The Greenwood Shadow (37 page)

Isaiah furrowed his eyebrows. "They've got to be. Alright, men. Up those stairs, and be cautious about it. They could be waiting for you at the top. Marion, cover my back. I want to check these guard rooms, just to make sure."

Evey had already glanced through them. They looked empty, but it was better to be sure. She nocked an arrow and followed Isaiah. There were four guard rooms. Isaiah spend several minutes in each, making absolutely sure that there were no hidden soldiers or back doors.

Twenty minutes later a shout came from the stairway. Evey and Isaiah turned to listen. Another shout echoed through the door. Both of them ran to the aid of the soldiers. Evey didn't even bother to draw her sword. She just kept her arrow nocked as she sprinted up the stairs.

The sound of echoing footsteps was disorienting. Evey couldn't tell who was where. She just knew that something had happened in the spiral staircase. Halfway between the second and third floor, she rounded a bend and ran straight into John. Only his quick reaction kept her from bouncing off and tumbling back down.

"What is it? Did you find them?" she asked between heavy breaths.

"What? No. We thought you did."

She narrowed her eyes. "The guard rooms were totally empty."

"So were the top floors."

Evey tried to look around John. The knights all seemed to be in one piece.

"Then who screamed?"

John shrugged. The men behind him shook their heads.

"It wasn't us," one of them called.

Evey lowered her bow and marched back down the stairs. She checked with the guards outside the front door. No one had even been near the tower.

"That is the weirdest - "

She froze mid-sentence.

"What?" John shook her gently. He waved his hand in front of her face, but her eyes stayed fixed.

In the center of the floor was a sword. A very familiar sword.

"Where's Robin?"

CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT

For an hour they searched and re-searched the tower, the grounds, and sent soldiers to explore every inch of the castle. They found David's brothers in the dungeon, several frightened slave girls in Sir Guy's chambers, and two or three knights that had somehow slept through the whole battle, but no Isaiah.

Evey, John, and Will stood in the entryway of the tower. The king was the last one back. He approached them with a grim look on his face.

"Any luck?" he asked.

"None," Will replied. "We can't figure out where they could have gone."

As he spoke, Evey combed every inch of the entry hall. There had to be a clue. Men did not just disappear.

"Always one step ahead, that one," the king added unhelpfully.

"You're absolutely sure that there are no hidden chambers or secret doors or anything?" Evey asked.

The king's eyes shifted to the wall and back to her. "No."

There was a tapestry on the wall. She flung it aside. There was nothing behind it.

"What?" She got just a little too close to the king's face. "You looked at the wall. Tell me now."

"Nothing."

She shoved him away and went back to the wall. She ran her hand back and forth across it. Her fingers hit something. A distinctive door shaped edge protruding about an inch from the rest of the wall. The tiniest sliver of light came through at the seam. She pulled at the stone and found herself facing a passageway.

"You knew about this?" she demanded with a sharp voice.

He shrugged. "Of course I did. It's the royal escape route. Used only in case of a lost siege, to protect the royal family."

"And why," she began very slowly, "didn't you TELL us about this?"

"It's a top security secret. I can't go flapping my jaw about it to every person I meet. If they all knew, it wouldn't be much good as an escape route, would it?"

"Let's think about this for a moment," she replied with obviously forced calm. "Was Sir Guy a top security member of your court?"

"Oh." His face fell as he understood.

"We've wasted an hour here when you knew all along?" Not for the first time, Evey was inches away from throttling the king with her bare hands.

Will cut in. "Sir Guy is sure to have escaped by now."

"And he has Robin!" Evey poked the king's chest. It was probably an act of treason, but she didn't even care.

"We don't know that for sure," he insisted.

"Oh, please. Where else could he be?"

"Where does this lead?" Will asked hastily.

"It runs underground, generally west."

"Then we might still be able to head him off." Will turned back to the group. "Your highness, you've got to lead a squad of knights to the place where Sir Guy will come out. If you leave now, and on horseback, you might be able to get there before he does. Evey, John, and I will stand guard here so he can't escape by doubling back."

"Stand guard? I don't think so." Evey readied her bow. "They've got Robin."

"You're just going to charge in?" the king asked.

"Yup," she replied at once.

"Don't. I can't let you risk your lives any further. Stay here and keep guard. We'll take care of Sir Guy."

"They have him, and I'm not going to let them keep him." Her tone was low and dangerous.

The king shook his head. "I won't have any more lives lost unnecessarily. That is an order. Stay here and keep the door."

Her eyes narrowed. "Didn't you hear what Will said? Take the knights. Cut off Sir Guy. NOW."

The flustered king ran off to carry out the orders and Evey turned to passage.

"I'm going after him."

John said, "King ordered us to stay here."

"I don't care. I won't leave him with that snake. You don't have to follow me."

Will rolled his eyes. "Don't be ridiculous. We're coming too."

John grunted his consent.

The tunnel itself was small and roughly hewn. There were occasional torches in brackets on the walls which had obviously been lit by Sir Guy and his men. They produced just enough light to see by, and made the scene somewhat surreal by casting flickering, elongated shadows.

Evey kept her bow in one hand and an arrow in the other as she ran. It was somewhat awkward, but she felt safer that way. Somewhere ahead was Sir Guy of Gisbourne, who would be the lucky first recipient of her arrow if she got the chance.

Just the thought of Sir Guy made her skin crawl. And the thought of Isaiah as his prisoner... she pushed the idea as far away as possible. It was too much to handle.

