The next morning, Mariella woke weary and depressed. A message had been left for her with the servants saying that, if she wished, she could attend the day's executions. When she was first told this, she scoffed at the idea, however, upon further thought she reconsidered. Perhaps she wouldn't go to see a mass of death sentences, but a daring rescue! What if there was something she could do?
Eventually she decided to go. She donned the best dress in her possession and requested the carriage. As an extra measure of secrecy she was sure the Sheriff would appreciate, she found a hooded cape to drape around her shoulders and hide her face. She made a request for haste in the politest way she could manage, got inside, and set off.
A great crowd was gathered in the courtyard for the event. Mariella had to use a side entrance and travel through the castle just to find her place in the open walkway bordering the yard. From there she could see a the gallows, fit with four nooses, as many as the scaffold could hold. On the steps of the castle stood a mass of men, officials to oversee the proceedings. Amongst them was Guy, as stern and serious as he'd been in Mariella's earliest days here. Next to him, beaming like a sunny day, was the Sheriff. "Ladies and gentlemen," he greeted, silencing the low murmur of the crowd, "We are gathered here today to witness the carrying out of justice in the name of our God almighty and King Richard." He recited this blandly and hurriedly, the procedure having lost its interest many hangings ago.
Then, as if on overly rehearsed cue, guards brought the prisoners out into the yard and lined them up between the crowd of peasants and nobles. Amongst the fourteen that were counted, only one did she recognize. Laura looked poorly. She looked tired and dirty and poorly tended to. Despite her physical condition, however, her eyes were strong.
Nearby a drummer started up. Next to him, an official unrolled a scroll and began to read: "Let it be heard and known through the lands of Richard, His Majesty, King of England, that on this the fifth day of May in the year of our Lord 1192, the following men, having been tried under law and found guilty, have been sentenced to hang by a rope until dead." As he went on the outlaws were lead up to their short, wooden pedestals where their nooses awaited their necks. "Robert Cross of Rufford, Laura Cooper of Nottingham, Joseph Quagmire of Mansford…" The list continued until all fourteen were named.
"May you find mercy and—" Vasey's final word was cut off when an arrow flew from nowhere and struck the hangman in the back, sending him falling to the ground, not dead, but seriously injured. Simultaneously four men from the crowd jumped up onto the platform and released their friends, giving them weapons. Meanwhile, even more men went to the aid of those who had been put in line to die. Soon, all hands were freed and given weapons. The guards were immediately put to work while the innocents all fled.
Mariella smiled to herself from where she stood as she watched the outlaws fight their way towards the door. A few, already outside the gate, kept the way clear for their fleeing comrades. Mariella searched for Guy in the scuffle and found him almost immediately. Having lost his sword, he was going one on one with an outlaw that appeared to evenly match him in strength. With a quick move he charged and pushed him backwards and right towards the exit. Once out of the fray and with his opponent temporarily out of sorts, Guy went back to fetch his sword. By the time he'd returned the outlaws already on the opposite side of the exit. Seeing this, all went still and the two groups waited for the other to make a move.
It was the outlaw side that moved eventually. One made for the lever of the gate, thinking to sacrifice himself to save his friends. But Guy quickly went after it too, supposedly to stop him, but from Mariella's special vantage point she could see that when they reached their mutual destination, it wasn't the crash of their collision that sent the young man flying backwards towards his group and brought the portcullis smashing down. Mariella alone was observant enough to see that Guy pushed the lad away and pulled down the lever purposefully, disguising it as a violent accident.
Their escape made for them, they quickly darted away, all in different directions to make finding them harder sooner. Guy hit the wall in feigned anger and started barking orders to his men. As they scrambled about in attempts to obey he called for his horse, got on and looked over to where Mariella stood. Any rage that he had shown disappeared for a brief second and Mariella saw sincerity in his calm blue eyes. In that one look Mariella saw the good man within him peek out a little with an apology in his eyes that he hadn't let this side of him show more often.
