Marian was worried when the soldiers entered the house, but she glanced at Guy and she noticed that he looked outright frightened: his face was as white as a sheet, and he was trembling.
She moved closer to him, and she searched for his hand. The knight jumped at her touch, but his fingers tightened around hers.
Beatrice looked at the guards, afraid, but not intimidated.
"What could the sheriff of Nottingham want from a simple woman? I paid my taxes in time last month."
The leader of the soldiers, a young man with blonde hair, answered.
"The sheriff came to know that you are hiding a noble, sir Guy of Gisborne, in your house. The sheriff demands to see him."
Two soldiers approached Guy, and they grabbed his arms.
"No!" Guy howled in fear, trying to resist, but the guards dragged him outside.
"No! Let him go!" Marian cried, then, seeing that they weren't going to set him free, she followed them. "I'm coming too."
"We only have orders to take Sir Guy with us."
"I'm a noble too, Lady Marian of Knighton, the sheriff will see me as well."
The leaders of the soldiers shrugged.
"As you wish."
Even if they were close to the castle, the soldiers made Guy enter into a closed wagon, and Marian followed him inside, then the door was closed and locked from the outside.
As soon as they were alone, the girl hurried to kneel on the floor of the vehicle and to hug Guy, who had collapsed, shaking in fear. She held him close, trying to soothe his panic, and to comfort him.
"It's not the old sheriff, don't worry, this one won't hurt us. We did nothing wrong, he has no reason to punish us."
Guy forced himself to take deep breaths, trying to calm down. He felt ashamed to show his fear in front of Marian, but he couldn't help it.
"I... I'm sorry..."
"No need to. It's alright, I'm here. I won't let anyone to hurt you."
Gisborne sighed, calming down a little.
"I'm not afraid of that. Not really. It... it was when they knocked at the door..."
The girl looked at him, understanding immediately what he meant.
"It was exactly like the moment when sir Jasper went to tell us that Nottingham was going to be destroyed..."
Guy nodded, and Marian kissed his cheek.
"I was there, with you, remember? And we're together again."
Gisborne closed his eyes, burying his face against her neck and breathing in her scent. It was reassuring and slowly his panic faded away.
"Marian? What do you know about this new sheriff?" He asked after a while.
"Not much, I haven't been to Nottingham very often. All I know is that he is working to rebuild the town and the villages and that people say that he didn't hang anyone so far."
"Well, let's hope we're not the first ones."
The wagon came to a halt, and the soldiers opened the door. Guy noticed that they were in the courtyard of the castle, and he shuddered. Last time he had been there, Allan was lying on the ground with his head cracked open and Guy had been sure that they were all going to die.
Memories of the siege, and from before, were everywhere at the castle, and Gisborne was afraid that he couldn't bear them. But Marian was there, still holding his hand, so he forced himself to hide his fear, to set aside his panic, and they walked into the castle together, escorted by the soldiers.
They lead them to the great hall, a route that Guy had followed thousands of times when he worked for Vaisey, until that last time, when they were surrounded by Prince John's soldiers.
When they entered the room, Guy could almost see all the blood again, on the walls, on the wooden floor, streaming down the stairs. He stopped, and he closed his eyes for a moment as a wave of nausea passed over him, but when he opened them again, there was no blood at all.
The hall had been thoroughly cleaned, and the boards of the floor were shiny and new, replacing the old ones, too soaked with blood to be saved.
The sheriff was sitting on the chair that once had belonged to Vaisey, but the man looked completely different from his predecessor: he was a few years younger than Vaisey, and he was a tall and wiry man, with a mane of dark hair, just beginning to turn grey.
His gaze was piercing, but calm, the gaze of a men who was rarely in doubt, but who was used to ponder before acting.
The soldiers escorted Guy and Marian to the centre of the hall, then they retreated to the sides of the room. Guy was very nervous, but he noticed that those guards seemed to be more efficient than the old ones.
The sheriff looked at him, glancing briefly at Marian.
"So you are Sir Guy of Gisborne."
Guy straightened his back, trying to look more confident than he really was.
"Yes, my lord."
"We believed that you had died when the town was razed to the ground. Where have you been until now? Didn't you think that it was your duty as Master of Arms to report to the castle?"
"I've been seriously wounded, my lord."
