EPILOGUE

Much honored his dearest friend's last request, and buried Robin at the place where his arrow fell to the earth. The place was farther away than anyone could have believed possible, but Robin had never been merely "anyone" with a bow in his hands.

"This is wrong," Much wept to his friends, Will, Djaq, Allan, and Little John, as they gathered around the freshly dug grave. "He should be laid to rest at Locksley, beside Marian and their...their children."

"He cannot be," Djaq reminded Much solemnly. "Even if we gained permission to bury him there, how would we stop his enemies from defiling his grave?"

"You did the right thing, Much," Will tried to comfort his friend. "You did what Robin wanted."

Much uttered a sob, and looked about him. "It is a...a beautiful place," he said, admiring the trees through his tears.

"When did you ever know Robin to miss a shot?" Allan asked kindly, laying a comforting hand on Much's shoulder.

...

Several weeks passed. The former outlaws commissioned a stone to be carved, at Much's insistence and expense, to mark Robin's grave. It read:

"Here beneath this little stone
Lays Robert, Earl of Huntington
Never was an archer as good as he
And people called him Robin Hood
Such outlaws as he and his men
Will England never see again."

"Do you think it wise to mark his grave with that stone, Much?" Will gently asked. "Remember what Djaq said, about his enemies. Maybe it would be better if nobody knew where Robin's buried."

"We can't leave him in an unmarked grave!" Much cried.

Much was so inconsolable, even Eve could do nothing to lessen his despair. In only a few short weeks, the former servant followed his master, dying from a broken heart.

When his grieving friends offered to bury him at Bonchurch, Eve stopped them.

"Much told me, years ago when we first met, that his place was with Robin. Please, do as I say and honor his very last request to me."

"What was it?" Allan asked.

Eve gulped back a sob. "Bury him by Robin, under the trees near Kirklees, and place the stone he paid for over his grave."

"What?" Allan asked.

Djaq grasped the meaning behind Much's request. "In case Robin's enemies come to defile his grave or dig up his body," she realized sadly. "Don't you see? If they do, it is Much they will harm, not Robin! It is the final faithful act of the most loyal servant and friend who ever was."

"And the sweetest, kindest husband," Eve wept.

...

And so, Much was buried just a few feet from Robin's unmarked grave, with Robin's headstone marking his grave.

Years, decades, centuries passed. The legend of Robin Hood flourished, continuing to inspire the English to be brave, strong, kind, and generous people. Pilgrims discovered the headstone and, believing Robin Hood was buried beneath it, rubbed the stone, claiming that, among other things, doing so could cure toothache.

The Reformation saw Kirklees Abbey and its grounds pass into the hands of the Crown. King Henry VIII bestowed it on the Armitage family for their faithful service fighting the Yorkshire Catholic rebels during the Pilgrimage of Grace.

The Armitages were pleased with their ill gotten gains, except for one horrific detail.

The spector of a nun, clothed entirely in white, beautiful in face and form, but vicious as only an evil spirit could be, haunted the grounds surrounding the former abbey.

At first, the Armitages believed the ghost had come to haunt them for the role they had played against the Catholic Church, but as time sped by, they discovered she cared nothing for that.

Denied Heaven and fleeing Hell, the ghost of Isabella of Gisbourne haunted the grounds surrounding what had once been Kirklees Abbey, searching for Robin Hood's grave. Yet even her ghost did not discover the secret, that it was only Much who was buried where Robin was thought to lie.

...

(Note: This epilogue is based on supposed stories from actual "ghost hunters" who investigated the actual site thought to be Robin Hood's grave. After their investigation, they determined that Robin is buried in an unmarked grave a few feet from the grave marked as Robin's, because one of his most loyal friends posed as him in death, to protect Robin's remains from grave robbers. The fact that the Armitage family owned the grounds from the Reformation until their sole surviving descendant died in 2008 is coincidence with the name of the fine actor who played Guy of Gisbourne so excellently. The words on the headstone are those said to appear, though they are thought to have been carved centuries later, and the belief that rubbing the headstone could cure toothache is also factual. The white figure of a nun is thought to roam the grounds, and she is said to be a malevolent spirit, if you believe those things. People claim she is the abbess who was thought to bleed Robin to death.)