The Lord Sheriff died and a group of Merry Men stormed the room only to find the dead magus, David Doncaster, the dead nazirh, Jan’litle, and finally the deceased knight who in his death had redeemed himself leaned against the column with the crossbow in his hand. Lee’s head was facing upward and the bullet wounds in his body clearly indicated how he died while the Lord Sheriff himself was found flat out dead on his stomach. The Loxley Brothers, Gamwell and Scarlett, could not believe their eyes when they saw the Golden Arrow lodged into the heart of the deceased Lord Sheriff and took it as a symbol of their victory. Gamwell then crouched before Lee and reached for his shoulder, nodding his head to the knight with respect before he stood up along with Scarlett to give him one final salute out of respect, honoring him like the hero that he is. However, the Loxley Brothers knew it was not over and therefore ordered their band of Merry Men to search the city of Rottingham for the last person that remained alive; Marian Curt.
“Lady Marian…”, Anna Safavi approached Marian Curt in her room that was dark and gloomy due to the tragedy of the many events she experienced. “I am here to regrettably inform you that your father has passed away this afternoon.”, the lieutenant revealed to Marian that then realized what this means and she turned her head to face Anna Safavi that stood before her, waiting.
“The line of succession now falls to you, milady. You are now the head of this family.”, Anna revealed this to Marian who was surprised, in a way, that the lieutenant did not try to overthrow her or betray her in any way as she was clearly in a vulnerable position.
“How did he die?”, asked Marian. “He was shot through the heart by the same Golden Arrow that killed Robin Hood and the shooter was none other than Lee Verysdale.”, Anna revealed and then Marian looked into her eyes. “And what happened to Lee?”, Marian asked and Anna then raised one eyebrow before she would sigh that made Marian realize the fate of Lee Verysdale.
“The Loxley Brothers will without a doubt be looking for me next.”, said Marian. “Yes, they will, milady.”, replied Anna and then Marian sat there, thinking for a moment. “What do you suggest that we do?”, Anna was surprised by this question as Thomas would have done or asked something else if he were still the leader of the Curt Cut’s Clan. “We move you around when necessary and we wait.”, Anna replied to Marian, who waited patiently for Anna to continue…
“Both of our sides have suffered immense casualties and the people are growing weary of it. The Merry Men that still linger within Rottingham will soon exhaust their own forces and be forced to flee from the city. The Loxley Brothers have offered a bounty to anyone that finds you and helps to turn you in.”, Anna described to her new leader who then focused her eyes. “Why would the Loxley Brothers do this? I tried to help them, I tried to help Robin.”, Marian spoke and Anna then reached for her shoulder, gently gripping it with love and hoping she understands.
“The sins of your father, that’s why.”, Anna stated before she would continue to explain.
“The Loxley Brothers think you betrayed their uncle but this is far from the truth. The brothers are blinded by rage and as we speak they are performing brutal interrogation methods in order to try and extract any information regarding your whereabouts. The people will soon see them for the monsters that they are and the King Regent, who has bid his time so far, is ready to strike.”, Marian smirked at what Anna had told her. “Of course he is, now that both sides have weakened themselves he will spring himself into action and be seen as a hero.”, Marian replied.
It was during the time that they both spoke that what Anna had said was coming true. The Iron Fist Guard, now fully armed with the armor that they stole from the crusaders, stormed the city streets and swept through every corner that they could find to kill as many gang members that they could find. The Merry Men became weaker due to the war they brought to the city and slowly had to make a difficult decision; to abandon the siege and flee back to the forests. The clergymen, however, that lingered throughout the streets helped to pack the bodies into the carriages in order to take them back to the cathedral itself.
“The Loxley Brothers will have no choice but to give the order and flee the city under any means necessary.”, said Marian and Anna nodded her head to agree. “Yes, but the King Regent has told his subjects, particularly our clan, to secure all exits throughout the city while the Iron Fist Guard purges the streets and the Bloodstone Saints clean the mess that the gang wars have left behind. As we speak, the bodies over at the Curt Cut’s Castle are being brought over to the cathedral as well for a proper burial and the Merry Men have nowhere to go. This city has become their prison.”, Anna continued to inform her new mistress about everything transpiring.
It was true that the Merry Men had nowhere to go. Day after day the Iron Fist Guard hunted them down and whenever they approached a house or any establishment, it was barricaded and no one opened the doors, no one was sympathetic to the Merry Men that have caused so much chaos. The Loxley Brothers tried to leave the city through several exits and in their last ditch effort they commanded the nazirh to help them by fleeing through the sewers. The Stone Colds reluctantly agreed and did everything in their power to aid them in this plight but then they were all met by gunfire. The nazirh, realizing this was a lost battle indeed, fled beneath the tides of the city and those Merry Men, those humans, that remained were forced to fight for their lives that ended in tragedy. After nearly a full blown month of war, they were finally losing it.
