Allan was surprised to see that Marian was leaving early from Locksley, driving the wagon and accompanied by two servants. The girl's expression was somber and thoughtful and she barely greeted Allan when she passed near him.
"Where are you going so early?"
"To Nettlestone. The sheriff took away the horse of one of the families because they did not have enough money for taxes and without it they can't bring their goods to the market. If they can't sell them, this winter they will hunger."
"And you offered to accompany them with your wagon." Allan smiled. "By the way, where is Giz? Did he like your gift?"
Marian didn't answer him, she snapped the reins and she drove off with the wagon without saying another word.
Allan looked at her, puzzled, then he sighed.
"Giz must have offended her in some way. Probably he didn't appreciate her gift. I'd better go look for him..."
Allan went to the door of Guy's room and he immediately saw that the bed was untouched, so he decided to go and check if Gisborne's horse was in the stable: if he and Marian had a fight, maybe he preferred to get away from Locksley to vent his bad mood.
The young man was surprised to find Gisborne himself in the stable. Guy was lying on his side on the bales of hay next to the box of his horse and he seemed to be asleep. The black stallion craned his nose to sniff his rider and Guy smiled in his sleep, without waking.
Allan looked at him, puzzled. The serene expression of Gisborne was completely at odds with the stormy one of Marian and the young man wondered what had happened between those two.
"Hey, Giz?" He called softly and Guy moved in his sleep, starting to wake up.
"Marian?"
"I would say no. But if you mistake me for her, I'm not surprised she's angry."
Guy sat up and looked at him, still half asleep.
"Why should she be angry? Don't be silly, Allan."
"When I mentioned your name she gave me an icy stare and she left without even answering me. That doesn't look like the attitude of someone who is well-disposed towards you. What did you do? Did you laugh at her apples?"
Guy shook his head, worried.
"No." He replied, trying to understand why Marian might be mad at him, without finding an answer. He couldn't think of anything that might have offended her, indeed the evening before had been incredibly sweet and serene.
But in fact Marian had left him alone in the barn, and if Allan wasn't exaggerating, hers was the behavior of a person who was angry for some reason.
Maybe she had discovered his secret? If so, why didn't she ask him about his adventures as the Nightwatchman?
"I don't understand, Allan. After giving me the apples we talked for a bit and then I fell asleep. I liked her gift and I thanked her for thinking of me. I don't think I did anything that could irritate her."
Allan looked at him and he smirked, amused.
"Ah, now I understand."
Guy stared menacingly at him.
"Then explain it to me."
"From what I see, you 'spoke' in a rather passionate way. A girl doesn't leave that kind of signs if she isn't very involved by someone and, if you fell asleep while you were 'talking', I am not surprised that she was offended to death."
Guy looked at him, startled, and he suddenly blushed.
"We didn't do anything like that and you shouldn't even insinuate it! I wouldn't do anything to jeopardize her innocence before marrying her, you should know!"
"And what about that bite that you have on the neck, then?"
Guy touched the wound with one hand.
"But it wasn't Marian who did this to me!"
Allan looked at him seriously.
"Then you're dead, Giz, really."
"Won't you think that it was a woman?!"
"Who, then?!"
Guy looked down, uncomfortable.
"The sheriff."
Allan stared at him.
"The sheriff?" He asked, incredulous.
"He tried to stop me when I fled after freeing Djaq, yesterday. I don't know why he did it, but he bit me. On the other hand I think I broke his nose."
Allan shook his head.
"You'll have to tell me all the details, but you're dead all the same, Giz. You can't explain it to Marian without telling her that you're the Nightwatchman and even if you do it, I doubt she would believe you. Come on, Giz, the sheriff!"
Guy looked at him, sadly.
"So what should I do? I haven't done anything wrong."
"Pretend that nothing happened and stay away from her for a while. She'll forget about it, sooner or later. Maybe."
Gisborne kicked angrily a bale of hay.
"Well, she'd better stop it! I haven't done anything and she has no right to accuse me." He growled, then he looked back at Allan. "And hurry up, today we have to go to Knighton to collect taxes, the next week the sheriff will demand his payment."
