Allan would have screamed when somebody suddenly grasped him as he walked through one of the castle's corridors if a hand had not closed his mouth to prevent it.
His attacker dragged him into an empty room and closed the door before letting him go and be seen.
"Archer! Are you crazy? You scared me to death!"
"Lower your voice."
"What's up?"
Archer looked at him, worried.
"How is Guy?"
"Still unconscious. He lost a lot of blood, but the wound looks clean. If it doesn't get infected, he shouldn't be in danger. The healer gave him something for the pain, for this he has not yet woken up. But you could have asked me even without scaring me to death."
"Allan, I don't have much time and you have to listen to me, it's important. Did the healer say if he can be moved?"
"I don't know, but I think so. The wound has been stitched, there shouldn't be any problems. Why do you ask?"
"Then make sure to take him away from the castle as soon as possible."
"We can bring him home, but why such a hurry?"
"No, not to Locksley or even to Knighton. I was in the Black Knights meeting room and I heard Thornton giving instructions to one of his servants: they're going to kill Guy."
Allan paled.
"What?! And didn't you arrest him?!"
"I wasn't supposed to be there. If the sheriff discovered that I had entered that room in secret, he could accuse me of treason. And if Thornton has free access to it, it means he must have become one of the Black Knights."
"Why were you there? And anyway if Thornton is in league with the sheriff, Vaisey should have warned him: if Giz dies suspiciously, his confession will be handed over to the king and for the Black Knights it will be the end."
"Guy is wounded, and they all saw how it happened. If he were to die from a sudden fever there would be nothing suspicious, he wouldn't be the first knight to die of infection or for having lost too much blood." Archer looked at Allan, uncertain whether to answer the other question of the young man, then he decided to be honest. "I was there to find out the sheriff's intentions to report them to Guy and Robin."
"Did Giz ask you to do it?"
"No, but I wanted to help him anyway. It's less risky if I do it, rather than having him wandering around the castle dressed as the Nightwatchman."
"I thought you didn't want to compromise yourself."
"No, if I can avoid it. But that Thornton is dangerous, it's a threat to my brothers and even to Nottingham if he's going to ally with the sheriff. Better to find out his intentions. But we'll take care of it later, so far, take Guy to a safe place, at least until he has recovered. Now I have to go, wait a few minutes before leaving."

"Guy, I'm hungry!"
Gisborne wandered the streets of that city with dry eyes, but with a great desire to cry.
His sister's suffering lament continued to resonate in his mind and pushed him to move on, even though he had walked for so long that he felt a sharp pain in his leg.
He was cold and he too was hungry, but it would be enough for him to find enough food for Isabella. He could wait and he felt that he deserved to suffer the pangs of hunger. Isabella was innocent, she had done nothing wrong and she shouldn't be in that situation.
It was Guy's fault. It was he who set the fire that had killed their parents.
"Mother..." He whispered. "Forgive me..."
He clung to his cloak, which had once been worthy of a young nobleman and was now little more than a worn rag, and he scratched his neck, irritated by the rough cloth of the clothes he wore. His old clothes, of much better quality, didn't fit him anymore and he had traded them for those peasant clothes and some food.
In those years of misery he had grown further and he was forced to adapt to any kind of job in order to provide for Isabella, but at that moment his only wish was to be able to go back to his childhood and feel the reassuring voice of his mother telling him not to worry about anything because she would take care of everything.
He approached a house and knocked on the door, asking if there was any work for him, but the woman who had opened looked at him menacingly and drove him away badly.
Guy slid to the ground, defeated and leaned his head on his knees. He couldn't go back to Isabella and tell her that he had found nothing, he couldn't bear her disappointed look.
Sometimes Guy had the feeling that his sister hated him, that she held him responsible for their suffering. Deep inside, he knew that was the truth, but to think he was hated by the only person he still had was too terrible to bear.
He sat at the corner of that road for a long time, surrounded by foreign voices who spoke in a language that wasn't his own and he only wished he could go home, that there was a house waiting for him.
Then a man dressed in elegance had stopped in front of him and spoke to him in a soothing tone. He had offered him food and Guy had taken it without asking questions, even though the mysterious man had no face. He had run to Isabella and had given her everything, happy to see her eat with gusto, then his sister had put her hands to her throat and started to cough as if she couldn't breathe.
She had collapsed on the ground with her eyes wide open in terror.
"What did you give me, Guy?" She had gasped, pointing at him with an accusing finger. "You killed me, and it's all your fault..."
Then she died and her glassy eyes continued to accuse him.