“You’ll be already, Scarlett, you’ll be alright.”, Gamwell tried to assure his brother that took a blow to his neck. “We’ll get you out of here, we will. Just hang in there, bro.”, Gamwell tried everything to assure his twin that they would make it alive but this wasn’t the case.
Scarlett died in his arms in an alleyway and not even the homeless people dared to show their faces as they hid within the garbage containers scattered throughout the city. The homeless people often consumed drugs or even robbed people, but this time they didn’t even dare. The criminal element that tried to rise and make money under any means necessary while the gang wars were going had gone into hiding and those brave enough faced certain death against the re-armed Iron Fist Guard. What no one knew, however, is that King Richard himself was coming back from the crusades as the Merry Men had sent a full battalion to contact him.
“Any news regarding House Verysdale, is Lee’s family alright and are they safe?”, Marian cared for her former friend’s family even after his death. “Yes, and I was just about to get to that; the bad news.”, this response by Anna confused Marian. “The bad news?”, Marian asked.
“The Loxley Brothers made a new plan after the death of their uncle. They sent a battalion of their best men to King Richard himself and chose the Verysdale Family to deliver a letter that reveals everything that is currently transpiring throughout Albion. The Loxley Brothers had thought and hoped that the King would return home just in time to save the city, relieve the siege and brand them as the saviors.”, Anna explained. “But what they didn’t account for is delays.”, replied Marian and this truly did impress Anna that already liked her far more than her father.
“Fuck…”, said Marian. “That means that the King himself will come back home, retake the city, most likely forgive his brother despite all the evil deeds that he had done and because he is a man of the gods he has to look good in the face of the clergy, that cocksucker…”, Marian shared her own thoughts on the matter and Anna agreed with everything said.
“I wonder if he will forgive his sister, the Lady Bethory?”, Marian asked Anna would then reply. “Yes, he will. The King will find out that the King Regent most likely ordered her to bury the bodies beneath the cathedral, either by request or by force, it doesn’t matter. The people love Lady Bethory and she loves them, she will be spared.”, Anna spoke the truth and Marian knew it.
“Yes and the King will then brand us as traitors and conspirators. He, like his brother, will shift the blame to us to uphold his family’s name and reputation, essentially making us the sacrificial lambs. None of us are safe and no matter where we run they will come after us.”, Marian shared what both her and Anna knew to be already true, and yet she said it anyway. “Then I guess there is one thing left to do.”, Marian said before she turned her head to face Anna and in that moment the lieutenant realized that Marian’s heart had been decided for quite some time, a long time ago.
The Merry Men scattered throughout the city and they stole clothes from wherever they could get some to conceal their identity, but this didn’t stop most of them from being arrested by the Iron Fist Guard that took no risks in letting anyone escape. The Curt Cut’s Clansmen at the gates either shot or arrested anyone that tried to make a last ditch effort to escape. There were Merry Men who tried to break into people’s homes as they were starving or that tried to rob other folk such as the homeless people in order to keep themselves somewhat fed but what would be met by brutal force by the citizenry. Those that tried to escape the sewers remained there until they would bled out and die while others tried to stay out of sight only to eventually get hunted down. There were bodies floating throughout the rivers that were now stained red with the blood of so many deceased gang members. The Iron Fist Guards that patrolled the streets used spears to poke at the bodies of anyone they found laying on the ground and the clergy stripped their bodies of all their belongings that they loaded into carriages that were sent to Castle Rottingham while loading the bodies into separate carriages to take them to the cathedral. One clergyman was in fact Gamwell Loxley himself in disguise and he did not dare to carry any firearm on himself at all as the Iron Fist Guards regularly searched any clergyman even present throughout the city. Meanwhile, John Lionheart, the King Regent, gazed upon the entire city from his balcony and set his eyes upon the Curt Cut’s Castle that was seized by the guard who watched over it. He would watch as every statue, art and antique was being extracted from the castle in order to be sent over and delivered to Castle Rottingham for he knew his brother would pardon him. The man entered into his office filled with musical instruments, a grand library, art, antiques found from all over Albion and even statues. He would spend the following night gambling with nobles that resided within the castle by playing a game of Backgammon, and this night luck was on his side. The King Regent walked away with so many pounds that he gave to his treasurer and then would venture back to his throne room before he pointed to one of his guards.
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“I am going to the throne room, send in my whores.”, the King Regent ordered and the guard bowed his head before proceeding to do so, and later that night the whores would come.
