D&D Cartoon On-Line Fan Club Newsletter #8, Part 5
September/October 1998 

As you can tell from the title, my "D&D Elseworlds" story places our favorite
group members in a world very similar to that of Robin Hood's -- with, of
course, a few little changes.  I didn't take any one interpretation of the
Robin Hood story as my reference -- it's kind of an amalgam of all of them --
but most of it is derived from the storyline of the 1991 movie, with my own
little changes here and there, of course.
This story is rated RBPOTM (Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves Movie), as it has
the equivalent level of action, references, and language, etc., as the movie
does.  (It was rated PG-13 for those of you who didn't see it).  But unlike
the movie, my Robin Hood actually keeps his English accent throughout the
story!  (Sorry, I like Kevin Costner too, but I couldn't help myself on that
one).  If you didn't like the movie, don't read the story.  If you don't like
PG-13 level action-adventure movies, don't read the story.  If you don't like
to read stories where people rarely use contractions and speak all fancy-
schmancy-like, don't read the story!  So there.
So, without further adieu, here is Part 5 of:

Henry Hood: Prince of Thieves!
by Amy Elizabeth Hodman

*
Diana peered around the boulder in front of her as she sized up the battle
raging in the fields ahead of her hiding place.  It looks as though our plan
is working, Diana smiled to herself.  She turned and looked at the fifty
warriors behind her.
“Fellows!  It is near our time to attack!  This shall be a victory that will
echo throughout time!”
The men behind her raised their weapons in a silent symbol of their loyalty.
“On my signal,” she proclaimed, holding up her quarterstaff.  “Three,
two..ONE!”  Diana grabbed her staff and gave a high-pitched battle cry.  The
men behind her roared and began to run out from their hiding place, startling
Venge’s remaining guards, who -- just as Diana had predicted -- had thought
that their battle with the enemy was almost a victory.
“Diana!” a voice weakly called from the other side of the boulder.
Diana leapt off her horse and raced over to help Michael, who was doubled over
from exhaustion and barely able to stand up.  “Forgive me, I know I was not
supposed to divulge our hiding place.”
Diana helped him up.  “It does not matter, Michael, for the attack has already
begun.”
Diana helped Michael sit down on a rock next to her. “Michael, what has
happened to you?”
“Lady MacGregor -- and her brother....,” he panted, “Robert was in trouble,
and Lady MacGregor went to assist him, and then -- they disappeared,” Michael
finished as he looked back up at Diana.  “One of our scouts saw a party riding
over the hills, towards the castle.  It --,” he hung his head in his hands,
“it looked as though Venge was with them -- and had captured Lady MacGregor.”
“What?” Diana asked, dumbfounded.
“What should we do, Diana?” Michael asked her.  He motioned to the
battlefield.  “It looks as though this battle will soon be over on our behalf,
but if Venge is heading back to the castle, he will most certainly be sending
reinforcements.  We won’t last but a few moments if they arrive.”
“What we need to do is get to Henry as soon as possible,” Diana said as she
jumped back onto her horse.  “Gather up the men once they have finished here
and meet me back at the rendezvous point.”
“But -- but won’t you need the men to help you at the castle?” Michael
questioned.
“Ten thousand times the men we have will not be enough to help us if we don’t
get Lady MacGregor back,” Diana stated.  “If Venge marries her, by her
relation to the King, he will have the rightful claim to the King’s throne
that he has wanted for so long. Even if the real King returns tomorrow, it
will be too late.  With a legitimate claim to the throne, nothing will stop
Venge from taking over the entire kingdom.”
Diana’s features hardened with resolve. “Sheila and her brother assisted us
when no one else would dare to. Honor dictates my actions, and the only action
it calls for here is to get them back, as soon as we can.”
With that, Diana grabbed her horse’s reins and made a hard turn in the
direction of Venge’s castle.  “Send a scout ahead to the castle once you have
reached the rendezvous point -- we shall let you know what to do then.”
Digging her heels into her horse’s sides, Diana took off in a cloud of dust
over the rocky hillside.

