The Son of Robin Hood

Ten years after the death of Robin Hood, the bandit of Sherwood Forest and defender of the Crown, the power-mad Duke Simon Des Roches plots to seize the British kingdom from its rightful heir, the boy prince, and only Robin's men stand in his way. Bereft without their leader, the men decide to send for Robin's offspring, Deering Hood, who they discover, is now living in Spain. In the absence of a crowned head of state, Robert, the Regent of England, governs the country and turns to the men of Sherwood Forest to thwart Des Roches. There is an traitor among them, however, who informs Des Roches of Robert's meeting. Des Roches and his men raid the headquarters in Sherwood Forest, capturing the regent and spiriting him away to Des Roches's dungeon. The informant has also told Des Roches about the imminent arrival of Deering Hood, and so Des Roches dispatches a troupe of soldiers to the riverbank to await him. Soon after, a stranger appears rowing a skiff, and the soldiers, assuming that he is Deering, attack. A lone swordsman joins the fray, but is knocked unconscious. After overpowering his assailants, the stranger, who is Robert's brother Jamie, just returned from the Crusades, carries his defender to a nearby inn and is amused to discover that she is a woman, Deering Hood. After Jamie leaves, Little John, one of the men of Sherwood Forest, comes to meet Deering and is dismayed to discover she is a female. Although Little John warns that the band will never rally behind a "girl," Deering insists on meeting with them. As they ride into the woods, Des Roches and his soldiers wait in ambush. When Jamie rides to their aid, the soldiers, mistaking him for Deering, chase him. After losing his pursuers, Jamie returns and Little John asks him to pose as Robin's son, but he refuses, asserting that he has his own cause. Soon after, Jamie finds his dear friend Myles near death, a victim of Des Roches's thirst for power. Before dying, Myles counsels Jamie to enlist in the army led by Robin Hood's son. Following his friend's advice, Jamie seeks out Little John and agrees to assume the identity of Deering Hood. When Robin's band captures the Marquis Duvall, a potential ally of Des Roches, Jamie decides to pose as the marquis to infiltrate the castle, and Deering accompanies him as Madame Duvall. At the castle, Des Roches's lascivious sister, Lady Sylvia, sets out to seduce Jamie, who as Duvall, has a reputation as a ladies' man. Sylvia's flirtation arouses the jealousy of the Baron Charles Dorchester, her suitor and brother's ally. Later that night, Sylvia sends one of her servants to lead Jamie through a labyrinthine passageway, which cuts under the castle to Sylvia's secret room. The next day, Jamie encounters the head jailer and discovers that the informant has been sending messages via a trained falcon. When Des Roches and Dorchester plan another raid on the men of Sherwood Forest, Jamie feigns illness and remains behind, thus inflaming Dorchester's suspicions. After Des Roches and his army depart, Jamie rides to the forest to alert Little John of danger and then warns that Des Roches expects 3,000 reinforcements within forty-eight hours. Jamie then lays out a plan to thwart Des Roches and instructs Little John to assemble the men at the priory the following morning. Unknown to Jamie and Little John, the prioress is the informant, and when she learns of their meeting, she passes the information along to Des Roches. Soon after, Dorchester finds Jamie threading his way through the passageway under the castle and accuses him of being Deering. The two begin to duel, and when Des Roches orders them to stop, Jamie impales Dorchester on his sword and then claims that Dorchester provoked the duel out of jealousy for Sylvia. Suspicious, Des Roches imprisons Jamie, who is locked in a cell near Robert. Believing that his brother was killed in the Crusades, Robert refuses to accept the man in the next cell as Jamie, until Jamie dangles his ring in front of Robert's prison door. When Robert confides that the prioress is the informant, Jamie realizes that all his men are at risk. Deering, meanwhile, visits Sylvia and flatters her into arranging Jamie's release. Jamie then tells Deering to warn Little John and the others, and they tenderly kiss before she departs. To test Jamie's loyalty, Des Roches orders him to torture Alan Adale, one of Robin's men. As Jamie stalls for time, Deering alerts the men and with her keen marksmanship, and shoots down the falcon as it wings its way toward the castle. When Deering's discarded dress is found outside the underground passageway, Des Roches orders Jamie's arrest and the tunnel flooded and gates locked. Seizing a sword, Jamie frees Alan and fights his way out. With the gates locked, Deering and the others are about to drown in the flooded tunnels until Jamie and Alan open the gates, allowing their men to storm the castle. As the men of Sherwood Forest engage in battle, Jamie and Des Roches duel their way into the dungeon as Robert looks on. After Jamie vanquishes Des Roches, the regent is freed and Deering reclaims her own name before becoming Jamie's wife.