They had only been hiking through the forest for a short while, when Nathaniel heard rustling in the trees. this rustling wasn't the normal wind blowing through the trees rustle. Nathaniel knew this kind of rustling, it wasn't as quiet as his men had perfected it, but this was definitely someone following throughout the trees rustling.

But who would be following them? it was highly doubtful that The King had found their whereabouts that fast. Even if it wasn't his father, Nathaniel decided to keep his guard up, trying to not make it obvious, he didn't need the people following them to know that he knew of their existence.

Even with his guard up, Nathaniel wasn't prepared for what happened. In one swift movement, the men in the trees had swooped down, and had Nathaniel tied up in seconds.

Winter wasn't tied, but her hands were being held behind her back by one of the men.

Then, the unidentified men started dragging them on what only they could tell was a path. well, at least that's what they thought, Nathaniel noticed the broken sticks in on the trunks of trees as markers. Nathaniel's best guess was that the strange men were bringing them to their camp. Where they would probably meet the leader of this gang.

------------

Nathaniel was right, and they had reached the camp in a fair amount of time. Nathaniel had been forced into a guarded tent, being separated from Winter. He had fought against this, but after more men had come to help, Nathaniel wasn't strong enough to fight them all off. Not eating as much as he probably should have been while in the tunnel had weakened him quite a bit.

Once he had tried numerous times to get out, and failed. He had started pacing in circles around the tent. It was a nice tall tent, that allowed him to stand up. He just hoped Winter was alright.

---------

After seeing Nathaniel being put in the tent, Winter was taken to another tent. "Why does this situation feel familiar?" thought winter.

Inside the tent, Winter was met with a young man clad in green.

"Very familiar."

Even though she had pretty much been in this position before, it didn't stop her from being just as mad.

"Who are you, and why have you captured my friend and I?" she demanded.

Robert was surprised that the girl had called the boy "friend" instead of beau, but didn't comment on it.

"I only captured your friend. You, on the other hand, are free to leave at any time."

"You didn't answer any of my questions!" Winter practically yelled. She knew that with these type of men, the minute you let anything other than what you want satisfy you, they would never tell you what you actually wanted to hear. At least, she thought that was the problem with Nathaniel.

"Yes, well, I didn't want to, so I didn't." was Roberts conceited reply.

"So you just captured him for no reason!?"

Why do I have to go through this again? Next thing I know, this guy will be another Prince!

"Oh I have a reason. I just don't see the point in telling you."

"Are you even going to tell me your name?"

"I could," said Robert, "but it would be more fun if you guessed" he continued with an evil smile.

Why did he have to act so much like Nathaniel. And what was it with men and evil smiles?

These thoughts of Nathaniel were disturbing Winter. Why should this tall, blonde haired, hansom, stranger remind her of Nathaniel? Another unusual thing was that this stranger wore clothes very similar to Nathaniel's men. Though, the green of Nathaniel's men's clothes were darker, there was an unmistakable resemblance between them.

"Why should I guess? When you could just tell me!" why does he have to be difficult!

Robert shrugged, "You're the one who wants to know my name, I wouldn't mind remaining anonymous."

Right after he finished, one of his men from before entered and said, "The Prisoner is secure Robert."

"Thank-you, make sure he is properly fed. Wouldn't want the spoiled prince going hungry." Robert said evilly.

"So that's it, you captured him because he's The Prince! Robert, is it? I've heard better names." she said, folding her arms in defiance.

"You're picking on my name now?" he asked, pretending hurt. "Well I guess the game is up, I might as well introduce myself. My name is Robert Hood, great great great grandson of The Robin Hood." He puffed his chest proudly while mentioning his great great great grandfather.

Winter decided to ignore the fact that him and Nathaniel were related, and continued with, "Your name seemed the easiest thing to pick on right now." She said with a shrug.

"Oh, alright, that makes it all better." He said sarcastically, "Now, if you will excuse me, I have a prince to talk to."

"And I suppose you don't want me joining?" she said while rolling her eyes. Just knowing that Robert was related to Nathaniel, never mind how distant, made her more comfortable with him.

"You suppose correctly." He said, then left to Nathaniel's tent.

When who Nathaniel had detected was the leader, entered the tent, he sent him one of his worst glares, hoping they hadn't done anything to Winter.
He would have started punching and fighting the man, but with the two guards at each side of him he wouldn't have gotten far.