The King Regent observed them being escorted into the room by the guards before John then raised his hand to dismiss them. He then raised a chalice that was almost empty and drank from it to finish having his refreshment, his favorite red wine. The Iron Fist Guards left and the two whores, dressed like maids, approached John Lionheart. One of them wore attire with jewelry that appeared to be Persian in origin with a cat-mask over her face while the other wore no jewelry at all but wore a vixen-like mask. They both got on their knees and slowly walked on all fours towards the King Regent himself as they slowly scaled the six steps leading to his throne. The throne was large and obsidian in nature with a red light glowing above it that took the appearance of a sword that hung above in an alcove behind the seat of the King. John would pour more wine into his goblet before he impatiently patted his knees with his other hand. The two whores then looked at each other before they kissed one another to appease him and he adored them as one of them had long raven hair and the other long red dark hair. They both then grabbed each other’s hands and stood up together as they approached their King Regent with both of them sitting on his seat on opposite ends of him.
“Now take those masks off so I can have a better look at those lovely faces of yours.”, John had ordered the whores to do so and he felt a strange feeling that he could not describe.
The first whore that took off her mask was the cat who revealed to be just another whore that the King Regent didn’t recognize, and he smiled towards her the instant that he saw her.
“Gee, what a surprise this is.”, he turned to face the vixen-like masked whore that kept staring into his eyes. “And what about…?”, the King Regent then felt unusual and nauseous, he felt something was off as the second whore then took off her mask to reveal her face.
It was the beloved Maid Marian and the moment he recognized her face he panicked but he dropped the goblet that toppled over, spilling whatever wine was left over. Maid Marian then raised her head and signaled for her accomplice to do what she has to, and so she did. The accomplice stood up and in her right hand she carried a Golden Arrow. This arrow was that which killed Robin Hood, which killed James Gisbourne, which killed the Lord Sheriff and now would serve the means to be the same weapon which would kill the King Regent, John of the House of Lionheart. The whore gave it to Marian that then placed one of her hands over John’s forehead, pushing his head back against the throne’s headrest, before she used the tip of the arrow to slice the throat of John Lionheart open without even saying a word. As the King Regent was sitting there, suffocating on his own blood, Marian kept holding his head back and gazing into his eyes. She wanted him to know it was her that did this to him.
“For Robin Loxley and Lee Verysdale, and all the lives that you ruined…”, she said to the King Regent that would eventually suffocate to death before she got up from her seat, leaving him where he is, and the man died as many Iron Fist Guards would perceive him to have died.
In their eyes he died as a King, proudly seated on his throne, but the Kingdom that he left behind would not mourn him or care for his passing. At that same moment, Richard Lionheart returned home and the Curt Cut’s Clan at the entrance of the capital city was ordered by him to lay down their arms at once to which they did. The clansmen then shortly arrested thereafter and the King immediately ordered for all of the clansmen to be found, seized and arrested as well. The crowds of Rottingham then took to the city’s streets when one of the families barricaded in their house noticed he rode through the city street with the entourage of many crusades. The Iron Fist Guard that were searching the city stood down and saluted with bells then ringing throughout the city streets from the Holy Cathedral of Albion. The crowd of people were applauding and cheering for the arrival of their one true King, celebrating his return with open arms, and the streets once again became lively despite the fact that there were still some bodies lying on the streets. Gamwell stepped outside of the cathedral and gazed upon the city streets only to overhear.
“He’s back; King Richard is back from the crusades! We are saved!”, from one of the people and Gamwell then immediately rushed into the crowd in order to find King Richard.
The man saw the crowd throwing flower petals throughout the city streets to greet his arrival with fireworks being launched into the air that highlighted his glorious return. Gamwell would struggle to move through the massive crowds and attempted to push everyone away. It was then that Gamwell saw the King on his white horse riding throughout the streets and kept pushing his way through the crowd only for a hooded woman to suddenly appear that raised her hand to grab Gamwell’s neck as the man suddenly felt a thrust before the woman let him go. The woman walked away from him through the crowd but Gamwell stood there where he was with the crowd cheering and applauding, with the fireworks exploding and the sound of it drowning out the fact he was choking on his own blood. Gamwell reached for his throat and took a few last breaths as two members of his band of Merry Men saw him, but they were disguised in civilian clothing, and that’s when he knew they were too afraid to approach Richard at all. Gamwell then toppled over and fell backwards as he struck a couple of people before he hit the ground, and those who first called him a drunk or thought he was foolish for accidentally falling soon learned that this was not the case but rather that the man was murdered. The Loxley Brothers were now dead, leaving the Merry Men without a Loxley to lead them anymore, and the remaining Merry Men that were present throughout the city kept their heads low and hid among the people with some of them even hiding among the members of the clergy, waiting for a perfect time to be either pardoned or when they could return home to their native woodlands of Merwood. King Richard Lionheart would return to his throne room by pushing the massive doors open and he saw his brother from afar as he immediately called out to him…
“What, too good to be even…?!”, the King paused as he noticed his brother sitting on his throne and saw his throat slit open. “Prince John is dead?”, one of the crusaders said. “Prince John is dead!”, he shouted and then turned to his crusaders. “Search the castle immediately! Search every room, every alcove, every corner and every tunnel quickly! The assassin might still be in the castle!”, as the crusader commander shouted the order, King Richard slowly scaled the steps to his brother’s seat and approached him as he gazed upon him to examine the wound.
