July 1205, Nottinghamshire...

Besides Robin Hood, now appeared another infamous legend. A phantom thief who would visit the lords' castles at midnight and when they woke up the next morning, they would acknowledge that their gold had been disappeared. The thefts were done perfectly, no one noticed that anything was stolen until the morning. After each theft, they would find a message near the gold chest, said: "Thank you, for your donation, sirs and dames. Anais d'Nottinghamshire". Of course, this would make King John feel disturbed than ever. Sheriff of Nottingham still hadn't caught Robin Hood, now appeared another outlaw, that meant there were two large obstacles on his way. Despite of the rising of the taxes, he couldn't get any more gold from the citizens, but the nobilities were also getting poorer due to the mysterious thefts of Anais d'Nottinghamshire. The Sheriff of Nottingham was worrying for his head as he couldn't catch Robin Hood only, now the king ordered him to capture both the most infamous outlaws in Nottinghamshire, he couldn't handle.

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Nottingham Castle, the throne hall...

"How useless thou art, sir Sheriff! Even a woman, thou could not capture! How will thou explain this?"

The Sheriff kneeled down under King John's feet, quivering and worrying.

"Your... Your Majesty, please, give me one more chance. I promised with my life, you will see the outlaws, chained and shackled, are forced to kneel down before your throne, Your Majesty!"

"Remember thy words, sir Sheriff. If I do not see the thing I was supposed to see the next morning, I will grant thee a decapitation!"

"Yes... Y-Your Majesty. Your wish is my order...!"

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The Crown Princess's chamber...

"Did you hear that, Your Highness? The Sheriff of Nottingham is in absolute trouble!"

"Because of the appearance of Dame Anais, indeed. It seems to me that his head will not belong to him soon..."

"Will you have mercy on him, Your Highness? Alas, he just obeyed His Majesty's order..."

"I do not know what to do, Sylvia. Shall I keep on thieving, or put an end for Dame Anais sooner than I expected?"

"I'm your lady-in-waiting, I'm your servant, and I don't desire to tell you what to do. Just follow what your heart tells, Your Highness..."

The Crown Princess silenced for a moment.

"I... truly do not know what to do, Sylvia. The kingdom's responsibility is in my hands, soon, and I do not know how to be a proper monarch that people love..."

"Your Highness, just please don't be strained so much... There's nothing to be worried about... You have allies that always willing to aid you, such as Sir Robin and his merry men, Mother Maiseline and the abbey..."

The Crown Princess moved to the armchair near the window, looked out the castle and wondered:

"I was not born to become useless. But at the moment, I cannot help anyone although I desire to..."

Sylvia smiled assuredly and said to her princess:

"You can't, Your Highness, but Dame Anais can..."

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Sherwood Forest...

Sheriff of Nottingham had a new plan to capture all Robin Hood and the merry men. He would lead his henchmen deep into the forest, surround their hideout, and catch all of them. But he didn't expect a battle at middle of night.

"Alright, they are sleeping, gentlemen. Act quick and neat, capture all!"

The Sheriff whispered to his men, and then he tip-toed into a small wooden cottage beneath a birch tree where the master of outlaws should be rested in. But when he stepped in, he found out that was just an empty cottage, with Robin Hood, strained his bowstring, aimed his arrow behind Sheriff's back.

"It's a great honour for me to have the famous Sheriff of Nottingham visited at this late!"

The Sheriff was drenched in sweat, but he remembered King John's threatening: if he hadn't captured Robin Hood and Anais d'Nottinghamshire by the morning, he would be granted a decapitation from King John.

"Tell me, you outlaw, where's your ally, Anais d'Nottinghamshire?"

"She's a phantom, it's inappropriate to ask this, sir Sheriff!"

The Sheriff was extremely surprised.

"Wait... she didn't exist?"

"Anais is simply that she wasn't a woman with flesh and bone. As I've known, there's no woman in this England who named Anais d'Nottinghamshire..."

"You are lying, outlaw. If Anais d'Nottinghamshire was a phantom, so why were the nobility's gold stolen with a message signed 'Anais d'Nottinghamshire'?"

"I don't know what you are asking!"

Suddenly, somebody shot an arrow, which flew pass and impaled into the cottage's wall.

"Was... Was that you, outlaw?"

"No, I haven't released my fingers on the bowstring. Not my men, either, they didn't equip themselves a bow at the moment!"

The arrow came from behind Robin Hood, then, the Sheriff turned over to see who was that. He saw a figure who looked like a hooded woman, handled a longbow whose string was strained and ready to shoot another arrow. Robin Hood then stopped threatening the Sheriff, let he run out the cottage, shouted to his henchmen:

"Gentlemen, act quick, arrest all of them!"

Then, from the bushes, the Sheriff's men rushed out, surround all fifty men with dulled broadsword and rusty bows of Robin Hood. They all had sharpened longswords and steady bows, so the chance to escape was fairly none.

"Let down your weapons, outlaws!"

