Fic: Hope for Healing - Chapter 1
Title: Hope for Healing - Chapter 1
Author: wastingyourgum
Characters: Robin, Much, Djaq, Little John, Will, Sheriff Vaizey, Guy of Gisborne, Allan
Mentions: Marian
Rating: R
Genre: Drama, Angst
Warnings: Violence, Character Death
Words: 2071
Disclaimer: BBC & Tiger Aspect own anything you find familiar.
Notes: Many thanks to robinfanatic and jagnikjen for their extremely helpful beta work.
Summary: The start of July, shortly after 2x11: Robin and the gang attempt to see Marian after rumours the Nightwatchman was captured. One of the outlaws is unable to escape, with tragic consequences...
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CHAPTER 1
"Outlaws!"
The early morning calm of Nottingham Castle was disturbed by shouts, the clash of weapons and then the sounds of a frantic chase.
Little John skidded to a halt at a junction of corridors with Djaq, Robin and Much right behind him. He turned and raised his eyebrows enquiringly at Robin.
"Split up!" Robin instructed. "John, Djaq, you go that way." He pointed. "Will should be waiting outside. We'll meet up at the West Gate!"
They all nodded in agreement and Robin and Much tore off up one corridor while John followed Djaq down the other. They swung around a corner and leaned against the wall, breathing heavily and listening for their pursuers. For a few hopeful moments there was silence but then the sound of armoured feet rang out from behind them.
"In here!" Djaq pulled opened the door nearest them and ushered John inside.
He ran in but stopped immediately and felt Djaq bump into his back as she followed him.
"John! Why did you--? Oh."
There was little need for him to explain why he'd stopped - the room was barely bigger than he was. It was actually just a large storage cupboard with one small window about eight feet off the ground. Djaq turned to open the door again but John stopped her. He reached round her and braced his staff across the door through the heavy iron handle. Once his hands were free he crouched down, grabbed Djaq's hips and lifted her up off the ground in front of him.
"What are you doing, John?" she hissed as he shuffled round to face the back wall.
"Getting you out of here," he replied, simply.
"I'm not leaving you here alone!" she protested. They both paused and looked back at the door as it started rattling in its hinges from the efforts of the guards outside trying to open it.
"Please, Djaq - better at least one of us gets away! Robin and Much are probably out already. Go find them and come back for me."
"No! Put me down!" She wriggled and pressed against his forearms with her hands but John's grip was unshakable.
"Djaq." John waited for her to turn and meet his eyes. "You saved my life the day we met - let me repay the debt. Besides...Will would never forgive me if I let anything happen to you."
Djaq flushed the same colour as her love's last name at the mention of his first.
John chuckled then hoisted her up to the window. "Go! I'll be fine."
Djaq nodded and pulled herself up through the small opening. "I will see you later, John!" she vowed and then she was gone.
John silently slid his staff out from where it was wedged across the door and listened to the guards arguing outside. He twisted his neck one way then the other, then put his hand to the handle. He took a deep breath and pushed the door violently outwards. It collided with a solid weight and John leapt out into the corridor yelling, "Come on then!"
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Djaq heard the shouted challenge and then the sounds of furious combat from within as she dropped down the wall outside. When she landed, she listened for a moment, but she couldn't tell if the fighting had ceased or if she could just no longer hear it. She spied Will waving to her from further up the street and they took off through the alleyways as a guard on the battlements spotted her and shouted to his colleagues.
"Where're the others?" Will asked as she reached him.
"Robin, Much, West Gate," she gasped, too breathless to give any more detail.
"And John?" Will asked, a note of concern in his voice.
Djaq shook her head. "Still inside."
Will nodded, his lips set in a firm line.
It took a while to work their way stealthily through the town, avoiding the guards who had been sent out to search for them. As she and Will approached the West Gate, Djaq spotted Much and Robin lurking in an alley. They looked up hopefully but their faces fell as they saw only two where three were expected.
"So the rumours are true then?" Robin asked. "They got John?"
"You have already heard?" Djaq replied, surprised at how swiftly the news had travelled.
"It's all over the town," Much told her.
