Desert Secrets
For the Good Ship GuyxMarian. God bless her and all who sail in her.
Disclaimer: Characters belong to the Beeb.
Chapter One
Deception
A dark figure stole silently through the streets of Acre, pausing only occasionally to melt into the shadows, avoiding the curfew patrollers who wandered casually down the streets. They didn't usually anticipate much trouble, and the dark figure was quite happy to leave it that way.
At last he reached his destination and knocked softly, constantly throwing glances back over his shoulder. The cool night air of the desert pricked up the hair at the back of his neck, causing an involuntary shiver to shoot down his spine. He raised his hand to knock again, perhaps his first had been too quiet and had gone unnoticed, but then the door opened to the sleepy cooing of hundreds of doves. A face appeared in the crack, wary and suspicious.
"Ahlsalam a'alakum," said the dark stranger in greeting, removing the black scarf from round his face to reveal a pale, English complexion. "I am here to see your visitors. My name is Guy of Gisborne."
The wary face disappeared back into the house.
"Safiyah, Will," it called. "Are you expecting a visitor?"
The reply was inaudible, but then Djaq's face appeared at the door. She opened it wider with a half-smile of recognition.
"Come in," she said.
Guy entered gratefully and unwound the scarf completely.
"Are you ready?" he asked.
"Nearly."
She returned to her potions, brewing and bubbling steadily over the small fire crackling in the grate.
Will watched Guy closely from the corner of the room, the suspicion etched into his face.
"Just so you're aware," he said coolly, "we're doing this for Marian. Not you."
"I know," replied Guy on an equal tone. It was clear that nothing either man could do would ever allow them to trust each other. It was more principle than true suspicion now.
"Are the horses ready?" asked Djaq, perhaps a little louder than necessary in order to purposefully break the tension in the room.
"Yes," said Guy, although he did not take his eyes from Will and the atmosphere remained as icy as the air out in the desert.
"Then we're ready too." Djaq packed her bag and they made to leave.
"How long are you going to be?" asked Bassam, who had remained unnoticed at the door.
"As long as it takes," replied Djaq, a certain sense of foreboding very apparent in her voice.
XXX
Wrapping her scarf over her face against the desert dust as they set off at a gentle and near-silent trot, Djaq reflected upon just how they had found themselves in their situation. It had been Marian who had initiated it, arriving at the camp late one night whilst Djaq had been on her watch.
"I need your help," she said. "I need to disappear."
At first, Djaq had refused, point blank. She couldn't go against Robin so fully and so blatantly. Yet the more she had thought about it, the more she had come to see it from Marian's point of view. The poor girl had experienced enough trauma and enough lies in past months to make her covet something that was hers, something not shrouded in deception, something that wasn't complicated. It was ironic that to achieve such a something required the most complicated and most tragic deception of all. As Djaq's own feelings towards Will had developed, so she had begun to understand Marian's feelings and decided to help her, no matter the consequences.
Love makes fools of us all, she thought.
Will had noticed the amount of time that Marian and Djaq managed to spend together, plotting and whispering and, of all people, Djaq couldn't deceive Will. So she'd brought him in on the plan, and his expertise had proved invaluable in the end.
Coming to the Holy Land had been a blessing in disguise, the perfect place to bring the deception to a close. They'd never planned for it to end this way, but everything had just happened to slip into place so perfectly. All it had taken were a few whispered words, a coded message to the necessary people and a slipped draught. It had been mercifully, yet scarily, simple to execute.
Djaq looked up at Guy, leading the trail. He'd had to make sacrifices too. He'd given up everything he'd held dear, everything he'd worked for and all he'd ever believed in, and he'd run the risk of falling on the wrong side of the Sheriff. Djaq had to give him some respect for that, but she couldn't help thinking that his side of the arrangement was a lot simpler and more comfortable than Marian's. There had been some flaws in the plan – no one could have anticipated when or where Robin, Allan or the Sheriff might have intervened, albeit unknowingly.
