Aidan took a deep, cleansing breath. He narrowed his eyes, swiftly calculating his chances. Donning a confident smile, Aidan crouched lower in the dead grass surrounding him.

"There is no way you're going to pull this off", the whining voice came quietly in his ear.

Aidan chose to ignore this comment, stringing his bow and focusing hard on the task at hand. He saw the four guards on the horses, one of them with a huge bag of gold pieces in hand. Three of the guards were pausing in front of a creek, getting water, while the one with the money was getting back on his horse. A crowd of townspeople, murmuring quietly, were collecting water from the creek. They glanced up briefly at the guards, and looked back at the ground tersely. The townspeople hated the Nottingham guards. Aidan counted slowly down from five, and then, hand quite steady, he let the arrow go with a twang.

As if in slow motion, the arrow flew close enough to the ear of the horse to make it whinny and flail up backwards. The armed soldier atop the horse dropped the money, and Aidan seized his moment. Sending another arrow point backwards, he hit the spooked horses' flank with the dull edge, and it began spinning away from the point. The horse took off in the opposite direction, leaving the soldier clinging on for dear life. The other soldiers searched intently for the shooter. Aidan grinned as anxious townspeople gathered around the full bag of coins, splitting it quickly and then running back with their winnings before the other guards could stop them. The guards helplessly spun around as the townspeople ran off, and then one of them locked eyes with Aidan.

"Now you've done it", James grumbled, sliding backwards from the spot where they lay, behind patches of brush. He got up, and pulled Aidan with him. "They won't hold back, Aidan! If they see you, they'll shoot you!" James hissed agitatedly. Aidan grinned. As if he didn't know that. He merely laughed as the boys returned to the well worn down path of horse prints and ran for it. He loved the thrill of adventure, the knowledge that he could help the poor and have a damn good time doing it.

He was too much like his father, according to his mother. Aidan knew he was the spitting image of the outlaw, but he liked to think he had a different personality. Although Aidan was quite proud to be the son of Robin Hood, he needed to create his own identity. Besides that, he could hardly see how he acted so much like a man he had only met four years before. Aidan's mother and father had been teenagers when Marian got pregnant with him. He didn't know a lot about their history, but he knew that he was kept a secret, and that his father had gone to war. It was only when he returned that Aidan met the man, and then went to live with him.

Aidan turned, and was actually a little surprised when two of the soldiers were close on their trail. They had really gotten their act together since the last time he had challenged them. He realized that it would be a little difficult to get away from men on horseback, so he figured it was time to leave the path. He waited for a good moment, and then shoved James sideways off the path. They both tumbled down the hill going off the path, but by the time they reached the bottom they were well hidden among the bushes and trees. Aidan laughed again, getting up and brushing himself off.

"Aidan, you could have gotten yourself hurt. Or me hurt, for that matter." James muttered, pulling grass out of his hair. "When your father hears that you had soldiers after you for doing something this stupid…"

"Well, lets just hope he doesn't find out, okay?" Aidan smiled, but frowned as he realized his bow wasn't on his back. He turned frantically, and with a falling heart, saw the bow, broken, halfway down the hill. It had been his favorite, the one his father built specially for him. With a heavy sigh, he picked up the bow and showed James the damage.

"Oh yes…I'm sure Robin wont find out now," James said sarcastically. Aidan scowled.