he was being truthful about having no intention to harm her.
Mistaking her silence for terror, the big man’s voice shifted, gentling. “Tell me, my Lady—what’s your name?”
Marian hesitated. If these men were arrested, they might trade information for leniency. Depending on Gisborne’s determination to find Will Scarlet, he might ask about any strange encounters they might have had in this area. “Elena,” she said finally. “I am a lady’s maid in a household not far from here.”
The large man’s eyebrows shot up. He looked her over, head to toe. “Elena,” he echoed. “A lovely name. But you aren’t dressed as a peasant.”
“My Lady is ill. I borrowed her cloak and her horse, thinking to have a picnic in the fresh air while she slept.”
The man snickered. “Imagining yourself a lady for the day?” He looked her over again, and Marian couldn’t help but think he suspected she was lying. “Very well. Elena, I’m Little John, and my good friend back there is Big John.” He paused, waiting for her reaction—no doubt she was intended to imagine with great terror someone even larger than the giant before her. “If you do as we say, you’ll be back to your Lady in a few hours. Now, your valuables.”
“Very well,” Marian said slowly. “I have some food and medicines in my saddlebags. You are welcome to all you can carry.”
“Fetch them,” said Little John. He stood still, staff in hand, watching her carefully.
Marian had hoped he’d turn his back to rifle through her belongings. Trying to look frightened and cowed, she crept over toward Jonquille. Her horse was tense, ears flicked forward and alert, eyes rolling toward the large man a few paces away. Marian suppressed the urge to calm her and went instead to the saddlebags, pulling out the supplies she’d hoped to bring to Will Scarlet. She dropped each parcel to the ground one by one until the bags were empty.
“And now your coin,” said John—although Marian knew it was unlikely to be his real name, or the real name of his comrade hidden in the trees. Half the outlaws in Sherwood were listed only as “John of the Hood” in the Sheriff’s records, their names unknown, only that they’d someday see the inside of the executioner’s hood.
“I carry none,” Marian replied—the truth. She’d brought nothing with her of any value.
“Your jewels, then,” said Little John, shifting his massive weight.
“I wear none—I would not have dared to steal my Lady’s jewels, even on a lark. I would offer you my Lady’s cloak, for it’s of fine craftsmanship and warm, but you are neither a lady nor small enough to wear it.”
The man laughed, the eyes just visible over his unkempt beard glinting. “She has wit, John. A shame we can’t rob her of that; we could use the extra.”
“Best hurry,” his comrade shot back. This time his voice was deeper, tinged with concern, and Marian thought perhaps he was somewhere to the northeast, maybe forty paces.
“Patience.” The big man lifted his staff to gesture at her. “I see that’s a very fine ring upon your finger, my Lady.”
Marian’s breath caught, and she almost shoved her hand into the folds of her skirts. She’d forgotten Robin’s ring. Swallowing, she said slowly, “I cannot give you the ring, sir. Please—there is value in the medicines there, and my Lady’s horse will fetch you far more than a trinket like this—”
“The ring, Elena.” Little John’s voice grew harder.
Marian’s pulse sped, and her hand tightened on Jonquille’s gear. “It was given to me by my sweetheart. It has little value to anyone but me.”
“Such a lucky lady’s maid,” said Little John, amused, “to have an admirer wealthy enough to give you jewels. I’m sure he will give you another.”
Marian could not hide the flinch of her features. “He is dead.”
Little John paused, the amusement in his features vanished. His weight shifted again. “My sympathies, Lady. But this is Sherwood Forest, where the only law is that those men who are strongest, fastest, fiercest, are the ones who get to eat. And that ring will buy me and my friend many meals.”
“That is your law?” Marian’s voice hardened. She would have left them the food, the medicine, even Jonquille’s tack, had they thought to remove it before trying to steal her horse. But she would not give them Robin’s ring. “Then if I am stronger, faster, and fiercer than you, by rights I should keep my ring and my food, and take yours as well.”