Sherwood Forest

A young deer was easy to see in a glade against the crisp white snow.

Its brown coat was a speckled mass in the hunter's vision.

The man smiled, letting out a breath. It beamed a hot cloud of air in front of his face, reacting with the freezing air he was crouched in.

Robin smiled, pulling back his bow string. He ran his finger tips against the corner of his mouth, feeling the beginnings of a beard on his flesh.

He wondered how his wife would react to him not shaving throughout the winter months. He doubted it would go unnoticed.

Robin took a small breath in.

'Remember to take a breath first.'

The fond memory of Dan Scarlet coaching him on his progressive talent with a bow when he was a bow made Robin smile slightly.

He pulled his bow tighter, his fingers slipping on the string, ready to release.

Smack!

Robin fell to the side, his arrow flying off course, probably embedding itself in a bush somewhere. The deer scampered away, frightened and jerky, either frightened by the loud laughter that was now ringing in the trees or the arrow.

Robin pushed himself to stand upright, brushing the snow out of his collar and off of his clothes.

"Alan!" He shouted and the man stumbled into view, clutching his sides in laughter.

Robin glared at him, pulling out the rest of the snow, letting it fall to the floor where the rest of the snowball lay in crumb like flakes.

"Oh you should have seen your face..." Tears rolled down Alan's face as he clutched his sides, bursting into loud shouts of laughter again.

Robin sighed and picked up the few pheasants he had managed to catch, his bow in his other hand. He glared at Alan as he passed, trudging back to camp.

"Oh come on Robin it was funny!" Alan called after him as he began to follow him.

Robin suddenly stopped walking, "Shush."

Alan nearly walked into the back of him, not having realised that Robin was stationary.

"Watch it!" Alan cried and Robin glared at him, raising his hand to put a finger to his lips.

Robin's eyes flitted around the trees, his breathing shallow, causing small puffs of air to leave his lips.

He could hear his heartbeat in his ears as his eyes landed on a large bush not far away.

Alan slowly let his hand travel down to the hilt of his sword, as Robin reached behind him for his quiver of arrows.

Three heart beats later Robin raised his bow, eyes narrowing, fixed on the bush.

He drew the string and took another breath.

Birds shot out of the bush, squawking and chirping loudly.

Alan leapt into the air, practically slipping over into Robin.

Robin laughed loudly at Alan as he pushed himself to stand upright, glaring after the birds that filled the sky and flew away.

Robin replaced his arrow and shoved his friends shoulder.

"Penance." He said simply with a smirk.

"Oh really... you think that's so funny..." Alan began to shout in outrage as Robin started to laugh, leaving him behind as they walked back towards the cave.

"Master!"

Robin and Alan looked up from their laughter as Much skidded to a stop before them.

Robin was suddenly frantic, something that had started to wear on his wife and was found hilarious by his friends. Every time someone came to fetch or tell him something, his thoughts were that something was wrong with Marian.

"What's wrong?" Robin demanded, "Is it Marian?"

"What...?" Much was slightly confused, "No... well yes..."

"She says that breakfast is ready, so if you could hurry up and bring some food back it would be much appreciated."

Robin could sense the biting sarcasm that Much had left out, but Marian had almost definitely said it with.

He sighed, "Well Alan scared the deer away. I'm going to go down to the river to see if there's any down there drinking."

"Take these."

Much took the pheasants from Robin and nodded, "I will come with you!"

Alan grinned and took the pheasants, "Good, then I can go back for breakfast, see you soon!" He cheered, dumped some more snow on Much's head before running back towards camp.

"Unbelievable!" Much screamed and Robin chuckled whilst shaking his head. He started to walk down to the river with much muttering behind him, walking up the last of the hills that past the Trent.

Robin stopped walking when they reached the top, his eyes narrowing at what was a stark contrast to the white snow at the foot of the hill.

Lying in the glistening flakes, was the unmistakable form of a man.

"What the..." Much was cut off by Robin charging down the hill towards the man, "Master!"

He skidded to a stop on his knees by the man.

Much did the same, his eyes widening as he and Robin stared at the arrow shaft sticking out of the man's back. That at least, explained why some of the snow was crimson.

"He's still alive..." Robin gasped as he put his hand on the man's back and wrenched the shaft from the man's body.

The man did not flinch or make a noise, but his body continued to move slightly with his breathing.

"He's been dragged here, Much look at that." Robin pointed to the shift in snow. A trench like line that stemmed from near the man's feet to a few feet away, where the snow was sparse and there were a few crimson flakes.

Where he had fallen from the arrow wound, they assumed.

"He should be dead..." Much gasped as Robin rolled the man over.

Robin's eyes widened and Much let out a cry of surprise, shooting backwards four feet.

"What..." Robin muttered as he stared at the man's face.

His eyes were closed, but his entire face and what they could see of his neck, was covered in scars. Torn flesh 'snail trails' that wormed their way over his body.

Neither heard the footsteps sneak up behind them, or noticed the tracks which led away from the body to hide behind the tree behind them.

Both froze when Robin felt the cool metal tip of a sword touch his spine.

"Get away from my brother."