*
“I have a bad feeling about this,” Preston muttered as he peered through a
crack in the stone wall hiding him and the rest of their party.  “Are you sure
that they will not check here?”  He turned and looked at Henry.
Henry shrugged at him.  “Do not ask me, Preston, I am not the one with the
information.”
Preston rolled his eyes towards the heavens and sighed loudly.  “I already
told you, Henry, I am not speaking to that other person you are referring to.
You are my friend,  Henry, I owe you much, but..is it too much of an
impossibility for you to ask that person for me?” Preston finished hopefully.
Eric, who was standing behind Preston and Henry, grunted in disbelief.  “Are
you STILL angry about what happened back at the camp?  Look, Preston, it is
not my fault that you have no backbone and cannot tell people things you
should have told them long ago.”  He smiled wryly.  “It would serve you right
if she ended up with someone else because of your tardiness.”
Preston whirled to face Eric, his face red with anger once again.  “If you
mean to imply yourself, knight, I highly doubt that a woman as noble and
esteemed as Diana would want anything whatsoever to do with a mongrel such as
yourself!”
Eric laughed in disbelief.  “Mongrel?  MONGREL?  You call ME a mongrel?  I
think you may have it a bit backwards, ‘magician’,” he finished derisively.
“Besides, I am far more noble and esteemed than you.  If anyone is a better
match out of all of us for Diana, it is I.”
“What?!?” Preston scowled at Eric, his hand rolled into a fist.
“Oh!” Eric cried mockingly.  “The all-powerful magician is going to smite me
with one of his awe-inspiring spells!  Oh, help me!  Diana, help me!” he
called sarcastically.
“That is ENOUGH!” a voice sternly cut through the air.  Preston and Eric
turned to sheepishly look at Henry.
“Have you forgotten WHY we are here, gentlemen?” Henry scolded.  “Or shall we
call the whole thing off and let Venge take over the whole kingdom whilst you
finish your argument?”
“Sorry, Henry,” Preston said quietly, looking down at his feet.
Henry sighed as he shot a warning glance at Eric, who for the first time since
they’d met the knight, looked a little embarrassed.  “Eric, are you going to
key us in on when to make our move, or not?”
“Uhm, yes, certainly,” Eric stammered as he moved in front of Henry and
Preston, who glared at him.  Eric peered through the crack in the wall.  “Ah,
Sirs Costner and Slater are on duty today.  Strangest accents those two have.”
Eric shook his head and turned back towards Henry.  “If your Friar is correct
in his time-telling skills, Costner and Slater shall be leaving their posts
for a guard change in just a few moments.”  Eric craned his neck to look at
the men behind him.  “Are your men ready?”
“Of course,” Henry said, nodding at him.  “You had better be right about this,
knight.”
Henry turned back to begin his signal when the sound of thundering horse
hooves shook the ground beneath them.
“What is that?” Preston yelped.
Eric looked panicked.  “Whatever it is, it is most certainly unscheduled.”
Henry’s features darkened.  “Kelek and Warduke.  It has to be.”  Henry waved
the rest of the men in the direction of a small wooded area behind him.  “I
suppose our spies were wrong.”
“It cannot be them,” Eric shook his head.  “Even with the fastest ships and
horses, they are still at least a day away from here.”
“Well, whomever it is, they are getting closer,” Preston gulped as he looked
at Henry.
“Get behind those trees, and we shall wait until they pass to move back into
position,” Henry said as he motioned for Eric and Preston to follow him.
“We’ve come too far to give up now.”
The trio ran behind a sturdy oak and peered out around it as the small mounted
party raced up the road towards the castle gates.  As the horses stopped
almost parallel to their hiding place, Henry squinted as he tried to see who
the riders were.  An ominous voice confirmed his worst fears as to the
identity of the party’s leader.
“Open the gates immediately!” he heard Venge’s cold voice demand.  A creaking
sound signaled the opening of the gates, and as he tried to get one last look
at the rest of the party, his heart was suddenly in his mouth.
A familiar pair of blue-green eyes was staring mournfully right in his
direction.
“Sheila?” he asked weakly.
“Let me go!” he heard another familiar voice protest, as he saw Robert
struggling against the ropes that tied him.
Venge turned to look at Sheila.  “Make him stop his incessant complaints, or I
will stop them myself.  Permanently.” he finished coldly.
Henry’s heart broke as he looked back at Sheila.  It had only been mere hours
since he had last seen her, but Sheila looked like a stranger.  Her once-
bright complexion was cold and white, her face downtrodden and defeated.  She
looked as though she was at death’s door.  “Robert, please,” she pleaded
softly.
Robert looked back at her.  “I...” he looked down and shook his head in
silence.  Henry couldn’t quite see, but it looked like he was crying.
“Thank you, my beloved,” Venge smiled coolly as the castle gates locked into
their open position.  “Let us be off, for we have much to discuss.”
Henry felt a steadying hand on his shoulder, and as he looked back, he was
surprised to see that it was Eric.  “We WILL get her back, Henry.”
Preston handed Henry his bow.  “Come on, Henry Hood,” he offered a small smile
at his best friend.  “We have a job to do.”

