant eye on his master, should he require anything from him. Much was probably the least excited about taking this journey out the whole gang, next to Robin himself. But he would never agree to stay behind, not unless he could persuade Robin to stay too. He had decided long ago that he would follow the former master of Locksley to the ends of the world, regardless of his own discomfort. No, Much would not do.
A little bit further than Much stood Djaq, who was the exact opposite of the man. Her face was glowing with anticipation and she was practically bouncing as she talked amicably to Will. Robin knew that this was in part due to the conversation the two had shared a few hours ago and the revelations said conversation had brought, but there was something else. While all of them were going to strange lands, Djaq was going home. She would probably stay if he asked her, but he didn’t think he could. She deserved to go back -he, of all people, should know what it was like being alone in a country that was not one’s own, surrounded by people that looked down upon you for the colour of one’s skin. He couldn’t ask Will either. He would never part with her.
Allan stood the closest to the ship, trying to stay out of the way as much as possible. This was probably for the best. After all, one doesn’t betray their friends and then expect everything to go back to normal when one sees fit to return, right? He had started on the right foot, what with saving their lives and tipping them off about Vaisey’s trip to the Holy Land, but he still had a long way to go. The fact that he wasn’t going out of his way to please everyone was a good sign: it showed that he at least understood their need to process this new development in their relationship on their own.
Robin eyed him for a moment longer. He remembered Allan’s words –his reasons for doing what he had done– and he also remembered the fact that nothing overly bad had happened while he was acting as Gisborne’s right-hand man. He could have easily given them away –given Marian away–, but he hadn’t. No, Robin decided; Allan had not betrayed them so much as he had tried to save his own skin. His way of thinking was questionable, that’s for sure, but he wasn’t a traitor. He would trust him with his life if it came to it, but he wasn’t sure he would trust him with England –at least not for now.
And then his eyes found the last member of his small group. John stood by the road that had brought them here, looking back at what they were leaving behind. He hadn’t been to the Holy Land, but he had heard enough about it from Much to be dreading the journey. Robin considered John for a moment.
John was like a moral compass for them all. He was the one who was constantly reminding them of what they were fighting for, and when Robin was too caught up with his own personal agenda, John would be the one who told him to quit his antics and focus on the bigger picture. If there was one amongst them who could say that he was in on the fight purely because he wanted to help the people out, that was John Little. Everyone else had some kind of ulterior motif, but not John.
He was also big enough to be able to carry most of the workload alone, and he had been in the forest for years now, so he knew it like the back of his hand. He had had his own gang before Robin’s return, so he was used to making decisions and could recruit more people, should the need arise. More importantly, Marian trusted him and if he were to tell her to leave the castle, she would probably listen to him. (And, should it come to that, he could always forcefully remove her himself).
In short, John was his man.
Having made up his mind and recognising that there wasn’t much time left, Robin made his way to the man that had become a sort of fatherly figure for them over the past two years. Much noticed the movement and made it to follow him, but he shook his head.
He stopped next to John and followed his gaze. They were too far away from Sherwood to really see anything, but that was not a problem, since it was all they could see in their minds’ eyes.
"Beautiful, isn’t it?" he asked conversationally. "When I was a kid, I would spend as much time as I possibly could in the forest. Much always complained when he had to come and find me," he chuckled softly, remembering the times when he was young and carefree and most of his time was spent coming up with new places to hide from Much. "I never would have guessed that I would end up outlawed and living in the forest."
John smiled slightly.
"Life is funny like that," he said.
"That, it is," the young man agreed. "I wish we didn’t have to go."
"It’s not as if we have a choice. Vaisey is going to kill the King, and no amount of good deeds here is going to save us," the man replied sadly.
Robin smiled, pleased at the opening John had given him.
"No, I don’t have a choice," he said, turning to face the man. "I have to go. I’m the only one the King will listen to, if he listens to anyone. You, on the other hand, can stay."
John frowned, clearly not catching his drift. Robin explained himself further.
"Listen, best case scenario, we go to the Holy Land, we warn the King, we stop Vaisey and we come back –that is, if we don’t run into any complication, and let’s face it, when have we ever not ran into some sort of complication. Even then we are going to be gone for months. We have not prepared the people for our absence –they will have no idea where we went– and they will suffer. Not to mention the fact that the Sheriff has probably left some kind of system in place to torture the peasants further. Robin Hood cannot disappear like that."
"What are you saying?"
"I’m saying that you have to stay. Help people, be Robin Hood. That’s the whole point of this whole thing, is it not? What good would it be if we stop Vaisey but half the people in Nottingham perishes in our absence? Saving the King is important, but so is this. You know that, you’re probably the only one who gets it!"
John was silent for a moment longer. Robin could see in his dark eyes how torn he was: on the one hand, he recognised the truth in Robin’s words, since he had already considered the matter himself; but on the other hand, he couldn’t just stay while the rest risked their lives in a far-away land.
