Leaves of Gold
A/N: The obession with Robin Hood 2006 is getting worse. That, and a sudden urge to write the Sheriff, has prompted this fic. First chapter doesn't hold much (apart from Gisborne losing his temper a lot and Robin being unable to stop smiling) but will get better, promise. And it will include more of the gang - double promise. How could I not include Will, Allan and Little John? It would be mean...
Read, and enjoy! And review, as per usual.
He. Was. Going. To. Kill. Hood.
No two ways about it. Oh sure, in some ways the man was amusing. He made a nice change from the love-sick Gisborne, he made his blasted job interesting, he made life interesting. The man was a worthy opponent.
But after being hung upside down in his own hall by his own shoe, Vasey had decided that enough was enough.
"Where's the blushing bridegroom?" He demanded to his guards, striding into the newly emptied Hall of Nobles, "Gisborne, where is he? I want the man here, right now. I don't care if he's in the middle of consummating his new marriage," One hand smacked down on the table top, "I want him in here!"
Gisborne had better turn up soon. Now that he was married to dear Marian, perhaps the big jester would finally stop acting like a love-sick twit and start dealing with Hood. Vasey grimaced, fingering his newly-inserted tooth with distaste. Fool. Couldn't even organise a simple ambush without costing him his tooth.
By his own shoe. He had to admit, Hood did have a certain style – clever little bit of archery work there, as a matter of fact – but the bloody cheek of the man.
Sitting down in his chair and rifling through the parchment that was in front of him, Vasey raised an eyebrow as his second-in-command entered the room, directing the scathing glance at the desk. Let Gisborne suffer for a while.
"I assume the wedding went off well, then?"
The embarrassed silence in front of him was too good to ignore. Vasey looked up coolly to see Gisborne, still in his bridegroom's garb, looking distinctly uncomfortable, angry and wounded at the same time. He felt the hint of a smirk begin to pull at his mouth.
Vasey blinked innocently, "Or not?"
Gisborne's face contorted slightly, enough to show his displeasure, "Hood's manservant burst in at the last moment, shrieking about how the king was an impostor and the whole scheme was a trap. Marian was so concerned for her father she ran out of the wedding," He scowled, directing a glare in the amused Sheriff's direction, "A scheme which you devised."
"Oh, sorry," He sneered, not in the mood to hear about Gisborne's marital woes,, "My heart bleeds for you, Gisborne. Truly heart-breaking."
The dark haired man folded his arms, evidently not finished, "She came straight here, or so my men tell me. I am surprised you did not see her."
"Well, I was a little too busy dangling from the ceiling," Vasey snarled, "We don't all act like simpering idiots when Marian enters a room, you know."
Watching Gisborne scowl darkly at the floor only improved his mood a little bit. This was it; the last straw. If Hood hadn't interfered, Vasey would have had the proof he needed to nail Edward, the man he was convinced had been the ringleader of the rebellion. And now….
"And are we sure it was just fear for her father that made dear Marian run? Are you entirely convinced that it was not something, or indeed someone, else that made her leave you, leave you in the lurch, mm? What do you think?" He mused. Oh, he knew which of Gisborne's buttons to push – true to form, Gisborne's stance had become more rigid, threatened with this new possibility, "I say…it's time we came up with a new plan."
00000000
Much turned around from his position under a large, and rather prickly, fern bush, to shoot an incredulous look at his master. When this had no lasting effect, he raised his hand and waved it animatedly in front of Robin's eyes. This didn't seem to work much either, and he rolled his eyes, crouching further in the bushes, "It's been, what, three days?"
"Four," answered his small, dark-haired companion.
"Four days, then," The young man conceded, "Which makes it even worse. And no respite?"
"None at all," Djaq jumped neatly down from where she'd been precariously perched in one of the lower branches of a tree, "Do not be so alarmed, Much. It will probably be good for him."
"It is not normal," Much said firmly, "for a man to go four days and not – stop – smiling!"
Robin listened to his two friends continue to discuss his mental health with a wry grin on his face – at least, there would be, if he wasn't already beaming. It had indeed been four days, and as much to his surprise as anyone else's, he simple could not stop smiling. His mouth was beginning to hurt. Allan was convinced that he'd even kept smiling while he was sleeping, which had lead to some very unsavoury comments from the young man. Loud ones too, at that.
He'd have objected – if he could stop smiling.
But he couldn't help it. Ever since he had seen Marian run out of her wedding, a large smile had been fixed firmly on his mouth. And then, when they'd finally kissed, after all this time, it had got wider. By the time Vasey had been fixed to his ceiling by his own shoe, it had become a veritable beacon.
He was still amazed at the events that had taken place after Marian's wedding. How a day that could have started out so terribly could have ended to up to be possibly the best day of his life….Admittedly, the Sheriff was still in power. And Gisborne had not been exposed for the liar and traitor that he was. And the king had not returned. And Marian was still trapped at Knighton, where Gisborne could carry one with his advances. And they were still outlaws.
But still, she'd done it!
Robin's gleeful reverie was broken off by the noise of a raised voice, the words unclear but the anger plain. Signalling to the two outlaws next to him, he snatched his bow up from the ground and crept out from his hiding place towards the village of Loxley, securing himself behind one of the houses. His grin became, if possible, slightly wider, as he recognised the voice. Gisborne. Anything that made Gisborne angry made Robin very, very happy.
The centre of the village, usually empty except for a few passing villagers as they made their way about their work, was half full of the occupants of Loxley, all facing towards the hall. Gisborne was standing in front of them, dressed for riding and in a hell of a rage.
Even from where he was, Robin could see the sullen set of every villager's shoulders. But the main brunt of Gisborne's words were obviously directed at Ian Thornton, standing straight-backed at the head of the villains, deliberately between them and their lord's rage.