"So this, is the famous prince of Dirland?" asked the leader.

"I highly doubt I'm famous," Nathaniel seethed, "most people don't even know of my existence."

"Ahh, yes, what a shame." said Robert sarcastically.

The prince was not what Robert had been expecting. He was young, and fit. Not fat and chubby like most of the nobles Robert had had the pleasure to meet.

"You can stop glaring at me, your lady friend's safe, if that's what's bothering you." Robert said informatively.

The prince's glare lightened a little, but it was still there out of mistrust.

Robert sighed, and turned to one of the guards, "Go tell the lady she is welcome in this tent now."

He turned back to Nathaniel, "There, now do you believe me?"

"No." Nathaniel didn't hesitate to say.

"She's of no use to us, you are because you're crown prince. And I'm glad, she would be a feisty prisoner."

"You say that like it's a compliment." said Nathaniel, getting enexplainably mad at the leader for talking so fondly about Winter.

Right then, Winter entered the tent and rushed to Nathaniel, hugging him. "Are you okay?" she asked worriedly.

"I should be asking you that." was Nathaniel's oh so informative reply.

"I'm fine," said winter, "you're the one I'm worried about though, seeing as you're the prisoner."

"You're not a prisoner here?" asked Nathaniel surprised.

With a smile she shook her head, causing her beautiful curls to bounce, "According to Robert I'm not."

"Who's Robert?" asked Nathaniel, getting mad at this unknown person, for an unknown reason.

"Him." she said, nodding to the leader.

Well that makes sense, Nathaniel was already mad at him because of Winter.

"So your name's Robert? I've heard better." said Nathaniel.

"That's exactly what your lady friend said! You people just like picking on my name!" Robert exclaimed.

At this, Winter laughed. And the rage that had subsided, returned to Nathaniel, making him pull Winter closer to him, away from Robert.

Which the leader found amusing, apparently the prince had feelings for the girl. With Winter swatting away Nathaniel's hands, it was unclear if she returned them.

Robert made it his inclination to find out.

--------------

With Winter wanting to stay in camp on Nathaniel's behalf, Robert was more than generous in supplying her with her own tent and set of clothes.

Not having any dresses, and trousers being more practical, the clothes she was given were green, almost exactly what she had worn in Nathaniel's camp before her gender was discovered.

She didn't mind, in fact, she rather preferred the outlaws garb to that of a girls.
They were so much easier to climb trees in than long skirts.

So while Nathaniel was carefully guarded, and only allowed half hour walks every so often, Winter was off helping the outlaws steal from rich merchants, and basically joining another Robin hood band, with his merry men giving to the poor.

Nathaniel wasn't very happy with the amount of time Winter was spending with Robert, but there wasn't much he could do other than warn Winter he didn't think it was the best Idea. Which only caused Winter to defend Robert, and spend even more time with him.

One day, as it must come about, a messenger, who was quickly taken captive for questioning, arrived.

A letter, written by The King himself, was found in the messengers possessions.

The letter is what follows:
"My dear son, it is my best wishes that this reaches you.

I have received word that princess Etheena has been offered two propositions of marriage. One from Prince Fredrick, and one from you, as I promised.

But once considering the outcome of having such a delightful Princess as Etheena, And what a marvelous match Prince Fredrick was for her.

I couldn't help but think I was a little too hasty in my judgement.

What I am trying to communicate, is: when you return, you won't have to worry about the prospect of marriage.

On to a more pressing matter.

My councilmen are decidedly pressing me to start training, or in other words apprenticing someone, of royal blood for sure, to be the next king and ruler over Dirland.

So, if you could be persuaded in any way, to possibly return to Dirland palace, my gratitude would be forever yours."

The King had cringed a few times while writing, but sent the letter in the hopes Nathaniel would return.

When Robert had found the letter with the Kings seal, he had opened it, thinking it would be a letter demanding Nathaniel's release.

To his surprise, the King wrote as if he was begging for Nathaniel's return, not from his son's captors, but from his son himself!

Perplexed, Robert showed the letter to Winter.
In the time she had stayed in camp, he had grown to trust her, despite her association with The Prince.

Winter nodded, acknowledging the letter's contents.
"It seems as if The King has finally come to his senses, at last."

