Chapter (9)
The next morning;
Robin dresses and stands up, "I think we can return to camp and leave Matilda alone."
Much nods elated, "When you make your mind up there's little chance I can change it."
Robin grips Much's upper arm, "I know Much. If it was up to you I would be surrounded by guards and protected. But that's just not me and you know it."
Much, "Yea, and that's what scares me."
Robin claps him on the arm, "Come on, you're the only guard I need. Let's go." They go find Matilda to let her know it's time for them to leave and share tearful hugs with the only one left that was there at their birth knowing that she still cares.
Robin tells her, "We'll be back to return the favor for all you have done for us." Matilda sweeps them into her arms once again, "You turned to me for help and I loved having you here I need nothing else."
Much and Robin, "But we do."
Matilda gives them a little laugh, "Of that I have no doubt." She squeezes them one last time before allowing them to leave, "My boys…"
Robin and Much leave her home and walk back to their concealed camp. Much abruptly says, "Sooner or later we'll have to confront Gisborne."
Robin shocked, "We?"
Much stubbornly, "Yes. You and I."
Robin confused, "Why?"
Much answers him, "Because I don't believe you can defeat him on your own."
Robin stops affronted, "Why would you say that?"
Much tells him sincerely, "Because it's the truth." Robin turns and runs towards Nottingham. Much nods and follows him.
Much catches up to Robin and runs just behind him. When they reach the castle, Robin and Much stand outside and wait. Much feels a tremble in his gut remembering his time spent in the dungeons being tortured by Gisborne. He flexes his fingers on his right hand feeling them twinge. After a moment, Robin yells at the top of his lungs, "GIS-BORNE!" The court empties of people and in a few minutes twelve guards and Gisborne appear from the castle entrance.
Gisborne taunting Robin, "I see you have brought your protector with you, afraid you can't take me on your own?" Robin takes a step forward as does Gisborne's guards. Much draws his sword, and points it at each of the guards and they step back. Much switches hands and unwraps the leather cord from the grip exposing the ivory and gold below it. Even Gisborne gasps as Much sweeps and twirls his sword expertly from hand to hand. Robin switches his gaze from Much to Gisborne and draws his scimitar.
Much unhesitatingly tells the guards, "This is just between Robin and Gisborne. If anyone else intervenes they will die. That I promise." He then makes a throat cutting gesture with his thumb and the soldiers sheath their swords remembering what happened to the previous eight.
Much nods to Robin, "He's all yours." Then thinking to him, 'Remember what I said.' Robin nods and advances to Gisborne expertly twirling his scimitar.
Gisborne swallows hard, and tries to anger Robin, "You know that your puppy dog is still only a servant and belongs to me as Lord of your forfeited estate and I'll have him back after I kill you!"
Much thinking to his brother, 'Don't let him rile you. Keep your calm and lose your ego.'
Gisborne and Robin circle each other with swords held ready.
Robin takes a deep breath, "You will never have him. He's my best friend and brother, and he's neither a servant nor my puppy dog."
Gisborne, "Ha! I happen to know you have no brother."
Robin remaining focused, "Then you are ignorant. He is my brother and we have proof. If you kill me he inherits the estate and will kill you and all your guards and you know he can do it. Before we returned from the Holy Land the King knighted him he's now Lord Much." He laughs at the look on Gisborne's face, "Ah, you know I'm telling you the truth. I can see the fear on your face. He must have scared you pretty badly in the Holy Land to cause you to run like the cur that you are. Come on and fight me or forever be known as a coward." Gisborne laughs evilly, "Yea, I bet the King nighted him, and I bet Much enjoyed it too." Robin laughs back, "No, unlike you and your lover the Sheriff!"
Gisborne turns beet red, yells, and attacks Robin. Much, 'You have him now. He's off balance. Do it!'
Robin engages Gisborne with such surreal concentration it deeply frightens the would be assassin. Much watches the guards with his sword drawn. They stand far enough away from the fighting men as they don't get paid enough but don't want to run away either and suffer Gisborne's wrath.
As Robin and Gisborne fight they are seemingly equally matched and engage violently for several minutes. Their confrontation is intense and equal, as their blades flash in the sun, threats and insults are made and countered. Neither is able to get an advantage over the other. They separate breathing heavily for a minute. The wound on Robin's side begins to flare.
Much, 'Robin, think that he's me.' Gisborne sees Robin take a deep breath, relax, and calmly advance. This time Robin's attack is different, seemingly random, calmer, like he's not himself. Gisborne becomes frightened and hesitates just long enough for Robin to separate him from his sword and is on the courtyard ground instantly, his sword far from his grasp, and Robin's a scant few inches from his throat. Gisborne can see the anger radiating from Robin's eyes.
The guards draw their swords and advance but Much reacts so quickly that the closest one is on the ground bleeding profusely before they know what happened. Much commanding, "Sheath your swords! Step back!" The guards obey at once, their ingrained obedience to command taking over, having previously been soldiers themselves. He hears one guard whisper to the others, "That's him. The one I told you about. He trained the King! Did you see his sword? I was there when he got it. The Turks were terrified of him and called him The English Demon." The guards stare at this English Demon and take a further step back.
