A/N: Not too sure what to write here, enjoy the next chapter! -
Chapter three – The Truth
Daine?
Gisbourne was in his room alone. He'd spent a lot of his time there like that since he was jilted at the alter. The only time he left was yesterday, thinking he'd get revenge on Marian. Now he realised that revenge wasn't what he wanted on Marian. He still wanted Marian. Her rejecting him made her more desirable to him, just like every other time she'd rejected him.
Guy kept telling himself that Marian only did what she did at the wedding because she thought the King was returning and couldn't get married to someone she cared about on a lie. Guy wished that was the truth, he willed it to be the truth.
He paced about his room thinking of what he should do next. Should he tell Marian that he has forgiven her or should he take the Sheriff's path and hate all women forever?
All eyes fell on the new outlaw, many faces wearing a look of confusion. Robin, however, was just smiling. He raised his eyebrows at her, and she turned a shade that rivalled Will's name.
"I think you've got some explaining to do Daine," Robin said in a calm tone, before chuckling at the other outlaw's faces. Marian threw Robin a look that said Don't be so childish.
"Urm..." Daine was lost for words. This never happened. She always had a way to bend the truth, but she guessed that was it. She had to tell the truth, no little white lies and half truths now. The group were in silence while Daine desperately tried to find some words to say. Eventually she said, "What do you want to know?"
"The truth maybe?" Allan replied. Much, as usual, had something to say about this.
"That's rich coming from you. You lie to your family, to everyone!" A brief flicker of pain spread across Allan's face as he remembered his family, and more importantly his brother Tom.
Daine decided to talk now, to avoid Much saying anything else. Her harsh defensive tone once again returned to her voice. "I never lied! I just didn't tell the truth." Her eyes fell to the floor, she couldn't look anyone in the eye, she couldn't even look at them.
It was Will that spoke next, "How do you know Marian?" Djaq smiled to herself, trust Will to voice sense.
"I know Marian, because," Daine took a deep breath, "because I am a noble too."
Robin smiled, thinking I knew it. Everyone else, except Marian, had their mouths open in shock.
Much was the first to speak, "I thought I recognised you from somewhere!" Then his face clouded over with confusion again. "Who are you?"
Daine sighed, laughing on the inside at Much's... Much-ness for lacking of a better word! "I am Daine Merton, daughter of the late Lord Merton." Much nodded, finally figuring out where he knew Daine from. They'd met over five years ago, at a party hosted by her mother. Robin had been invited, and as Robin's manservant, he went too. Daine looked very different now, but she looked so much like her mother. They had the same intense eyes.
"How's your mother?" Much asked. He'd liked her mother; she treated Much as a guest instead of a servant.
Daine blinked back tears, and slowly said, "She died." Daine bit her lower lip, forcing the tears not to fall. She'd said her goodbyes, that wound had healed. "She fell ill a year after you and Robin left for the Holy Land. She was too ill to recover, and she died." A wave of sadness washed over the group. It was Little John that put the comforting hand on her shoulder. He knew what it was like to loose a loved one, as did many of them.
"Why are you here?" Little John asked quietly, not wanting to upset the girl more.
Daine put on her brave face and continued to give her answers. "I'm here because The Sheriff put an order in for our family to be outlawed because of the 'French evidence' given against him by my father."
This made sense to the group; it was very like the Sheriff to punish the whole family. It'd happened to Little John's family and it happened to Marian yesterday.
Then, a thought struck Marian. "What about your brother?"
The nurse walked back into the kitchen, carrying an empty tray. Now the Lord had eaten, she had to collect his robes for the Council of Nobles. It was this afternoon, and the household was in chaos. This was the normal state of the house. The Lord wasn't very organised and had been very distracted for the last few days. As had she.
Life wasn't the same anymore, not since she'd left. Life had changed before that, but it was more noticeable now her charge was gone. Instead of following her around, helping her and teaching her, she was now doing tedious housework. The days were different before but now? Even if it had only been a few days, they were blurring into one and the nurse could no longer tell which events belonged to which days.
Everyone looked from Daine to Marian. Robin and Much both shared a look that said Oh yeah! All eyes eventually fell back onto Daine, expecting an answer.