*

“Ah, we see that you have retrieved the Sheila bird,” Ti’amat’s raspy voice
echoed through the cavernous hall as Shad Dem approached her.  “Where is Diana
of Acroba?”
Shad Dem looked at her uneasily, turned from her, and abruptly walked towards
the window.  “We...we are trying to extract that information from Lady
MacGregor now,” he lied.
“But they were together,” Ti’amat huffed as she shuffled closer to Shad Dem.
“We saw it ourselves.”
“They -- they must have been separated during the battle,” Shad Dem hastily
finished as he backed away from her.  “I am sorry that we do not have better
news for you at this time, but I assure you that we will...”
Ti’amat stepped even closer to Shad Dem, so much so that he could smell her
musty breath when she spoke.  “If you value your life, servant of darkness,
you WILL bring better news to us.  You and your master have until sunset to
bring her to us.  If you do not,” she hissed, “you shall share your Master’s
fate.”  With that, she turned and shuffled down the adjacent hallway.
Shaking his head, as if to rid himself of the sudden sense of uneasiness that
was passing over him, Shad Dem hurried down the back hallway towards Venge’s
quarters.
*

“Who is posted at guard now?” Henry asked Eric, with more than a hint of
impatience in his voice.
“Hmmm.  It looks like...odd.  Two Honor Guards have replaced the usual ones.
That only happens when there has been a direct threat made to the castle --
or,” he looked warily at Henry, “during official matters of state, like --
like...”
“Like what?” Preston demanded.
Eric sighed and looked down.  “Like -- a Royal Wedding.”
Henry’s eyes widened.  “You mean Venge is intending to marry Sheila TONIGHT?
But I thought he was only intending to announce an engagement tonight.”  His
face hardened.  “We have to stop this right now.”
Eric shook his head.  “If there are two Honor Guards here in back, there will
be at least a hundred more on our way up to the main part of the castle.”  He
motioned to the group of men who stood behind him.  “We barely have that
number, and the Honor Guards are by and far the most skilled of all of Venge’s
men.”
Preston looked at Henry.  “If we only could get word to Diana.  Then we could
summon the rest of...”
The sound of galloping horse hooves interrupted them again.
“Oh wonderful.  Just what we needed.  MORE reinforcements,” Eric muttered as
he raced into the trees along with the rest of Henry’s men.
The sound stopped abruptly, and Eric peered out in confusion.
“Can you see anything?” Henry asked him.
Eric leaned over to try to get a better look.  About a half-mile down the road
-- far from where any of Venge’s men would even take notice -- a lone horse
stood, riderless.
“Well, there is a horse,” he nodded as he turned to look at Henry and Preston.
“No rider?” Henry asked.  “The road leading up to the castle forks out in many
different directions -- it is highly unlikely that the horse would have gotten
this close to the castle all by itself.”
A resonating thud on the ground next to them made all three of the men almost
jump out of their skin from surprise.  As they turned to look at the source of
the noise in unison, their eyes widened and their mouths hung open in
astonishment.
“Diana?” Preston asked gleefully.
Diana smiled as she approached them.  “I hope I did not startle you too
greatly.”
Henry smiled back at her. “We were just talking about you.”
Diana tilted her head at them.  “I hope it was nothing bad.”
“Just the opposite, actually,” Eric continued, much to the annoyance of
Preston, who looked as if he were just about to say something.  “Venge has
decided to hasten his wedding, and he is going to have it tonight.”  He
gestured for Diana to follow him back to the wall.  “There are at least a
hundred more of these guards inside, and they are the best-trained warriors in
Venge’s army.  We need the rest of Henry’s men.”
Henry shook his head.  “There is not enough time.”
Diana nodded in agreement.  “He is right.  The rendezvous point is at least a
two-hour ride from here, and it takes two more hours to get there from the
battlefield.  Even if they sent their swiftest messenger from there once they
do arrive, it would still be too late.”
Preston sighed.  “Then what are we going to do?”
Diana grinned, a twinkle in her eye.  “I have a plan.  Do you know the “bait
and switch?”
All three men looked at her blankly.
She chuckled to herself softly.  “How come I am not all that surprised?  Well,
then, I suppose it is high time that you learned it.”

