1 | master of arms [gisborne]

Thirty-three

is anyone else having thoughts bc of the gif

*****

Much ran through Sherwood Forest, and he didn't stop. Lucky for him, his friends were coming his way. "Wait!" he called.

"What?" Robin asked.

Much took a minute to catch his breath. "Prince John and his soldiers have made camp down there," he informed, pointing down the way he just came.

"What?" Robin exclaimed. "How many men has he got?"

"Thousands."

"No," John breathed.

"Hundreds."

"Much," groaned Kate.

Much threw his hands up in the air. "I didn't stop and actually count them. Can't actually count." He mumbled the last bit.

Horses neighed, and Robin saw two soldiers of Prince John riding down the way Much just came from. "Run! Run!"

The outlaws ran fast, and thankfully Prince John's men didn't see them. They made it to the outlaws' camp, where Robin took off his brown leather jacket and Tuck made a model made of sand and twigs. Markings were carved in as trails, a rock representing the outlaw camp. They all stood around it.

"What are they doing in the forest?" Allan asked.

"Well, it's obvious, isn't it?"

"Yeah, all right."

Robin rolled his eyes and started to plan. "When they break camp, they'll use the North Road to get to Nottingham."

"Why is he coming?" John wanted to know.

"He's visiting all the nobles throughout England to grease their palms," Tuck said, confusing everyone.

"He's trying to buy their loyalty," Robin translated, and everyone nodded. "He's trying to do it before King Richard returns, isn't he?"

Allan frowned. "What, he thinks it can be bought?" he asked, earning an "are you kidding me?" look from Robin.

"He knows it can," Tuck told him. "He's buying the noble's and their men to seize the throne so that King Richard returns to King John's England."   

"Every noble he buys will bring us closer to civil war," Robin thought out loud, topping off Tuck's statement. "And a war between Prince John and King Richard..." Robin threw his hands in the air and let out a breath, "it'll tear this country apart."

"If he's going to buy them, he'll be carrying gold," John mused.

Everyone turned to John. "More than a little," Tuck added.

Kate chuckled and grinned. Robin shrugged and let out a little breath, his lips twitching into a smile. "Well, we can stop him from stealing the crown by stealing his gold."

Everyone chuckled now. "This is mad," pointed out Allan with a grin.

"Yes, it is," Joh agreed. "Utterly mad!"

"He'll have a small army with him," Tuck said with a shrug.

"Right." Robin approached the model and kneeled. "Our only advantage is surprise. The best place to mount an attack is here." He dug his knife on a spot on the model. "Outside Locksley, so you're going to have to find more men," he told Kate.

She grinned. "Let's do it."

*****

Vaisey walked mindlessly in the tunnel below Nottingham Castle.