A fair swap [Tuck, Mags, Robin etc]

[Allan A'Dale]

Allan flicked his hood up back over his head and walked towards the main square of Nottingham town. It was late afternoon now, by the time he was back in Sherwood it'd be threatening dinnertime and it paid to be prompt for that. Plus, of course, he had a message to deliver first.

The market was really winding down now, even quieter and more boring than it had been earlier, before he'd had his little confrontation with Bronte. He hoped the Inn wasn't too busy; he didn't really want to draw much attention to himself and what he was up to in there. As he got to the heavy oak door of the bar and ducked inside, he drew a sigh of thanks. It wasn't too bad - not so empty that his arrival drew notice, but not so busy he'd have to shove his way through the crowd. Allan aimed his path directly for the stairs. He could stop and drink later, but he had business to attend to first.

Upstairs at the Trip there were a few rooms; Tuck had neglected to mention which one Robin was occupying. Oh well, nothing ventured, nothing gained. He knocked at the nearest door and called out: "Hello? It's Allan."

There was a shuffling noise from the behind the door; rustling fabric and footsteps. Suddenly the door swung open and a young woman stuck her head out, a sheet wrapped around her and her hair rumpled.

"Piss off, Allan," she told him shortly. As she made to close the door he stuck his foot in the way and winked at her. "I might come back later, if you cheer up a bit, Violet." At that she at least cracked a smile, and Allan withdrew his foot. "See you later."

Violet shut the door softly and he moved on trying the second door. Hopefully this one would be right. Again, he knocked and announced himself, hoping that this room would be Robin's makeshift lodgings.

[Sister Magdalene]

Sister Magdalene broke off her silent prayers and raised her head as she heard a knock at the door and the muffled voice of Allan A Dale identifying himself. Glancing towards the bed, she gave Robin a questioning look to which the Outlaw nodded. "Sounds like him." Robin added in a low voice. Mags waved her hand at Robin. "Stay still, you mustn't pull your wound or it might start bleeding again." Robin grimaced, but stayed still as he'd been told. He knew better than to disobey the good Sister.

Taking purposeful steps towards the door, the Nun pulled it open and found herself looking at a rather striking young man. His eyes were hyponotic and Mags found it hard to drag her own eyes away from his. Her gaze raked over his face, taking in his high forehead and lightly tanned skin from being outside all of the time. He had rather an unfortunate big nose but, she decided, it somehow suited him. Aware that she had been scrutinizing him quite severely, the Nun gave an enigmatic smile. "Good day, my Son." she murmured. "How can I help you?"

[Allan A'Dale]

Allan put his ear against the door, and heard the low murmur of voices on the other side. Then the sound of footsteps was apparent and he straightened his posture and relaxed his body, so as to look as nonchalant as possbile.

The door swung open to reveal a nun - the one, he assumed, that Tuck had mentioned. She had a gaze that looked right through to his bones, it felt like. He found he rather liked it. By the authority in her stare, he would have guessed that she wasn't just any old Sister of the order. And then she gave him a beatific smile that he couldn't help returning, although his was a little less...holy. This one, he decided, could well be a force to be reckoned with.

He bowed low. "Well, good Sister, I have come to visit your patient of ill repute. But I am sure that there is much more help you could offer a poor sinner like me." He couldn't keep his grin down though, which might have lessened his pious act just a little.

[Sister Magdalene]

Sister Mags pursed her lips. Was he really trying to flirt with her? "Well its true that God likes nothing better than a reformed sinner, so we'll just have to wait and see what happens. Now, you said that you have come to visit my patient. He is very sick you know, highly contagious" Her voice took on a steely tone as she glanced down the corridor to make sure they weren't being spyed upon. "I take it you have some sort of identification to back up your claim?" Mags's hand went to the rosary and cross around her neck and her fingers caressed the beads.

[Allan A'Dale]

The good Sister seemed rather unimpressed with his charms for the time being. He tried to put his serious face on. Pissing off a nun was never a good idea. "Contaigious? Yeah, so I've heard. I should get me down the apothecary after seeing this poor soul."

And then he suddenly realised he might run into a problem here. He'd given his wooden tag to Bronte already. He'd just have to try his luck with the leather cuff he'd swapped it for. "Well, I've got it, in a way, just not the way you might be expecting. I ran into someone who says he knows your patient, and I had to give my usual identification to him to prove who I was." This was really getting complicated. He pulled out the cuff Bronte had given him and passed it to her. "In theory, this should ring a bell with the man in question. And if it doesn't, then I've got my answer anyway."

