- Chapter 92 -

"ROBIN!" I hissed under my breath as I ripped myself out from his grip and went to the door to see that Guy was nowhere in sight. Storming back into the Tavern to see Robin smirking he quickly hide it when he saw my displeased face.

"You better have a plan!" I threatened as I smacked him behind the head. Hissing in pain, his smirk came through on his lips as he chuckled and kissed my forehead.

"Come on, let's go get your betrothed" He winked before he strolled out the door leaving me to follow on after him. We walked in silence as we kept our eyes open for a wealthy man for Robin to impose as I almost missed an older gentleman in overdressed expensive clothing with a fat purse tied to his side. Nudging Robin beside me he nods towards the man, wearing a striped coat with a fur collar shakes the purse in his hand. We waited and watched as the man went inside his home as I waited out the door, whilst Robin followed him in.

"Who are you? Oh!" I could barely hear before the sound of a punch a thud on the floor, letting me know he was knocked unconscious. I had a quick look over my dress once again to make sure it was perfectly fine before the door opens and Robin steps out in the fine coat holding the purse. I struggled not to laugh when I saw him adjust the fur collar and tying the purse to his belt. Holding his arm for me I take it as we both make our way towards the castle smiling mischievously.

We were shown to the Sheriff of York immediately due to the high status we impersonated as he was sitting behind a small desk in front of a fireplace. Curtsying in respect, I had to give Robin a slight nudge so he would do the same before he placed the stolen purse sits on the edge of the table in front of him.

"Well, the truth is, Gisborne just had a bit too much to drink. And for that I am sure he is profoundly sorry." Robin spoke with a posh accent that made me snicker under my breath slightly. It was such a different side of Robin I had yet to see and he played the part perfectly.

"An assault on one of the sheriff 's men is an assault on the sheriff." The Sheriff sternly spoke obviously not going to give in, as I grew worried.

"Oh, believe me, I know. Would this be enough to... salve the indignity of this terrible assault?" Robin asks as he begins to slap a stack of at least twenty silver coins onto the table. The Sheriff of York looks at the coins, and then raises his eyebrows, staring down at the money in sincere awe.

"It is but a faint memory now, sir." He chuckled as Robin winks and smiles at him.

"Escort this gentleman to the dungeons so that he may collect his malfeasant friend." The Sheriff informed the guard beside him towards us as we both smirked and allowed him to guide us. I made a mental note of the way we had come in to ensure we could get out. On the way out however we both ducked our heads from sight as we saw a guard introducing an emissary from the Sheriff of Nottingham. Robin turns up the collar of his coat and holds his face away from Isabella's Guard, who is looking down and adjusting his uniform, whilst I let my hair brush like a curtain to hide my face as we pass by unrecognized. Being lead deeper into the dungeons we come to a crowded prison cell.

"Gisborne! Visitor." The guard informed as he unlocked the cell to allow Robin and I in. I saw the men watch me closely as I kept myself attached to Robin as I searched over the many faces for Guy.

"He's over here." Guy called out as I hurried over towards him and hugged him tightly not letting myself leave him again.

"We have to hurry. One of Isabella's men's here. Brother." Robin informed as we both looked him up and down. I narrowed my eyes at Archer knowing that I had seen his face before, yet I couldn't recognize how.

"All of a sudden, I have so many brothers. Who are you?" He snorted as he looked at both Guy and Robin before his eyes landed on me with a devilish smirk. I scoffed in his direction as Guy tightened his grip on my waist.

"I'm Robin Hood." Robin introduced before he turned to start bribing the guard behind us whilst Archer continued to look me over.

"And you are my miss?" He asked as I growled.

"Lady Esme and Guy's betrothed." I growl as I saw the shock in his eyes to be told off by a woman.

"Nah, I'm sorry. Can't help you." The guard suddenly said to Robin as he suddenly punches the guard knocking him unconscious as Guy catches him and drags him back into the cell.

"We need to go." Robin informed us as I rolled my eyes. No duh Robin! Guy was holding my hand pulling me along as we make our way out of the door with Robin trailing behind us. I noticed that Archer wasn't following us as we all stopped to look behind us to see him glancing around at his fellow prisoners.

"No! Either we all go...or none of us go." He defied watching us as he stood resolutely in front of an old Man with his hands on his hips. I narrowed my eyes at him as I saw the faces perk up of all the remaining prisoners. I quickly glanced around at the full prison. There were so many prisoners, either waiting to spend the rest of their lives in their cells or for a quick execution. There was no way we would be able to escape without capturing attention and risking getting captured ourselves.

