Gate after gate passed them as they crept through the corridors up to the first floor. Only one more corner separated them from their destination. Guy strode up the stairs and peered alertly around the corner to catch a glimpse of the corridor leading to the chamber where the lady had been locked up.

"Two guards are at the door," he murmured quietly to Robin, glancing at the man huddled against the wall in his shadow directly behind him. "I'll see to it they leave."

"We need the keys. Picking the lock now would take us too much time," Robin said, and Guy nodded in agreement.

"Wait here. I'll be right back." He was already disengaging himself from cover to step into the corridor. Robin watched him walk towards the soldiers and speak to them. The men nodded obediently, handed Guy the keys to the prisoners' chamber, and immediately moved, heading in the other direction.

As soon as they were round the corner, Robin sprang from cover and quickly bridged the distance to Guy. Meanwhile, Guy slid the key into the door lock, and the click was heard. The sheriff's son pulled the door open, and Robin slipped in without hesitation when there was enough room.

"Marian! We have come to free you." Robin stepped hastily into the room. "Quickly, we must..."

The room was small and barren and... empty.

If one disregarded the six guards who raised their weapons as if at a silent signal and then pointed their sister's sharpened tips at Robin.

Behind him, the door of the chamber slammed shut.

"Robin Hood. You are under arrest for conspiracy against the crown, grand theft, wounding royal soldiers, and other crimes," Guy's voice rose.

Robin let his gaze roam over the guards for only a moment, then slowly turned to Guy. "This is not your first! I should have known it was just a dirty trap and you'd betray me," he said, a tiny hint of bitter disappointment resonating in his voice that he would not have admitted to himself. Secretly, Robin had hoped it wouldn't turn out that way.

Guy's expression remained hard, reminding Robin of his father, who had spent his whole life trying to mold his son in his own image.

"You can think what you like, Hood; I'm not interested in your opinion." Guy of Gisborne stopped at the door, blocking Robin's only escape route. Outside the windows, the guards' blades waited. No way out, no escape.

"And why are you doing this? Do you want to see me AND Marian hanging next to each other so badly?" hissed Robin.

But Guy's eyes only narrowed. "I have a deal with the sheriff. If I bring you, the rebel and conspirator, to him, then you hang alone, Hood."

At that, Robin let out a harsh laugh.

While the guards exchanged puzzled glances, it, on the other hand, fuelled Guy's anger. He loathed that sky-scraping arrogance that had always distinguished Robin. Even now, he was making fun of him.

"Do you really think it's that easy? That you can get away with it?" asked Robin, and though a smile swam on his features, his words were sibilant. "Marian risked her life for a cause - and you betray her! Do you think she'll fall into your arms with thanks?"

Guy's teeth ground together, and a muscle on his cheek twitched. Then he straightened up straighter, and his chin went with it as if he could better withstand the onslaught of words that way.

"It doesn't matter," he said then, yet he knew that at that moment, he was lying to Robin and himself. Hell, of course, he knew she would hate him for it. She might even never forgive him for it, even if he only longed for her to understand how the world worked and the powerful devoured all those who did not comply. Especially under Prince John. But even if she hated him...

"The important thing is that Marian will live." Guy's gaze softened a tiny touch. "She shouldn't have fallen for your lies and sweet words... But my Father was right: Marian has too soft a heart. She always has had. Don't you see, Hood? If you give yourself up now without a fight, we'll save her from certain death. At least this way, you won't throw your botched life away pointlessly."

Robin snorted audibly. "You didn't exactly call her good heart a weakness." Disappointed, he turned to the guards. "Did you hear that? His fiancée chooses death over betraying her convictions, and he calls her weak!" Robin shook his head. "The only one in this room right now who is guided by weakness, my old friend, is you. For someone who is always proclaiming what he had to endure to get to where he is now, you sure let your father have plenty of influence over you. Tell me: was even one of your actions in the past years born from your thoughts? Your marriage to Marian? Your work as the sheriff's right-hand man? This trap?"