Allan nodded, preferring not to contradict him, and he helped him to saddle the horses.
Gisborne was about to mount when Allan talked to him again.
"Hey, Giz."
"What do you want?"
"Before going to Knighton maybe you should get that straw out your hair. It looks like you slept in a stable..."
Allan looked from Guy to the person who appeared to be the spokesman of the peasants of Knighton, worried. The man had brought a ridiculous percentage of the crop as a contribution to the payment of the taxes and he kept saying that it was all they had, while Gisborne was furious and he seemed to be about to lash out on the man.
Allan understood very well Guy's reasons, the words of the inhabitants of Knighton were a pure and simple provocation, but Allan also saw that the reaction of his friend was exaggerated, and he knew that the real reason for that was his misunderstanding with Marian.
When he saw that Guy had put one hand on the hilt of the sword, Allan hastened to approach him and he dragged him away.
"Giz, stop it, now!"
He pushed him into a empty shed and he closed the door behind him.
"Out of my way, Allan!" Guy shouted, trying to move him to the side to get out.
"Or else, Gisborne?" Said the voice of Robin, from the corner of the shed. "Did you decide to resume your old habits?"
Guy turned to face him.
"They refuse to pay taxes! Did you see what they brought? It is an insult!"
"This isn't a good reason to terrorize them, Guy." Robin said, giving him a sympathetic look and Gisborne calmed down a bit .
"I wouldn't have done anything to them." He said grumpily, with a half sigh.
"They don't know. As far as they are concerned you may also have the intention to kill them or to cut off their hands."
Guy heavily sat down on a wooden chest, closed his eyes and rested his head against the wall, with a defeated sigh.
"I won't make it."
Robin put his foot on the chest, next to Guy's knee and leaned forward to look at him.
"What?"
Guy didn't answer immediately and Allan looked at him, worried.
"Giz? What's going on?"
Gisborne shook his head.
"The payment of this month. I haven't collected even half of the amount requested by the sheriff. I'm doing my best to increase the profits of Knighton, to improve crop yields and to reduce costs, but the farmers won't cooperate and they refuse to pay taxes. They know that I can no longer count on the soldiers of Nottingham to force them to pay..."
"So that's why in the last few days you didn't hire the workers to rebuild Knighton Hall?"
"I couldn't pay them. But it doesn't matter, if I miss a payment I'll lose everything anyway. The sheriff will probably find a way to imprison me in the dungeons."
"Don't be silly, Gisborne." Robin was about to hand him a bag full of coins, but Guy glared at him.
"I don't want your charity, Hood."
"You'd be an idiot to refuse this money because this is not charity or pity. We need your help, without the Nightwatchman we wouldn't have been able to save Djaq. If you should be arrested, you will create problems for all of us, so put aside your foolish pride and use it to pay the sheriff." Robin smiled, amused. "After all we have stolen this money from him."
Guy smiled at the last sentence of Robin and he accepted the bag of coins, reluctantly.
"Thank you, but this will not solve the problem. Next month we will be at the same point and I'm not going to depend forever on your help."
"This is why you have to get accepted by the inhabitants of Knighton. Whether they like it or not, these lands are now yours, they must respect your authority. But it's not shouting at them and threatening them that you will get their respect."
"How, then?"
"Continue what you are doing. Sooner or later they will see that their Lord treats them rightly and they will forget the past."
"Giz, they will understand." Allan intervened. "Look at Cedric, that boy respects you, with time the others will do it too."
Robin put his hand on Guy's shoulder in a comforting gesture.
"And in the meantime, if you'll need it, we will help you. You are not alone, Guy. Always remember that. We don't leave friends alone. We don't leave brothers alone."
Guy looked up suddenly, surprised by those words and Robin gave him a cheeky smile and he turned to leave. He stopped at the door and threw a rolled parchment at Guy.
"I almost forgot it, I came here to give this to you.
"What's that?" Allan asked, while Guy unrolled the scroll to read it.
Allan looked at him and shortly after he saw Gisborne looking up from the sheet with an amazed and happy expression on his face.
"An invitation. Djaq and Will decided to get married."