Guy woke up screaming and he tried to get up, but a sharp stab of pain in his leg caught his breath, and someone held him back, forcing him to lie down.
"No, Isabella! No!" Guy shouted, trying to free himself, but he didn't have the strength to fight.
A gentle hand stroked his forehead, brushing his hair from his face and a sweet voice talked to him.
"It's all right, keep calm, it was just a nightmare."
Guy managed to focus on the face of the woman who had spoken to him and finally he recognized her.
"Adeline?"
The woman wiped his face with a wet towel to freshen him up and continued to stroke his hair reassuringly.
"Don't worry, Guy. You have been wounded, but you will recover soon. You just have to have patience and rest."
Gisborne looked at her.
"Isabella! She... She was dead... Because of me..."
"It was just a dream, it wasn't real. Now drink this, it will ease the pain and allow you to rest."
Guy shook his head, almost in tears.
"I don't want to sleep. I don't want to go back to that nightmare..."
Adeline kissed him on the forehead and put a hand on his chest, as if her touch could soothe the accelerated beat of his heart and his labored breath.
"I am here. I will sing for you and bad dreams will not touch you. As I used to do. Do you remember it, my baby?"
Guy nodded weakly and he let Adeline to bring a bowl to his lips.
"Where is Isabella?" He asked weakly after drinking. "I have to talk to her... I have to ask her forgiveness..."
Adeline stroked his cheek.
"Later, dear. Now rest. Close your eyes and sleep."
Guy tried to resist sleep. He had to see his sister and tell her how sorry he was for leaving her in Thornton's hands for so long, but he felt too weak and the medicine he'd just drank was starting to take effect.
He closed his eyelids with a sigh as Adeline began to sing one of his childhood songs, holding his hand.
He was tired, terribly tired, but he had to wake up and talk to Isabella, he thought, then he sank into a dreamless sleep.

Marian smiled as she realized that Seth, curled up in her lap, had fallen asleep.
She stroked the child's dark hair and thought that he must be tired after forcing Allan to play with him all afternoon. The young man certainly looked exhausted, sprawled in an armchair by the fireplace with a mug of wine in his hand.
"Do you think he'll be alright?" She asked him in a low voice not to wake Seth.
"Giz is strong and the wound is healing well. Give him a few days and he will be as good as new."
"It's not the wound that worries me. He keeps calling Isabella in his sleep, how will he take it when he finds out she's left with her husband?"
Allan shook his head.
"Not well, I'm afraid. But it wasn't possible to prevent it: she is married to that man, she is forced to obey him. Better if Giz doesn't know it for the moment."
Marian moved one arm to make Seth sleep more comfortably and she sighed.
"What do you think Guy meant when he told her he didn't know? What didn't he know?"
"I have no idea. That Thornton must have told him something while they were fighting, something that upset him. I had never seen him react like this, with such ferocity. He scared me, I thought he was going to get killed or that he would slaughter him."
Marian nodded with a shiver.
"Do you think Archer is right? That Thornton could really try to kill Guy?"
"I don't know, but it's better not to risk it. The sheriff doesn't know about this place, here they will never find him and anyway Adeline is taking care of him in the best way. I do not know how she can do it, really. She manages to take care of Giz and of his miniature copy and this could already make anyone lose patience. Then she manages the house and the lands that surround it, she takes care of educating both Thomas and Cedric, who has welcomed into his home as if he was another son, she keeps company to her father and in addition to all this she also prepares meals for everyone."
Marian smiled.
"It almost seems like you're ready to move here too."
Allan grinned.
"It might be worth it even just for her cooking."
The girl blushed and stared at the flames of the fireplace.
"In addition to everything you said, she managed to find some time to teach me how to cook a little better."
"Well, with you she starts from a good point."
"What do you mean?"
"For sure you can't get worse. Whatever she can teach you will still be an improvement."
Marian looked at him, offended, then both she and Allan turned anxiously as Adeline entered the room.
"How is Guy?" Marian asked and Adeline smiled at her, then she approached to pick up Seth.
"Go to him. Now he sleeps, but he was very agitated, it will do him good to feel your presence."
"Did he have nightmares again?"
"Yeah. Stay close to him, he needs you right now."
Marian wasted no more time and ran out of the room. In a moment she reached Guy's room and entered without making a noise so as not to disturb his rest.
Gisborne was fast asleep and the girl approached the bed.
"Everything will be fine." She whispered. "I love you, Guy. I love you so much..."
She lay down next to him, turning on her side to watch him sleep, then she took his hand and held it in hers, stroking it gently. Her fingers touched something soft tied around Guy's wrist and her eyes filled with tears in recognizing the velvet ribbon she had given him before the tournament.
Perhaps Adeline had detached it from the blood-stained chain mail, or maybe it was Allan, or perhaps it had been Gisborne himself at a time when he was conscious, but it didn't matter. That pledge of love had always remained close to Guy.
"I'm always with you. Always. Never forget it," Marian said quietly, then she remained silent to watch over his rest.