Robin was lost in thought for a moment, awash with the memories of that time. He had selfishly tried to convince Marian to stay with him, but she had known what sort of life he offered, and he understood her refusal. And then everything had changed. Again.
Robin bent his head. "It was on my return from Kirklees that I felt Herne call me. At first I did not know who it was, so different he seemed. He told me then of the prophecy of the Hooded Man - that Ailric had said it upon his death and thta it was I to whom the prophecy referred. 'They are all waiting,' Herne said. 'The blinded, the maimed, the men locked in the stinking dark, all wait for you. Children with swollen bellies hiding in ditches wait. The poor, the dispossessed, they all wait. You are their hope. You cannot escape. So must it be. Robin i' the Hood!'
He raised his eyes to Renata. "And so I became what he made me."
Robin paused again, allowing her time to digest it all, picking up the story after a little. "Herne asked me, upon that meeting, a question: what binds the hunter to the hunted? And he told me to act without thinking.
So when the Sheriff announced a contest wherein the best archer would win the silver arrow, I knew I had to compete. It was the arrow, do you see? That which binds the hunter to the hunted - that which incriminated Much, which was stolen from my father. An arrow. I had to get it back." He raised his hands and dropped them, huffing out a frustrated breath. "It was a trap - of course it was. But by then we had the help of de Belleme's assassin John Little, who had been ensorcelled and joined us when the spell broke, and so we knew what to anticipate. We took great care and were not captured.
And so de Reinault made a deal with the Devil, promising Marian to de Belleme in exchange for her lands, as a way to entrap me. They knew I would come for her as well as I did myself.
Her confessor, Brother Tuck, came for me when she was taken, and I went after her. de Belleme's power was fearsome, but Herne's power was greater and I killed the sorcerer with the silver arrow." Robin dismissed the fight with de Bellem, the wounds he had suffered, the fearsome might of the Moorish assassin Nasir, the attack of the Sheriff's men with a shrug. "We lost Tom the Fletcher and Dickon that day, and others, and on our return to Sherwood we vowed to continue the fight, to preserve the hope of the people. Tuck joined us, and though he was excommunicated he and Herne handfasted Marian and me." Two years of happiness, and then he would leave her; and then she would leave him.
He looked at Renata for a long moment. "That was how it began. As to how it ended: we were surrounded, Much, Marian and I, the two people I loved best. I could only get them away, for I knew if I surrended the soldiers would let them escape in their eagerness to take me. And so it fell out. I have waited in the Great Forest since for Herne to call me again, and now he has sent me here to learn of magic what I may."
no subject
Robin was lost in thought for a moment, awash with the memories of that time. He had selfishly tried to convince Marian to stay with him, but she had known what sort of life he offered, and he understood her refusal. And then everything had changed. Again.
Robin bent his head. "It was on my return from Kirklees that I felt Herne call me. At first I did not know who it was, so different he seemed. He told me then of the prophecy of the Hooded Man - that Ailric had said it upon his death and thta it was I to whom the prophecy referred. 'They are all waiting,' Herne said. 'The blinded, the maimed, the men locked in the stinking dark, all wait for you. Children with swollen bellies hiding in ditches wait. The poor, the dispossessed, they all wait. You are their hope. You cannot escape. So must it be. Robin i' the Hood!'
He raised his eyes to Renata. "And so I became what he made me."
Robin paused again, allowing her time to digest it all, picking up the story after a little. "Herne asked me, upon that meeting, a question: what binds the hunter to the hunted? And he told me to act without thinking.
So when the Sheriff announced a contest wherein the best archer would win the silver arrow, I knew I had to compete. It was the arrow, do you see? That which binds the hunter to the hunted - that which incriminated Much, which was stolen from my father. An arrow. I had to get it back." He raised his hands and dropped them, huffing out a frustrated breath. "It was a trap - of course it was. But by then we had the help of de Belleme's assassin John Little, who had been ensorcelled and joined us when the spell broke, and so we knew what to anticipate. We took great care and were not captured.
And so de Reinault made a deal with the Devil, promising Marian to de Belleme in exchange for her lands, as a way to entrap me. They knew I would come for her as well as I did myself.
Her confessor, Brother Tuck, came for me when she was taken, and I went after her. de Belleme's power was fearsome, but Herne's power was greater and I killed the sorcerer with the silver arrow." Robin dismissed the fight with de Bellem, the wounds he had suffered, the fearsome might of the Moorish assassin Nasir, the attack of the Sheriff's men with a shrug. "We lost Tom the Fletcher and Dickon that day, and others, and on our return to Sherwood we vowed to continue the fight, to preserve the hope of the people. Tuck joined us, and though he was excommunicated he and Herne handfasted Marian and me." Two years of happiness, and then he would leave her; and then she would leave him.
He looked at Renata for a long moment. "That was how it began. As to how it ended: we were surrounded, Much, Marian and I, the two people I loved best. I could only get them away, for I knew if I surrended the soldiers would let them escape in their eagerness to take me. And so it fell out. I have waited in the Great Forest since for Herne to call me again, and now he has sent me here to learn of magic what I may."
((Done!))