Free Arrow To The Heart (De Bron Saga) by Katherine Vickery

expressing their hurry to end the journey and return to the warmth of hearth fires.  Despite the haste, however, the lady stopped her horse and gazed upon the beauty of a doe foraging for food a short distance from the riders.             
    "Carefu l, little one, lest our mighty prince decide to levy a tax on you for eating the leaves on his land," she said bitterly.  "He is so fond of taxes."  As she spoke, the lady's cloak fell from her head revealing thick dark tresses that caught the dawn's faint glow.             
    "Aye, fond of taxes.  That he is," echoed the servant accompanying her as he came to her side.  "But Robin will show him.  Me thinks John will not end up as rich as he supposes."  The little man was quickly silenced by his mistress but he kept on grinning.              
    "Is something amiss?" Roderick of Hereford was anxious to learn why she had paused.
    "Nothing that Richard's return can't quickly rectify," she mumbled, then said louder, "I but needed to catch my breath, Sir."                
    A grumble was her answer.  "We have no time to rest here, Lady Marian." His gruff voice frightened away the deer and sent it scurrying.  "I must be back to Nottingham ere nightfall."   The knight's eyes scanned the horizon.  He couldn't hide his nervousness, his agitation.             
    "Aye, back to do John's bidding no doubt."  Hastily Marian pulled her hood back up again.  "Well, let us be off  then."               
    The small band rode further on, the Lady Marian now taking the lead.  Though her eyes were focused forward, the knight continued glancing behind  him, as did  the youth in the hood.  The walls of the castle were becoming a speck in the distance, but not so small that the flickering fire of a torch could not be seen.             
    "The signal!"  The pre -appointed sign that the Prince and his men would soon be approaching.  Pulling the reins of his horse,  Roderick of Hereford brought the animal to a halt. "Now!"  he commanded, beckoning to the hooded lad at his side. "Take them."  With a stern frown he awaited the inevitable, raising his sword and slowly closing in.             
    Totally taken by surprise,  Lady Marian tried to push her horse forward but found her path blocked.  "What are you doing?"
    "We go no further along this pathway, my lady.  Instead, I must inform you that my intent is to escort you in another direction."             
    "What other direction?"  Maid Marian was indignant. "What folly is this?  I command you to get out of my way so that I may ride back to my home, back to Huntington."             
    "I think not.  The Prince has other ideas."  Grabbing the reins of her horse , the knight kept her mount immobile.  "You are to be the most honored guest of the Prince."
    "Guest!  Fie, Sir.  You mean his prisoner."  She shook her head violently.  "I tell you I want no part of him...."               
    Looking first to her servan t, then to the hooded lad, Marian couldn't mask her fear.  It seemed to her as if the lad in the hood suddenly smiled, but why?  Though the grin was meant to comfort her, to Marian who could no longer  seem to trust anyone, that smile meant danger.  Sliding from her horse she took to her heels,  tripping over the long woolen skirts which were a woman's woe.             
    "Catch her, you blasted yeoman!" shouted the knight, turning towards the hooded youth.  "Don't let her get away.  Stop her!"              
    "Stop her?"  Throwing back her head Rowena laughed.  Even Maid Marian had not recognized her, dressed as she was in the hood and clothing of Prince John's henchman.  "I think not.  It is you I came to spar with."  Before the knight could react to her words, she had her arrow strung in her bow and pointed it straight at the other man's heart.