Chapter one

It was a busy day for the four famous outlaws of Sherwood. Prince John had the tax raised again and was now transporting the gold to his castle in London. Robin and his man had heard that the shipment would take place at night, so that there wouldn’t be so many outlaws on the road to steel the gold. Robin on the other hand had been expecting that the men of Prince John would become smarter and had ordered that everybody who would go with him for the run at night would be resting in his hut for the day. Now Little John, Robin, Tuck and a couple of other man were resting in their hut’s while Marian took care of the things that happened during the day. She had volunteered to do this so that the camp wouldn’t be unprotected at day. Robin only agreed if she promised not to go with him tonight. After a hour of arguing Marian agreed to stay in camp.

In the afternoon Sean returned with an unexpected visitor. It was Chelsy, one of Queen Eleanor’s amazon guards.

"What are you doing here Chelsy? Aren’t you supposed to be with the

Queen?"

"No Marian, I’m here in order of the Queen. She want’s you to come to her birthday party. "

"Why does she want me there. She knows that I’m really busy and I can’t just leave."

"Why not? She misses you and she really want’s to see you again. You know how she gets when she doesn’t get what she want’s. Besides she will be sixty years old."

"I really don’t know if I will do it."

"Come on Marian, when you were younger you loved those party’s."

"Alright then, I will do it, there is only one catch."

"What is it?"

"I want to bring my friends along with me."

"That is alright. I almost forgot, you must let them take something elegant to wear with them. The party will take place in one week. We are expecting you in 5 days at the castle in London."

"Goodbye Chelsy and take care of the Queen for me."

"I will my lady. I’m looking forward to your visit. See you in 10 days."

Marian watched Chelsy leave and then turned towards Sean.

"Sean will you take care of things for a while. I need to go to away immediately. I have to take care of some things. If Robin wakes up tell him that I will be back before supper."

"I will Marian, take care of yourself."

"Bye, Sean."

"Bye, Marian."

While Marian rode out of the gate Sean thought: "How can I tell Robin that Marian is gone off on her own again."

Marian rode as fast as she could towards a nearby village. She knew that she had to buy a couple of descend clothes for her friends, knowing that the clothes they wore in Sherwood simply wouldn’t do. Marian bought for Robin a sapphire blue tunic and underneath that tunic he would wear a black blouse made of silk. She also bought for Robin a new pair of black leather pants and black boots.

She bought the same clothes for Little John, only those were in the colors brown and red. Marian bought for herself a long dark purple dress that was Celtic of design.

She didn’t buy clothes for Tuck, because she didn’t know if wanted to wear something else then his robe.

After she paid for the clothes she went to the jeweler to buy some jewels that would go with the dress. She bought a necklace and a couple of earrings that were both made of white gold and were decorated with Celtic symbols. After she bought that she went back to the compound. She was just in time back for supper, so Robin had no right to be angry with her.

"Hello Robin, had a nice nap?"

"Well thank you Marian, but wasn’t you supposed to be at camp?"

"I was for an hour or two, but you know how I am. It’s boring to just sit here and do nothing."

"Cut the chit-chat Marian, Sean told me about the amazon. What did she want from you?"

"She invited us for the birthday party of the queen mother."

"Why would she do that?"

"Well the queen turns sixty in two weeks and wanted me to be with her, so after some bargaining, the amazon allowed all of you to come too."

"Wow Marian," said Little John who had been picking his nose while he listened to the conversation. "But what do we have to wear and how must we behave ourselves in front of the queen?"

"Well the behaving part is simple towards the queen. You only speak when she asks you something and for the clothing part, I took care of that problem this afternoon."

"So that’s why you left camp after the amazon had disappeared into the woods, said Robin."

"Yes, but I have to ask Tuck if he want’s a new outfit as well, because I wasn’t sure if he would want to wear something else then his robe."

"Can we see our new clothes Marian? Asked Little John with the curious voice of a child."

"Not yet John, you will see them soon enough, but now you have Prince John to rob and I want a good nights rest. Oh, and Robin, stay out of trouble please, I don’t want to get a wake up call from Morrigan."

"I will Marian, Goodnight.’

"Goodnight to you my friends and stay alive tonight."

Marian turned and walked towards her hut to stay in there for the rest of the night.

xxx

"Hey Robin, there is the carriage with money, shall we attack?"

"That is all right Little John, but remember to be care full. Like Marian said, we don’t want to get ourselves in to more trouble."