[Robin Hood]

Robin propped himself up onto his elbows on the bed and looked towards Magdalene who was still blocking the door. "You'd better let him in, Mags, he'll only kick up a fuss if we leave him out there." Robin grimaced as he moved his stiff leg. "And we'd rather not alert the Sheriff or Gisborne to our hiding place just yet."

The good Sister glanced over her shoulder at Robin's pallid face then turned back to Allan. "Well it seems you'd better come in." Mags replied to Allan, "Just don't tire my patient and don't get him overexcited. Go and show him your cuff, and see what he makes of it." Then, the Sister stepped backwards to allow the outlaw to enter, her robes swishing on the wooden floor.

Robin looked up from his sick bed and grinned weakly at his friend. "What, no grapes or flowers? What sort of visitor are you if you don't bring me anything!" Robin gave a weak chuckle.

[Allan A'Dale]

Allan grinned as he heard Robin's voice, although he hoped it was down to the effects of his sedatives rather than his injury that caused Robin to sound so damned ill.

He nodded his head to the nun as she stepped back from the door. "Much obliged, Sister. I'll be gentle with him."

Walking up to Robin's bed, he realised how bad an injury it must have been. Over a day hence he was still pale as a sheet; despite his lighthearted comments Allan could see that he was far from healthy.

"Fruit's rubbish, Robin, it's for the birds. And flowers are for girls. Did you bang your head as well?" It was much more comfortable joking as if everything was fine. He didn't really want to address how close to death his leader had obviously come. "I got something much better: gossip." He brandished the leather cuff that Bronte had given him and plopped it down onto the bedcovers that covered Robin's lap. "Know anyone by the name of Liam Bronte? I...er...ran into him in the market, and he says he's one of your mates. Said that if I gave you that then it'd prove he was who he said he was. Make anything of it?"

[Robin Hood]

"Hmm" Robin grunted as he looked shrewdly at Allan. "You always come up with excuses. And my head is perfectly fine thank you," The outlaw grimaced, "Its about the only part of me that is though. But come on, if you've got gossip, out with it!" Robin didn't like to admit it but he missed the cut and thrust of an outlaw's life. Being laid up like this wasn't in his nature, but even Robin had to admit that without Sister Magdalene's help, he'd probably be very much more worse off.

Robin screwed up his eyes as he listened to Allan. "Liam? He gave his name as Liam Bronte?" Robin picked up the cuff and, idly, his thumb rubbed across the brand. "Yeah, I knew a Liam Bronte. Ambitious young Knight. Managed to worm his way into the King's favours." The outlaw threw the leather cuff back onto the bed. "Did he give you any idea what he's doing here? Or if he's with someone?"

[Allan A'Dale]

Allan shook his head. "Not really. We didn't exactly meet on particularly friendly terms. He mentioned the name Thea; I think that's some noble bird living in the castle. Roe's been sniffing around her from what I've heard, maybe he can help us out. From what he said it seems that maybe Bronte's gonna try and have a crack at her too he bought her some sparkly...thing that he wasn't too eager to part company with. And he said that he'd fought for Richard for seven years, or something. But that's pretty much everything he gave me to go on, more or less. No idea what brings him to Nottingham, but he did say he was looking for you. Maybe that's the reason he's here, to help the King or something, or to give you a bit of support. I told him to come back and meet me in two days, and then I'd see what can be done. He's pretty eager to see you, but I dunno how much we want to let him know about your current situation."

[Robin Hood]

Robin raised his eyebrow. "You mean he caught you trying to pick his pocket?" The outlaw asked, "You're losing your touch, old friend, if someone like Liam Bronte sussed you out!" He gave a low chuckle. He also clocked the name Thea, but pushed it to the back of his mind for now. "He sounds very keen to catch up on old times and I wonder why." Robin mused wryly. "So if he's come from Richard, then why isn't Carter with him?" Robin lay back on his pillows and glanced up at the ceiling above him. He'd spent so much time looking at the blasted thing over the past couple of days, he swore he knew every crack and mark in the plaster.

After what seemed like an eternity, Robin lowered his head and looked at Allan. "I think we're going to have to arrange a meeting." Sister Magdalene stirred from her stool by the hearth, standing up as though she were about to protest. Robin held out his hand to stay her. "I know, Sister, I know what you're going to say but drastic times call for drastic measures."

Mags approached the bed. "This is insane, Robin. You know you can't. If you start bleeding again, then I can't guarantee I can stop it." She remonstrated. The outlaw patted the Nun's hand as it rested on the bedclothes. "Don't I always have a plan?" Robin grinned cheekily. "But you're right, Allan, we best not let on about my current malady. What we need is a good meeting place where I can easily get away. Like sitting on a wagon thats hitched up to horses, or a room with a trapdoor that I can disappear through. With the gang there to shield me if things go wrong, and an escape route, I think its just about do-able. Any ideas on such a place?"

