This is a long one-shot about Guy of Gisborne and Sheriff Vaisey.
It is set in the pre-series to the show. Guy never killed anyone before, but tonight he has to kill an innocent man in cold blood. He will never be the same young man after this night. Vaisey became the godfather of the new Guy – he taught Guy to kill.
Undoubtedly and unfortunately, I don't own any characters and the show.
I hope you will enjoy the story.
Any reviews are welcome. Constructive criticism is always welcome.
Lesson of Killing
The silvery radiance of a crescent moon crept through the tall old oaks in the Forest of Rouvray, throwing long white lines along the ground. It was a chilly spring night, and the dark sky was shining with countless scintillating stars. There was something subtle and mysterious to the eerie spirits of the woods, which gifted the surroundings with a charm that lured night guests by letting them hear murmurs of water in distant runlets, a whisper of slight breeze, and quiet bird-songs.
Lord Peter Vaisey and Sir Guy of Gisborne sat on the ground, hiding behind a large oak near the road that was a mere cutting through the woods, winding to right or left and knobby with big stones. Vaisey and Guy were indifferent to the beauties of the dark forest; they didn't feel the softness of moss beneath their feet, the coolness of fresh air, and the faint flavor of the woodland.
Guy gave a long look to Vaisey, who was humming something under his breath and staring at the moonlit road. Guy brushed his hand across his face, then shut his eyes and drew a deep breath, his mind drifting off to the events of the last days.
He was shocked with the tragic demise of his former master – Sir Roger de Tosny, Baron de Conches; never, even in his wildest dreams, had he imagined that Roger would be so badly wounded on the tournament in Rouen. After Roger had been injured and carried away from the field, Guy was offered to take his master's place and participate in the tournament. Unexpectedly, Guy won the competition, but when he was going to return to his injured master, he was suddenly approached by Lord Vaisey. The meeting with Vaisey turned Guy's life upside down.
After Guy and Isabella's banishment from Locksley, they had departed to Normandy. Guy's mother, Lady Ghislaine de Bailleul, was born in Normandy; she descended from the de Bailleul noble family. For some time, Guy and Isabella had lived with their relatives in Normandy, but as soon as news of the disgrace of the Gisborne family had reached their relatives, they had thrown Guy and his sister out of the castle in Bailleul into the darkness to soak in the pelting, cold rain.
Guy and Isabella had languished in poverty for several years, living only with hope to get a little job and earn some money that could have helped them survive. But the time of abject poverty had been over when Guy had started serving Sir Roger de Tosny as a squire. Since then, Isabella and Guy lived at Roger's castle in Conches; they were not rich, but they didn't starve and had decent clothes.
The de Tosny family held lands and estates, and they were also infamous tradesmen, extremely capable in business. Roger de Tosny had been a good and generous master who had paid Guy much more than any other squire could earn. Guy and Roger had quickly become friends. Guy had envied Roger's business talents, for his master made a great fortune on the involvement in many risky trade operations. Guy had tried to do some business with taverns and shipments.
However, Guy was a terrible businessman: he had failed to manage his assets well and had accumulated a huge outstanding debt; he had gambled, trying to win money to pay his debt down, but he had been running into more and more debt with every game. Vaisey had somehow managed to purchase all of Guy's outstanding debts from all of the lenders, becoming Guy's major lender.
In the end of a tournament, Vaisey had approached Guy and had asked for a minute of privacy. Vaisey had showed Guy his debt debentures, threatening to kill the young lad if he hadn't repaid all the debt in three days. As Roger de Tosny had been barely clinging to life, Guy had nobody to help him get out of the mess he had dragged himself into – Vaisey had trapped him. As a result, Guy had agreed to become Vaisey's squire and now was going to carry out Vaisey's first command.
"Blah-di-blah-di-blah!" Vaisey's singsong voice coursed through the chilly night air. "The night is too cold." He was swathing his neck carefully and frowning. "At least the weather is calm." His lips pulled back in a predatory smile. "Our little philosophical chat with the knight whom you will kill soon, Gisborne, assured a spell of calm weather, with only a little fog in the forest."
Guy furrowed. He didn't feel cold – he felt himself in danger of the older man's violence. "There is often a thick fog in this forest even in the summer nights. This fog can chill you to death."