Daine had a stubborn but hurt look on her face. "Go to the Council of Nobles and you'll see him there." Emotion crackled through Daine's voice. "He turned his back on me, to save his own." Daine turned and walked away from where the group were gathered. Allan went to follow but Djaq stopped him.
"Don't. She needs time." Allan understood. She had practically lost her brother, and he knew what that felt like.
An awkward silence fell over the group. Marian broke it by asking, "Should I attend the Council of Nobles?" She turned to Robin, hoping he'd know the answer.
He looked down at the ground, thinking for a moment.
Allan chipped in saying, "I'm not being funny, but won't the Sheriff just try to arrest you?"
"That's what I'm worried about. Do I go and risk getting arrested, or do I stay at home, not knowing what is going on in Nottingham?" Again, Marian looked at Robin, willing him to have the answer.
"Go to Nottingham. The Sheriff told me you were innocent. Find out what is happening in Nottingham." Marian smiled at Robin, he always seemed so sure. It comforted her. Marian mounted her horse, smiling one last time at the group then rode out of the forest.
No one voiced their doubts about the situation.
Marian arrived at Nottingham just in time for the Council of Nobles. Her father wasn't there, which she had expected, he was still a bit shocked from the day before. The Sheriff hadn't arrived yet, and Marian looked round the room, trying to find Daine's brother. He wouldn't have been hard to find. He was young with messy hair similar to Daine's. He was nowhere to be seen. Had he had second thoughts about being the new Lord Merton?
Before she could ask around, The Sheriff waltzed in, followed closely by Gisbourne who was sporting a large bump on his head from where Little John had got him with his staff. The Sheriff's eyes fell on Marian. The moment of truth. The Sheriff looked away and started to address the Nobles.
"Welcome my well-fed-sirs. Marian where is your father? He's making a habit out of not attending these meetings."
Marian shifted in her seat, and quickly lied, "He isn't feeling too well. He ate some bad meat last night."
Either the Sheriff accepted the lie, or he chose to ignore it, but he continued with the Council. "Well, anyway. To business." At this point, somebody walked into the Great Hall. "Sorry but this is an important meeting, we cannot be disturbed." The Sheriff looked up at the new arrival to find a Noble. "Ah, the new Lord Merton."
"Sorry I'm late, left late, horse wasn't co-operating…"
The Sheriff cut in, he didn't care about his excuses. "La de dah de dah. Do you think I care? A clue, no. Arrest him." A murmur of shock spread though the Nobles as two guards advanced on the Lord.
"What? No! Sheriff, you've made a mistake. I am loyal to you; I have never wronged your authority."
Gisbourne stood arms crossed, glaring at the young man in the clutches of the guards. "Take him away."
"Hold on." The Sheriff raised a hand to signal the guards to stop. He had a look on his face which showed he was thinking, assessing how to get the most out of the situation. "You say you are loyal?"
"Yes Sheriff."
"Well, how do I know that you're not going to stab my back with the help of your sister and her new outlaw friends?"
"I'm sorry Sheriff; I do not know what you mean. I don't know where my sister is. She ran out of the house a few days ago."
"Oh well, this makes things interesting. Let him go. Welcome to the Council of Nobles, Lord Merton." An evil grin spread across the Sheriff's face, sending shivers down the decent Nobles spines.
Sometime had passed since Marian had left, and Daine hadn't returned to the group. Allan had volunteered to find her. He didn't have to go far; she was in a clearing near by. There was a fallen cart with a large section missing from one of the sides.
Daine noticed Allan walk into the clearing, and spoke, "If you think that because I'm upset I'm going to talk you're wrong." Daine had a stubborn edge to her voice, which matched her face. Allan chuckled to himself. The smile was quickly wiped off his face when Daine threw a dagger at a tree. It wedged itself into a plank of wood hung onto to the tree. Daine continued to look forward at her makeshift target. Allan raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"I just came to see how you were doing..." Allan trailed off as Daine threw her second dagger. "What are you doing?"
The girl walked over to the tree and removed the two daggers. "Target practice, anger relief, whatever." Allan could see the hurt in her face; she looked on the brink of tears.