"We are a team," he said finally, still apprehensive.
"Yes, we are. That’s why I’m asking you this. It’s no different than when we separate and go to different villages, except that this time..."
"You will be going to the Holy Land," he finished. Robin nodded. "It’s a bit different, I reckon. And much more dangerous."
“It’s a risk,” the leader admitted. “But it’s like you said, it’s not as if we have a choice, do we? The way I see it, we have to make the best out of a bad situation.”
John was silent for a long moment, thinking hard about what his friend was saying.
At last, he spoke.
“Does this have anything to do with Marian?”
Robin decided to reply with the truth, because he owed it to his friend. After all, he was asking a lot from him, he deserved to know the whole truth.
“In part,” he admitted. “She’s alone in the castle and she has no idea of what we are planning, so of course I would prefer she heard the news from a friend. But,” he added hastily, “don’t get me wrong, this is about the peasants, too; about the whole of England. Robin Hood cannot abandon his people just like this –it wouldn’t be fair.”
“You’ve come a long way from the conceited little prat you used to be when you were younger, you know that, right?”
“Why, thank you. I really appreciate that. Would you mind telling Marian that?”
“She knows,” John chuckled. “I doubt she’ll tell you, but she’s really proud of you, Robin. We all are.”
Once upon a time, Robin would have accepted the compliment almost as his birthright, but John was right that he had come a long way since those days.
“Make sure you keep up my good name, okay?”
“I haven’t agreed yet,” the older man reminded him.
“Not in so many words, but I know you’ll do as I’ve asked. You are a smart man, John, you know that there’s no way around it.”
“That may be the case, but I will need something from you in return.”
Robin frowned, surprised at that. He hadn’t anticipated that John would have many hesitations regarding his plan.
“And what is that?”
John looked him square in the eye, imposing as he was, with a stern look on his face. For a brief moment, Robin felt like a small child facing his father after some mischief.
“I will stay back in Nottingham. I will keep up with your work as Robin Hood. I’ll feed your peasants, take care of them while you’re away. I’ll even find the way to take Marian out of the castle if I think she might be in trouble. In turn, you’ll go to the Holy Land, you’ll talk to the king to inform him of his impending danger and then you’ll get in the first ship back and return home.”
The young man smiled, relieved that that was all that John was asking of him.
“That’s the plan.”
“It’s a hell more than the ‘plan’, Robin, that is what needs to happen. I know you, you’ll want to stay back to make sure that everything goes as you want, but not here –not this time. Your job is to warn the king –if he doesn’t take your warning seriously, that’s his problem. By the time Vaisey acts, you have to be on your way back to England. Those are my terms.”
“Sounds –reasonable, I suppose.”
“Do you accept?”
Out of the corner of his eye, Robin could see that the preparations had begun for the ship to set sail and he felt a certain urgency gripping at his heart. Their time was running out.
"She can’t stay at the castle, even without Vaisey and Gisborne," he said quickly, fixing John with a stern look of his own. "She’ll argue and say she’s perfectly capable of looking after herself, but you have to make sure that she leaves. I don’t know what sort of plans Vaisey has for her and frankly I don’t care to find out. She has to go. She has a cousin in Sussex, I think. Tell her to go to her. Or tell her to join a convent. I don’t care. I’ll find her when I come back. But she’s leaving Nottingham, is that understood? Use whatever means you see fit to take her out." John nodded. "And tell her that... Tell her that I’m sorry for doing this to her again –that I truly never intended to go back. She has to understand that, okay? Please."
"Robin!" Much called from behind them. "It’s time."
Robin waved a hand in his direction to let him know he had heard, but continued talking to John.
“That’s a yes, then?”
“It is. I will do my absolute best to return, John. You have my word,” he vowed.
"Robin!" Now Djaq had joined Much.
"Just in case, though,” he added, ignoring his friends once again. “Here," he said, pulling the tag Will had made for them from his neck and placing it in John’s palm. "Give this to her as a reminder that she is part of the gang."
John took it and clasped his hand tightly.
"Till we meet again," he said with certainty.
"Till we meet again," Robin agreed.
Tearing himself from the man’s grasp was much harder than he had imagined and for the first time since he had decided to leave, Robin was glad that he hadn’t had the chance to say goodbye to Marian. No way would he have been able to leave her, he realized.
He sent his friend what he hoped was a cheeky grin, took a deep breath and turned on his heels. And thus he left the man standing there, and walked swiftly towards the ship that was to take him away from everything he held dear.
"What about John?" Will asked him as he passed them, noticing that the larger man had made no move to reach them.
"He’s staying," he replied with finality.
Much opened his mouth to ask something, but closed it when he saw the determined look on his master’s face. There would be plenty of time for explanations. For now they had to go.
John watched them until they were but a dot in the horizon, Robin’s tag clutched in his hand. Then, once he was certain there was nothing left for him there, he turned on his heels and set out on the long journey back home.
He had a mission to accomplish.
He was Robin Hood now.