Vaisey laughed menacingly. "Oh, this is so sweet! This is so charming! There is no fog, Gisborne, and you will be able to watch our dear little knight draw his last breath. You will like it, my boy."
Guy crept to his feet like a frightened child. He looked down at Vaisey, his eyes like dark wells of horror. "How can you… be so indifferent to death?" He paused for an instant, for he felt a spasm of fright and barely repressed a scream at the sight of Vaisey's smile. "Is it so easy… to kill?"
Vaisey shook his head. "Gisborne, you will get accustomed to bloodshed once you kill one man in cold blood. The more people you will kill, the more proficient you will become. Killing is an art."
Guy's expression was a mask of terror in the moonlight as he stared at Vaisey, feeling blood freeze in his veins. Horror gripped his heart, for there was the immobility of death and the odor of blood in the air around the place where Vaisey sat. There was only a hellish darkness in Vaisey. Guy had never been so terrified before, not even on the night of the fire at Gisborne Manor.
"Killing is an art?" Guy muttered to himself, as if Vaisey couldn't hear him.
"Gisborne, take a seat next to me," Vaisey said in an amicable tone. "Soon the knight will ride on this road, and you will have a job to do. So far you have time to rest."
"Oh my Lord," Guy murmured, glancing fearfully over his shoulder at the silent woods.
"Gisborne," Vaisey grumbled, scowling, "stop whining! You are a grown-up man and it is time for you to become a strong man. You don't have to think – you only need to do what I say." He let out a laugh. "If I order to kill someone, you must kill. You will learn to kill – I will teach you."
Guy sat on the ground, leaning back against the tree. "I am alright. It is just… the weather."
Vaisey threw back his head and laughed. "Soon you will feel better. Hot blood on your hands will heat you up."
Guy stilled. His heart thundered in his chest. He glanced wildly around himself, between the trunks of the trees; there was only darkness everywhere around him. He turned his gaze at Vaisey, feeling ignominiously sick, almost swooning with horror. Vaisey seemed to be a grotesque travesty of a human being. For a moment, Guy wondered what made the older man so full of cruelty and evil; a simple thought of spilling someone's blood made Vaisey happy, and that horrified Guy.
Guy shook his head. He felt the rhythm of death playing a long, bittersweet tune in his ears. He was going to commit his first murder to save his own life from Vaisey. He knew that he would become a different man after this night, and tremendous melancholy overpowered him at the thought that he would lose the remnants of his innocence on this night. He would never be the same young man – a well-behaved and naïve man – after killing for the first time in his life.
He didn't want to kill anyone in cold blood. The thought that he would become a murderer struck dumb as the sick sensation bloomed in his belly. Anger reared up in his heart, dark and relentless – anger at himself that he allowed Vaisey to trap him and anger with another young boy whom he blamed for his troubles since the tragic day of the fire at the Gisborne Manor.
Guy hated Robert of Locksley, the Earl of Huntingdon and Lord of Locksley, who was called affectionately Robin since early childhood because his name meant a bird. Guy hadn't liked Robin even before the fire because Robin was Malcolm of Locksley's son and because of Robin's mischievous ways. After the fire, Guy hated Robin with ferocious hatred, for the younger boy had allowed Bailiff Longthorn to banish the Gisborne offspring from Nottinghamshire.
Now, at the moment before the drastic changes in his life, Guy hated Robin even more than ever before, with every fibre of his broken heart. On the day of the fire, Guy had taken an oath that he would take revenge on Robin for the years of poverty he had spent in Normandy and for the disgrace of the Gisbornes. Today Guy took the same oath again; he would avenge this night, for he believed that today he would have to kill because of Malcolm and Robin's transgressions.
Peering into the dark, dense woods, Guy imagined that he heard leaves whispering and night-birds murmuring drowsily the name of Robin, reminding him of the times when he had watched the sandy-haired boy running in Sherwood Forest, usually together with Much, his annoying manservant who had followed his frolicsome master like a shadow at Malcolm 's request.