"Where's the target from?" Daine waved over in the direction of the cart. "Figures. How'd you get that bit out?" The girl kicked Will's axe over to where Allan was standing. He raised his eyebrows, he was impressed. No one had seen her take it. "So our new resident Noble is a bit of a thief?"
"Only sometimes. I used to sneak food from the kitchens for my nurse's family." Daine's expression didn't change, still focused on the wood she was aiming at. She threw a knife again, trying to control the anger burning in her veins. Allan sat down beside where she was stood and he watched her throw another knife. She had pretty good aim, not as good as Robin's, but it was consistent.
Daine felt comforted by the other outlaw's presence. It forced her to get out of her anger, and to come to terms with the knife in her back left by her brother. She collected the daggers from the wood, and instead of continuing to throw them she sat by Allan. She put her daggers by her feet, then brought her knees close and sat hugging them.
Allan reached for one of her daggers and inspected it. "Where'd you get this then?"
Daine answered, still not looking at him. "They were a present, from the person who taught me to fight. He knew someone who made them and got me those." Allan turned the blade over in his hands. It had a brown hilt with a leafy design and a plain blade. The other matched it identically.
"They are pretty." He handed it back to Daine, who took it and held it for a moment. She looked at it fondly, as if she as watching her fighting lessons take place on the reflective blade. A brief smile played across her face before she looked up and threw it into the target once more.
The two sat in silence a little while longer before Allan asked, "Are you ok?"
Marian was relieved that the Sheriff had kept to his word and not tried to arrest her there and then. Although the relief was shorted lived after the scene between the Sheriff and Lord Merton. Throughout the entire meeting, Sir Guy had never taken his eyes off her. It made her uncomfortable, and she couldn't concentrate on the meeting.
But now it was finally over and she could go home.
Just as she got her horse, which a stable boy had brought her, Gisbourne came up to her. Marian's heart sank. She had a bad feeling he would do something sly and kill her there and then.
"Marian."
"Sir Guy. What brings you to the stables?"
"I wanted to see you. Is that a crime?"
Marian was getting worried, but she tried to hide her worry with her normal manner she adopted around Guy. "Well, I would have thought after what happened that wouldn't be so."
Guy smirked and looked Marian in the eyes. "You do not know me then Marian." He continued to look in her eyes until she got so uncomfortable that she had to break away.
"I'm sorry Sir Guy; you are not making yourself clear."
Sir Guy laughed to himself, those words brought about memories of times they'd spent together. He stepped back, and gestured a hand towards the horse. "Well, I mustn't keep Sir Edward waiting. I look forward to seeing you again Marian."
Marian mounted her horse and bade Gisbourne goodbye. She left Nottingham utterly confused.
The camp was quiet. Past memories had been woken up and had come back to haunt all of them.
Will's mind as cast back to when his mother died, how horrible it felt to see her there but not alive. He could still remember his father's face when he broke the news to him and his brother. Red, puffy and tear stained.
Djaq was thinking about her brother, who she lost in the Crusades and then became. She hoped she would be doing his name proud, fighting for the greater good, doing her part. She would only allow herself to remember the good times with her brother, too many nights had been plagued with the feeling of despair.
Much and Robin both thought of their parents. Much hadn't seen his since he was about 12, which was when he first started working for Robin, to earn a bit more money for the family. He'd heard about their deaths a few years later, he'd only coped because he had Robin to depend on. Robin had coped with his parents deaths by going to war, he ran away from the pain.
Little John thought of Alice. Dear Alice, and of course Little Little John. John thought of how things could have been. Happy family, away from Nottingham, because she would have followed him to the end of the world. If only he'd known. That was all John was left with now, the 'what if's and 'if only's. He sighed, causing a small break in the silence.
"Am I ok? To be honest, no." Allan looked at her caringly. He'd expected her to kick up and become defensive, but she seemed too distant to really care. "I'm not all right at all. I mean, I don't even care that my hair is down, and I hate having my hair down." Daine flicked her hair when she said this, then held her head in her hands. "I just... I just don't know..." Daine struggled to find anything to say and eventually a single tear fell, landing on the ground.
The girl was distraught, obviously torn between hating her brother and trying to find anything good about him. Allan placed his arm around Daine and pulled her into a hug. She didn't protest, and buried her head in his shoulder.
And I leave you here with some love! lol, Feedback is love!