But, so far, everything was on track, even if there had been a few glitches along the way. As the double grave of Carter and Marian loomed high on the horizon, Djaq prayed that their careful planning wouldn't have failed at this late stage. From the way the men were riding their horses – stiff and almost cautious - she could tell that they held exactly the same fears.
They worked quickly through the sand, no one daring to speak until a spade hit something solid.
"Here goes," said Will, barely above a whisper. He jumped into the hole and took one last look at his handiwork before splintering the wood with a swift, clean axe blow.
Will thought that it was the best casket he'd ever made, and he felt a twinge of sadness as he hacked away at the lid. It was all slats and latticework, very pretty in its own right considering he'd assembled it in just a couple of short hours, but also practical in that it was arranged in such a way as to allow what little air there was to circulate without the sand getting in. He had insisted to Robin that Marian should have a proper coffin and thankfully, Robin had agreed, otherwise she would have certainly died from the sheer pressure of the sand on her body.
He finally cleared away all the wood and lifted her body up to Guy before climbing out of the hole himself. He prepared to fill it in again, but Djaq stopped him.
"If it hasn't worked, we shall need to bury her again." It was not something that she had wanted to say, but it had to be said.
Marian lay on the sand, the mulberry stain that had spread over the white dress now congealed and blackened. Djaq checked the wound beneath it.
"It hasn't become infected but it hasn't begun to heal either. The stitches may not hold."
She dripped the antidote into Marian's slightly parted lips and for a moment, no one breathed. Then, finally, with a gasp and a splutter, Marian came to life before their eyes.
"Djaq?" she croaked. "Did it work?"
"You're here now," said Djaq, unable to hide her smile of pure relief. "I think that means it worked."
"Guy?" she reached out with a shaking hand, which he caught and held.
"Welcome back," he whispered.
"Quick," said Will. "We've got to fill the grave in before someone comes along and realises what we've done."
Guy gave Marian's hand a reassuring squeeze and tore himself away from her to help Will and Djaq fill in the hole. He didn't want to leave her side for a second, not after all the torment he'd been through in the past days, not knowing whether his act had killed her or whether she was sleeping safely under the sands. However, he felt it courteous to help, especially after all that Will and Djaq had done for him.
"Will," said Marian. "I haven't spoken to you yet. Thank you."
"You shouldn't talk," said Will by way of reply. "You should save your strength." But he gave her a smile to show that the thanks had not gone unappreciated.
The sun was just peering over the horizon as they rode slowly and steadily back into Acre. Bassam heard them coming before they knocked and ushered them all inside.
"Lay her down," he said to Guy, who carried Marian over the threshold. She was dozing lightly, nestled against his chest with her arms around his neck, weak from her injury and the effect of the potions. She stirred as he laid her down on the cool reed mat.
"Stay with me," she mumbled.
"Of course," he said, sitting next to her and taking her hand. "Nothing can keep us apart now. Everything's going to be all right. Don't worry."
XXX
Will and Djaq waved from the deck of the ship bound for England, like matchsticks compared with the great masts.
"Good luck!" called Marian from the dockside. "And thank you for everything!"
She felt Guy's arm tighten around her waist, and she felt content. There was guilt, of course there was guilt in the back of her mind over the grief that the outlaws and Robin were feeling for her, and that guilt would never truly die. But at that precise moment, in the Holy Land with the man she had married only the day before in Bassam's peripheral garden, she felt happier than she had done for a long time.
"Keep an eye on them Bassam!" called Djaq.
Bassam replied with something as yet incomprehensible to Marian and Guy, but it didn't matter. As the ship became a mere mark on the seascape, they turned back to the town, ready to start a new life together...
Review please!
Ahlsalam a'alakum is Arabic for hello.
Extra Disclaimer: The idea that Marian and Guy faked her death to be together has been flung about a bit on Livejournal by a few G/M shippers so I can't take full credit for that, but the 'how' and the 'who else was involved' and the 'what happened after' is my idea.