"I'm sorry, Robin - it was my fault," Djaq said guiltily. "We got stuck and--"
"Djaq - if it's anyone's fault, it's mine." Robin laid a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "I was the one who led you all in there. Besides..." he smiled. "Do you think I expect you to knock John out and carry him if you get into trouble and he argues with you?"
Djaq smiled sadly and shook her head. "I still should not have let him talk me into leaving him behind."
"What are they saying?" Will asked, looking at the townspeople passing excited gossip around the busy marketplace.
"The sheriff's not wasting any time," Much replied with a worried frown. "John's to be executed at noon."
Djaq was stunned. "Today? So soon? They're not holding him to try to get information out of him?"
"Maybe they realised they wouldn't get anything out of John that easily," said Will.
"No - or more likely the execution is a trap," Much added. "But you have a plan - right, Master?"
"Of course!" Robin replied. "Well... half a plan..."
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Robin caught the guard's unconscious body before it fell and lowered it quietly to the ground. He looked down, trying to pick out Much, Will and Djaq as they shuffled into the castle courtyard with the rest of the townspeople. They kept their heads bowed but Robin recognised Much's familiar face as he briefly looked up. Once he had located Much it was easy to spot Will and Djaq standing by his side.
Much's eyes widened as he looked towards the gallows and Robin quickly followed his gaze. It took him a moment to see what had surprised Much but then he realised his confusion. Mercifully no body was yet swinging from the beam but then neither was there any sign of a rope. The execution was scheduled for noon and the sun was almost directly overhead - where was the noose?
Everyone looked to the door from the Great Hall as the fanfare sounded and the execution party came out. The sheriff almost skipped down the stairs towards the gallows, whistling as he went. Behind him it took the combined efforts of three guards to wrestle the large figure of Little John down the same stairs and up to the platform. John's coat and jerkin had been stripped from him leaving him in just his shirt sleeves. From the look of the cuts and bruises on his face and arms he had not willingly surrendered them.
Robin glanced back into the crowd. Djaq's face gave away nothing but Robin saw Will put his arm around her and gently squeeze her shoulder. His eyes met Robin's as he surreptitiously scanned the battlements and they exchanged a brief nod.
Robin crouched below the parapet and silently fitted an arrow to his bow. He peered over the stone wall and quickly studied the faces on the castle steps for Marian, frowning when he didn't immediately spot her. Gisborne was there, slowly walking down towards the gallows, but Marian was noticeably absent.
He wondered if she had feigned illness or given some other excuse and hoped fervently that neither she nor the Nightwatchman were planning anything dangerous. The recent rumours said the Nightwatchman had been captured and had escaped again but Marian had not been allowed out of the castle since then and they were still no nearer to finding out why. If she had been discovered, surely he would have heard, but it was too much of a coincidence and not knowing was driving Robin to distraction. Not knowing - and not seeing her, not holding her, not breathing her scent...
The sheriff's voice drew Robin's attention back to the task in hand and he swiftly put Marian to the back of his mind. He would have to trust for now that she was safe - Little John was not.
"Good people of Nottingham - I'm sure you've all turned up today thinking you'll get to see that wonderful little trick Hood does shooting the hangman's rope." Vaizey mimed shooting a bow very effeminately and chuckled. "But alas, we've had a small change in our outlaw extermination policy..."
The guards pushed John back against the gallows upright and bound his hands behind it. They tied more ropes around his chest, waist, legs and ankles. John roared and the whole platform trembled with his struggles but by the time they'd finished he could barely move. He glared furiously at the back of Vaizey's head.
Robin felt his heart sinking - it would take forever to cut through all those ropes. What was Vaizey up to?
"These men of Hood's are not men at all!" Vaizey spat. "They are nothing but animals, living wild in the forest - and we don't hang animals..." While he was speaking Gisborne stepped up onto the platform and pulled a large sack over John's head. "We slaughter them."
There was a glint of metal as Gisborne took a blade from his sleeve. He grabbed John's chin and pushed his head back against the beam then to gasps and cries from the crowd, swiftly sliced the blade across his throat. A vivid scarlet stain spread rapidly down John's pale shirt. His large body twitched and jerked for a few moments before Gisborne released his hold. John's head slumped forward and his body sagged against the ropes. Gisborne calmly wiped the blade and put it back in its concealed sheath, stepping back hastily as the flow of blood reached the ground and started spreading across the platform. He strode away and headed back into the castle as calmly as if he'd been out for a short walk.
