The outlaws, plus Guy and the small girl, came back to the camp. The sack was roughly taken off of Guy's head, his long black locks flung about his face as his eyes, for the first time, beheld a sight that he had for so long hoped to see. It was different than he had expected. It was not just a small lean-to with a fire pit and rolled blankets. It was much more of a house than many of the huts in Nottingham itself. There looked to be another two rooms attached to this building, with the open floor plan holding the kitchen, a small sitting area around a fire pit, and off to the side were four bunk beds.
His thoughts were quickly broken as he watched Little John carry Valeria to one of the vacant rooms. It appeared to be a medicinal room as roots and herbs dangled from the ceiling, their fragrances mingling together and proceeding to nearly choke Guy's throat. As soon as John had placed the girl upon a small bed in the left corner of the room, Guy was by her side, leaning over her and checking for any sign of change. He felt a large hand on his shoulder and flinched, the muscles in his neck bulging. He turned around abruptly to see the black man known as Tuck standing over him.
"Would you allow me to observe her, my son?" The 'friar' asked gently. As much as Guy wished to refuse, he knew he could not. After all, hadn't this been the only reason he had come to the outlaw camp in the first place? To help the young maiden? He nodded and stood up, only to watch over Tuck's every move, like a dog watching over its kill.
Tuck began by inspecting the gash upon her head. He noticed that it was not deep and that much of the blood had been dried. However, there was still some that continued to ooze out. He looked at Gisborne, "It is not a bad cut, but it continues to bleed and will not seem to clot. I must stitch the wound or she may risk a brain injury." He seemed to be asking, rather than telling Guy what he must do.
Guy nodded his permission and the friar removed a needle and thread from his cloak. He began to stitch the folds of Valeria's skin together, careful to do so as tightly as possible without allowing the skin to bulge. When he had finished, Tuck cut the thread and took a step back to appraise his work. Seemingly satisfied, he nodded his head and grunted. "That should hold. The stitches will come out within a couple of days."
"Then, if everything is fine," Guy said with impatience, "Why hasn't she woken up yet?"
Tuck shook his head. "Her body is tired, mentally and physically. She will need sufficient rest before she awakens." Just as he turned to leave, he heard a gentle breath and turned to see the young girl. Her eyelids were fluttering open. Her eyes clouded with emotion as she looked all about her and recognized nothing. Then, her eyes caught Guy's. He seemed pleased and elated and this made her more confused.
Guy understood and he walked up to her and placed his palm on her hand. "It is alright, Valeria. You are safe. Rest now. You will feel much better after you have slept awhile." The girl seemed to relax considerably, much to Guy's and Tuck's own confusion, and her eyelids drooped and her breathing slowed, but this time in a state of sleep and not unconsciousness. Guy blew a sigh of relief.
Tuck went to clap the tall man on his shoulder but decided against it at the last moment. "She will be just fine. How 'bout some soup? It's near dinnertime and I think that you need rest just as much as she."
Guy wanted to refuse. Really, realllllly wanted to refuse but his head seemed to nod against his will as he suddenly felt incredibly fatigued, starving, and exhausted. Tuck led him out of the room and into the front of the camp, surrounded by an open canopy of blue sky. Guy felt a chill in the air and realized that dusk was indeed before them all. He looked to the fire which he greatly desired to sit down at. But Robin was there. The last thing he needed was a confrontation with his enemy. Guy rubbed the bridge of his nose and inhaled to relax himself. Already, he felt himself becoming tenser than he had humanly thought possible.
Allan motioned to him and smiled sheepishly, his face red, "Come on, Giz! Don't be sour. We've got some food and a little ale. Somethin' to make yourself feel your old brooding ways again!" Allan's shoulders shrunk away as Guy growled menacingly at him. Nevertheless, Guy took a seat by this a'Dale, the very same one who had betrayed him after Guy had foolishly believed him to be a friend.