For twenty minutes they jogged down the tunnel, quiet and tense. Nothing happened. After another ten, the walls changed from stone to earth. The torches became less frequent and tree roots started to riddle the walls with dark alcoves.

She was so anxious to find the men, and so uninterested in the sameness of the brown surrounding them that she didn't pay much attention to the path. John grabbed her by the collar and halted her momentum.

"What?"

"Don't just barge around a sharp curve like that. They could be anywhere."

"Sorry," she mumbled. Idiot. She should have been on her guard. She'd never find Isaiah if she got herself killed.

Very slowly they made their way around the bend, sure that they would meet with some kind of attack. When nothing happened, Evey grew even more impatient. She forced herself to focus as they searched the area, but all she wanted was to get going again.

They found nothing. It was just a part of the tunnel that looked exactly like the rest of the tunnel. Onward they went. Time seemed to have deserted them. The minutes didn't pass at the proper speed. Before long, Evey felt like she'd been in the tunnels forever.

Eventually, she noticed something. It wasn't a sound or a shadow. She couldn't place exactly what it was. Her instincts told her to watch her back and she didn't understand why.

"I knew you'd come. What a pleasure it is to see you again."

The smarmy voice echoed through the tunnel. There was no way to tell where it came from.

Evey held her bow at half draw, but there was nothing to shoot at. "Show yourself, Sir Guy!"

"I don't think so, my dear. Your archery skills are the stuff of legend. Quite literally, as it happens."

"They're nothing compared to Robin Hood. When he finds you here-"

Sir Guy chuckled. "Let's not play games. You think I don't know your little secret? Robin Hood doesn't exist, does he? It was you, Lady Marion. All along, it was you. I really should have known."

"How could you possibly know any of that?" She tried to sound bored, but the crack in her voice gave her away.

"Please. I have your little friend here."

"He would never talk!"

"No. He's brave, if a bit stupid." The echo of his laugh send chills through Evey. "But he doesn't have to say anything. I was important in the court, you know. His father and I went to war together when we were both young and foolish. So I know who he is, and his name certainly isn't Robin."

Evey swallowed hard and didn't reply. She scanned the shadows, looking for any sign of movement, but there was nothing.

"I've got a little gift for you, Marion. Let's just call it collateral. You make a deal with me, or he dies."

Two guards appeared from around the next bend. Between them was a third figure, bound and gagged. They shoved him to his knees. Bruises covered one side of his face. He sat there for a moment, then fell to the ground in a heap.

"What have you done to him?" she shouted. Without waiting for an answer, she loosed two arrows. Both guards went down.

"Naughty, naughty. You shouldn't forget that I still have sixteen soldiers here with me. Do that again and I'll kill him anyway, deal or not."

Evey lowered her bow, but didn't relax her grip on it. Isaiah moaned and tried to stand. She took a step forward, but Sir Guy yelled, "Don't. Don't move. I have control here, Marion. Even now, my soldiers can see you, while you can't see them."

She cast her eyes around the tunnel again. All she could see were the alcoves under the tree roots. That had to be where the men were hidden.

"Alright, talk." As she spoke, she motioned for John and Will to back away slowly.

The instant John took the first step, knights came bursting from the shadows, completely surrounding them. Evey fired two arrows before the chaos cleared. Two more knights were out of the fight. But that still left fourteen.

"Don't kill them. Yet." Sir Guy sounded bored. "I want her alive. Really, my lady, must you make everything so difficult? Drop the bow. Now."

Isaiah groaned again. She had no choice. She dropped the weapon, but still couldn't speak from rage, exertion, and fear all vying for a place in her chest.

"Excellent choice," Sir Guy said casually. "Come quietly and you might all live a little longer."

Evey drew her sword instead.

"Who said anything about coming quietly?"

"A bit big for you, isn't it? That sword? Your talent with the bow is undoubtable, but swords are an entirely different matter."

She took up a defensive stance. "Care to put your words to a test? You and me, one on one. I win, you come with us. You win, we come with you."

"A tempting proposition, I admit," he replied. "Ever since you rearranged my face with your boot, I've been dying for some payback. But I have you outnumbered five to one. Why would I give up such marvelous odds?"

Evey raised her blade. Would it be better to fight while they had their weapons, or to play along with Sir Guy until a better chance opened up?

Sir Guy spoke again in a less enthusiastic voice. "It's really not a complicated question, you know. Come with me and live. Where is the down side?"

"You'll get rid of us eventually. How could we possibly trust you? And what would we gain?"

He sighed. "Your lives aren't a grand enough prize? But perhaps you are right. I should give you an idea of your incentive. Let's just say that I can offer you a deal. A much better deal than you can have gotten from the king."

"I think he's serious," Evey said in a falsely casual voice. "He actually thinks that we're doing this for money and fame. And we thought he was clever."

"Do you want to hear my proposal or not?"

"Well, I can guarantee I won't be accepting it," Evey answered. "But I'd love to hear it anyway. I'm curious to see what you thought you could bribe us with."

"You might not be so hasty to refuse me once I've had my say," Sir Guy said with a chuckle. "We'll begin with full pardons for all of you. Immunity for anything past, present, and future. You'll have prominent positions in court. Yes, even you my dear Marion. Viper though you are, I can overlook our past differences in the interest of a lucrative future together.

"You'll obviously have claim to any treasure or gold gathered during the course of your missions; a share in future profits; and best of all, you'll have your lives. All I ask in return is your service. You work for me. Undertake any missions that I see fit. The first, obviously, being to rid me of my competition. I know you are fully capable."