From his vantage point concealed high above the courtyard, Robin stared in disbelief at the still, bloody figure bound to the gallows. He only just stopped himself from dropping his now useless bow.
Vaizey was almost obscenely delighted. "You see? This is what happens to outlaws and murderers; associates of Robin Hood who lie in wait like cowards in the trees, stealing the very bread from your mouths... because make no mistake - every time they rob some poor traveller coming through Sherwood, that is money that is not being added to your local economy; money that helps us to provide the services that you have come to expect from your benevolent sheriff and beloved Prince John."
Robin hastily sought out the rest of his gang in the crowd. Much's face had turned white and he looked as if he was trying very hard not to throw up. Djaq had turned and buried her face in Will's chest - Robin knew she must be feeling horribly guilty. Will was softly stroking her back trying to comfort her. His jaw was clenched and his eyes burned fiercely with anger.
Robin looked one last time at the figures on the castle steps, now partially hoping that Marian had not been there. He noticed that Allan was wiping his sleeve across his face, which was as pale as Much's. Unfortunately for the traitor, Gisborne noted the gesture as he headed back inside and cuffed Allan harshly round the head. Robin didn't feel sorry for him in the slightest.
"A very successful day's work, I think... One large problem solved, eh?" Vaizey rubbed his hands together gleefully. "That's it - show's over - go get on with your humdrum little lives." He hopped down from the gallows and strolled back into the castle.
The guards started marshalling the crowd out of the courtyard. Robin saw Will, Djaq and Much being carried along on the tide of people, too stunned to do anything else. As he looked back, he saw other guards cut down John's body and drag it away. Some servants appeared with buckets of water and started to wash down the platform.
Robin hastily put his unloosed arrow back in his quiver, shouldered his bow and dropped over the battlements to rejoin his suddenly diminished and demoralised gang. Marian would have to wait a while longer...
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Next Chapter
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Author: wastingyourgum
Characters: Robin, Much, Djaq, Little John, Will, Sheriff Vaizey, Guy of Gisborne, Allan
Mentions: Marian
Rating: R
Genre: Drama, Angst
Warnings: Violence, Character Death
Words: 2071
Disclaimer: BBC & Tiger Aspect own anything you find familiar.
Notes: Many thanks to robinfanatic and jagnikjen for their extremely helpful beta work.
Summary: The start of July, shortly after 2x11: Robin and the gang attempt to see Marian after rumours the Nightwatchman was captured. One of the outlaws is unable to escape, with tragic consequences...
>>>------------------------->
CHAPTER 1
"Outlaws!"
The early morning calm of Nottingham Castle was disturbed by shouts, the clash of weapons and then the sounds of a frantic chase.
Little John skidded to a halt at a junction of corridors with Djaq, Robin and Much right behind him. He turned and raised his eyebrows enquiringly at Robin.
"Split up!" Robin instructed. "John, Djaq, you go that way." He pointed. "Will should be waiting outside. We'll meet up at the West Gate!"
They all nodded in agreement and Robin and Much tore off up one corridor while John followed Djaq down the other. They swung around a corner and leaned against the wall, breathing heavily and listening for their pursuers. For a few hopeful moments there was silence but then the sound of armoured feet rang out from behind them.
"In here!" Djaq pulled opened the door nearest them and ushered John inside.
He ran in but stopped immediately and felt Djaq bump into his back as she followed him.
"John! Why did you--? Oh."
There was little need for him to explain why he'd stopped - the room was barely bigger than he was. It was actually just a large storage cupboard with one small window about eight feet off the ground. Djaq turned to open the door again but John stopped her. He reached round her and braced his staff across the door through the heavy iron handle. Once his hands were free he crouched down, grabbed Djaq's hips and lifted her up off the ground in front of him.
"What are you doing, John?" she hissed as he shuffled round to face the back wall.
"Getting you out of here," he replied, simply.
