Chapter One
"My Lord, I-" Gisborne began as he tumbled tiredly through the door to the Sheriff's personal chambers. Vaisey was leaning back in his chair with his barely-scuffed boots propped up on his desk while he lethargically scraped his dirtied nail in between his blackening teeth, searching for scraps that he hadn't completely swallowed during his earlier meal. The balding man didn't bother to tear his eyes away from his finger as he pulled it back for inspection as he interrupted the pathetic excuse he knew was ready to tumble form his Master at Arms' mouth.
"Are you a fool Gisborne?" he asked evenly still picking his teeth while his second in command stuttered a reply.
"N-no my Lord" Vaisey nodded, enjoying how nervous he was making the leather-clad man.
"I see. Would you say you're incompetent then?"
"No my Lord" Gisborne was afraid to move. He couldn't look down, couldn't look away and he dare even breath encase it showcased some sort of weakness that the Sheriff could pounce on. Vaisey readjusting his position ever so slightly was enough to cause Guy to flinch.
"I see." The sheriff repeated. Gisborne was not surprised at how calm Vaisey was being. If anything his indifferent countenance only supplied him with more reason to be quivering in his boots. If the Sheriff was being calm in the face of disappointment he was surely up to no good.
"Are you a liar then Gisborne?" The Master at Arms swallowed hard as Vaisey raised his lifeless hazel eyes to meet his icy blue ones. He saw not one iota of compassion, benevolence or liberality in the depths of eyes. And if eyes were in fact the window to the soul, he was truly frightened of the burning black lump that was surely in place of his heart – and what this detachment to life made the sheriff capable of.
"N-N my Lord" he repeated for the third time. The calmness aura that Vaisey had been projected imploded as his face burned red and his eyes widened with fury. He jumped to his feet. Guy instinctively took a step backwards.
"If you're not a fool and not incompetent then YOU Gisborne are a liar. For if you were neither of those things…" his voice suddenly raised in pitch "I WOULD HAVE HOODS HEAD ON A SPIKE BY NOW!" Guy recoiled as Vaisey's eye twitched at him. The teeth that hadn't rotted away were bared with the ferocity of a wolf with rabies.
"My Lord, my men and I have been scouring the forest eve-"
"La di da di da Gisborne!" He growled, not prepared to waste his precious time listening to pathetic excuses from his subordinates. "Hood and his men have evaded you, YET AGAIN! Stupid. Stupid. STUPID!" He roared viciously. Admirably Guy stayed his ground, taking the verbal abuse without even a twitch or flinch. Not even blinking when bits of the Sheriff's salvia landed on his cheeks in the uproar. The Sheriff continued pacing, only stopping to harshly poke his chest and insult him some more "You've gone soft Gisborne." Vaisey concluded disgustedly "Your little Leper friend has made you weak!"
"That's not true. I-" Guy tried to object but was once again cut off. The tension in his shoulders growing with every second he was subjected to stand there like a mute.
'Oh but it is…" Vaisey's tone now embraced a gentle quality one that had been capable of convincing Guy once upon a time that he wasn't a complete monster. But Gisborne had been working under the Sheriff to know he only used this tone of voice when he wanted something. "Don't worry your pretty little head. I won't harm her…" he reassured guy noticing his ill-concealed stricken face. "…Today." Vaisey grinned evilly.
"My Lord, please! I beg of you! Don-"
"Shut up, Gisborne!" Guy immediately pressed his lips together in fear he would make the situation worse for himself and those he cared for – the only person he cared for. Marian. His heart jumped and stomach fluttered just thinking of her beauty and kind heart. He planned in time for them to be wedded. She carried a bright light in her soul that was large enough to counter the darkness in his. He couldn't and wouldn't let anyone hurt her. Any torment she felt, he would feel the same, only a thousand times the quantity. He couldn't stand if his lack of competence was the reason Marian suffered. He would allow this. He would find some way to appease the Sherriff, no matter what the cost to himself.
The sheriff starred at him intently knowing that he had this boy wrapped around his little finger, and could play him like a puppeteer plays with his puppets. "I suppose I could forgive this MAJOR discretion of yours if you would be willing to handle a delicate matter that is of the utmost importance"
"Anything my Lord!" Gisborne hated sounding desperate but when it came to Marian possibly swinging in the gallows then he transformed and begun to very much reek the essence of a desperate man.
"Good" The Sherriff announced happily as his angry pacing acquired a small skip as his mood began gradually lifting.
"What is it you want me to do?" Gisborne assumed it would be something like maim or kill someone. He was slightly apprehensive about what exactly it was the Sheriff would ask him to do as he seemed to recall the last time Vaisey asked him a favour he was required to dress up as a Saracen and commit treason. The Sheriff was never one to collect favours on a small scale.
"It's simply really" the Sheriff stated, waving his hand airily around him to emphasis its simple nature. "Prince John has asked Nottingham to extend its hospitality to his beautiful, niece."
"But…how so?" Gisborne scratched the back of his neck in confusion. "None of the prince's siblings have children," he stated with extreme certainty. Surely if a member of the English royal family had begun birthing the country would know.