Much came up and pushed the plate of food into Guy's hands. This manservant seemed to be extremely malicious towards the newcomer as he shot an angry look at the man in black before returning to the pot to serve the rest of the men.
Guy felt eyes boring into him as he looked across the fire to see Robin sitting down. The brown eyes were glaring at him and his lips were sunk low in a thoughtful frown.
"What's the matter, Hood?" Guy growled again. He took a spoonful of the meal and found it to be quite good—- for food in an outlaws' camp.
Robin seemed surprised that Guy had been the first to break the silence between them. He shrugged and looked back down at his plate before taking a bite and looking back at Gisborne. "Just wonderin' some things."
"Like what?" Guy raised an eyebrow as his eyes glinted with hate or the fire, none of the other outlaws could tell.
"Oh, lots of different things. You've already cleared up the story about why you are not dead like everyone presumes. But why did I find you in Sherwood Forest, and with an unconscious girl who had been given a large gash on her head?"
Guy shook his head and refused to answer. Robin shifted in his seat and grinned defiantly, "Will you not share the stories of the great Guy of Gisborne?" When Guy refused to answer and concentrated on his meal, Robin continued, "What happened to the girl, Gisborne?" Guy shook his head. Robin repeated his question.
"It is none of your business, Hood!" Guy shouted with warning.
Robin did not heed this warning and insisted on asking a third time, "What happened to the girl?!"
Guy looked up and threw the plate into the fire before jumping to his feet, "Her head hit hard against the leg of a table! That's what happened!" Guy's expression and tone changed considerably as he began to calm down just a bit. "She hit her head after a beam came crashing down from the ceiling. I pushed her out of the way and she hit her head."
"And why were the beams crashing down?" Robin asked more softly as he noticed the change in Guy. He could almost see remorse in those deep blue eyes.
Guy looked up at Robin and the gang, "I was angry and I wasn't thinking. I knocked over a candle. I-I wasn't thinking. I didn't know what I was doing. I got mad at her for saving me and it cost her her own home. She saved my life and I-I repaid her by," Guy sighed, "By nearly taking hers instead." He looked back up at Robin, "Are you satisfied that now you know?" He spoke with vehemence, but Robin did not answer, nor did anyone else. They just stared at him with either blank or confused eyes.
Guy shook his head and turned away, "Forget it." He then disappeared into the room where Valeria was still fast asleep. He sat down on the floor beside her bed and fell asleep. Utter fatigue washing over him like a raging river of exhaustion. And he welcomed the quiet... the quiet without dreams.
XxxxXXxxXXxxXX
Guy awoke to the sound of the distant birds' chirping and the ray of sunshine coming through the window. For a moment, he thought that the past two days had been nothing but a horrible dream, and he thought that maybe he was still in Valeria's home, just waking to the start of a new day. But then he felt the hard reality hit him, it was almost as hard as the floor beneath. He was in the outlaws' camp. He had spent the night in the same place as Robin Hood and his gang. Suddenly, Guy's mood had once again become sour as he stretched his cramped muscles and walked out into the cheery morning. But it was not cheery to him. He noticed that all of the bunks were empty and that the camp seemed to be also empty. All except for one man who sat with his back against the wall of the camp, hands folded behind his head, a cheesy smile plastered on his face.
"Good morning, Gisborne," Robin called to the man clad in black.
Guy knew that his enemy was being far from kind. He could detect the faint sound of mocking. He stared daggers into Robin, not daring to turn his back away, "Where is everyone else, Hood?"
"Out delivering this week's worth of money to the villages." Robin's grin just became wider as he saw Guy's eyes go from disappointment to disgust.
"And yet you still remain?"
Robin nodded and stood up.
Guy looked confused, "Why? Why not leave someone else behind?"
Robin walked up to Guy and smiled, "Because I wanted the opportunity to do this personally." Before Guy could fully discern what Robin Hood meant, the outlaw punched Gisborne hard in the mouth. Guy bit his tongue and tasted blood as he glared at Robin.