*

“Sheila?” Robert hissed from outside the doorway.
“Robert?” Sheila asked, surprised to hear his voice.  She turned to look at
the door.
“You cannot keep moving, m’lady,” a seamstress reminded her.  “We shall never
finish the alterations on the dress that His Highness gave to you for your
wedding tonight if you continue with your fidgeting.”
“Please, M’lady,” the other one said, with fear in her voice.  “We do not wish
His Highness to be angry with us.”
Sheila nodded quietly.  She of all people knew the price one paid if they
elicited Venge’s anger, and although she wished anything but marriage to
Venge, she did not want his anger taken out on two innocent people.  She
sighed defeatedly.  Was this to be the rest of her life -- tiptoeing around
him, protecting those she could?
The door creaked open, and Robert’s face appeared through the doorway.
“It is you!” Sheila smiled, trying her best not to move the rest of her body.
“I thought that Venge’s men locked you up in the....”
Robert grinned proudly at her.  “They do not know who they are dealing with.”
Sheila’s face suddenly drained of all color when she remembered what Venge had
said to her at the gate.  “Robert, you must go back, immediately.”
Robert frowned.  “No.  We must get out of here!  We have to let Henry know
about...”
Sheila looked at her brother pointedly.  “Robert, even if Henry was still
free, you saw the guards posted throughout the castle’s entraceways.  Even if
we were able to get past a few of them, twenty more would take their place,
and...”
Robert frowned at her.  “That does not sound like something my sister would
say,” he huffed, plopping down on her bed with his arms crossed.
Sheila sighed as she looked at him. He was right, she knew it.  They weren’t
the words of the real Sheila MacGregor -- the one who would have fought her
way through any guard Venge threw her way.
Sheila looked at the two women scurrying around her, then looked back at her
brother, who was moping quite visibly.  Things were different now.  She could
not -- would not -- allow others to be hurt because of her actions.
Especially one person in particular.
Was it just a few short hours ago that she was dreaming of her wedding to
Henry?  She smiled in spite of the awful situation she was in.  Well, there
was one thing that Venge could not take away from her -- and that was her
dreams about Henry.
“Sheila?” Robert asked quietly from the other side of the room.  “What are we
going to do?”
“Do I have a choice?” Sheila asked, more to herself than Robert.  She shook
her head and looked back at him.  “Go back to your room this instant.”
Robert looked at her in utter shock.  “But Sheila, we can still...”
“I meant what I said, and that is final,” Sheila said, trying desperately to
keep her voice steely and cold while keeping back the torrent of tears she
felt building behind her eyes.
“But...” Robert asked weakly, shaking his head in confusion.
“Go!” Sheila barked at him.
Nodding numbly, Robert walked slowly back to the door and opened it.  Taking
one last look at his sister, he sighed.  “Okay,” he said softly, closing the
door behind him.  She could hear his muffled sniffles as he walked back down
the long hallway.
Unable to keep her sorrow in any longer, Sheila collapsed onto the floor,
weeping and sobbing hysterically.
“M’Lady?” one of the women asked her.
“It will be all right,” the other one said soothingly.
Sheila ignored them both and looked out the small window that sat in the
center of the room.  It was just beginning to get dark outside, as the first
star of the evening twinkled in the sky, Sheila felt an utter coldness
enveloping her very soul.

To be Continued