"Whatever could you possibly mean?" asked Robert.

Winter then proceeded to relate her and Nathaniel's visit to Dirland Palace.

Robert wasn't the only one who had gained trust in someone, Winter had began to trust him as well.

"It makes sense now!" Robert exclaimed after she was done.

"What makes sense?"

"Nathaniel's indifference to any comments about the throne!" Robert had started calling Nathaniel by his given name after being round Winter for so long.

Winter nodded, "Though that does make some sense, I can't help but think, that somewhere, Nathaniel cares about his father, and the people of Dirland."

Robert snorted, "If he cares about Dirland, he's really good at hiding it." he finished disbelievingly.

Winter gave him a pointed look, "Nathaniel isn't bad, you know." she tried to convince.

"Of course," Robert agreed sarcastically, "the world's most despised man's son is good."

She gave him another pointed look, "I would hardly call Nerica, and your little camp, the world."

"Where did that come from? Now I'm defending The king?" she thought.

The same King who looked at her with disgust? The same person who had her thrown in the dungeon?

How was that possible?

But despite the King's prejudices, Winter could tell he was still good at heart.

He had loved his wife dearly, the story of their love had even traveled as far as Nerica.

And even though he had threatened his son with marriage -She still wasn't all too pleased with that- she could tell he was just looking for some way to keep Nathaniel close.

With the culture where men -especially ones with power- were required to never show their soft side, where they had to be cold, hard statues, with no warm feelings or thoughts. It was a wonder at all men even knew how to smile!

How this came about, is a mystery. But it was kept very strictly by society.

Dirish society observed it even more closely than most.

Winter didn't like how girls were treated inferior, just because they let their feelings show sometimes.

It was unnatural for Humans, in general, whether boy or girl, to not have feelings.

Winter decided she was thinking way too deeply on Nathaniel and his father's relationship.

Hiking back through the woods, a blind folded messenger in tow, Winter wondered what Robert could be thinking, or what he was planning on doing with the information the letter afforded him.

Even though Robert had been nothing but somewhat kind to Nathaniel, He still seemed to be harboring resentment towards the other leader. More even, than just being his captive would inspire.

-----------------------------------------

Once in camp, Robert sent Winter off to lock up the messenger as he headed towards Nathaniel's guarded tent.

Winter didn't really have a say in it, even if she had grown closer to Robert and his men in the weeks she'd been there, it didn't mean they would let Nathaniel go at her whim.

Watching Robert head off, Winter took the captured messenger to another tent designated for prisoners.

Robert tended to have more prisoners than Nathaniel did, but he didn't have a prison pit like Nathaniel had had. He mostly used tents, and occasionally tied captives to trees.

Once inside the tent, after making sure the prisoner's hands were securely tied to the post in the middle of the room, Winter unblindfolded and ungagged the poor fellow.

Just because she disliked The King, didn't mean that she was going to take it out on his messenger.

Once his blindfold had been taken off, the messenger was surprised to see that his captor was a girl. He could have sworn he had heard only male voices, no hint of a girl's!

Even with the same apparel as the rest of the men, unless she was trying to hide her female attributes, it was fairly easy to tell she was a girl.

"Hi! how's it going?" she asked cheerfully.

Still confused, the messenger just stared.

"Well, anyways. You're not hungry or anything? I doubt it would do to starve our prisoners."

The natural way she talked, as if they were discussing the most common of things, was really quite strange to the man.

The messenger was of average build, brown hair, dull brown eyes, and looked fairly young.

Winter sighed, "This just won't do, talking to someone without knowing their name is always a bother."

Having finally recovered his senses, the messenger was able to answer somewhat coherently, "What?"

Winter sighed again, impatiently this time. she was worried about Nathaniel, even so, she probably shouldn't be trying to distract herself with this prisoner. But what else was she supposed to do? So she continued, despite her better judgement.

"I am having a conversation with you, correct?"

Not having the wit to do anything else, he nodded.

"And having a conversation with someone without knowing their name is quite a bother, wouldn't you say?"

After Winter said that, the man got completely lost again. She decided to do away with all her playing with words, and just outright ask his name.

Sighing, for the third time, she asked: "What's your name?"

Surprised by her forwardness, but not having any inclination to call it out, the poor, confused, messenger answered, "Liam."

