Mathematics and priorities. Arthur and Alan were fastest, so they were the first ones that needed to be stopped. Robin bent his knees and took the brunt of Alan’s chest in the shoulder, shoving at the man’s hips to spin him off balance. William made similarly short work of Arthur, but it left an opening for John Little to lumber past the both of them.

Wide-eyed with anger, he aimed directly for the men beating Scarlet. His staff cracked against the back of one guard’s head, then its end crushed the chest of the other. Robin’s gut clenched—John wasn’t pulling his punches. This was no brawl. This would lead to blood, and death, and tragedy, within seconds. Robin moved to grab Little’s staff from behind and—

—his head smashed sickeningly to the side, a familiar weight of flesh and knuckles cracking against his cheek. White sparkles shot into Robin’s vision and his legs turned to mud, but his body was on instinct. He had not told himself to pivot, but he already trapped Arthur’s arms under his own. The man’s face was unbearably close, furious with pain. Robin unclenched his fist. He had already punched Arthur in the throat, one knuckle extended, and Arthur opened his mouth uselessly and slipped down. Robin knew how it felt, he knew that Arthur’s vision was fading to black, and Robin caught his arms to lower him safely to the ground. No need to crack a skull now, when enough damage was already being done. The beast of violence had been set free, there was no calming its hunger now, and Robin could only hope to give it a wide berth.

Steel drew across steel, as he knew it would, the sharp pang of weapons finally drawn and colliding. Alan-a-Dale found himself an opponent, their blades cracking the air, but Robin could instantly see that Alan was well outmatched. He might have left it alone, but Robin wondered if the Guardsmen had enough training to keep themselves from killing. Alan barely dodged a thrust that would have skewered him, and Robin had his answer. Fortunately William was there, sweeping Alan out of the way and holding his hand out to the guards. Only one of them listened, the other crashed down mistakenly toward William, who spun away. Alan tried to defend himself from another slash but the impact jostled him off-balance, sending him to the ground. William pushed at the attacker, urging him back, giving Robin the opportunity to grab Alan by the damned scruff of his neck and hoist him to safety.