Wow, Chapter 9, I never thought this far ahead. Hehe. Hope you enjoy this chapter. As ever, please review =)
***
Alice had wept until she found she could cry no more.
Marian had gone home with her father soon after the messenger had left, and had managed a weak smile for Alice, before her face fell. Alice knew that she was wishing she was with Robin, rather than here, having to wait upon letters to bring her news. Alice kept up her facade in front of her mother, but as soon as she had escaped the Great Hall, she found she couldn't contain the horror and anguish that had filled her since the news had been announced.
Sir Guy of Gisborne is dead.
She flew into the forest, running as fast as she could and not stopping until her feet ached and every breath hurt her lungs and her eyes stung with tears. She had thrown herself down at the roots of an oak tree and huddled there, letting her misery wash over her.
It was the cold that drove her home in the end. After she had stopped crying, the bitterness in the air took hold and she remembered how numb her fingers were, and how much the wind made her shiver.
Now, as she gazed out the window onto the snow covered fields, close to the back of Marian's Manor House, she only felt a gnaw of sorrow tug at her heart, before she pulled herself firmly together.
The door burst open, jolting Alice from her revere, and Marian toppled in, her arms overflowing with clothes and a rough leather hold all.
'What on earth are you doing?' Alice couldn't conceal a short laugh as Marian dropped the bundle on the bed and retraced her steps across the room, retrieving the odd clothes that had gotten mislaid along the way.
'Packing.' Said Marian simply, an air of decision in her voice, that Alice had seldom heard before.
'Packing? Marian- packing? What for?' She stood up. 'What's going on?'
Marian fixed her with a long stare. 'I'm going.'
Alice took a moment to absorb this. 'Where? What are you talking about?'
When Marian didn't answer, she made her way round the bed. 'Is this about Robin?'
Marian held back a small gulp, and turned to her friend.
'I want to go to the Holy Land-'
'Not you too!'
'Alice- Robin might need me!'
'I'm sure Robin is quite alright, busy getting better by himself, in a man's world, doing things that men do when they're so far away from home.'
'A man's world? Who's to say it can't be a woman's too Alice?'
Alice was silent for a second.
'Can I come? Can I come with you?'
Marian was stunned. 'But- Guy...'
Alice glanced up at the ceiling and let the tears drain from her eyes at the mention of his name.
'Would not have wanted you to go alone.' She finished definitely. 'I'm coming.'
***
It had not been hard to persuade Alice's mother that a break from Locksley with Marian would be a good idea.
Her father's health had been deteriorating since the harsh winter had started, and Alice was sure she had been getting under her mother's feet during the weeks since the news on Christmas Day.
They had left in the early hours of the morning, paying the man who had been instructed to travel with them to Marian's Uncle south of London with the money Edward had given his daughter for the journey. What the man had done with it, neither girl knew. But they had been free to travel down to Portsmouth unhindered, except by the weather and the occasional unfriendly landlord.
Marian was wet, cold and very angry. She and Alice, had been wandering the dockyard for the past hour, trying to get passage on a ship bound for Messina, from where they could board another ship on to Acre and the Holy Land.
But so far, no luck.
All the Captains took one look at the two girls, and immediately found some excuse for not letting them aboard. Most of them, Alice thought, were pathetically weak and superstitious.
'There is nothing even remotely dangerous about having a woman on board a ship!' Marian was arguing loudly. The man was sticking obsoletely to his guns, his arms crossed across his chest, not budging.
'Urgh! I give up!' Marian turned angrily on the spot, and grabbed Alice's arm, pulling her back down the gangplank and onto the cobbles.
'Marian-' Alice had spotted a smaller vessel bobbing farther down the quay, and pointed towards it.
'Over there.'
They hurried over, nimbly avoiding the puddles and pools of salt water that laced the stones. The ship was smaller, a single wooden gangplank leading up the main deck, and its exposed boards in need of some attention.
'It looks a little- decrepit.' Marian stared with some apprehension at the ship, but Alice urged her on.
