Marian could only stare at the arrow shaft and the attached rope for a second. At the same time, the tax collector beside her snapped out of his sleep.

"What the?" put in Roger, his voice dark and ominous. The chair fell to the floor from the momentum, and the rumble boomed through the silence. Then his glazed gaze caught the uninvited guest in the chamber, and immediately, his whole posture hardened. Instantly, his hand shot forward. "Got you, brat!" The rough fingers closed painfully around her wrist and squeezed. The shadowy light made his eyes seem even more sinister, and the greasy strands of unwashed hair fell into grim features.

At that moment, the rope on the beam tightened, and instinctively, both eyes darted to the source of the whirring sound. A shadow preceded the loud clang as the window shattered from the force of a body. Shards trickled from a leather cloak and glittered for a second in the candlelight like shimmering rain. The flickering flame of the candles died out, smothered by the incoming gust of wind.

Darkness descended over the chamber as the unexpected new guest rolled on the floor. He deftly got to his feet again, and shards trickled, clattering onto the floorboards. The newcomer had pulled his hood far into his features and covered his face with a blood-red cloth. But even without the broad shoulders and the unnecessarily exaggerated appearance that ruined all her plans, Marian would have immediately recognized who it was. After all, his image adorned countless yellowed posters on the walls of Nottingham's houses: Robin Hood.

"Thieves!" groaned Roger, who seemed to have snapped out of his stupor.

"Let go, you bastard!" she hissed in a harsh voice, immediately tugging at her arm. But even drunk, this scum still possessed more strength than she did.

"I'll put an end to you, dirty rat!"

Marian's heart tripped as the pale moonlight flitted across a dagger blade drawn from his belt. Her eyes widened as the point shot toward her. Ready to end the life of the hapless thief. Her breath caught, and in that one second, a thousand thoughts flashed through her mind without gaining substance. Let alone her body moving to prevent the seemingly inevitable, perhaps. Frozen, she awaited the fatal blow.

Then, a hissing sound passed close to her and jerked the man's body a step back. Blinking, Marian also staggered a step backwards. She saw the next arrow. The feathers glinted briefly as it shot past her and pinned Roger to the wall just above the shoulder on his doublet. A muffled >>Plock<< sounded, and another arrowhead dug straight into the wall just beside the lanky hook-nosed man's face. His eyes were now wide with shock as he stared toward the dark silhouettes of the intruders. However, the shock quickly turned into a distorted grimace of sheer anger.

"They'll hang you!" snarled Roger, following up louder, "Thieves! Alarm! Guards!"

At this, the archer straightened up, braced a hand on his hip, and looked almost indignant." I am not just any thief! I am-" the cloaked big shot continued but got no further.

"Thieves!" continued Roger directly louder instead, interrupting him unimpressed. "Guards! Thieves! Thieves in the castle! GUARD-"

Panicked, Marian grabbed the first thing she could. Loud clangs of the jar shattering on his skull interrupted the statesman's roar. His head fell forward with a gurgling sound as the pitiful remnant of wine poured, splashing onto the floor. Then, for a moment, an eerie silence fell.

Marian heard her heartbeat pounding wildly before she lifted her head and fixed it on the man still standing with one hand propped on his hip. She didn't have to see the grin on his dopey features to know it was there. It was that kind of arrogant grin that you could practically pluck out of the air. You could feel it before his chest stretched, and little wrinkles beside his eyes accentuated the flash in his irises.

"If you're here to impress me, lad-" the velvety voice rang out in smug arrogance, and she ... wanted to jump at him. Not with admiration, though, as he might have liked!

"Damn it, do you know what you've done?" she hissed hostilely instead and would have liked to throw a jug at his head as well. The thief seemed not to care about her anger as he casually reached for the heavy pouches with the king's seal. Coins rattled in them, and now a pair of green eyes flashed amusedly in her direction under the hood's shadow.

"I'd say I saved your life," he returned cheekily. Marian was already catching her breath when loud cries of alarm outside the room broke the silence.

"Oh no," she gasped, sprinting to the door. Her fingers pushed aside a thick iron bolt and hastily turned the key in the lock. "They must have heard him!"

At that, the thief laughed. "Oh, no, I don't think that's the problem."

Life came into the guard post, and now the clanking of chainmail and boots could be heard in the corridors.

"But what else would ..." A gasp escaped Marian's chest. "What have you done?"