Guy often wondered how Robin lived in his estates in Locksley or in Huntingdonshire after his departure from Nottingham. The arrogant, spoiled brat had always done something outrageous and mischievous, making jest of everyone, embarking on noisy and wild adventures in the forest, and showing off his archery skills with his father's Saracen bow. Guy believed that nothing had changed in Robin's life, except for inheriting the title of Earl of Huntingdon after Malcolm's death and the increase in his wealth due to the inclusion of the Gisborne lands in the Huntingdon estates.
"Gisborne, don't fall asleep," Vaisey's rancorous voice resonated in Guy's ears.
"I am not sleeping, my lord."
For an instant, Guy truly believed that he was dreaming, and his heart was laden with strange memories of the past. He remembered a halo of the burning Gisborne Manor, Bailiff Longthorn and a crowd of infuriated people who had set the fire at the façade of the manor, as well as faces of his parents when he had looked at them for the last time in his life. The visions of Malcolm's face and Robin's young face flashed in his mind, and he cursed under his breath, clenching his fists as he could feel the warmth of anger rustling through his chest at the memory of the two men.
Staring at the moonlit road, Guy let his mind travel to some happy memories of the past, when his parents had been alive and he had lived happily in Gisborne. A dreamy smile lit up his face as he sat trying to imagine what could have been if he hadn't dropped the torch and there hadn't been the fire at Gisborne Manor. Many images flashed in his mind, as if he were an opium-eater who dwelt among visions of the past wishing to go back but could not do that.
"Be attentive and prepared." Vaisey tugged at Guy's sleeve.
Guy shook his head, and through his dreams the image of lurking evil crawled into his mind – it was Vaisey's face. "I am ready, my lord."
Vaisey broke into a ringing laugh. "Oh, it is a good time to spill blood."
Guy swallowed hard and turned away from Vaisey, overwhelmed by a feeling of disgust. He barely could see the face of the older man. There was something demonic in Vaisey's expression: his haughty and sneering smile, his cruel and mocking gaze, and his idle manner of talking about death and bloodshed. Everything in Vaisey frightened Guy, and he despised the man at first glance, but there was no way out of the mess – he had to kill the man at Vaisey's command.
Guy turned his gaze at the other man. "Who is this man?"
"Why do you want to know, Gisborne?"
"I am just… curious."
"He is Sir William III de Saye," Vaisey answered. "He is an enemy of King Henry."
Guy's mind was racing through all the possible explanations why a nobleman and a knight could have been the King's enemy. He didn't know his new master very well and he couldn't say anything about Vaisey's motives to kill the knight. But there should have been an explanation, Guy mused. And then, Guy shuddered as the realization left him breathless and frightened. He was so shocked with what he had suddenly understood – he was more than simply shocked – that at first he didn't notice Vaisey staring at him with a wicked smile on his ugly face.
"You are going to kill one of Prince Richard's loyal knights," Guy declared in a trembling voice. "This man must be one of Queen Eleanor's loyal supporters if he is King Henry's enemy."
Vaisey liked that Guy wasn't a fool, but he didn't need his new squire to know everything about his deals. "Curiosity is not a virtue, and humanity is a weakness," he retorted between clenched teeth. "Remember these things like a mantra, my boy. Set it in your head that I loathe weakness and curiosity in any man." His face hardened. "Only weak men are human and kind."
Guy winced at the sight of Vaisey's harsh expression and unusually bright, fierce eyes focused on him. The older man might look for the flash of a latent killer at that time; he could not miss the light of danger and the twinkle of pleasure in Vaisey's eyes as the older man spoke his words.
"Gisborne, are you afraid of killing a man?" Vaisey asked, grinning at his new squire.
Guy felt his body trembling. "I… I have never… killed before," he stammered.
Vaisey patted Guy on the shoulder. "Gisborne… Gizzy… I will call you Gizzy," he said teasingly. "My boy, you should never fear to kill anyone – a man or a woman, a child or an adult. A man always kills and never fears to spill blood. A sword of a strong man is always covered with blood."
Guy didn't want to be close to Vaisey. He wanted to run away and put as much distance between them as he could. "Yes, my lord," he whispered, averting his gaze and fixing it on the empty road.
As if he could read Guy's thoughts, Vaisey caught Guy by the collar of his doublet. "Gisborne, don't even think of running away from me! You owe me much money, and you must stand on your knees, with your head bowed, glorifying my name and thanking me for my desire to pardon your debts and letting you live," he hissed, looking straight into Guy's eyes; his expression was harsh, the gleam in his eyes diabolical. "You know what will happen if you disobey me."