The Outlaws attacked the carriage by taking the guards one by one from behind down until there were only ten soldiers left. Then the fight started. Each one of the outlaws were busy taking on the soldiers while Robin made his way towards the carriage.

"Goodnight my dear Prince, I hope that I didn’t disturb your sleep."

"You, Outlaw, won’t see the next morning, Guards!"

"My dear Prince as you can see your guards are quite occupied at the moment. But we are happy to let you go for a small price.’

"What do you want!"

" The usual, your gold to save the people from England from starving."

"You will pay for this Robin Hood!"

"That is the funny part of this, I already have. Little John, Tuck let’s go, I want to be back in the forest before the sun rises. "

Robin and his gang rode away, while Robins laughter still could be heard in the wind.

The sun was just up when Robin and his gang arrived at the camp. After Robin dismounted he went towards his own hut so that he could get a couple of hours sleep.

At noon, Robin awakened. The compound was filled with the laughter of children and from the cook tent came the most delicious scent of food. Robin got up from his bed and stomped his feet in his boots. He stood up, put on a clean tunic and went looking for a comb. He found one underneath his pillow next to Marian’s poem. He slipped the piece of paper inside his tunic, combed his hair and bound it to a ponytail. After he made sure he wouldn’t trip over his own stuff he went outside he went towards the cook tent. Robin took one of the plates and filled it with eggs, pieces of bread some vegetables and berries. When he was finished filling the plaid he went towards one of the wooden tables in the shadow and begun to eat his meal.

In another part of the camp, Marian was very busy with her training to keep her body in shape. She had heard about the money they got from the robbery the night before. So she had decided to let the people who helped that night sleep until noon, for she knew that people who were tired wouldn’t be of any use to the rest of the camp. She just hoped that Robin would wake up soon, so that he could be the leader again.

Marian just finished her training, when she saw Robin walking towards the cook tent. Good, she thought now can I finally tell Roanda and Felicity the news of queen Eleanor’s birthday party. Marian picked up her stuff and walked towards her own tent. There she took her sword that was given by Morrigan, and her whip and made her way towards the stables. On her way she saw Robin walking towards her so she stopped and smiled at him. He smiled back and asked if there were any problems while he was away.

"No," Marian said, everything was quite, but I was on my way towards Druid’s grove so that I can inform my two partners in crime of the queens birthday party."

"I understand, but please be careful Marian, I don’t like the silence of Guy of

Gisborn."

"Of course I will be careful, Robin."

"And Marian…"

"Yes?"

"Where are Tuck and Little John?"

"They are asleep, but I think that they will wake up soon."

"Alright, until later."

"Goodbye Robin."

Robin watched, with a mixture of love and concern in his eyes, as Marian made her way towards the stables and got on her black stallion to ride away from camp towards Druid’s Grove.

"She never ceases to amaze me or take my breath away," he thought while he turned around to walk towards the tents of Tuck and Little John to wake up his friends.

In Prince Johns castle the tension was so thick that you could feel it. Prince John was furious that Robin Hood had the nerve to steal the gold that was meant to buy the loyalty of some Saxon lords. He had ordered Mortiana to find a way to destroy Robin Hood. Mortiana knew that she had to come up with something, but it was obvious that Robin didn’t have to many weaknesses.

Mortiana had also another problem named the Legendary Three. She couldn’t find a way to destroy them and Olwyn refused to help her as well. Of course, Mortiana was smart enough to keep her problems hidden from the Prince. All she had was one page from an ancient Celtic book and she couldn’t read Celtic. So there was no way she could rid the world from Robin Hood and The Legendary Three.

Mortiana knew that her situation was hopeless so she decided that eventually the solution would come to her. So she closed her books and looked inside her crystal ball to continue spying on Prince John.

In another castle, someone else was also in a terrible mood. Sir Guy couldn’t believe that after all those years he still had failed in making Marian his own. The only thing he wanted more than anything else was to win that woman’s love and respect. He knew that his rival Fitzsooth failed in making her his wife, but she loved Fitzsooth and respected him, while he was a common thief.

Sometimes he even wished that he loved someone else than Marian, but as soon as he recalled her lovely face, he became more determine than ever. Maybe some of Marian’s old friends may know a way to make her his own. And perhaps he could even make a deal with Prince John.

"Fill another goblet with wine I have a lot to think over, Guy screamed at a serving girl."

"Soon," he thought, "Robin Hood will be dead and you’ll be mine my dear sweet Lady Marian."

End of chapter one