So … last chapter had Guy getting on his horse and leaving. This chapter picks up from that point on and it's a closer look at this character and his motivations.
Chapter 7 – A man like me
Guy was slowly loosing his patience when it came to the Sheriff's games. He had had to leave sunny Locksley and a woman with a red apple to come to gloomy Nottingham and sit by the Sheriff's side through another tedious, long meeting with the nobles.
The meetings themselves were pointless exercises. Guy knew that well enough. For all the nobles would agree with the Sheriff on everything and be willing to give him anything he asked for, especially since his little trick of producing a false king. The nobles no longer had the luxury to even plot in secret because of the fear that they would be betrayed.
Even Sir Edward, who had discreetly been the Sheriff's biggest opposition, had now been reduced to a silent, well tamed lamb. He knew well enough that the Sheriff still saw him as the head of the "failed rebellion" and that the only reason he was not dead was because the Sheriff did not have the required proof. Adding his daughter's actions to this and Edward knew that one false move and he'd be done for.
Sir Edward was the only thing that Guy enjoyed from the entire embarrassing event. To see his face turn to wax every time he would cross his gaze with Guy's cold blue look, was enough to calm him whatever his aggravations might have been that day.
Today, however, was a different matter. Even if Sir Edward had been satisfactory afraid of Gisborne, he still felt anxious and aggravated. He knew it was just a matter of time until the Sheriff sent men into Sherwood Forest and that this time he would be left with no choice but to entrust that task to him. Still he was running out of rope until that moment occurred.
Once the meeting was at last over, and the nobles had retired in peace and order like the pets that they were, Guy made his feelings known.
"My lord, Nottingham needs to strike against it's greatest enemy … Robin Hood. Drastic measures must be taken …"
"Oh, Gisborne", the Sheriff replied annoyed, "don't you know how to say anything else? Do you think that everyone is concerned with your personal misfortunes?". Vasey was still attacking with his greatest weapon.
This time Guy did not seem at all distressed at being reminded of his failed marriage to Marian. "My lord, may I remind you that it is your misfortune as much, if not more then mine?". This caught Vasey's attention. "Robin Hood did ruin all your chances of dealing with your enemies … From what I recall", Guy said in a overtly offensive manner …
The Sheriff stopped tending to his nails long enough to look at Gisborne. "And what do you propose we do about it?". He was still annoyed but there was no sarcasm.
"The monthly tribute is going to come into Nottingham in a few days. Is it not?", Guy asked razing his eyebrows.
"Yes ... and what of it?", the Sheriff replied defensively. "I have made the necessary plans. It going to be brought in a simple cart, with mercenaries dressed as peasants in order not to attract attention. They will take the long road around the forest. There is no danger", he concluded sure of himself.
Guy started pacing the room, arms crossed around his chest. "What I'm proposing is that the cart makes it's way through the forest …". He looked at the Sheriff only to find that he was looking back at him as if he were insane. But, still, he continued … "We could spread the word that the monthly tribute is due to arrive …"
"And what purpose will that serve?", Vasey said razing his voice …
Guy stopped and leaned against the table, looking the Sheriff straight in the eye. "There is a lot of gold in that cart, my lord". The Sheriff looked intrigued, so Guy continued … "Enough gold to make Robin Hood and his gang come out of the hole they've crawled into and be less then cautious" ….
The Sheriff smiled as the plan started making sense to him …. Guy couldn't help but think: "I've got you now …", and a half grin bloomed on the left side of his mouth …
Things had gone very well for Guy of Gisborne that day. He had finally convinced the Sheriff to give him enough men to strike hard against Robin Hood and now he was heading home, looking forward to spending a night of pleasure with his wife. "Maybe a morning, also …", he thought. He had after all to make up for the nights he was going to be away…
It was about this time that it occurred to him that he hadn't slept with any other woman since he had gotten married. Realizing this surprised him. He had planed on being moderately faithful to Marion, but he had not expected this kind of behavior out of him.