Robin snarls at the helpless man lying on the dirt before him, "My brother doesn't want me to kill you and has stopped me before. He's just too kind hearted but I'm not. You, the Sheriff, and Prince John are a blight on this country and I should kill you." Robin slowly withdraws his sword from Gisborne's throat. Gisborne regains his defiance knowing he's not going to die. Robin sees the defiance return to Gisborne's face.
Robin fiercely, "But you deserve to suffer for the unimaginable torture, torment, and pain that you put my brother and I through. Because of you I almost lost Marian forever and for that alone I should kill you. Because of you I almost lost everything I ever cared about." He thrusts his sword though Gisborne's side and deep into the dirt beneath then withdraws it, drawing dirt into the open wound.
Gisborne screams in pain and holds his side. Robin not letting him go just yet calls out loud enough for all around to hear, "That is for being a traitor for your attempted assassination of the King in the Holy Land!" He thrusts his sword through Gisborne's other side, again into the dirt, and withdraws it. Gisborne howls louder and grabs his other side. He can barely hear Robin through the searing pain. Robin still loudly, "And that is for trying to kill me in the Holy Land!" Robin wipes the blade on Gisborne's clothes then sheaths his sword and kneels next to him with one knee on his chest and removes a dagger from his belt. He holds it up, turning it so the sun reflects from its polished blade and its inscription, for Gisborne to see. Robin tries to hold back his internal hatred for this sadistic brutal man but it shows through and frightens Gisborne to his core. Much keeps the guards at bay by his mere presence, the sword helps.
Robin places the dagger menacingly up against Gisborne's throat leaving a bloody nick, "The King gave this dagger to Much." Much feels Robin's hatred of this evil man and feels what he is about to do, 'Robin No!' But the fierce indignation his brother feels towards the acts committed by this man prevents Robin from hearing.
His only thought; Revenge.
The vision of finding his brother, a heart's beat away from death, crumpled and shackled in agony on the feculent cold stone floor of the castle's dungeon, his ribs and fingers broken by the man below him haunts him. Robin growls, "You tortured Much almost killing him to get to me. You kidnapped him, stabbed him, and sold him to Prince Richard, to hurt him and me. I told you and the sheriff never to do that." Robin begins drawing the dagger down Gisborne's chest, "In the Holy Land it was part of our shameful duty in service to the King to torture the enemy to retrieve information, which we have done so to more men than I care to remember. It's just another one of our nightmares that we must endure but I never thought it would come in useful."
Robin continues drawing Much's dagger down Gisborne's chest, in between it and his clothing, the razor sharp double edged blade cutting through his clothes while leaving a bloody red trail leading from his neck to his jewels, he hesitates for just a moment as the heartrending memory of his beloved Marian lying, seemingly dead, from this man's dagger wound on the cave's cold ledge comes flooding back with all of its agonizing intensity, and with a single swift flick of his wrist severs one of them. Gisborne almost passes out from the added pain.
Much sways and presses his hand to his head in bewilderment as he experiences his brother's torment when he found him cowering on the dungeon floor after Gisborne's brutal administrations and his brother's aggrieved heartbreak when he felt that Marian was dead.
Robin with malice, "You are now only half a man as I know you always have been. You will remember this and tell your lover the Sheriff that we have other means to destroy you and him and if either of you so much as touches a hair on my brother or Marian's head again, I'll finish the job." With that Robin knocks Gisborne on the head with the end of the dagger effectively knocking him out then wipes the blade on Gisborne's tunic and stands up looking down on the man that stole his estate and his future, and takes a deep shuddering breath.
He turns to Much, and without emotion, "Let's go. We're finished here." Much lunges once more towards the guards, who take a frightened step backwards, threatening them, "You will not follow. We leave the fate of your master to you." He sheathes his sword and follows Robin running out the city gates.
After they disappear the guards rush over to Gisborne and stand over him staring. Gisborne, painfully coming to, hisses, "Get the doctor and take me to my room." The guards remain stupefied standing around him. Gisborne in painful anger, "NOW! Or I'll have all your families killed!" The guards jerk back and move in earnest. Four lift Gisborne, none to gently, and carry him to his room and unceremoniously toss him onto his bed then rush out. After a several minutes a disreputable doctor is at his side.
The doctor drunkenly comments, "You've been stabbed."
Gisborne sarcastically, "Genius! Do something!" The doctor leaves and returns with a bucket of water and rags and washes the two side wounds. He then sews up the two wounds haphazardly and removes Gisborne's hands from his groin then removes his breeches and examines the butchered scrotum. He reaches in and removes the severed testicle, "I'm afraid I cannot reattach this." and tosses it into the fire where it sizzles and pops quickly turning to ash. He takes his needle and sews up the ragged incision made by the dagger causing Gisborne to once again pass out from the pain. The doctor noticing that Gisborne has passed out, under his breath mutters, "You bastard." and resists the urge to spit into the wound but makes the stitches wide and varying for maximum scaring then leaves the Lord to his own devices not caring if the sorry excuse for a man lives or dies.