Robin permitted himself a small chuckle, proud of the way his (former) Steward stood up to Gisborne. He did not like the idea of Gisborne bullying his people for whatever small crime had been committed in the village this time, but Thornton's terse stance told him that he had the situation under control. Beside him, Much was snickering gleefully at Gisborne's furious expression.
"My lord, this is a village of farmers," Thornton answered clearly in his strong, carrying voice, with a hard-edged patience that told Robin that he had already been over this more than once, "They are not soldiers; how could they have stopped Robin Hood from riding away?"
The villagers nodded sullenly, amusement at their lord's failed wedding giving them confidence. Standing close behind the steward, Tristan the reeve, a stocky, well-built man, growled so everyone could hear, "And where he went, you wouldn't care to follow!"
Gisborne pointed at him, furious, "You! You're responsible for these villains, you should have been first to prevent Hood from leaving! Dreaming your way to perdition while he walks off free as you please!"
It seemed to be only Thornton's presence that prevented Tristan from being skewered on Gisborne's sword.
"You want Robin Hood back, you send your soldiers to get him," Tristan answered loudly. His smile, if not disappearing, then lessening slightly, Robin crept even further towards the gathering, still hidden amidst the cluster of houses, "But not one of us'll prevent an outlaw from leaving where he wants to leave – the sooner he's off and away the better! We're lucky he leaves us well alone! That's what I say! And anybody who tries to follow him is asking for what happens to him!"
Behind and around him the other villains glanced conspiratorially at each other and nodded. One of the bolder men even spoke up, "Tristan has the right of it!"
Myfanwy, a bent, wizened old woman who had been an ancient since Robin could remember, piped up shrilly, "You can't ask any decent man to go where Robin Hood goes! The devil's advocate, that what he is!"
Robin stifled a laugh as he saw Gisborne's incredulous face, fury torn with utter exasperation. Then he stifled an even louder laugh as he saw the indignant look on Much's face.
"Superstitious rubbish," Gisborne raged, "And an excuse for not doing your duty and instead helping and sympathising with outlaws!"
Thornton stood his ground tersely, "These are our villagers, my lord, and I can say I've never known them given to such lying as this. Maybe they've the right of it. Maybe they do believe…"
Gisborne spat on the ground.
Now almost shaking with repressed laughter at the sight of Gisborne's speechless fury, Robin straightened up to see Sulien Thornton stand slightly behind his father. A thin, angular-faced young man with lank brown hair, Sulien directed a malicious grin unequivocally at Gisborne.
Robin closed his eyes. The fool, he couldn't help thinking. Sulien's particular desire to cause mischief had only been fuelled further by Gisborne's arrival in Loxley. Sheltering behind his father's position, Sulien had pushed Gisborne's temper further and further with each passing day – usually Robin would have liked this, but with Gisborne already at breaking point…
"He shouldn't keep harassing the villagers," Sulien muttered to one of his fellows, "Wonder what the Lady Marian would say about that?"
Thornton turned to lay a warning hand on his son's shoulder, but before he could, Gisborne had grabbed Sulien by the lapels of his shirt, dragging the young man forward, "I should keep a civil tongue in your head, Master Thornton," He snarled threateningly, smirking slightly as Sulien's cocky grin faded, his light grey eyes flickering with fear, "Your father's position in my household will only protect you so long," Shooting a contemptuous glare at the surrounding villagers, he flung the young man back to the ground, before stalking back to Loxley hall, where his horse was being held for him, and mounted. Glaring threatening at them once last time, Gisborne jerked his horse around, and then left.
No one moved or spoke until the splash and clatter of his going, and his entourage after him, were well away. Heads turned together, and smiles were directed at each other, but no-one spoke. The general air of a job well done seemed to surround them. Even the fallen Sulien Thornton, who had been raised and then shaken warningly by his father, grinned with satisfaction.
His job of protecting the villagers from Gisborne's wrath finished, Thornton slipped past the other villagers, nodding to them as he went, and made his way to the edge of the forest, looking about around him as he went. Grinning, Robin waited until his old friend had past their hiding place before springing out at him, clapping him around the back.
"So, I'm the devil's advocate now, am I?"
Taking a sharp gasp of breath, Thornton permitted himself a small smile, nodding to Much and Djaq as he stepped backwards, "If Gisborne thinks that the villagers believe you to be a spirit of the forest and a devil's advocate - well, so much the better. They will be questioned less because of it."
"Then it was a good idea," Robin agreed, grinning mischievously, "and you are to be commended for it."
"Me, Robin?" Thornton's face was neutral, his voice just a little too innocent, "What gives you the idea that the plan was mine?"
"I really have no idea," Robin said dryly.
Chuckling, Robin turned back from his steward to look out at the village. Right now, you could hardly guess that this land with wracked with oppression and injustice from the Sheriff and his cronies. The villagers were still dispersing away from their cluster, a few of the younger lads crowing triumphantly at Gisborne's fury, Sulien right at their head. Mothers were sharing mischievous grins with their children. Myfanwy hobbled away, chuckling to herself. The air of well-being was thick throughout the village, and for the fifth time in four days, Robin's smile became even wider. Shooting a look over at Much and Djaq, he was pleased to see that they too were grinning broadly.
Thornton's voice interrupted their reverie, "Do not think that just because Gisborne has come out worst in this battle that he has given up, sir . The events of the wedding have only made him more determined to see you at the end of a rope. His battle with you has only just begun, Robin."
A/N: I hate my cliffhangers. They always remind me of an ending from Eastenders. Ah well.
You know, you have to love the sarcasticness of the Sheriff. He's made it into something of an art. More of the gang in the next chapter! Now go, review! And eat chocolate...