When he thought about it better, he noted that this change in him might be due to the fact that his wife's behavior would change very often. It seemed to him that he was not living with one woman but two … and sometimes even three. She would be playful and seductive sometimes, childish and shy other times. Guy did not know what to make of it, but he reasoned that this alternation was occurring because she had not yet adjusted to being married. She still held out some of her maiden defenses…
But he was planning on breaking down those defenses and make her completely his wife. He had spent so many years without anything of importance, such as land or family, that now he felt the acute urge to convert everything he had in his property, so he would be sure that they could never be taken away from him.
When Robin Hood had returned from the Holy Land and he had claimed Locksley, the loss physically hurt, as Guy could recall all too well.
Even now that he was secure in his possession of the land, even now that he had dispossessed Robin of everything including his name, he still did not feel at home in Locksley. He desperately wanted it, he liked people calling him "master" but somewhere deep down he knew that all he had did not really belong to him and that the people around him knew it also … As much as he wanted to think of Locksley as the new Gisborne, he could not. This had been the reason why he never changed the name … He knew he couldn't … not until Robin Hood would be dead.
He had thought the same of Marion. When she left him at the altar and run away with Hood, it had deeply pained him and it hadn't been just his pride, Guy knew that. But he had suspected the attachment between Marion and Robin Hood long before that. He was no fool. He had felt how she had rejected all of his attempts of intimacy even after she had publicly accepted to marry him. He knew that Marion would never truly belong to him until Robin Hood would be dead ….
But Isabelle … Oh! She did belong to him. There was nothing there to stand between him and her. His passion for her was not only due to the way she had treated him, although that had helped greatly.
Still, women had loved him before … Most often when he thought about this his mind would stop briefly on the image of Annie. She had loved him and he had enjoyed her well enough. But he could have never loved her, let alone marry her. She did not have the education, the lineage or breeding that he considered essential in anyone that would bare the Gisborne name.
Isabelle, on the other hand, did possess all those things. She had the grace and confidence of a lady but she still managed to obey and please him with the greatest ease and serenity. She did not reject him nor did she question his decisions. And still, through the complete lack of opposition she had not managed to bore him. He was still very much interested in her. He constantly felt that there was more to discover about his wife.
He liked this, since it gave him the sensation of hunting down a prized animal but at the same time it unsettled him somewhat. If he did not know her completely how could he control her? How could he be sure of her?
He had managed to keep her away from Nottingham and the world in general, given that she had not really left Locksley since they had gotten married, even if the Sheriff had asked about her on a number of occasions. The thought of Isabelle meeting the Sheriff again did not sit well with him. He did not like when he called her "his dove". He knew the Sheriff's aversion to women but still his attentions towards his wife did not sit well with him at all.
But it was more then that. He feared that if she was to form a larger circle of acquaintances she would undoubtedly, at some point, stumble across a piece of information about him that might shock her and make her think less of him.
He could not believe that anyone as pure as Isabelle could ever love him if she knew the hole truth about him. She knew bits and pieces. There was no avoiding that. But still the details escaped her and he wanted to keep it that way for as long as possible. He did not want the expression in her eyes when looking at him to change.
He was finally approaching Locksley when he saw some movement near one of the entrances into the forest. He looked closer only to discover that it was his wife. She was standing in front of a large tree and from time to time paced around. She seemed rather agitated and he soon realized she was talking to someone. Who he could not tell. The tree offered enough shelter but he thought he could make out a shadow and it seemed to him to be that of a man.
"A man?", he said out loud. "And Isabelle is talking to him". There was no mistaking it. She looked flushed and angry. She was moving her arms in an agitated manner trying to convince who ever it was of something.
Guy felt he was going crazy. To have a man so close to his wife with him not knowing about it was enough to send him in a state of rage he had not experienced in a very long time. He speed up his horse ready to tear both of them apart.
to be continued ...
Author's note: … my first cliffhanger … yay!!!! … Sorry, I know what this might be doing to you, faithful readers but rest assured chapter 8 is in the process of being written as we speak!