Hood shrugged his shoulders and let out another low laugh as he approached her with large strides. Like a naughty boy, he was dazzlingly amused by his own prank. "Possibly, they have discovered that I have cut the rope of the guard bell and incapacitated the guards," Robin mused, quite obviously unrepentant. Only a few moments before there was a crash on the lower floor as the first guard threw himself against the hardwood gate. The door shook under the force, the iron bolt and lock groaning. "We're going to have visitors," he continued, thrusting the heavy bags of coins into her arms without warning, causing her to groan briefly under the weight. "Here, hold this!"

Marian's thoughts tumbled over each other. Then, more out of reflex than thinking about it, she shoved the damned bags into her pocket, which was now clearly pulling at her shoulders from the weight. She would hardly have been surprised if the seams of the leather tore from the load.

"What are you going to do?"

A loud crash sounded again. Voices shouted in confusion outside the door. Fists drummed against the gate and harshly demanded immediate entry. Marian's gaze flew around and finally found what she had been looking for - the dagger Roger had threatened her with moments before! She hurriedly picked it up from the floor, and yet the tiny blade hardly managed to reassure her. At that moment, a bloodcurdling bang sounded.

Wood burst as the old bolt nails could no longer withstand the force. Splinters scattered, boards broke and cracked, and then the door flew open from the force and slammed into the wall behind it with momentum.

Hood had only been waiting for this. The wood of his bow creaked as he pulled the string back just a touch further. Then he let go. The arrow hissed off the string and hit the first soldier squarely in the shoulder. He cried out and staggered back, and Marian watched as the skilled thief applied the next arrow with breathtaking speed and gave the man behind it the same treatment.

The men staggered back, half tripping over each other, and blocked the passage for the following soldiers in the tangle—valuable seconds that Robin did not want to waste. "Come on now! What are you waiting for?" he returned, grasping harshly at her upper arm to drag her along. "Time to escape!"

"Escape?" echoed Marian, and her gaze fell out into the courtyard, where more soldiers were now pouring out of the adjoining parts of the castle and the guardhouse. More and more lights were lit, and the hallways that had just been silent were flooded with the noise of shouted orders.

Did he think she was a fool? Of course, they had to escape. But how? In a few minutes, the castle would be swarming with guards. They were trapped like mice, surrounded by hungry cats. From here, she could see that the big portcullis at the main gate had already been lowered, making escape impossible. She usually had always thought everything through. Until now, however, she had never found herself in such a situation. Getting caught and a castle full of alarmed guards was not in her plan!

"Right: escape!" confirmed Robin, who loosened another - obviously prepared - arrow with rope at his hip. With a quick grip, he fastened the rope around the nearest beam near the window and applied the arrow. Green feathers shimmered in the pale moonlight before the arrow hissed from the string, and shortly afterwards, it hit its target - a wooden pillar near the stables, several meters down.

"Time to go!" Robin announced. He jumped onto a flat, wooden chest and from there onto the window ledge - dragging Marian behind him. A gust of wind hit her heated skin and tugged at her hood.

"But ... what are you going to do? Where are you going to escape to? The portcullis is-"

"Trust me!"

The last thing she wanted was to trust a thief like Robin Hood! Marian's gaze slid back. Guards stormed the room, and the first pushed his mate to follow them through the window. The shingles rattled under Marian's boots as she sprinted across the roof after Robin. One came loose, fell into the depths, and shattered, clattering on the paving stone. She felt dizzy at the thought of what would happen to her if she fell!

All at once, Hood reached for her, and Marian hardly knew what hit her as she lost her footing - literally! Robin used his belt to throw it over the taut rope and form a loop."Hold on!"

Gasping for air, Marian clung to the thief out of reflex, wishing this was all just a bad dream. The fresh night air tore at her, nearly blowing the hood off her mop of hair and making her already hard muscles tense even more. Her hands tingled and burned hot from clawing at the thief's shoulders. Fortunately, her slide ended as quickly as it had begun.

Whirring, they hurtled into the depths, and just short of the wooden beam of the stables, which would have marked the end of their journey, Robin let go. Gravity took its toll immediately, and Marian was left with a hoarse scream catching in her throat as they fell the last bit. It was only thanks to Robin Hood holding her as if in a vice that the force did not send her entirely to the ground and break all her bones.

Still, it was a hard landing that knocked the air out of her lungs. Marian gasped; her shoulder ached. But there was no time to recover or to take a breath. The bewilderment at this spectacular and breakneck escape faded too quickly.

"There! Get them!" echoed loudly across the courtyard, and Marian recognized guards rushing in their direction. Drawn blades testified that none intended to show the thieves mercy.

Robin tugged at her - not a second too soon, for with a loud clack, an arrow crashed into the stone wall behind her where she had just been standing. Another dug into the ground just beside her feet.