"Yeessss, it's more like his step-niece with all these technicalities and what not" the Sheriff commented drearily. Sensing his subordinates confusion he went on. "Our houseguest is the daughter of Mary De Champagne who is the half-sister of our ever glorious Prince."
"Right," he vaguely remembered something about a Mary De Champagne, who was the second eldest offspring to Eleanor of Aquitaine, who married for a second time to Henry II and whom are the legal parents of their noble King Richard and royal conspirator Prince John among another eight children. Gisborne vaguely remembers learning of the royal house when he was younger, his tutor had been a great wealth of knowledge with a great interest in monarchical affairs.
Vaisey was eyeing him off waiting for him to realise whom exactly they were talking about. He hadn't yet so he moved on. "Anyway rumour has it that Prince John loves this girl almost as much as he loves himself," the Sheriff chuckled to himself at the impossibility of Prince John caring for anyone as much as he cared for himself. He composed himself and moved on "which is why it is our duty to take extremely good care of her while she resides here. Our Prince means for her to stay here for a little over a month alone before he endeavours to make the trip to Nottingham. He wants her to settle in properly before his arrival. And it's now you're responsibility to help with that."
Gisborne's brow narrowed more and more as the Sherriff continually recited off more information in that bored tone of his. This could not be all he wanted him to do. Help a woman settle in. Surely Vaisey was leaving something out, like how she was an intolerable brat that caused mischief and mayhem wherever she went. How this girl would make his life a living hell. Though he doubted his life could get any worse than where he was already.
"What's her name?" He asked, still trying to place the daughter of Mary De Champagne.
"I don't know Gisborne!" The Sheriff huffed sounding agitated. "Something French. Annabelle…or Miran…or…" he snapped his fingers as the name found its way to his tongue "Mirabelle, that's it."
"Mirabelle…" Guy annoucaited, trying the name out on his tongue. That was a name too beautiful and ladylike to belong to a demon in a corset. "Why does that name sound so familiar?" he pondered until the realisation dawned on him. The Sherriff saw his countenance change and laughed evilly.
"Took you long enough. And I didn't think you could get any stupider than you look." Gisborne's face contorted into a scowl at having to take yet another degrading insult.
"That can't be right!" Gisborne snapped in disbelief, everyone in Europe had heard about Mirabelle and her condition. "Our Prince wants us to look after the Vampire Princess?!"
"Scared she's going to bite you!" the Sheriff smirked raising his fingers to his mouth, pretending his had the fangs of a vampire.
"No!" Gisborne cried indignantly. "I'm not scared of anything," he boasted and was rewarded with a triumphant smirk from his lord.
"Good, then you won't mind giving your neck a good scrub before she gets here. Rumour has it she liked the blood of men above all." Gisborne did not return the Sheriffs smile. Instead he considered himself dismissed and turned to stalk out the chambers. The last thing he heard was the Sherriff call out to him, the humour still evident in his voice "She is scheduled to arrive this afternoon, don't forget your garlic!"
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Mirabelle squirmed slightly in her travel coffin. Though it was a box fit for royalty, decorated with the finest of feather-down pillows and most beautifully comfortable blankets she still couldn't help but acknowledge the kinks and cramps in her back and neck grow more tedious only hoping that they were closing in on their destination and soon. She was dying to get out and walk around.
It had been hours since their last pit stop yet it felt like days since she last saw freedom. She moved her hand an inch to her left so it basked in the sunshine clumsily let in by one of the holes carved into the sign so fresh air could circulate. She relished in its warmth, loving how it caressed her skin. She left it for a little while, before removing her limb back into the shade offered by her coffin. If she was subjected to too much of the sun's rays she would no longer be able to move as unlike with reptiles the sun drained her power and stole her energy. A cruel joke for something she loved and cherished so much to play on her.
She sighed deeply, snuggling her face back in her pillow and trying to catch glimpses of her surroundings through the air spaces. She could make out the leafy texture of the forest floor. Little Mirabelle know was that her and her men were now travelling through Sherwood forest and a few yards away concealed in the trees and shrubs were several men poised to attack.
"Remember men, if they don't agree to the ten per cent donation when I give the signal take them for everything their worth!" the shaggy woodlander - Robin Hood - instructed with a cheeky smile.
"Hey Robin, I'm not bein' funny but is that Lisa?" Alan A'Dale inquired the worry evident in his voice. The gang all turned to look and sure enough a little girl with blonde pigtails and a rosy impudent glow had found her way inconveniently out in front of the carriage they were just about to plunder.
Alan cursed loudly drawing his sword form his belt and moved to run down the hill ready to protect his daughter from harm's way. He was stopped in his tracks though by a sight that had him and the rest of the men gasping.
What…or WHO is that…?
If you liked it, drop me a review. I appreciate any and all support this story can rumble up.
PS: This is not a supernatural story, Mirabelle simply as 'allergies' or sorts to the sun, and has hence been donned with the tittle the Vampire Princess because of her illness and high status.
PPS: She is French, in the next chapter when she has some dialogue she will be speaking English but I will try to write it as it would sound with a French Accent.
If you have any questions, drop us a review! Good, the bad and the ugly. I want to hear it!
Happy Reading!
Xoxo
Wisteria Clove.