Guy nodded. "I know, my lord." A pure horror began to gnaw inside his heart. "And if I kill this man, you… will forget my debts?"
"I will forget about the debts you owe me only after you have the bloodbath I am planning to give you!" Vaisey proclaimed, striking at Guy vigorously with the stick he found in the bushes near the tree. "You will never disobey me, you little whelp!"
Guy uttered a squeal of pain, then shut his eyes. "I will kill this man. I… know that I have to kill him." He clasped his hands together in the air and his voice shook with fright as he opened his eyes and glanced at the other man. "But I don't understand what you mean by… bloodbath."
Vaisey laughed nastily. "Gizzy, you are nothing and nobody. You have been working as a servant and then as a squire of your former master ever since you were banished from Nottinghamshire." He put his hand on Guy's shoulder. "You are nothing without me!"
Guy looked stupefied for a moment. "How do you know these things about me?"
Vaisey smiled cryptically. "I had learnt a lot about you before I met you on the tournament."
"What do you want from me?" Guy's voice was shaking.
"I have great plans for us, my boy. We will thrive in our partnership," Vaisey stated with a cunning smile, his hand tracing the line of Guy's shoulder. "Gisborne, you were the best knight on the tournament. Your former master was a less skilled warrior than you!" He smiled admiringly. "I was fascinated how you fought with your rivals – you are an outstanding swordsman. You were strong, aggressive, and brutal, and I liked brutality and harshness in you." He pursed his lips. "You don't know what your potential for killing is. You are a killer – you have a heart of a killer."
"I… I…" Gisborne stuttered. He didn't know what to say. He liked that Vaisey praised him for his fighting skills, but he was shocked to hear that he had a potential to become an assassin.
Vaisey's expression was somewhat languishing, as if he were remembering someone who once played an important role in his life. "When I saw you on the tournament, I knew it was our fate to meet." He smiled almost fondly at Guy. "At first glance, I knew that you were exactly the man I was looking for so long – you will become my protégé and my pupil." His smile grew wider. "You have a potential to become greater in an art of killing than I have ever been."
Guy's expression changed into horror. "My lord, I… I…"
Vaisey gave a menacing laugh. "Don't worry, my boy. You are similar to me in character and in heart." He tilted his head, staring at Guy's face. "I will teach you to kill. You will enjoy bloodshed."
"I… don't think so," Guy replied humbly.
"Gisborne, listen to me," Vaisey said emphatically. He took Guy about his shoulders, looking into the steel blue eyes of the younger man. "Sweet times of your life were over when you were banished from Locksley." A cruel smile curved his lips. "But I will help you take revenge on all the people who offended you and ruined your life. Over time, I will help you re-take everything back."
"You will help me re-take my lands back?" Guy asked hopelessly.
Vaisey grinned grimly. "I will help you, Gisborne, but only if you are obedient and loyal to me." He smiled nastily. "You have to carry out my commands and obey me; then I will reward you."
Guy bowed his head. "My lord, I want to re-take everything back, but… I don't want to kill…"
Vaisey directed Guy a fierce glare. "You are young, naïve, and stupid, Gizzy." His face grew somber. "But I will make a strong man out of you. I will teach you to kill and enjoy the process of killing." He smiled, shifting his gaze to the road. "Today is your first lesson of killing."
Suddenly, the distant noise came, recognizable enough as the solid thump of heavy hooves on the road. And then there was a movement between the trees, and they saw a young knight on the road as the man rode through the moonlit Forest of Rouvray, feeling secure in the knowledge that the route was safe enough to travel in the night.
"Stand up, Gisborne. Go and kill this knight," Vaisey whispered into Guy's ear. "I will watch you kill him. This is your birthday – the birthday of the new Guy, my Guy."
Guy felt his body tense. "My lord, I… I…" He placed a hand on the hilt of his sheathed sword.
Vaisey grabbed Guy's shoulders, bringing his face right to Guy's face, so the two men could feel each other's breath. "Gisborne, don't provoke me. I will kill you if you don't kill this man." He trailed off, and his eyes nailed Guy for several terrifying seconds; then a malevolent smile appeared on his face. "This is the moment of your christening, Gizzy. Your old life is over."