The Sheriff ordered Robin Hood's men to surrender. At first, they confused what to do, and the master of outlaws whispered to the hooded woman.

"What shall we do, Your Highness? Surrender or battle?"

"We shall battle, Sir Robin. But keep as silent as you can, I would not like to disturb people who live around the Forest at this moment..."

"Your wish is our order, Your Highness..."

Robin Hood told his men not to surrender and fight back. Master Will Scarlet, the vice-leader, Robin Hood's nephew, led fifteen men with board-swords to fight against Sheriff's twenty men with longswords, with the help of their master and the hooded woman behind with bows and arrow. That was an indescribable battle. We couldn't tell whether the Sheriff's men or Robin Hood's men took the upper hand.

"Thou art no skilled combatants. Withdraw or be killed!", shouted Will Scarlet, "We have fifty men, while thou hast only twenty!"

The Sheriff declared that he would capture Robin Hood and led to King John's feet by any cost. But before he could order his men to act, he was shot through the heart by Robin Hood's deadly arrow. All of the remaining Sheriff's men fled out of the Forest and never return.

"May God bless his soul. I don't want him to become a henchman of that greedy and dark-hearted King John..."

A quick funeral at the middle of the night was held for the unfortunate Sheriff of Nottingham. He was buried in the Cathedral's cemetery, along with his longsword and a carved wooden template as the tombstone, said: "Here lies the Sheriff of Nottingham. May God bless this unfortunate soul who was misled".

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Two days after,... The Crown Princess's chamber...

"Your Highness, Sir Robin requested for your audience..."

The Crown Princess were sitting on the armchair by her bookshelf, reading poems while Sylvia called. She told her lady-in-waiting to let Robin Hood in as if he came here, that must be something important.

"I thank you, Lady Walther..."

"It's a pleasure, Sir Robin..."

Robin Hood, dressed like a nobility with a feather hat and silk cloak, bowed when he saw the Crown Princess.

"By God's favour, I have never seen you like this before, Sir Robin...!"

"The hat is Alan-a-Dale's, and this cloak is from a lord whom I robbed two months ago..."

"Alan-a-Dale, your fellow minstrel?"

"Yes, he is. And in fact, he is standing just outside this tower..."

The Crown Princess stood up and went by the window to look down the tower. There was a minstrel who was playing his lute under a rose bush.

"Why do you not invite him inside, Sir Robin?"

Robin Hood turned over and told Sylvia:

"Lady Walther, could you please invite our good Alan-a-Dale inside? He was afraid that Her Royal Highness would not like the way he acts—"

Awhile after, the minstrel, who dressed finely with satin hat, leather boots and satin suit. In the Crown Princess's eyes, he wasn't likely to be a street troubadour as she once heard the rumour. He bowed properly in front of the Crown Princess with a nobly gesture.

"Sir Alan-a-Dale?"

"Yes, I am, Your Royal Highness?"

"It seems to me that thou were not a common troubadour. Who actually art thou, Sir Alan-a-Dale?"

"Actually, Your Royal Highness, I originally was a street minstrel, but after I got married, my life was much more better than ever!"

The Crown Princess smiled.

"What's the matter, Your Royal Highness?"

"No, I did just... I would like to know who is that blessed lady whom thou got married to..."

Alan-a-Dale blushed when the Crown Princess asked, but eventually, he answered.

"My sweetheart, Ellen Clare, maiden name Forthcastle..."

The Crown Princess was slightly surprised.

"Alan-a-Dale was not thy real name?"

"I am frequently called Alan-a-Dale, everyone knows me as Alan-a-Dale, but I was christened as Alan Dalian Clare..."

Suddenly, Robin Hood interrupted their conversation.

"Alright, Your Highness, and my fellow. We are going straight to the main thing. The reason why I came here, was to let Her Royal Highness know that King John had known about the death of the Sheriff of Nottingham, and..."

"... He had found a successor to be the next Sheriff, Lord Macley of Yorkshire, a truly scoundrel; also, King John's becoming greedier than we expected", said Alan-a-Dale, "the situation is getting worse than ever, Your Royal Highness. The taxes were tripled, and commoners were arrested continuously because they had to hunt deer for their starving families!"

"Once you order, we will make a revolt, Your Highness", said decisively Robin Hood, "all my fifty men are at your service!"

The Crown Princess shook her head worriedly, refused to have a revolt against the nobilities.

"I cannot cause a war, my good friends. If a civil war occurs, the priority of casualties will be the civilians. I really do not desire Nottinghamshire to become a battlefield. I... may put an end for Anais d'Nottinghamshire. She caused too much chaos than what I can expect..."

"I know what you are thinking, Your Highness. But if you do that, what our commoners will suffer? High and nonsense taxes, starvation, misery in prison..."

"I know what I will do, gentlemen. I do what I can for my citizens. A revolt will occur, soon, by our hopeless and starving citizens against my uncle John and the lords..."