subplot #1

[The Narrator]

Marian de Clare -- William de Wendenal -- Robin of Locksley

Everyone in London knows that Marian de Clare is as pure as the driven snow --it's the reason she was given the nickname Maid Marian. And it's also why Prince John thought that she would be the perfect match for his right-hand man, William de Wendenal, the High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and the Royal Forests. And since she has no father or brothers to bargain with, a simple royal command was all it took to order their betrothal.

The Prince thought that the Sheriff would appreciate this gesture; he never stopped to consider that he might be quite happy living the life of a bachelor. He never thought that the Sheriff might not be able to stand the woman who arrived to be his betrothed, nor that she might hate him just as much. And as their engagement came as a royal command, he can't just break it off without insulting and risking humiliating the very Prince who sought to show his favor. And so he's stuck with her.

But Marian is just as put out by this arrangement as the Sheriff is, and she doesn't plan on sticking around to see it through. But never did she expect the outlaw Robin Hood to take an interest. Learning of the Sheriff's distaste for his young bride-to-be, he decides to make sure that she can't leave, just to make sure she's still around to annoy the Sheriff.