Guy closed his eyes, burying his face in his hands, feeling empty and exhausted.
He didn't know what to think or what to do, and he wished that he could just curl in a corner and fall asleep, forgetting everything else.
But he knew that he couldn't. Allan, whom he had believed dead, was right there, Marian had run away, crying and upset, and surely Matilda was waiting for him at the camp and she would get worried if he didn't come back after sunset.
"Hey, Giz? So, what have you been up to?"
Gisborne struggled to keep calm and to answer Allan's question.
"Didn't Marian tell you?"
Allan shrugged.
"She barely talks. At first I tried to ask her about the others, but she never answered, she just wept, so I supposed they were all dead. It was a surprise to hear your voice!"
"Don't tell me about surprises," Guy said, with a low, joyless laugh.
Allan grinned, then he became deadly serious. Guy thought that he had never seen him looking so somber.
"So, Giz, can you tell me what Marian won't say? Are they all dead? Do you know what happened to them?"
"I can't remember what happened during the siege, but some of your friends are still alive."
"Not all of them, right?"
Guy began shaking his head, then he remembered that Allan couldn't see him.
"No, not all of them."
"Who survived and who died?"
"Djaq and Little John are alive, while the servant and the other boy aren't."
"Much and Will are dead?"
Guy nodded, cursed himself for his stupidity and forced himself to answer aloud.
"Yes," he said, then he noticed that Allan was pained in hearing those news, and he awkwardly tried to comfort him. "I am sorry."
Allan wiped his eyes with a sleeve, and shook his head.
"No, you're not, you don't even know their names, but thanks for trying to be kind to me."
Guy sighed.
"The sheriff is dead too." He added, not sure if it could make Allan feel better or not.
The other frowned.
"Well, that was the point of it all, wasn't it? If the sheriff were still alive, Prince John's army wouldn't have attacked us."
"Guess so."
"But I don't know how he died. Not for natural causes, I suppose. You knew, I think, but there was no time to talk about it during the siege."
"I can't remember."
"What about Robin? You told me about the gang, but you didn't mention him. Is he alive?"
"Sort of."
"What do you mean?"
Guy told him that Robin was alive, but out of his mind, and that Matilda had to keep him drugged or tied all the time to avoid he could hurt himself.
Allan couldn't believe it, but he knew that Gisborne wasn't a liar, so it had to be true.
"How do you know for sure? You make it sound as if you have seen him..."
"I have. I've been living at the outlaw's camp since Matilda took me there to treat my wounds."
"Unbelievable… And Marian said nothing of all this..."
They both kept silent for a while, then Allan sighed.
"Giz? Will you come back to talk to me sometimes? I'm grateful to Marian for saving me, but she's not much company. I'm always here, trapped in this room, day after day… You don't have to come often, just once in a while, to talk for a few moments, so I'll have something new to think about when I'm alone..."
Guy stared at him, in shock.
"I'm not leaving you here! Who knows when Marian will come back!"
"I have food and water and I can add wood to the fire if I'm cold, I'll be alright. After all she's rarely here. When she leaves I'm afraid that someday she won't come back, but till now she always did..."
"Apart from your sight, are you wounded? Can you walk?"
"Since I've been wounded, I only walked inside this room, but I'm well enough, I think."
"Then come with me."
"At the camp?" Allan hesitated. "They'll send me away."
"I don't think so. Matilda wouldn't allow that, and maybe she could help you. Maybe there's a cure for your eyes..."
"Giz..."
"What?"
"I think you are wrong, but thanks anyway."
"Will you come?"
Guy hated his own pleading tone, but it seemed very important to him that Allan came at the camp, even if he couldn't explain why he wanted it so much when all his other feelings were so numb.
"If this doesn't work, will you take me back here?"
"It will work."
Allan grinned.
"What are you waiting for, then? Help me packing!"

"You never talked about pushing a cart all the way there..." Allan panted, out of breath. "And then what's on this cart? Did you pack the whole Locksley?"
Guy stopped for a moment, exhausted too. He had been pulling the handcart, while Allan pushed it.