Guy awkwardly rose to his feet, the fog swirling in his head, his heart pounding harder. He peered timidly into the shadows between the trees, and then he noticed a figure in the moonlight. He knew that the moment when he would kill the man had finally come. There was no way back.
Vaisey handed Guy a longbow and one arrow, pushing him forward. Guy nodded wordlessly, and came closer to the roadside, hiding himself behind the tree and feeling Vaisey's hand land on his shoulder. The older man was indeed going to observe how Guy would murder Sir William de Saye.
As the knight reached the place where Vaisey and Guy were hiding, Guy shot an arrow that struck the horse in its flank. The horse bolted and threw the knight down to the road.
"Go and kill him, you blithering oaf," Vaisey hissed.
Guy shook his head, in a state dreamy and unreal. He unsheathed his sword and strode forward. He watched the knight climbing to his feet and glancing around, the man's eyes searching for his attacker. Guy quickened his footsteps and came closer to the unfortunate man in the darkness.
As he stood behind his victim, Guy experienced an illusion, as if he were floating in midair, somewhere between Heaven and Earth. For a moment, he hesitated to murder an unarmed man in such a dishonorable manner – from the back and in the darkness. But then the instinct of self-preservation prevailed as he remembered Vaisey's threats to kill him if he failed today's tests.
Guy knew that he had to kill. He had to become a murderer to survive. He would kill this man.
Gripping his sword with both hands, Guy attacked his victim from the back. He stabbed the knight into the left side, and then he heard an awful scream burst from the other man's lips. Guy turned William around, then swiftly plunged his sword into the man's chest. For a split second, there was a slight twitching, a flexing and writhing of the knight's limbs; then William went still.
Guy leaned over the corpse of the man, his eyes taking in the horrible picture before his eyes – his sword protruding out of the warrior's chest. The knight was dead after Guy had stabbed him into his heart. Guy's victim had no chance to survive and died almost instantly.
Looking at the dead knight, Guy felt his heart swelling with self-loathing, and the voice in the back of his head was whispering something of his sinfulness, worthlessness, and wickedness. He refused to believe that he had become a murderer. Yet, it was reality, for he could see the dead man at his feet. He killed an unarmed man from the back, and he loathed himself for what he did.
"I killed this man," Guy murmured to himself.
"Gizzy, you have become a man," Vaisey said with a large smile. "Did you like killing?"
Guy turned his head, and his gaze locked with Vaisey's. Vaisey stood near the tree, close to the roadside, grinning maliciously and observing Guy. Guy felt as cold shiver running down his spine at the gleam of a ravenous hunger for blood in Vaisey's eyes, and he marveled at the older man's iron endurance of the sight of death.
Guy dragged a deep breath. "I… I… don't know."
"But your lesson is not over, my boy," Vaisey added.
"What… do you mean?"
"Gisborne, you should be lost to all shame," Vaisey proclaimed in a mocking tone. "You took the life of this knight in a very simple way. I am going to teach you something else."
Guy was bewildered. "I killed this man. It is not enough?"
Vaisey drew his own sword and took a step towards Guy. "Is your lesson finished, Gizzy? A clue: no." He cracked with laugher. "You are a green boy, but you will change after this night. Each memory of this lesson will always sting you like a slaver's whip."
Guy's eyes widened. "My lord, I don't understand you."
A laughing Vaisey stalked towards Guy, his sword raised and gleaming in the moonlight. "Gizzy, Gizzy, Gizzy, are you really so stupid and naïve? Or are you pretending?" He grinned widely. "What are you saying? You really think that you murdered him and it makes me feel satisfied?" He lashed out with his sword at Guy. "You should do something… else. Something very sweet and delicious."
Guy's expression evolved into sheer horror. "Milord, why do you… need… a sword?"
"Behead this knight," Vaisey commanded. "Or I will kill you."
Guy shook his head. "My lord, he is already dead. I killed him." He loathed Vaisey and himself with all his heart; he turned away, and his gaze swept over the road, and he raised his eyes heavenward, lingering his gaze at the moon. He wondered whether his parents could see him now.
"Behead the corpse," Vaisey repeated. "I want his head. I will play with it like children play with a ball."
