Deception

Chapter 95

- Chapter 95 -

Everything began to settle down over the last couple of weeks. Two new beds were made for Guy and I in the camp, allowing us to be officially part of the family, as Guy liked to say. The gang was slowly warming up to him, which warmed my heart. Every now and then they seemed to close him off and were uneasy, John was the one struggling with it the most. I didn't blame him, they had spent their lives fighting against him and running from him and now they were expected to trust him with their lives. It would be going against their very instinct.

The other week I had snuck back into Nottingham without detection to talk to my old maid. I was relieved to know she hadn't been hurt when they discovered who I was. She smartly had played dumb and oblivious to who I had been and now she had another spy in the castle. I tried to make sure my visits were irregular and never in the same place. I didn't need her to get into any trouble. It helped gaining small bits of information to fill in the missing pieces. I did also manage to steal Guy's horse back from when Archer had taken him. Guy was so happy to have a familiar face at camp he always relaxed around horses. Robin wasn't very impressed with me sneaking off but gave up trying to reprimand me, he knew I wouldn't listen.

I did notice that Robin and Guy spent a lot of time whispering to each other and whenever I was around they would split in the opposite direction. They were up to something and whatever it was they didn't want me to know about it. One by one members of the gang seemed to join their little huddle and they all acted in denial to being apart of anything. I did notice that Much wasn't apart of their secret meetings sometimes and I had to laugh. Everyone knew he would squeal at the sight of a feather. He was the worst of keeping secrets, so I knew I had to be patient at wait. If I could spend months under cover and spying in castles, I could wait until they were ready to tell me what was going on. I did irritate me though being out of the loop.

"I think today is going to be a good day" Robin smiled as we finished breakfast. We all groaned as the words slipped from his mouth as he frowned and glanced at us all one by one.

"What?" He defended.

"Robin! Every time you say that we end up having the worst day!" I groan as he furrowed his eyebrows in my direction.

"No we don't

"Yes we do!" I counter with a smirk as the rest of the gang nodded in agreement. Grumbling under his breath, we all began to spilt up to do our jobs for the day. John was going to be heading to Clun with some money and food whilst Much went to Nettlestone. The rest of us decided we would try the great north road and see if anyone decided to journey his or her way through the woods. Guy and I were perched in bushes hidden amongst the trees as we waited. I felt him ease up behind me as place a kiss just under my ear making me gasp. He had a cheeky grin on his face as I gently pulled him away he only pulled me closer for a soft kiss.

Our intimate moment was disturbed as we could hear the sound of a horse coming, making us snap back to attention. The three arrows sail through the air and land in front of the horse, spooking it. It rears and bucks off its rider as Guy and I dash out from our hiding spot. Guy immediately stands over him with his sword, turns him over and pulls the message from his belt.

"I'll take that." Guy chuckled as he handed the parchment to Tuck who began to unravel the message.

"Tie him up" I instruct as Allan flips the messenger back onto his face, whips out a piece of rope and hands it to Guy. The two of them work together to quickly tie him securely so he can't get away. Kate leads the horse over to Robin as Tuck reads the message.

"It's from Isabella to Prince John. "My Prince, I understand the urgency of your request. Richard returns from the Crusades within the month. Troops loyal to him await his return in Loughborough. We must be ready." Tuck read out as we all paused. I could see the distress fill Robin's face and fear will Guy's. He glanced down at the ground and I know he feared for his future. I stand beside him grabbing his hand in mine and giving it a firm squeeze.