"I'm not leaving you here alone!" she protested. They both paused and looked back at the door as it started rattling in its hinges from the efforts of the guards outside trying to open it.
"Please, Djaq - better at least one of us gets away! Robin and Much are probably out already. Go find them and come back for me."
"No! Put me down!" She wriggled and pressed against his forearms with her hands but John's grip was unshakable.
"Djaq." John waited for her to turn and meet his eyes. "You saved my life the day we met - let me repay the debt. Besides...Will would never forgive me if I let anything happen to you."
Djaq flushed the same colour as her love's last name at the mention of his first.
John chuckled then hoisted her up to the window. "Go! I'll be fine."
Djaq nodded and pulled herself up through the small opening. "I will see you later, John!" she vowed and then she was gone.
John silently slid his staff out from where it was wedged across the door and listened to the guards arguing outside. He twisted his neck one way then the other, then put his hand to the handle. He took a deep breath and pushed the door violently outwards. It collided with a solid weight and John leapt out into the corridor yelling, "Come on then!"
>>>------------------------->
Djaq heard the shouted challenge and then the sounds of furious combat from within as she dropped down the wall outside. When she landed, she listened for a moment, but she couldn't tell if the fighting had ceased or if she could just no longer hear it. She spied Will waving to her from further up the street and they took off through the alleyways as a guard on the battlements spotted her and shouted to his colleagues.
"Where're the others?" Will asked as she reached him.
"Robin, Much, West Gate," she gasped, too breathless to give any more detail.
"And John?" Will asked, a note of concern in his voice.
Djaq shook her head. "Still inside."
Will nodded, his lips set in a firm line.
It took a while to work their way stealthily through the town, avoiding the guards who had been sent out to search for them. As she and Will approached the West Gate, Djaq spotted Much and Robin lurking in an alley. They looked up hopefully but their faces fell as they saw only two where three were expected.
"So the rumours are true then?" Robin asked. "They got John?"
"You have already heard?" Djaq replied, surprised at how swiftly the news had travelled.
"It's all over the town," Much told her.
"I'm sorry, Robin - it was my fault," Djaq said guiltily. "We got stuck and--"
"Djaq - if it's anyone's fault, it's mine." Robin laid a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "I was the one who led you all in there. Besides..." he smiled. "Do you think I expect you to knock John out and carry him if you get into trouble and he argues with you?"
Djaq smiled sadly and shook her head. "I still should not have let him talk me into leaving him behind."
"What are they saying?" Will asked, looking at the townspeople passing excited gossip around the busy marketplace.
"The sheriff's not wasting any time," Much replied with a worried frown. "John's to be executed at noon."
Djaq was stunned. "Today? So soon? They're not holding him to try to get information out of him?"
"Maybe they realised they wouldn't get anything out of John that easily," said Will.
"No - or more likely the execution is a trap," Much added. "But you have a plan - right, Master?"
"Of course!" Robin replied. "Well... half a plan..."
>>>------------------------->
Robin caught the guard's unconscious body before it fell and lowered it quietly to the ground. He looked down, trying to pick out Much, Will and Djaq as they shuffled into the castle courtyard with the rest of the townspeople. They kept their heads bowed but Robin recognised Much's familiar face as he briefly looked up. Once he had located Much it was easy to spot Will and Djaq standing by his side.
Much's eyes widened as he looked towards the gallows and Robin quickly followed his gaze. It took him a moment to see what had surprised Much but then he realised his confusion. Mercifully no body was yet swinging from the beam but then neither was there any sign of a rope. The execution was scheduled for noon and the sun was almost directly overhead - where was the noose?
Everyone looked to the door from the Great Hall as the fanfare sounded and the execution party came out. The sheriff almost skipped down the stairs towards the gallows, whistling as he went. Behind him it took the combined efforts of three guards to wrestle the large figure of Little John down the same stairs and up to the platform. John's coat and jerkin had been stripped from him leaving him in just his shirt sleeves. From the look of the cuts and bruises on his face and arms he had not willingly surrendered them.
Robin glanced back into the crowd. Djaq's face gave away nothing but Robin saw Will put his arm around her and gently squeeze her shoulder. His eyes met Robin's as he surreptitiously scanned the battlements and they exchanged a brief nod.
