From another AFV came the small nurse and Mary. The latter was being carried by two soldiers, still pretty much out of it. The left leg of her jeans was ripped, the broken limb beneath kept straight between two pieces of wood. Her face was a mess, right eye swelled and black from bruising, but the nurse had managed to clean her up somewhat. There were plasters covering the wounds on her cheek and forehead, the edges of stitches poking out from beneath. She lolled between the two men as they dragged her along. Then they dumped her on the ground in the middle of the spotlights. When the nurse shouted something at them, she got a backhanded slap for her trouble.
"I am addressing the deserters who fled like cowards from Nottingham Castle," came The Tsar's address through the loud-speaker attached to his vehicle. "We are holding three of your friends in the entrance to Sherwood and will kill them one by one unless you surrender yourselves to us. You have one quarter hour to comply and then the first is dead."
Anyone on this side of the forest should have heard that, it had certainly been loud enough. Depending on where they were it should also give them enough time to reach the car park, unless they were deep into the trees. If they couldn't get there in time? Well, too bad. They'd execute the nurse.
Tanek scanned the edge of the mist for any movement. There was nothing. So they waited.
When they'd been there almost ten minutes, The Tsar repeated his demands. Tanek looked at his watch. They were running out of time.
"We need to get Mary back inside!" said the nurse. "She's freezing out here."
"No one is going anywhere," Tanek told her, turning the crossbow on the woman.
His reward was a glower, but she stayed put.
Come on, Tanek said to himself. Where are you? Make your move.
Then someone stepped out of the mist. A figure wearing a hood, carrying a bow. On the ground, he saw Mary stir.
Tanek grinned to himself, not just because he could picture The Tsar's face in the AFV — and imagine him having to swallow his words — but also because he would now get the opportunity to kill Hood himself.
The Tsar's voice came over the speaker. "So, you are still alive after all? Then I will have your head for what you did this morning!"
Shots rang out, and before Tanek could tell them that The Hooded Man was his prize, bullets from one of the soldiers guarding Mary and the nurse peppered Hood's torso. He sank heavily to the ground. If he hadn't been dead before, then he certainly was now. Tanek swore under his breath and, turning, shot the offending guard with his crossbow. "He was mine!"
As he was turning back to the scene, though, Tanek's mouth fell open. Hood had climbed to his feet, bow and arrow poised. Adele stared in amazement too. What was he, indestructible? A ghost? He certainly looked the part with that mist swirling around him.
They'd hardly had time to recover from this when another figure stepped out of the fog on their right. This one also wearing a hood and carrying the same weapons.
Seconds later, there was another on their left. It was almost as if the man had cloned himself.
Tanek frowned. One of these had to be the real Hood — he'd just kill them all! With his bare hands if necessary.
Before he could do anything, arrows were fired into the circle from somewhere beyond the trio. They took out the spotlights on the lead vehicle, then the others.
"Shoot!" Tanek ordered. But, glancing around, he saw that a good number of the soldiers were already on the floor, unconscious. They'd been silently put out of commission by someone while their attention had been focused elsewhere.
Then he saw the culprit. Yet another hooded figure jumped from the top of an AFV, down into the small group guarding the hostages. He was dispatching soldiers with a sword, incapacitating them before they could get a shot off — slashing two across the face, then burying the end in another's shoulder before Tanek could blink. Once he had, Tanek raised his crossbow and fired.
The man stepped sideways, letting the bolt bounce off the metal of the AFV. He took out a knife and threw it at Tanek, where it embedded itself in his right arm. He immediately lost his grip on the crossbow.
More lights were put out, forcing the scarlet moon above to work harder. Everything was taking on a crimson shade.
The remainder of The Tsar's soldiers were climbing out of their vehicles, but were being picked off by the three Hoods who'd come out of the mist; moving forward and firing all the time. Weirdly, one was not using a bow and arrow, but instead had a shotgun.
Meanwhile, the Hood with the sword was helping the nurse get Mary to her feet — the gentle way he was holding the injured woman speaking volumes.
"Robert," said Adele.
Tanek indicated that the women should move off into the mist, where another figure had appeared; a fat, bald man. The mystery arrow firer, Tate.
Tanek pulled the knife out of his arm, wincing only slightly. He felt pain, just didn't show it, he never did. As the Hood who'd thrown it — the original, of that he was certain — came towards him, he grabbed Adele and put the knife against her throat.
"Tell them to put down their weapons. Or I'll put it to use."
Hood paused. "Go ahead."
Adele looked from Tanek to Hood. "How can you say that?"
"Because you're his daughter! The Sheriff's!" growled Robert. "Because you deserve the same as he got."
"Take cover," Tanek said to Adele and let her go. There was no point pretending any more. The only two hostages worth anything were getting away. But perhaps he could do something about that. Turning the knife around, he threw it at the escaping females. He had been aiming for Hood's pet, to put her out of her misery, but the nurse saw what was about to happen over her shoulder and positioned herself in the way. The blade slid easily into her back and she slumped forwards, falling on top of Mary.
Good enough, thought Tanek.
All around them The Tsar's men were falling — even those able to get off a round or two. The replica Hoods had revealed themselves now, hunting coats flapping open to show bullet-proof vests beneath. The first was the boy Mark, the other a girl Tanek had never seen before. Next, the farmer who'd shot him over a year ago.
Oh, there were many here who needed to be taught a lesson.
But first: Hood. He was coming towards him — was that a limp? — sword high, enraged at the attack on the nurse. Tanek braced himself to grab the man's forearm when he made his first swing. As it turned out, he didn't need to.
Hood's blow was blocked by another sword. One of the twins had eschewed the protection of the AFV, leaving her sister behind to guard The Tsar. Hood seemed taken aback, but not as much as when she lifted her leg and kicked him squarely in the chest. He flopped against the AFV, then slid down it.
Maybe I won't kill her so quickly after all, thought Tanek, in spite of the fact he knew she hadn't done it to save him, but rather in an effort to halt Hood's progress towards her precious Tsar. She can keep him busy while I see to other matters.
An arrow whizzed past him and he remembered there were still four of Hood's people out there. Picking up his crossbow and switching it to the other hand, he fired at the girl. It didn't matter if he killed her quickly, because it was the other two he really wanted to savour.
The boy dived across and pushed her out of the way, ending up taking the bolt in the thigh. At first Tanek was mad, but then he realised it was poetic justice. Payback for the bolt the boy had shot into his calf the last time they'd met.
"Oi!" came a call just off to his right. "Remember me?" It was the other one. The fucking farmer.