Marian's heart skipped a beat, and with a short cry, she moved aside. As a result, she stumbled over the box at her feet. It clanked as the contents inside slipped. Luckily Marian could break the fall, but she still landed ungently on her bottom. A coin fell out of one of the bags, and the pound sterling rolled across the floor, shining like a small fallen star in the darkness.

Alarmed, Robin wheeled around and immediately rushed to Marian, blade drawn, to face the new danger. Blood dripped from the blade and flowed down the gouge to the parry. Had someone followed them down here? Had another guard hidden in the shadows after all? Marian lay on the ground, groaning, just picking herself up.

"What happened?!" Robin immediately grabbed the lady's upper arm to help her up. Chainmail was heavy, and only now did it occur to him that he hadn't wondered for a second if it might be too heavy for her.

"I... there was..." Marian stammered, gesturing to the cell next to where she had just been standing.

"Please. Just a little water..." groaned a young voice, so sorry that Marian and Robin had trouble understanding a word.

Cautiously, Mary stepped towards the cell, and her heart grew heavy.

The little light barely reached the dark chambers, in front of which heavy iron bars separated the cells from the corridors. Her gaze clung to the ragged heap huddled there against the bars. The boy's blond-brown hair, as was his face, was caked with blood and dirt. His lips were chapped and crusted.

He looked tired and exhausted. But he couldn't be here for long - otherwise, he would look even worse. His very presence, however, astonished Marian. "Why are you here?" she asked as she stepped towards the boy.

"I-" he croaked.

"We don't have time for this!" hissed Robin, reaching for Marian again.

The boy frowned. His eyes slid back and forth between the two strange guards and the box in which... Gold gleamed? Then he understood, and the boy's eyes widened.

"You are Robin Hood!" he gasped out loud. Immediately more life seemed to return to him, and his fingers energetically clutched the iron bars.

"Shhhh!" Robin's eyes sparkled in the darkness towards the boy.

"I'm Samuel," groaned the young boy, "Samuel Hughes. I come from Eldridge. The sheriff tried to take my family's farm. But it already belonged to my grandfather!" The boy's fingers tightened around the tarnished iron, "That's when we fought back," he pressed out. His voice trembled with suppressed anger. But then the expression turned to despair. The tension fell from his features, and tears shone in his eyes. "I beg you! Let me out! Take me with you!"

Robin contorted his face. He had been in the war for a long time and knew very well what other soldiers would have said in his place: 'We don't have time to take care of a child!' And he's in even more danger with us than here!'

Robin's body tensed instantly. Before his eyes, he saw the desert sands of Palestine and wise men crouching in the dirt. Suddenly there was a dullness in his ears, and nausea forced bile down his throat. His chest was tight, the chain mail too heavy. All at once he felt as if he was fighting for every last breath. Cold sweat broke out on his skin. Screams... Were there screams...? He could hear them clearly, even though he knew they were only from his memory, from a bad dream. He was here, in Nottingham. But he still had one foot in the war.

"I'll get the keys!" Marian's voice cut through the curtain of darkness and blood that seemed to close around him like a sharpened blade. She decided for him and Robin felt a strange relief. As if her hands pulled a cloak of heavy stones from his shoulders and allowed him to breathe shakily - at least for that moment.

Robin saw the hesitation that overtook Marian as she approached the guard. She reached out twice and withdrew her hands. Her hands shook as she pushed the corpse aside and reached under it for the dropped keys.

"Why is a sheriff's man here? Shouldn't your own guards be guarding the dungeons?" asked Robin with a snide sideways glance. In his eyes, those who worked for the sheriff were nothing more than dirt. They did terrible things and hid behind the orders of an ambitious knight. As if their sins would be washed away just because someone else ordered those acts. Disgusting. They were cowards, nothing more. That's how he saw them all, and it didn't matter to him that he lumped them together.

Robin turned away and took a shuddering breath. Damp, heavy air flooded his lungs, but as disgusting as it was, it somewhat cooled the smoldering fire inside him and soothed the images before his eyes.

Meanwhile, Marian slid the key into the rusty lock of the cell. "I don't know. We hardly ever have prisoners here in the castle. I didn't even know," she broke off and shook her head. Her lips formed a thin and pale line. "I knew the sheriff was cruel. But to lock up a child?"

"I'm not a child anymore," the boy grumbled most aggrieved, and Marina's expression softened - if only by a touch.

"I'm sorry. You were very fearless, Samuel," she conceded to him, but then a loud slam of a door alerted all three.

"Search every damn corner!" barked an angry voice.

No more time for words or pleasantries. They had already lost too much time!"Quickly! Hurry up! Follow me!" Marian grabbed the box and led Robin to the farthest corner of the dungeon. There, behind a crumbling rampart of stones and crumbling mortar, the musty smell wafted far heavier toward them. As they reached for the stones and their hands tore into them roughly and hastily until a hole opened into the darkness, another sound intruded: the lapping of water.

"The stream of water will lead you out. The sewage tunnel is still from Roman times and is very hidden; hardly anyone knows the entrance. From there, it's not far into the forest," Marian said, and Robin's face showed his confusion. "I can't come with you! They will notice that I am missing. You must escape without me. Perhaps I can inconspicuously lead the sheriff and his men on a false trail." Marian's gaze kept sliding uneasily over her shoulder.

Robin was reluctant with every fibre to leave Marian alone here and now. He didn't have a good feeling about this, but in the end, he had no choice. "Take care of yourself," he asked anyway, and Marian smiled weakly.

"Don't get caught!" she admonished him instead, already turning on her heel.

A displeased expression adorned Robin's face. "Go on, boy, grab the other side!" he said, and Samuel - full of renewed vigour - did as he was told. Although his knees were weak, he courageously grabbed the box with both hands, and together, they slipped hastily into the darkness of the corridor.

Words melted into murmurs in the dungeons that Robin and Samuel hurriedly left behind. The excitement strengthened the exhausted boy for the necessary steps. Still, he staggered several times and stumbled over the uneven ground. When they reached the body of water, where the splashing mingled with the stench of faeces and refuse, Robin glanced back.

Ahead of them lay freedom. Behind them echoed the footsteps of their pursuers. Though they were the hunted prey, Robin's concern was Marian's escape. Yet he couldn't care less... could he? Hah. Marian was the daughter of the lord of the castle, the betrothed of Guy, the traitor. He hardly had to worry about her. Robin snorted before turning his back on the tunnel and hurriedly stealing away with Samuel under the cover of night.