"Our dinner: a very big boar. And I filled a trunk with a few pots and my clothes. Could you believe that some of them didn't burn in the fire? It will be nice to wear something clean without having to wait for my clothes to dry..."
"Marian has been hoarding everything she could find in the village or in the manor. I'm not sure why, but her 'finds' where the only things she gladly talked about. Talking about a half burnt pair of breeches wasn't so exciting, but hey, better than nothing, don't you think?"
Allan touched the load of the cart to feel how big the boar actually was, and he grinned touching a metallic surface.
"Giz, what's this? It seems a sort of shield."
Guy blushed glancing at the yellow and black shield he had loaded on the cart: it was useless in the forest and it was just more weight on the handcart, but he couldn't help taking it with them. It had the coat of arms of his family on it and he didn't want to leave it behind.
"We're almost there," Guy said, to change subject, then he looked around, not so sure anymore, "I think..."
"You think? Giz, are you sure you know the way to the camp?"
"It's the first time I got so far from the camp, and it was Marian who led me to Locksley. But I'm sure we're almost there."
"Oh, well. We're lost."
"We are not lost."
"Do you know the way to the camp?"
"I'm sure I can find it."
"Look Giz, I'm blind, you don't know the way… Admit it: we're lost."
Guy rolled his eyes, annoyed.
"Fine! But we'll get there, eventually. For now we have food, we have water and we have blankets, even if we should spend a night here it won't be so terrible."
"And if it rains, we can always use your shield to cover our heads."
Guy snorted in frustration.
"Very funny, Allan," he growled, and the other man grinned.
"I wasn't complaining, Giz. Being lost in the forest with a friend is still much better than being all alone in the same room day after day."

"I knew we couldn't trust him."
Little John hit the ground with his staff, as to stress his words, but Matilda crossed her arms in front of her, resolute.
"I'm sure he didn't betray us! If he isn't here something must be happened. We should be searching for him, instead of listening to this nonsense!"
"He could reveal the position of the camp!"
"Why should he? And then who could be interested in it? The county is still half destroyed, the new sheriff surely has better things to do than arresting a few outlaws who didn't even rob anyone in the last few months!"
Rosa glanced at Matilda, lulling her child. She couldn't help being worried, Gisborne still scared her a little, but she also trusted her mother, and Matilda was sure that the knight wouldn't betray them. So she just didn't intervene while her mother and Little John were glaring at each other.
It was Djaq who spoke next.
"He was with Marian," she said, quietly.
"With her?!" Little John growled, while Matilda frowned.
"What were they doing?"
"Hunting. It's a few days that they go hunting together in the forest."
"Why didn't you tell us?!" John asked, his face dark.
Djaq shrugged.
"Matilda knew, and they weren't doing anything wrong."
"We can't trust neither of them!"
Matilda looked at Djaq, worried.
"When did you see them last?"
"This morning, when Gisborne went to hunt. I saw him meeting her in the forest, and then they went away."
"Guy should be back by now," Matilda said, worried. "I'm going to search for him."
"What about Robin?!" John asked, angrily. "You can't abandon him to search for Gisborne!"
"Robin is sleeping, I gave him a remedy just a moment ago, and you can watch him. I understand that you aren't going to help me to find Guy, so you can stay at the camp."
The healer took a dagger, put it on her belt, then she grabbed a torch and she went out of the camp.
Djaq moved to follow her, but she stopped for a moment, noticing Little John's dark face.
She gave him a little shrug.
"I can't let her go alone in the forest at night. And Gisborne and Marian could actually be in trouble. I know what you think of them, but we can't abandon them if they are in danger."
The girl went after Matilda and Little John shook his head, disapprovingly, then he went behind the curtain to sit next to Robin Hood's bed.
Rosa held Alice close to her heart, and she sighed, worried. She hated when the people around her were angry or when they fought.
She thought of her husband, away to fight a war, for a king they didn't even know, and she wondered if he was still alive and if he'd ever come back to her.
"My little one," she said, cuddling the baby, "I wish we could all live in peace, we suffered too much already. Too much."