Chapter 3

The next morning Robin awoke to the sounds of his village’s morning chores and routines being completed. When he looked in on Marion he found that she was still asleep and more disturbingly, she did not seem to have moved from when Robin had hurriedly placed her in her bed.

He found Tuck and explained the situation to his friend. "I’m going to go see Olwyn today and see if he knows anything that can help her but I’m worried that there’s something more wrong with her."

The fat friar nodded. "I’ll sit with her until you return with news. She could have picked up an illness from her stay in Gisbourne’s castle."

"Thank you my friend."

When Robin entered Olwyn’s cave he found the magician reading a book while levitating. "Why is it you seem to only visit me when there is a problem of some type?" the magician asked.

"Olwyn, Marion’s been put under a spell, and she may be sick. I was told that the spell came from your magic book. Please tell me if there’s an antidote." Robin begged his former mentor.

"Tell me the whole story, then I will be able to tell you what I can do."

Robin told Olwyn everything starting with how Marion seemed to have started pulling away from him when Dalton came.

"Yes, I know the two spells that Marion is under. I can give you the cure for her forgetfulness, it is a simple potion to brew. The other spell is both much harder and much easier to break."

"So there is a cure? Dalton claimed there wasn’t." Robin asked excitedly.

"Dalton was misinformed. The first spell is one that many people would consider a love spell. It makes the victim think feel admiration, respect with a slight bit of lust for another person. The victim is also completely under the other person’s control. In the state she’s in Marion will do anything Guy tells her to. It is also the reason that Marion is asleep. Part of the spell is that if the victim is separated from the person that they have been linked to or from that person’s property, generally land, they will fall asleep until taken back to the land or the person."

"So the only way to wake Marion up is to take her back to Gisbourne?" Robin asked.

"No, that would be treating the symptoms, not the spell. The spell’s antidote is the same as every other so-called love spell. She does not really care for Gisbourne and so to wake her up and free her from her link to him she must be kissed by someone who’s love for her is pure and whom she loves back." Olwyn stopped and examined Robin’s face. "So you see the antidote will be both easy and difficult for you."

"But how do I know who it is that she loves?"

"Take a poll of your villagers, read her journal, ask your emotions. It is really a rather safe way for you to find out if she cares for you as much as you care for her. If you kiss her and she doesn’t wake up you know she doesn’t and if she does you know that she does. Though it may take her a while to wake up, don’t expect anything instantaneous. She won’t know you kissed her even if it does wake her up, so you are perfectly safe."

"Thank you Olwyn. This means a lot to me." Robin turned to leave the cave.

"One more thing Robin. Have you ever wondered if the reason that Gisbourne keeps chasing after Marion is because there is no spoken oath between the two of you? A person in England may only have one spouse at a time, magic spells respect that."

When Robin arrived back at camp it was dinnertime. He could tell that all the villagers had heard what had happened to Marion. Once he got his meal he ate it as quickly as possible and then rushed to Marion’s hut.

She was still lying in the same position. Friar Tuck sat next to her bed. "She’s had a touch of a fever, I brought it back down again. Though I don’t want her left alone in case it returns."

Robin nodded. "I’ll stay up with her tonight. I don’t think that I’ll be able to sleep anyway."

The friar nodded. "Thank you, I’ll relieve you in the morning. Did Olwyn tell you anything that could be done to help her?"

"She’s under two spells. He gave me the antidote to one and gave me some ideas on how to free her from the other."

It was the friar’s turn to nod. They stood together silently for a moment and then Tuck told his friend, "she will be fine." he then left.

Late that night Robin sat next to her trying to decide whether or not to kiss her and see if that would work. He wasn’t sure that he wanted to know -- if she didn’t wake up that meant that his love for her was hopeless, if she did it would mean openly accepting that they were in love something that scared him as well. He had enough trouble reminding himself not to put Marion above the rest of his village, would it be even harder if they had some sort of spoken agreement? Was his love for Marion pure enough?

Finally, right as the sun was rising Robin decided to try it. As he bent over her some of his hair fell next to her face as he kissed her lightly on the lips. When he sat back in the chair again he thought he saw her move slightly, but couldn’t be sure and chose to chalk it up to shadows.

Friar Tuck reentered. "Little John will bring me my breakfast." he told Robin. "For now you need to get some rest."

Robin was too tired to argue, but he stopped and pointed at the small flask on the table next to her bed. "If she wakes up, Olwyn said to have her drink it and her memory would be restored."

"If she wakes up I’ll have her do just that. Now go get some rest," the friar nearly pushed Robin out the door. When Robin entered his own hut he fell asleep almost instantly.