"No," Guy said, shaking his head in disbelief. "I cannot do this."
Vaisey stepped closer to Guy, a sword raised in hand. "Obey me, or I will kill you."
Guy tore his eyes from Vaisey, his gaze sliding to the body. Horror swept through him at the sight of the dead man, for it was unbearable to see what he had just done. He turned his gaze at Vaisey and shock tingled up his spine as Vaisey stopped near him, pointing his sword at him.
"He is dead," Guy muttered, not knowing whether he was talking to himself or to Vaisey.
"Chop off his pretty head," Vaisey ordered.
Guy remained quiet, his eyes darting between Vaisey and the dead warrior. He hesitated. He couldn't behead the corpse. He had killed the unarmed man, but he found it beyond his strength to behead his victim. Every instinct in him screamed to flee from Vaisey and never look back.
Next moment, Guy caught a glimpse of steel before his eyes. He turned his head and stared at Vaisey who lunged at him and then stabbed him in his left shoulder; then Vaisey took a step back from him. Guy gave a howl of pain as Vaisey thrust his sword out of Guy's body.
"Ah," Guy moaned. An excruciating pain slashed through his shoulder, and he felt his own hot blood pouring out of the deep wound. He suddenly felt dizzy and weak.
"I ordered you to behead him, you incompetent idiot," Vaisey said in a steel voice. "Do it right now. Or you will never see another day." He lunged at Guy again. "This is a good lesson of killing for you, Gizzy. This is also a lesson of absolute subordination to my orders."
Although Guy was lightheaded and his vision was blurry, he could see in Vaisey's eyes that his master was absolutely serious. Vaisey reminded him of the demon, a creature between a man and a beast, equally merciless and ferocious. Guy knew that Vaisey was capable of doing everything to get what he wanted as soon as Vaisey had voiced his threats to make him die a slow, painful death if Guy didn't agree to work as his squire. And Guy didn't want to die.
His heart pounding harder and harder to compensate for blood loss, Guy clutched his shoulder. He staggered backwards and nearly lost his balance, but he forced himself to stand straight. He moved towards the body of the dead knight. Repressing groans of pain, he crouched and withdrew his own sword from the warrior's chest. Looking at the corpse with vacant eyes, he swung his sword and beheaded the dead man.
Guy's face seemed carved from marble as he watched the knight's head severed from the body. Guy shuddered, and his heart filled with a bitter feeling of self-hatred; his blood was burning with a feverish rage from his helplessness. Something else, resembling remorse, tormented Guy. Vaisey had trapped him and deprived him of the last thing he still had from the old days – the innocence and naivety of his mind. But now Guy was a different man – he was a killer.
Guy didn't move, standing on his knees before the body of the knight. He heard Vaisey howling with laughter, and then the head of the knight appeared before Guy's eyes.
"Look what you have done, Gisborne!" Vaisey laughed, playing with the knight's head in front of Guy's eyes. "This is great! This is sweet! You chopped off his pretty head! The first lesson of killing is over!" He croaked with laughter. "I feel… so good! You pleased me, Gizzy!"
Guy was unable to look at the severed head. A bile rose in his gut, and he vomited on the ground. Clutching his shoulder as a new wave of pain slashed through him, Guy felt his entire body going as rigid as if he had just buried a sword into his own chest. He couldn't move and breathe for a long time as he was listening to Vaisey's laugher and watching the man playing with the knight's head.
Gisborne threw up again as Vaisey threw the head away and it tumbled to the ground, leaving a long, bloody trace on the road as it rolled over several times on the ground.
As the moonlight fell upon the head again, Guy dropped his eyes and his faze fixed on the neck where he could see torn human flesh and rivers of sticky, crimson blood flowing out of the severed head. Shuddering in horror and pain, Guy hung his head and looked down at himself; he could see streaks of blood on his chest and shoulder, for his own wound was bleeding.
"Well done, Gizzy. Next time, it will be easier for you," Vaisey said flatly, in a cold and indifferent tone, as he approached Guy from the back. "You will enjoy bloodshed."
"No! No!" Guy instinctively recoiled, turning to face the woods. "You coerced me into the deed I hated. I cannot do it again. I cannot kill anyone else."