Sister Magdalene walked back to the fireplace, muttering about mutton headed men who never took advice, but she knew that once Robin had an idea, he would follow it through.

[Allan A'Dale]

Allan laughed. He couldn't put much past Robin. "Yeah, yeah, alright, I was a bit lax and he rumbled me. In my defence, you can steal from most nobles right under their noses anyway. Why are you so surprised that he wants to get back in touch, if you're old mates and that?"

He watched the gentle arguing between the Sister and Robin with some amusement. Normally Robin would wriggle and fight his way out of anything like this; he remembered the few times he'd watched Djaq tend to Robin's wounds and the fidgeting and complaining that ensued. It wasn't really surprising that he was that much more respectful once it was a woman of God ministering to him.

"Yeah, I think you're right. A cart has got to be best, but we'll want a dead smooth road to make sure you don't go ripping open your stitches, and it'll have to be a quiet one too." That was a bit of a big ask, really. The smoothest roads were generally the most travelled, well maintained in order to facilitate passage through the forest. To find one that was quiet and level...he might have to sneak up the night before with the gang and do a little emergency roadworks.

[Robin Hood]

Robin grinned as he nodded in response. "I like your way of thinking," he chuckled, then squinted his eyes as he concentrated for a moment. "Hang on, didn't Prince John insist that the Sheriff repair the main road near the forest? Get some of the others and scout out the area. It'd certainly be better to be on home ground, so to speak."

Plans were starting to form in Robin's head, ideas rolling over and over. He also thought back to his time in the Holy Land. "Well I would say we were acquaintences, not really mates as such. Not like Carter or Roe. In fact, I think I could safely say that where Liam goes, trouble isn't usually far behind. But he's wily so be careful, Allan." The outlaw pondered some more. "See what you can find out about him, and why he might be here. Get a message to Roe, if you can, get him to keep an eye on Liam."

Robin twisted his fingers in the bedclothes. "Now tell me, what news from the forest? How is everyone?"

[Allan A'Dale]

"Well, if that's the truth about the road then that's one thing in our favour. Especially if we fell a tree somewhere helpful to minimise the traffic getting past us. We don't want to get rumbled; we'll be sitting ducks out on the main road otherwise."

It was interesting that Robin didn't speak as well of Liam as Allan had expected. From the reaction he'd got from Bronte, he'd assumed the pair had been close. He tucked that little bit of information away for future reference. Wily, was he? Well Allan reckoned he could do wily, and all.

"The others are pretty much ok. See hardly anything of Will and Djaq these days as you know, what with the little screamer and all, and Much totally flipped his lid when he found out you'd been hurt. I practically had to sit on him to stop him coming to 'rescue' you, although I've got no idea what the hell he was going to do by himself. Remind me, if I'm gonna leave a message for Roe, where should I stick it? "

[Sister Magdalene]

Mags knew that she shouldn't really be eavesdropping but she couldn't help it. If Robin was intent on that harebrained scheme of his, then she wanted to know. After all, it would be she, Mags, who would need to pick up the pieces and sew him back together if there was any trouble. So, she sat still, gazing into the fire but listening to every word that was being uttered softly behind her.

Robin felt a lump in his throat when Allan started talking about the outlaws and Much in particular. Although he didn't want to think about it a lot, Robin really missed Much and his amusing ways. He felt that his convalescence would have been much more bearable if Much had been with him. "If you're leaving a message for Roe," Robin started, then stopped and coughed to clear his throat, "There's a loose brick, in the stables by the Castle wall," The outlaw explained, giving Allan detailed directions.

Sister Mags could tell, from Robin's voice, that the outlaw was getting tired. Standing up, she gathered her robes towards herself then turned in Allan's direction. Walking towards him, she placed her hand on Allan's shoulder. "Robin is getting tired, my son," she said softly, but in a voice that would broach no argument. "Perhaps its time that visiting hours were over. You need to rest," She added to Robin, taking in his chalky pallor.

[Allan A'Dale]

When Robin started giving directions to the message hiding place, Allan made sure he paid careful attention this time. He'd forgotten it once, he had to make sure he didn't again. It seemed fairly straightforward; not something that would tax him unduly. Once Robin was finished, the good Sister gently but firmly told him to get lost. He knew if he wanted to be allowed in next time he had to stay on her good side. He smiled at her and turned, clasping the hand she'd laid on his shoulder. "I'll leave him in peace, Sister. Thank you for putting up with me as long as you have." He gave her his best 'good boy' smile and turned towards the door.