“I forgive you, brother, but clearly the gods have not…”, in that moment, Richard forgave him just as Marian and Anna foretold, and he placed his right hand over his brother’s eyelids, closing them and hanging his head down for he truly was sad for his brother’s passing.
“Commander!”, he called and a crusader stepped forth. “Yes, sir?!”, he replied. “Fetch my sister, I need to speak with her at once.”, the commander bowed and did as he was told.
Two months had passed since John Lionheart’s death and many members of the Curt Cut’s Clan were either arrested and/or executed for their crimes with many being interrogated as to the very whereabouts of either Anna Safavi or Marian Curt. As always, they were kept well hidden or so many had thought. Many former members could choose to either fight in the crusade or die at the executioner’s axe or noose, and surprisingly many chose to die rather than to serve. To say that public hangings and/or humiliation were quite regular and popular throughout Rottingham would be an understatement, they were favorites among the crowd that threw all sorts of junk at those that were hanged, shot or killed by the executioner. The people of Rottingham would never ever forget the horrible war that had transpired throughout Rottingham and who was to blame, and the Merry Men were mostly pardoned with their members allowed to return to Merwood at the village of Merhaven that was founded by Robin Hood that became their hero. However, they were also forbidden to ever return to the capital city due to the actions taken by the Loxley Brothers who turned it into a war zone. The Stone Cold Clan, which was once lead by Jan’litle, returned to the forests and swore to never get involved with humans again even though there were many who still remained at good will with the Merry Men only by association such as trade or bartering. The remaining members of the Curt Cut’s Clan had lost their castle that was turned over to the nobles those that were not yet arrested and/or discovered hid under the guise of regular citizens. All but one, however, hid throughout the city and that was Marian Curt herself, their leader. Marian was happy to see that the orphanages were restored to their former glory, that the factories that had children as laborers no longer allowed them to be laborers and that more orphanages were built throughout the city with the restored Curt Cut’s Castle now becoming a Grand Orphanage that King Richard Lionheart announced to the citizenry before he cut the ribbon to declare its grand opening. The taxes lowered down to a massive degree that people were finally able to afford drink, food and all the living necessities in order to survive. Marian watched as the three orphans that she always took care off now became healthy with a better home, a better future and hopefully, one day, new parents. She knew that even though the scars off their past shall forever haunt them that they are in better hands now. The children; Mudge, Midge and Nick would play through the park. She sat on a public park bench in a field of red roses and when she looked at one she thought fondly off the man that she missed; Robin Hood. She then reached into her uniform for the same rose that Robin Hood gave her during the tournament, a rose that she had David Doncaster himself enchant for her before he died. The rose was forever frozen in time as a symbol off their love and she smelled the rose in memory of her love that was now long gone, that she would forever remember fondly like Lee Verysdale. What she didn’t notice, however, was a carriage that stopped close to the park with a few individuals stepping out from it while Midge, the little girl, approached her. Marian leaned over to address the girl that she patted over the head and felt her cheek only to notice the little girl’s eyes widen.
“Marian Curt?”, she recognized the voice that called for her immediately and then she gave the rose to the little girl before gesturing with her head for the child to go, which she did.
Marian Curt then placed her hands on her knees before pushing herself to up to stand. She gazed towards the skies before she would close her eyes and take a deep breath for in that moment she knew what fate awaited her. She turned around with a smile on her face and nodded her head to greet those that had searched for her and that have come for her at last. She had waited for this moment for far too long and was relieved that they had finally come.
“Yes?”, she replied back to the man that said her name and saw Kenji Verysdale himself, now a captain and in his father’s place, coming on the behalf of the crown itself.
Beside Kenji stood his mother, the nun Asa, carrying a scroll and to his left stood a ranger carrying a crossbow in his right hand that waited for Kenji to finish what he was about to say.
“King Richard of the House Lionheart sends his regards.”, these were the last words that Kenji said to her before the ranger raised the crossbow to launch the projectile directly into her heart.
Marian simply stood where she was with her hand gently reaching for the Golden Arrow that to her was a message, a sign, for her from the heavens, like a Cupid’s Arrow, sent to her from her beloved Robin Hood. She then fell down on her knees before falling back into the gardens of roses on her back. She looked to the skies one last time with a smile as the ranger and Kenji simply walked away while Asa opened her arms to stop Mudge, Midge and Nick from trying to reach for Marian. The last thought that went through Marian’s mind was not regret but instead love for she felt she died in the garden of love, closing her eyes and accepting her death…