Vaisey gave a contemptuous laugh. "Stop complaining and sniveling like a puppy, Gisborne. You should be grateful that I helped you become a man today." He laughed again. "Now I want to leave this place. It is too cold here, and I don't want to contract fever."
"Milord, I… I…" Guy was indifferent to cold; his heart was bleeding.
"Gizzy, you have forgotten something. If you don't obey me, I will teach you another lesson. Don't forget how much money you owe me."
Guy hated Vaisey with all his heart; he was cornered like a caged animal. He lifted his gaze to Vaisey, his gaze flying from Vaisey's face to the sword his master pointed at him. Guy could see dried blood on the blade that Vaisey was holding in his hand. Then he gazed up, at the dark sky, for a short moment staring at a blurred image of the moon spraying through the crowns of the trees.
Guy gritted his teeth as he leapt to his feet, feeling pain in his shoulder. "Where are we going?" he questioned, struggling to keep his voice calm; his gaze was again fixed with horror on the headless dead man on the ground in front of him. "Are we leaving Rouen?"
"Yes." Vaisey eyed Guy from top to toe, and his mouth twisted in a sly smile. "You should go to Conches and collect your sister from there. She will accompany us on the trip to Angers."
Guy arched a brow. "Angers?"
Vaisey sheathed his sword. "Precisely, Gizzy. You have heard me correctly." He smiled. "It is good that you can hear me well – you should understand my commands very well. I don't wish to repeat them next time when I order you to behead a man or chop off his arms, fingers, or legs." His wicked heart pounded harder at the thought of how many of Prince Richard's knights he was going to kill in Angers.
Guy was quiet for a long moment. When the shock from Vaisey's words began to ease, he was still able to do nothing more than shake his head numbly. "But why are we travelling to Angers?"
"Blah-di-blah-di-blah! We have to kill six enemies of King Henry in the city of Angers," Vaisey informed, smirking darkly at Guy. "Today, I became the godfather of the new Guy." He came to Guy and stopped near him; then he patted Guy's shoulder. "In Angers, I will become your almost father after you and I bathe in the blood of these good warriors! I cannot wait to see their hot blood on your sword, my boy."
Guy cringed. "My lord, I… I…"
"We are leaving for Angers in several days," Vaisey said uncompromisingly. "While you go to Conches, I will wait for you in Rouen. And then we will depart to Anjou." He smiled widely. "I have found a husband for your sister, and he will be waiting for us in Angers."
Guy was shocked that his new master had already thought out everything in advance. He wanted to object, but the sight of Vaisey's face with a wolfish smile warned Guy not to speak his mind. "Yes, my lord," he said. He groaned in pain as he moved his arm, which irritated his wound.
"We will visit a doctor once we return to Rouen," Vaisey remarked with slight concern in his tone. "I had to teach you obedience because you hesitated. That's why I stabbed you." He lowered his voice, and his expression changed into sadness before turning blank. "I didn't plan to kill you."
Guy didn't understand Vaisey. "Well, I don't mind… having my wound cleaned."
Vaisey smiled. "It will be done."
"Milord, you really want me to work for you, don't you?" Guy winced as any movement caused him much pain. Heat stung his eyes, but he refused to blink it away, keeping his gaze on Vaisey.
Vaisey gave Guy a long, scrupulous glance. Lifting a hand and pointing it at Guy, he spoke, and his tones echoed through the silent woods in deep rich waves of sound. "My boy, I like you," he said in a silken tone. "I want us to be together, in a beneficial and life-long partnership." He put his arm on Guy's right shoulder. "I will help you to re-take everything you lost. I will give you power beyond measure. We will always be together, like a father and his son."
Guy stared into Vaisey's eyes, feeling a cold hand of nameless foreboding touch his spine. He wondered why the older man wanted him to work for him so much. It was a dark mystery for Guy, and he felt that there was something behind the matter, but he didn't know that.
"Thank you, my lord," Guy answered.
"Welcome, my boy." Vaisey stepped aside; he took the sword Guy had used to kill the warrior, then sheathed it. "Let's go, Gisborne. We need to hurry."
"As you wish, milord."