"What do you know!" Guy's hands balled into fists, then his hands shot forward and grabbed the arrogant, self-proclaimed king of thieves by the collar. "You've been away for many years, come back and think you can just throw it all about - just because it doesn't suit you! But now Marian is on the gallows and will hang because YOU dragged her into this and planted rebellious thoughts in her head! There is a difference between pity and mercy and treason!" Guy pushed Robin away from him.

With trembling fingers, he brushed the dark strands from his face and reminded himself to control himself. He was so furious that Marian stood down there just because she had bought into Robin's lies. All he wanted was to know she was safe... and for that, Robin Hood had to hang. They could save the poor misguided lady only when the real criminal was on the gallows. And Guy would have done anything not to see Marian's life end beside the riffraff.

Deeply he inhaled and exhaled once, then his gaze fixed ironically on Robin again."Now this is your opportunity to be a hypocritical peasant hero and do some real good. If you care about Marian, you will now take responsibility for your crimes. This is your last chance to do something truly noble and save her life."

>>Wham wham wham<<

Guy of Gisborne wheeled around as it banged on the chamber door. Immediately he put his hand to his gun, ready to fight.

"Sir of Gisborne?" it sounded from the other side. "The sheriff sent us. We have come to take the prisoner to the gallows."

Guy of Gisborne breathed a sigh of relief, and the tension fell from him. "It is time, Robin of Locksley," he commented as he glanced at the guards. "Tie him up," he ordered sternly, then the key clicked in the lock. Guy of Gisborne opened the door only a crack at first. But that was enough.

The door flew towards Guy, and with a thunderous >>Wham!<< the hard wood of the door's edge crashed into his face. Stars exploded before his eyes from the force, and Guy cried out as the wood cut through skin and flesh, soaking his chin with hot blood.

Immediately his hand went to his face, and his mind tried to get control of vertigo and his body. Dazed, he staggered backward, stumbling and knocking over with one arm, the tiny chest of drawers standing to his right. His head was pounding as he kept squinting his eyes shut. Tears from what he assumed was a broken nose and a split lip further blurred his vision, making him barely aware of the silhouettes that now stormed the room.

Cries of battle surged, the sharp hiss of arrows rippled through the room, and guards slumped like puppets, their strings severed. Two men - one massive as a giant and another who dropped a bow and entered the fray against the guards with flashing daggers - had entered the chamber.

Robin, too, now drew his sword. The blade went snarling through the air. One of the guards managed to back away, and Robin took the opportunity to ram the hilt into his stomach with force. The man's body collapsed, his torso toppled forward, and Robin struck again, specifically against the soldier's neck, who slumped unconscious on the floor.

Guy's trembling hands clasped the hilt of his sword as a movement in the corner of his eye made him look up. The giant John grabbed the sheriff's son by the collar and lifted him until the tips of his boots barely touched the ground. Gasping, Guy reached for the fingers that tightened his robe around his throat with the force of a vice.

"I'm sorry, Guy. I had fervently hoped that you would be a decent fellow and that I would not have to use that maneuver. But we were already expecting you to betray us." Robin stepped to John's side and tilted his head slightly. His smile, however, was cold and joyless. "The noble, chivalrous Sir Guy of Gisborne. He engages in lies and betrayal, as well as dirty traps. I am not disappointed; I am disgusted. You sell out your ideals and principles, all your chivalric posturing, while your betrothed chooses death instead of bending over and kissing Prince John's ass." Robin spat out right at Guy's feet.

Guy's eyes sparkled with hatred and seemed to streak the grey of his irises with flashes of an angry storm. "You filthy bastard! Marian will die because of you!"

Robin Hood shook his head. "That will not happen," said the latter, grinning like a fox before raiding a henhouse. "Neither she nor I will die. For we will do what thieves do best: Steal the fair maiden."

Robin winked at Guy. "However, we cannot allow you to stab us in the back again." Robin's gaze slid briefly to John, then back to Guy.

"You wretched-"

But before Guy could finish speaking, Robin grabbed John's outstretched arm, from which the knight dangled, and pulled it towards him so they stood eye to eye.

"The king lives, Guy. Richard lives. And when he returns, we'll see who was on the wrong side!"

Guy's eyes widened.

A fist flew, and blackness enveloped the sheriff's son.