"I know I am going to regret asking this, but..." Guy straightened his legs and began to walk towards Robin, glaring angrily, "What the hell was that for?"
"Shall I count the things?!" Robin mocked but his tone of jest was slowly slipping into a chasm of wrath. Guy knew it and it made him smirk.
"Really? And what happens if I do this?" He then swung at Robin's stomach and sent the outlaw sprawling back, trying desperately to stay on his two feet. Robin groaned in pain but looked at Guy and chuckled.
"Then, I will just have to do this!" Robin began to barrel towards Guy at high speed, ready to knock the man in black off of his feet and to the ground. But before he could, he saw a flash of gray and red and he stopped just in time to be inches away from a girl with fiery curls, dishevelled from sleep. Her eyes flashed in anger and she held her hands out to stop the attack on Guy. Robin seemed startled but he backed away from the girl.
Guy placed his hands on her hips and spun her around before releasing his hands. "What is the matter?" He wondered if he would be able to understand her but her eyes communicated enough as she proceeded to point at both him and Robin, arms flailing angrily. Guy nodded. "I understand. We will not fight any longer."
"Now, hold up," Robin began as he advanced upon the two, "This fight has been put off for far too long-" before he could think, he felt a small hand slap into his face and he bit back a shout. This girl—that woman had just hit him. But something in her warning gaze made him nervously aware of his being outnumbered and he surrendered with a shrug of his shoulders as he sat down by the fire pit.
Valeria turned back towards Guy as he bid her do so that he might inspect her wound. His fingers delicately trailed paths over the stitches. She winced momentarily before she found herself lost in his blue eyes, and just like that night which seemed so far away, she became captivated by them and even moved closer towards his touch. Guy noticed and not willing to give into feeling like he had before, he coldly dropped his hand and nodded. "Seems to be healing just fine." He averted his gaze from her eyes. He found that her silence was not indeed real. Her eyes spoke her emotions more vividly than even her voice could. "You should go back inside the room. There is a basin of water. Refresh yourself, wipe away the blood, comb those curls. You will feel much better." For just as he had turned his face away from hers he had caught the faint glisten of a tear. He hoped that it was only because of her distressed state of having just been forced to leave her home and now being in a new and strange place.
The girl walked past him but he stopped her with his voice. "Valeria. You do know where we are, right?"
Valeria looked up at him and nodded before entering her bedroom and shutting the door behind her.
Guy turned back to Robin who had been observing the whole discourse. He seemed relaxed but Guy was far from feeling that way. "So what really is going on between you two?"
Guy was taken aback by that question before he shook his head. "Nothing," he replied as he looked back at the door, "I feel a responsibility to look after her, poor thing. She has done so much for me and I have repaid her by burning down her home and nearly killing her. I will see that she is settled in the village and then I will leave her."
"She is a mute?"
Guy nodded and Robin sighed, "I thought as much."
Guy's attention turned to Robin and he crossed his arms. "That is something I have been wanting to ask since came her yesterday." Robin looked confusedly back at Guy as he continued, "It was only after Little John told you who she was that you agreed to help us. I know nothing of her. Who is she?"
"Well, you obviously know her name." Robin chuckled and Guy wondered if the outlaw was letting down his guard, even ever so slightly. "But I do not believe that you should hear her story from me." Nope. Good-natured Robin was gone once again and replaced by a man of stone.
Guy shook his head and smirked, "Too bad she is a mute." Robin nodded and looked at the ground, "Hood," Guy commanded with authority, "I deserve to know."
Robin's head shot up, "Oh, do you?" He spit. "You deserve no such thing!"
"If I am to better take care of her, then I must!" Guy replied hotly before quieting his voice so that Valeria would not hear. "She told me that she has not been a mute for all of her life." Guy sat down across from his former enemy. "What happened to make her so?"
I know...kill me now. I am sorry for leaving you at that cliffhanger but the next chapter should be up by Wednesday so stay tuned to figure out who Valeria really is.