It was time for lunch when Robin woke up again. When he reached the kitchen tent he was greeted by Friar Tuck. "Robin, I’ve been wondering if I should wake you up. Marion woke up briefly after you left. She drank the potion you gave me and the asked to see you." Robin’s eyes lit up as he heard the good news. "I told her that you were sleeping and that you had stayed up with her all night so she agreed to rest some more on the condition that I tell you to go see her as soon as you woke up. Whatever it was that Olwyn gave you did the trick. She’ll be fully recovered by tomorrow." Friar Tuck smiled as his friend quickly excused himself and rushed to Marion’s hut.

"Marion?" Robin whispered. He didn’t want to wake her if she was asleep.

"Come in Robin." she answered from her bed. "I was wondering if you were ever planning on waking up!" she smiled at him.

Robin sat down in the chair next to her. "I think that I can say the same about you."

They were quiet for a moment.

"Robin, I--"

"Marion, I--" they both began speaking at once and then laughed.

"You go first, Robin." Marion said.

"Are you sure? If you want to go first I can wait."

"No, you can go first."

Robin took a deep breath. "Marion, I’m sorry about kidnapping you from Gisbourne’s castle. I shouldn’t have just tossed you over my shoulder like that."

Marion put her hand to his mouth. "I was going to thank you for rescuing me. I can remember everything that happened up until I fell asleep. It was horrible, it was like there were two of me trapped in my body. The me who was under the spell was in control of all my actions and the real me was stuck watching everything happen. The other me didn’t even know I was there. I knew everything she was thinking, which wasn’t much and I won’t nauseate you by telling you about it. I was trapped and you helped me get out. It means a lot to me that you would do that for me. Thank you."

Marion looked away from him and started to take her hand away from his mouth, Robin took it in both of his hands. "Marion, I need to tell you something." She looked at him again. "I love you. Over the past few months you’ve been all I could think about."

"I love you too. I thought that you didn’t care for me so I started to pull away, give you some space. Perhaps we should have told each other this before."

"I’m sorry."

"Don’t apologize, its as much my fault as yours."

"Marion, have you ever thought about getting married?" Robin asked suddenly.

"Why are you asking"

"Something Olwyn said to me." he saw Marion frown at the mention of Olwyn’s name. "He said Gisbourne might stop trying to kidnap you as much if you were married."

Marion nodded.

"So, what do you think?"

"Is that an offer?"

"Would you marry me?

Marion smiled. "Yes, I would. You know that’s been what I’ve wanted since I was a little girl."

"So when do you want to get married?"

"Guy did promise me that I would get married in a month."

Robin laughed and then kissed her. "How about May day? It seems to be a fitting day for the Queen of May to be married on."

"That would be perfect."
 
 

Epilogue

The first of May, also known, as May Day was as fine as silk. Robin’s village was full of excitement as all the inhabitants prepared for the wedding of Robin and Marion. They planned to spend the entire day in celebration.

When it was finally time for the ceremony to begin Robin, wearing his best suit of clothes as well as his sword which had been shined to perfection the night before, stood by Friar Tuck, who would be performing the ceremony, and Little John, his best man. When Marion started walking down the makeshift isle Robin couldn’t believe how beautiful she looked.

A woman who had formerly been a seamstress before moving to Sherwood with her family had insisted on designing and sewing Marion a wedding dress. The dress had only been completed the night before and while it was a simple dress, it was beautiful and seemed to fit the outdoor wedding. Marion also wore a crown of flowers in her hair, which held in place the simple veil, and carried a bouquet, both the bouquet and the crown had been picked and made for her that morning by several of the village girls. The effect was perfect, she really did look like the May Queen.

After the ceremony the celebrations started and lasted well into the night. It seemed that everyone in Sherwood was perfectly pleased with his or her life.

One week later there was somebody else who lived in a castle outside of Sherwood Forest who was not pleased with his life. Robin Hood had not only taken Marion away from him, he had killed Dalton, the only person who knew how to get to Robin’s secret camp!

"My lord?" a servant entered carrying an arrow and bowed.

"Yes? What is it?"

"This arrow, my lord, was fired at your castle. There is a message attached and it is addressed to you."

Gisbourne perked up a bit. Perhaps it was a note from Robin telling him where to meet so that he could take Marion back to his castle. He took the note off the arrow and started to read. ‘To my lord, Sir Guy of Gisbourne. The people of Sherwood are pleased to announce the marriage of Robin Hood, formerly Robert Fitzsooth of Locksley to Lady Marion Fitzwalter, the Queen of May. Your wedding gifts will be collected the next time you travel through Sherwood.’ Gisbourne was furious. ‘How is this possible?’ he fumed and continued reading. ‘P.S. The spells were easily broken.’