'Its the only one we haven't tried. We have to give it a go.'
Just then, something rammed hard into the back of Alice's legs, nearly toppling her over. A large, furry and slightly damp something bounded back round to face them.
'What-?' Marian stared at the grinning dog.
Footsteps on the paving behind Alice made her spin round on the spot.
A tall man, his red-blonde hair falling in wet strands across his face, and a dark traveling cloak wrapped about him, stood watching them.
'A little young to be out aren't we ladies?'
***
You were never far from the heat Guy found.
Even as he sat with his back to the wall, hands clenched in front of him, the cold of the stone seeping into him, the heat was still there. Almost a dull agony. A reminder of the corner he had driven himself into.
Mordred paced back and forth in front of him. Suddenly he stopped, and whipped round to face Guy.
'How much do you know about your father? I mean, really know?'
Guy was rather taken aback.
Ever since that first day, when he had woken up hanging from the ceiling of the underground chamber, his ankles bolted to the floor, and cuffs holding his wrists, he had been moved into this small room at the back of Amil Ak'Salib's palace. Nothing had been said to him, no human contact for what must have been a week. His meals twice a day pushed around the door, and let out morning and evening to relieve himself and quickly stretch his legs out in the corridor, before being escorted back into his 'cell' as he thought of it.
In truth, it was not anywhere near as bad as it could have been.
He had a window, high up on the wall, through which streamed sunlight late in the morning, and he could sometimes hear the call of unfamiliar birds. His ears ached for the song of the robin, or the shrill call of the blackbird. Sounds of England. Of home.
'Well?' Mordred asked impatiently.
Guy had been drifting.
'Nothing.' he said truthfully. What good would it do to lie? Guy could see no reason. He knew, nothing. Nothing about his family. Nothing of his father's life, or deeds. Truthfully, nothing.
Mordred, he could tell, was absorbing this information.
'So you don't know?' A flicker of a smirk played across his face. 'Not a thing?'
Guy felt the heat rising. No. He didn't know. But what the hell did it matter to this slimy bastard?
He took a deep breath.
'Nothing.' He said again, through gritted teeth.
'You'll be interested to hear then, that he was murdered.' Mordred's eyes gleamed.
Guy felt his gorge rise.
Why?
Why had Jacob never mentioned anything of his father?
Why had he never entrusted anything to Guy, never said anything?
'Who?' He managed to rasp out.
Mordred took a minute to answer, as if weighing up the options carefully.
'Your precious King Richard.'
Silence.
'Did you hear me?' Mordred asked.
'King Richard the Goddamned Lionheart, had your father murdered in cold blood.'
Guy shook silently.
'DAMN IT! DID YOU HEAR ME!' Mordred was suddenly furious, and Guy reacted the only way he thought he could.
He slammed his fist hard into the wall, not feeling the pain.
He was breathing raggedly, trying to control the surge of hatred that had risen up inside him.
Mordred was watching, his eyes still blazing, but inside he was crowing with glee.
It had been so easy. So easy to make him that angry, that fast. And through it all, Mordred had barely had to bat an eyelid. Besides, he enjoyed shouting
Guy had finished punching the wall, and turned back to Mordred, eyes fiery.
But Mordred had not finished yet.
'Your father was branded a traitor.' He said, in a disturbingly quiet voice. After his outburst, it was almost more threatening than his yelling. 'So he had him murdered, and left your mother to die of a broken heart.'
Guy's jaw clenched, the muscles on his neck taught and his hands balled into fists, ignoring the pain from broken knuckles where he had cracked them into the wall.
'So what do you want Guy?' Mordred watched the man almost warily.
Guy took a moment to answer, as if swallowing his fury down into himself, to let it burn at his core.
'I want my father's revenge.'
***
Oooh! What shall happen to Marian and Alice?? And what is Guy going to do to exact his revenge? Will Mordred get his evil way?
For Chapter 10 you shall have to wait. =)
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It makes me very happy!
Also, thanks again to Emma
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