Vaisey looked satisfied. "Good, good, my boy. I like obedient and disciplined lapdogs." He broke into a wild screech of horribly inhuman laugh; he liked humiliating the younger man. Then he motioned Guy to follow him, and rushed away through the trees to vanish in the darkness.
Guy said nothing, swallowing his humiliation. Vaisey only laughed at him, and his laughter was like the blade driven in Guy's heart that missed a beta and almost collapsed in his chest at the thought that he would have to tolerate such insults and humiliation from his new master.
To distract himself from the pain shooting through his shoulder, Guy looked around, peering into the darkness in the depths of the woods at both sides of the road. Between the trunks of the trees, Guy caught glimpses of unknown birds and animals. The forest was a great silence, but no stillness at all. He could hear the mournful cries of wolves and the ethereal call-note of the birds high in the air, as well as the distant noises of splashing water in the stream.
Guy noticed something sweeping into the moonlight with a swift whirl of wings. It was the bird which dropped on to a leafy branch and swayed there, a gleaming, beautiful image of blue, white, and crimson. As the bird turned its head sidewise and regarded Guy with glittering eyes, he felt as if it were accusing him of murdering an innocent man in cold blood; he hurried to glance away.
He felt anger stirring in his heart, for he always associated birds with Robin of Locksley. He cursed as his mind replayed Robin's face, and he again vowed to avenge the plight of the Gisbornes and his unhappiness. One day Robin would get his retribution – the brat would pay for everything wrong he did to Guy, with his lands, people, and even his life. He would kill Robin, Guy decided.
They slowly walked along the road, passing under leafy arches of the great oaks. Guy didn't look back and wished to forget this night. Guy noticed that Vaisey began to gaze at his new squire with more interest than previously, and Vaisey's watchful eye on him alarmed him.
Guy emerged from the shocking slumber only after they had left the Forest of Rouvray. His gaze fell on the walls of the city of Rouen, and he felt a cold sweat beading his skin. His heart missed a beat as he remembered the odious picture of the headless corpse on the road. His mind burned with the images of himself killing the same warrior again – dim and abhorrent but real images.
He swallowed hard, feeling a lump forming in his throat at thought that today he had murdered a man in cold blood for the first time. Fighting off a rising nausea, Guy took a painful breath, and a feverish shivering shook his body. Guy's heart was mourning the loss of his innocence. The old Guy was dead and the new Guy was born tonight. There was no way back to the old happy life.
I hope you enjoyed this story. I found this long oneshot among my old files several days ago. I wrote it more than a year ago and forgot about it.
This is a long oneshot about the day when Guy of Gisborne killed in cold blood for the first time. I tried to describe Guy's emotions and feelings in details, paying attention to his innocent nature – he never killed a man before and he doesn't want to kill – and the harsh reality which he has to face – that he has to kill this knight in the forest to pass Vaisey's test and stay alive.
This one-shot is a standalone story, but it is also an additional scene to my long epic "Quintessence of life". This scene is not a part of Quintessence, but there is a reference to these events in chapter 11 of part 1, when Guy tells Marian about his life in Normandy after his banishment from Locksley; he also tells her about his first meeting with Vaisey and the events which prompted him to become the sheriff's squire. There is some information about certain events in Guy's life in this story (some facts about his life in Normandy after banishment from Locksley) for readers who didn't read Quintessence.
I have long been interested how Vaisey could have brutalized Guy. This is the reason why I wrote the bloody and violent scene when Guy kills the unfortunate knight in cold blood and when beheads him at Vaisey's order. I think it shows the true depths of Vaisey's cruelty and wickedness. Of course, if Guy was taught by Vaisey to kill in the manner described in this story, nobody can be amazed why Guy became a murderer and a traitor. Yet, there is a strong emphasis on the fact that Guy didn't want to kill the knight but he had to do that to survive.
The de Bailleul and the de Tosny families were old Norman nobles in reality. I decided to make Guy's mother a descendant of the old noble family and just took one of the well-known old Norman noble families. The Tosny family was indeed very rich and had businesslike mind, earning huge profits from trade and merchant deals. Sir Roger de Tosny is a real historical personality who accompanied King Richard on the Third Crusade; he is one of original characters I introduced in "Quintessence of life."
Reviews are always appreciated. Thank you for reading this story.
Yours faithfully, Penelope Clemence