II.6 For England…!
Hell Hath No Fury Like
Today the Sheriff woke up and plotted to kill the King, today he brought the entire conspiracy to Nottingham to sign a Pact, and you could not ignore that. Today you will try to kill him, Nottingham be damned. The whole shire will die for the Pact given their name. Everything is a choice.
Allen was the first to die. The first you chose to die. So he went to Sir Guy, and offered his considerable services. At first Gisborne told Allen he was only a forcefully retired spy, but that was never true. Because the whole reason Guy recruited him was because he was never only a hero; he has never been only one thing in his entire life. He is a conman, and a damn good one even before you. And now he's on the side trying to unleash Hell. What else can a dead man do? Everything is a choice.
Richard of Stoke is dead. A name that sounds like the King's and should have been the one to save the King. Gisborne told Winchester, who told Knighton, who told Locksley. Allen's tombstone will read: Richard of Stoke is dead. Which will be chiseled soon if he doesn't stop stepping into the Sheriff's chambers at just the wrong moment.
It's been a year since Guy first placed his ring on Marian's finger. The King's birthday, when his nobles gather to commit to his regicide. For their anniversary, Sir Guy asks for a date. He's not alone. He wasn't last time either. For old time's sake, you drop in from the ceiling once he leaves the room. But there's an older love triangle at work here. One you might have learnt from.
Winchester was listed among the Black Knights, and Marian thought it must be a mistake. He was once a friend of her father, his best friend. But he loved her mother as well. And the woman who gave birth to the Night Watchman chose the dopey but devoted Sir Edward. They were boys together, but only until they met a girl. Katherine was her name. So like Marian the sight of her stopped Winchester in his tracks, as it does Edward every day.
Politics hath no fury like a man passed over for his former best mate. Thank God Much never liked Marian. Because Winchester played you like a fiddle (that conceals a dagger) and gloated to the man who bested him in love. His cruelest ploy was not duping you to the Black Knights or demanding all of Sussex from the Sheriff with the chips you dealt him; it was when he leaned close and whispered to Edward in his prison, "If I couldn't have the mother…"
And you can pretend this isn't about choosing Richard over Marian all you like, claiming you'll spring them from jail, but you are. Because Sir Guy tried to warn and rescue her, and then he went after her when Winchester hauled her away. While you were writing letters and sneaking into the secret chambers of the treacherous. Everything is a choice, and these are important. They're about stopping Hell.
Will made his own penance, for murder, in the Forest. He made weapons into musical instruments. A fitting penance for a man who went mad with violence and took the risk you're about to for the smallest Locksley yet. Something beautiful and brilliant, he made with his hands, and Djaq called him both, making him smile. The first smile we've seen since Dan. It got you into the castle. So you could act a fool. The only thing worse than casually faking your own death is casually accepting it.
You failed, of course, your attempt to kill everyone in the room. A hell of a coming out party for your newfound ability to murder. They put you up on a thin plank and made you fight Allen. Over boiling pitch. Oh yes, Allen died at your order and went straight to hell. Is it any wonder he wanted to knock you off your high and mighty perch? For you, the bigger torture was seeing Marian chained to the man who wasn't even good enough for her mother.
When the Sheriff ordered music to your death, your gang fought you out of the mess again with Will's penance. Little John spared Allen's life but screamed and left him in Hell as you burned everything in the pitch. Why kill him? He was already dead.
And Sir Guy was going absolutely insane. Because he couldn't protect his new man, his prize stolen from Hood, any more than he could save his renewed love, the prize stolen from him by Hood. He reinforced his choice of power and the Sheriff, but it cost him nearly everything. But at the last second he had a reprieve. The Sheriff sent him after Marian, and Allen lived to betray you for him another day. So many nearly died today – everyone nearly died today. It was the Sheriff who granted the reprieve, by outplaying Winchester as you honorable men could not. In the end it was only Winchester, by his order, and Allen, by yours. Much was looking desperately for the good bit, and that was it: hell only took two souls on the day it plotted to overrun the kingdom.
But you said goodbye, when you thought it would be your last chance, and placed your hope of a life with her in the promise of the next one. And you knew it might be a promise, but you didn't know it would outlive the current difficulty. And you were willing, in the end, to choose Richard over Marian and England over not just Locksley but all of Nottingham. But it was to her you left the defending of the Forest, the country, and the King. To your better half. Your last order to your gang was to save her.