We're Almost Free

Chapter 3

Over the next few days, Regina would find herself staring at him as he led them through the forest. Sometimes she'd catch him watching her, usually when Roland was being his adorable little self and clambering all over her lap. They spoke just as much as they had before, but a certain dynamic had changed. He often touched her for almost no reason at all - a brush of the fingers as he handed her something, a hand on her back as he approached her from behind or sat down next to her. Every moment of contact, however fleeting, sent a barely-suppressed shiver through her and she lay awake at night, beating herself up for giving in to his looks (for he was very good-looking, she had to finally let herself admit it), his prowess with a bow and in leading a team, his love for his son. The sudden showers at night had led to him joining her and Roland in the tent, and it was a lot cosier. So much so that the lack of sufficient blankets wasn't an issue. They'd alternate with telling Roland stories, Regina with her fairytales and Robin with his anecdotes. Whether any of them were true she had yet to find out but they made for very entertaining stories as they lay with Roland between them.

***

During breakfast a few days after that rainstorm, Robin drew close to her and spoke low.

"Regina, we're passing near the road now and there might be some carriages we can help the poor with. Would you be able to look after Roland for me?"

"Of course."

"And there might be the need for a couple of surprise shots so I wondered if you could be just out of sight, on standby in case anything happens?"

"Are you sure? I've never even hit the bullseye."

"You've almost hit it enough times in a row for me to know you could hit something with relative accuracy. The bullseye's tiny, anyway, and can I remind you that you have never missed the target." He was slightly scolding her for her insecurities with the last statement, she could tell.

"All right then, I'll do it. And Roland will be quite safe with me."

"Roland's always safe with you. Possibly more safe than he is with me."

"Robin, don't say that. You've done an excellent job with him."

"It's just that, whenever we'd do one of these pillages, he'd either be left on his own or we'd be one man down. I can't carry him into the fray with me and the poor depend on these being successful."

"It must be difficult."

"It is. Since his mother died in childbed, he's all I have. I can't lose him."

Regina was silent at this unexpected insight into the outlaw's past. A common cause of death, but none the less upsetting for its frequency. She laid her hand on his, trying to comfort him. He squeezed her fingers momentarily before letting go, the touch all too brief for Regina whose lips still tingled with the memory of the kiss they'd shared.

Around lunchtime, Robin suddenly stopped and put his ear to the ground.

"Right, there's a carriage coming. Places!" Everyone ran to a clearly pre-set, well-rehearsed spot around the path, and Regina found a bush with enough of a gap to shoot through. Roland hid behind her skirts. When Robin saw where she'd placed herself, he gave her an approving nod from his spot across the road and aimed his bow.

At his nod, everyone fired a warning arrow at the carriage. But Regina froze, suddenly petrified. She collapsed to the ground, leaning against the trunk of the bush, her legs unable to hold her up. She could hear everything in slow motion: the shouts of the Merry Men, the snorting of the frightened horses and the thuds of warning arrows hitting the carriage.