One night in the village of Loxley, three men were sitting and chatting in a bar filled with the sounds of laughter, banter and a game of poker. "I can't wait for your wedding tomorrow!" said the man with brown hair before putting his arm around his friend's shoulders.
"I hope you won't be too busy to talk to us," said the other man, dressed mainly in red. "Oh, and if you ever have a row with Marian, just give us a call!" he added confidently.
"Oh? Remind me when was the last time you had a girlfriend, Will?" Robin asked, even though the answer was already obvious. The man named Will immediately turned his face away, sipping the wine in his hand as if he hadn't heard the question.
"A decade ago!" said the man beside Robin, who was far larger than either of them; upon hearing the answer, the man named John laughed along with Robin.
Just as laughter filled the room—CRASH—the sound of the door being flung open echoed loudly; the whole bar fell silent as they watched a man enter, his stomach bleeding through his green trousers. "Robin!" the wretched man shouted.
The man whose name had been called immediately set down his glass and ran towards the blood-soaked man. "First aid, quick!" he shouted, and the bartender dashed off to fetch what Robin had requested.
"Robin..." He groaned in pain, "There's a group... no... there are loads of people from another village looting and injuring the villagers." Hearing this, his anger flared up immediately, and as the bartender arrived with the first aid kit, Robin stood up straight away and turned to look behind him. "Will, watch the bar, and John, you're coming with me!"
Robin immediately ran out of the bar and saw several men on horseback; it looked as though they had already brought a number of men to the ground. "Bastards" Robin ran with no weapon in hand because he'd never expected this to happen.
The man on the horse smiled with amusement at Robin's reckless action. "Fool," he said before drawing his bowstring—Twang—the arrow flew towards Robin and, with a quick movement, he tilted his head and caught the arrow.
Everyone on the horse was taken by surprise and immediately readied their arrows, whilst Robin noticed that the arrowheads were poisoned. His eyes widened upon realising this and he looked at the villager lying on the ground. "You little piece of shit!"
Arrows rained down on Robin one after another, but with his agility he was able to dodge and catch them all with ease until he was close enough to the man who had fired the first shot and—STAB—the arrow lodged in his thigh, making him scream in pain.
Another arrow was already flying towards Robin and he leapt backwards, causing the arrow to lodge in the horse's body instead—the horse whinnied and reared up before galloping away.
Robin quickly grabbed his bow and fired at the horseman beside him, just as the man did—the two arrows clashed, but Robin's arrow was slightly higher—Shlunk—the arrow embedded itself in the man's forehead.
Meanwhile, Robin was able to easily dodge the arrow fired by the man—SMACK—Robin turned round and saw the man fall from his horse after being struck by John with his wooden stick.
"Well done, John," he said before collecting all the arrows from these men. "Take them to a doctor; if there isn't one, at least take them somewhere safe," he said, pointing to the two men lying on the ground.
"Understood, Robin!" said John, and he spotted his friend mounting an enemy's horse. "Oh! Robin, Marian—"
Hearing her name, Robin immediately spurred his horse, sending it galloping in the direction he'd chosen, leaving John with the two villagers who'd been poisoned.
On the way, he had to keep firing at the villagers—SPLASH—SHLUNK—THWACK—who knows how many people had been killed along the way, for Robin had only one thought in his mind: to save Marian, whatever the cost.
He saw a huge fire break out, spreading rapidly and engulfing the villagers' homes. "Damn it," he urged his horse to go faster, but he was so fixated on the flames that he didn't realise the horse had knocked into something.
This sent Robin and the horse crashing forward; his body hit the ground hard and he heard the horse's hooves growing fainter. Robin lifted his head and saw a group of armoured men surrounding him, "Damn!" He tried to grab his arrows but his hand only grasped air.
"Were you looking for these?" One of the men smiled, holding all of Robin's arrows and bow; he then quickly flung them behind him, making it impossible for Robin to retrieve them.
"He's the one who killed our comrades," another man said, pointing at Robin.
"Well, that means there's only one way to repay what he's done to them, isn't there?" another man smiled.
At that moment, he felt the rain touching his skin. He gazed at the moon and prayed for Marian's safety, wherever she might be.