"You look healthy enough now, but I had to find out that you were still alive and in town from the brainless chatter of a bunch of women! My soldiers reported to me that those gossips where talking about you, saying that you were hiding into the house of one of them. And it seems that they were right!"
Gisborne didn't know what to answer, and before he could reply, Marian intervened.
"Guy is still unwell, my lord. His wounds healed, but he's still suffering..."
"I believe that Sir Guy is well enough to answer my questions without a mediator. By the way, who are you, my lady?"
"I'm lady Marian of Knighton. My father, sir Edward, had been sheriff until sheriff Vaisey took his place." Her voice broke. "He... he has been killed before the siege."
The sheriff looked at Guy and Marian, and his expression softened a little. They were both pale and upset, and he felt some sympathy for them. He gestured to two chairs in front of the throne.
"Please, take a seat."
They obeyed, and waited for the sheriff to talk again.
"I am Sir Roland of Ashworth, I've been appointed sheriff of Nottingham by King Richard himself."
"The King is in England?!" Marian asked, in surprise.
"No, the King received a message from Robin of Locksley who accused the former sheriff Vaisey of being a traitor, plotting against his life, so he ordered me, his most trusted man, to go back to England and set the things right, removing lord Vaisey from his position. But when I arrived I found him dead, and a destroyed county. You were lord Vaisey lieutenant, Sir Guy, are you a traitor too?"
Guy paled even more at his question. He didn't know if Robin Hood wrote his name too in the message to the King, so maybe the question of the sheriff was a trap and he was already dead.
"It was my duty to obey the orders of the sheriff," he said.
"So you don't want to see Prince John on the throne?"
"I don't care about politics. Not anymore."
"What do you want, then, Sir Guy?"
"Peace. To live in peace."
The sheriff looked at him for a while.
"I heard worse answers. Would you swear loyalty to King Richard, if I asked you to do it?"
Guy nodded.
"I would, my lord."
"And would you be true to your word? I heard many things about you, Sir Guy, and many of them weren't good."
The knight looked at him, proudly.
"I committed many errors in my life, but nobody could say that I'm not loyal. You can trust my word."
"You were loyal to a traitor."
"That was one of my errors."
Sir Roland stared at him, and Guy held his gaze. The knight was pale, and clearly distressed, but the sheriff thought that he was sincere.
"Very well, then. Kneel and swear your loyalty to the King."
Guy obeyed, and the sheriff accepted his oath in name of the King, then he turned to Marian.
"What about you, Lady Marian?"
"I've always been loyal to King Richard."
"So you wouldn't mind swearing it again, would you?"
When even Marian had pronounced her oath, the sheriff's expression softened a bit, and he nodded for them to take their seats again.
"Very well, so we can begin right away."
Guy frowned.
"Begin what?"
"The Council of Nobles."
"Where are the others?" Marian asked.
The sheriff sighed.
"Dead. They are all dead. You have to forgive the abruptness of your convocation, it must have been unsettling, but when I found out that at least one of the nobles of the county was still alive, I immediately sent my guards to take you to the castle. I didn't expect to find even Lady Marian. So the council now has two members at least."
"Three, actually," Guy said, and both Marian and the sheriff gave him a surprised look.
"What do you mean, Sir Guy?"
"Robin of Locksley is alive too. He is not well, but he is alive."
"Robin?! Is it true?!"
"I don't lie, my lord."
"Where is he?"
Marian glanced at Guy, alarmed.
"He has been outlawed by the former sheriff, sign a pardon for him and for the members of his gang, and I'll take you to see him."
The sheriff frowned.
"Is this a blackmail?"
"No, a guarantee. I won't risk the lives of my friends."
"You just swore loyalty to the king and I'm his envoy, I could order you to take me to see Robin of Locksley."
"Yes, my lord, you could. Will you do it?"
"I wouldn't be much better than Lord Vaisey then, would I? I want a sincere answer from you, Sir Guy: was it Robin the one who killed the former sheriff?"
Gisborne reflected for a while before answering the question.
"I think so, but I haven't seen him."
The sheriff pondered the words of the knight, then he stood.
"My guards will accompany you to your lodgings, you'll both be my guest for a while. I have to think, I'll summon you later and I'll let you know my decisions."