"Fine." Robin quickly shrugs in agreement avoiding my glare. Robin's eyes danced quickly looking round at the prisoners, I could see the thoughts in his head turning, wondering how we would escape without getting caught. I watched as Robin tosses the keys towards the old Man besides Archer. As he stumbled catching the keys, he cackled in glee as he stared at his freedom before he began to undo his chains. I watched as Guy ran up the stairs from the dungeons to see if the coast was clear while Robin left his stolen coat in the dungeons. I could hear the excitement whisper amongst the prisoners as one by one they were released. Holding the edge of my skirt I ran after Guy with Robin behind me.

"Do you know where you're going?" Robin asked.

"Not really, no. Do you?" Guy muttered as they peeked around the corner.

"We came from the left, so we go back that way" I whisper as they both smirk down towards me. What would they do without me? As we started to make our way left we quickly came to a halt.

"Come on!" A guard spoke in the distance from the direction we had originally come from. We looked at each other concerned before sneaking back the way we came. What are we going to do? We don't know this castle like we do at Nottingham. It's three times as big and we are easily going to get lost and most likely caught.

Ducking behind the doorjambs we waited silently as a line of guards passed us. Robin and Guy had their hands on their swords incase as they checked to make sure it was clear. Silently motioning Guy leads us in the right direction. Guy reached his hand out for me to grab it in comfort. I smiled eagerly reaching for it tightly, feeling a sense of comfort knowing he was with me. Behind us the prisoners followed, not being as quiet as I would have liked but I tried to focus on the positive on getting out.

"So you're a noble who's now an outlaw with no money." Archer questioned towards Guy as we slowly made our way down a corridor.

"Yep."

"Can you explain the point of that?" Archer furrowed his brow as suddenly two guards began to charge in our direction. Robin and Guy leapt forward to attack as I stepped backwards. I must admit I missed the weight of my sword on my side. It was instead attached to my saddle with my horse outside the castle. I never felt so useless after so long being one of action.

I watched as Guy blocked an attack with his sword. Another guard suddenly appeared out of nowhere lunging towards us while Guy and Robin were busy fighting off the other two. The one handy thing about being a lady is that the men automatically avoid you; instead he went to charge at Archer. I was getting a bit excited ready to pounce however Archer spun smoothly and kicked one of them causing him to drop his sword. Seizing his chance to grab a weapon he brought the hilt of the sword down at the back of his neck causing a sickening crunch, before he fell to the ground. We all paused in surprise watching him regain his feet, something wasn't right. He looked like he had been trained.

"Where did you learn that? The Orient?" Robin asked in awe.

"Nah. That's pure English." He spins the guard's sword from hand to hand and catches it deftly acting arrogantly. Rolling my eyes we continued sneaking our way through the long passages trying to find our way out, but nothing was looking familiar. It was starting to look all the same.

"He doesn't, by any chance, have any money, does he?" Archer whispered to Gisborne, loud enough that I was able to overhear him.

"No, I don't." Robin grumbled irritated as Archer raised his eyebrows in shock before turning towards Guy. Guy just returned a raised eyebrow with a nod.

"I gave up all my family's wealth to help the poor."

"Of course you did." Archer grumbled. I began to become anxious and uneasy with him asking all these questions about their wealth and power.

"Both of you are mad. I know what poor is. I grew up that way. If either of you had... There is no honour in being poor, and there's no shame in it. If you'd grown up with nothing you'd know that. And you wouldn't apologise for wanting to have a little money... for dreaming of something better than you've got." Archer spat towards them both trying to provoke him and he succeeds in getting a rise out of Guy. Guy angrily pushes Archer into the wall, pointing his sword at him.

"Gisborne!"

"GUY!"

"You know nothing about my life... about what I've endured! I envy you. Better no family, rich or poor, than a leper father and a mother...." Guy began before he quickly stops himself. Archer glances at Robin, who looks back and forth between them.

"My mother what?" Archer whispered. I watched as Guy and Robin exchanged glances. He glanced briefly at me but I shook my head in a warning. Guy had revealed so much already to Archer and we weren't sure if we could even trust him yet. It wasn't worth saying another sword.

"Killed in a fire."

"What was her name?" I saw tears whell up in Archer's eyes but I didn't buy it. He was fishing for information, information he could use.

"Ghislaine."

"Put the sword down. Come on. We have to keep moving. We need to get out of here" I whisper as I place my hand on Guy's shoulder. I felt his muscles relax under my touch briefly as we continued to try and navigate our way out of the castle. I just hoped we didn't get caught first.