Robin crouched below the parapet and silently fitted an arrow to his bow. He peered over the stone wall and quickly studied the faces on the castle steps for Marian, frowning when he didn't immediately spot her. Gisborne was there, slowly walking down towards the gallows, but Marian was noticeably absent.
He wondered if she had feigned illness or given some other excuse and hoped fervently that neither she nor the Nightwatchman were planning anything dangerous. The recent rumours said the Nightwatchman had been captured and had escaped again but Marian had not been allowed out of the castle since then and they were still no nearer to finding out why. If she had been discovered, surely he would have heard, but it was too much of a coincidence and not knowing was driving Robin to distraction. Not knowing - and not seeing her, not holding her, not breathing her scent...
The sheriff's voice drew Robin's attention back to the task in hand and he swiftly put Marian to the back of his mind. He would have to trust for now that she was safe - Little John was not.
"Good people of Nottingham - I'm sure you've all turned up today thinking you'll get to see that wonderful little trick Hood does shooting the hangman's rope." Vaizey mimed shooting a bow very effeminately and chuckled. "But alas, we've had a small change in our outlaw extermination policy..."
The guards pushed John back against the gallows upright and bound his hands behind it. They tied more ropes around his chest, waist, legs and ankles. John roared and the whole platform trembled with his struggles but by the time they'd finished he could barely move. He glared furiously at the back of Vaizey's head.
Robin felt his heart sinking - it would take forever to cut through all those ropes. What was Vaizey up to?
"These men of Hood's are not men at all!" Vaizey spat. "They are nothing but animals, living wild in the forest - and we don't hang animals..." While he was speaking Gisborne stepped up onto the platform and pulled a large sack over John's head. "We slaughter them."
There was a glint of metal as Gisborne took a blade from his sleeve. He grabbed John's chin and pushed his head back against the beam then to gasps and cries from the crowd, swiftly sliced the blade across his throat. A vivid scarlet stain spread rapidly down John's pale shirt. His large body twitched and jerked for a few moments before Gisborne released his hold. John's head slumped forward and his body sagged against the ropes. Gisborne calmly wiped the blade and put it back in its concealed sheath, stepping back hastily as the flow of blood reached the ground and started spreading across the platform. He strode away and headed back into the castle as calmly as if he'd been out for a short walk.
From his vantage point concealed high above the courtyard, Robin stared in disbelief at the still, bloody figure bound to the gallows. He only just stopped himself from dropping his now useless bow.
Vaizey was almost obscenely delighted. "You see? This is what happens to outlaws and murderers; associates of Robin Hood who lie in wait like cowards in the trees, stealing the very bread from your mouths... because make no mistake - every time they rob some poor traveller coming through Sherwood, that is money that is not being added to your local economy; money that helps us to provide the services that you have come to expect from your benevolent sheriff and beloved Prince John."
Robin hastily sought out the rest of his gang in the crowd. Much's face had turned white and he looked as if he was trying very hard not to throw up. Djaq had turned and buried her face in Will's chest - Robin knew she must be feeling horribly guilty. Will was softly stroking her back trying to comfort her. His jaw was clenched and his eyes burned fiercely with anger.
Robin looked one last time at the figures on the castle steps, now partially hoping that Marian had not been there. He noticed that Allan was wiping his sleeve across his face, which was as pale as Much's. Unfortunately for the traitor, Gisborne noted the gesture as he headed back inside and cuffed Allan harshly round the head. Robin didn't feel sorry for him in the slightest.
"A very successful day's work, I think... One large problem solved, eh?" Vaizey rubbed his hands together gleefully. "That's it - show's over - go get on with your humdrum little lives." He hopped down from the gallows and strolled back into the castle.
The guards started marshalling the crowd out of the courtyard. Robin saw Will, Djaq and Much being carried along on the tide of people, too stunned to do anything else. As he looked back, he saw other guards cut down John's body and drag it away. Some servants appeared with buckets of water and started to wash down the platform.
Robin hastily put his unloosed arrow back in his quiver, shouldered his bow and dropped over the battlements to rejoin his suddenly diminished and demoralised gang. Marian would have to wait a while longer...
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Next Chapter
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