Well that got it out of him.

While Winter pestered Liam, Robert had gone to Nathaniel's tent to confront him with the letter.

"Is what this letter says true?" Robert wasted no time in asking, once he was inside.

Nathaniel was leaning against the middle beam of the tent, his arms folded nonchalantly.

"I wouldn't know, what the letter says is as mysterious to me as what day it is. you don't expect me to know the answer to all your questions do you? Because if you do, i suggest you give up now, I'm not magic." He said, looking at Robert lazily.

Robert growled, sighed frustratedly, if it weren't for Nathaniel's being the prince, and friends with Winter, he wouldn't have put up with him so long.

Every day, taunting remarks on keeping him captive. Comments on how poorly his men performed, Robert couldn't take it!

"It's November twenty-fourth, just read the letter and tell me if it's true." He said through gritted teeth.

He didn't mean to lose his temper so quickly, but some days, it seemed as if that was Nathaniel's only goal. which it probably was, it wasn't as if there were so many thing to do, trapped inside a tent. and even his capture didn't bother Nathaniel half so much as how close Winter had grown to Robert, with nothing he could do to prevent it.

After reading the letter, and contemplating the likeliness of a happy match between princess Etheena and Prince Fredrick, and declaring it a good one, he pocketed the letter, forgetting Robert's presence entirely. At least, until he was so rudely asked to return the letter to Robert.

"What for? I am assuming you have already had the chance to read it, and I highly doubt you want to go through the effort of a brawl for a letter, which by right, is actually mine."

Knowing Nathaniel was right, he didn't take further action in the pursuit of the letter. Instead, he said: "Is it true?"

"Which part? were your sights set on princess Etheena? I'm sorry, but prince Fredrick and her are a most wonderful match, I wouldn't be surprised if it was love at first sight."

"Will, You, Stop, WITH YOUR INCESSANT REMARKS! And just tell me, if your Father truly thinks you've spent all this time in Dirland forest, just for your fancy!" Robert said, his patience nonexistent.

"It would seem so." Was Nathaniel's light reply.

Oh how this Prince tortured him! Three and a half weeks, he had been putting up with him for three in and a half weeks, and still Nathaniel hadn't lost spirit. Still, he was as annoying as the day Robert had met him.

"So I have been waiting, putting up with you this whole time. And The King didn't even know!" Robert all but shouted.

"It would seem so." Nathaniel said with a grin, at least he had some power over Robert.

Liam, the messenger, had been quite a pleasant fellow. He had related to Winter stories of his young wife. And it made her long for the same kind of romance. Thinking of romance turned her thoughts to Nathaniel. Which made no sense, she didn't think of Nathaniel in that way, did she?

It was getting late, and so Winter retired for the night, wondering how Robert's "meeting" with Nathaniel had gone.

-----------------------------

The next day, not caring if Robert would object or not, Winter made her way to Nathaniel's tent to check up on him.

Walking into his tent, she was surprised to see Nathaniel asleep still. But knowing how boring it was to be awake in a tent with nothing to do, she could understand it.

Though it didn't stop her from coming up with a brilliant plan. Why not, go down to the stream, and bring a bucket of water back to dump on his head.

Returning from the stream, Robert found her, asking what in the world she might be doing.

"Having fun!" Was her only reply.

And, being busy, Robert headed away without further questioning.

Thankfully, Nathaniel was still asleep when Winter returned. The bucket would have been kind of hard to explain, dumping it on him was much easier.

Nathaniel spluttered awake, hopping up faster than Winter had ever expected. Once he noticed Winter's laughing, he was inclined to get mad at her. But after a bit of good natured pestering from Winter's side, he relented with a smile, glad to see her.

After a while, Winter brought up the subject of last night. Nathaniel's face turned grim at the mention of Robert. "I don't know what he's planning, he merely asked if my father truly didn't know of my capture."

Winter nodded in acknowledgement.

Nathaniel knew Robert wasn't really any less of a threat than Captain Morris himself. The outcome of being captured by either one was getting handed over to his father.

Though he debated which was better, not having to deal with his father, or, having Winter away from Robert.

The likelihood of The King paying the ransom for Nathaniel was highly in Robert's favor. But the question was: if he was handed over to his father, would Winter come with him?