As the gate began to creak open, its great weight making a slow process of it, Guy readopted his face of determination and focus and turned his horse towards the gate, ready to pursue through the forest with a select few other riders if those on foot let any slip out past the walls. Those on the ground were able to get out first, the first wave of pursuit. Those on horseback followed shortly after and soon the courtyard was nearly still again.
"Unbelievable!" Vasey was shouting as he threw one of infamous tantrums, "From fourteen outlaws to thirty to none in a matter of minutes! Am I the only one who sees a problem with this?!"
"My lord!" Mariella called as she made her way over to her uncle, "In all fairness, they haven't escaped yet. With the guards on the hunt you might end up with more than fourteen by the end of the day."
"Mariella, dear, you're here!" Vasey stated simply, anger turning to sudden confusion at seeing that his ward had actually decided to accept the invitation, "Why are you here?"
"I was here to support Laura," Mariella explained, then promptly thought of a lie to appease Vasey, "Although I can't forgive her for her crime, she was my friend. I thought I owed it to her to at least come see her die."
"Once the hunting party returns I want you back to you-know-where," Vasey ordered, "It's not safe here, my dear. Please… Go to your room and stay there."
"Yes, my lord."
Obediently Mariella did as she was told and retreated to her room. A great relief had been lifted from her chest when Guy's true colors had shown and her friend was freed. She could breathe a little easier now, feel joy without guilt.
Then there was a knock on the door.
She went to answer it. It was Mark.
Without invitation he made his way in and waited for her to close the door.
"How did you do that?" he questioned with disbelief, his countenance displaying his inability to comprehend what he'd just seen.
"Do… what?"
"I saw what he did," Mark pointed out, "He didn't land a single blow on anyone. Not a cut, barely a bruise. Then he… he… How did you do that?"
"He's not as bad as you might think."
"But he's never acted otherwise!" Mark tried not to shout. "You did something… Something amazing. It's like you control him! You're not sleeping with him, are you?"
Mariella's cheeks colored, but she kept her voice strong. "A woman doesn't need to give herself to a man to sway his heart."
"Well, whatever you're doing, it's working. You think you can keep this up?"
"I thought we went over this, Mark," Mariella groaned, "I won't help you if it betrays either Guy or the Sheriff."
"But you see… with this… talent of yours you won't have to," Mark reminded her, "If you change them, bring them over our way of thinking, it will help."
"I don't know…" Mariella replied as she nervously crossed her arms, "I still feel like it would be wrong. It would be playing them, fooling them."
"No, that's the beauty of it!" Mark smiled as he grabbed her shoulders, "You'd be helping them! You'd be saving them from their miserable lives of evil! Don't you want that? Don't you want them to see the goodness of the world?"
"I do…" She pondered the situation carefully.
"Just try to soften them up," Mark winked with those playful sky eyes, "You're doing a great job of it already."
Mark left without another word. He couldn't stay long.
Alone again, Mariella thought about the proposition Mark had put forward… for about ten minutes. Then her mind wondered back to Guy and his incredible transformation from earlier today. She felt as though she'd gotten through to him, as though she really did mean enough to him for him to want to change.
Her heart raced with delightful anticipation as she awaited his return.
Hours went by and still she waited. The sun was setting and they were still not back. Mariella was beginning to grow anxious and worried the darker it became. Then there was a knock on the door.
She rose from her bed where she waited to answer it. Surely enough it was Guy. With every inch of her restraint, Mariella stopped herself from showing excitement. She stepped aside and let him enter. After closing the door behind him she immediately wrapped her arms around him and began smothering him with kisses. "You were wonderful!" she contained her glee, "You were amazing! That was amazing, Guy."
"What you said last night…" He deliberated on his words as he stared deeply into her eyes, those marvelous blues making it difficult to breathe. "I'd been thinking about it and I really want to try to please you, to become the man you deserve." He kissed her again and held her close. Mariella nearly wept with joy. Then the flames that they'd smothered so many times before began to rise up again from their dormant depths. At the first signs they stopped. Again, it was not the place or time.
"Uncle Vasey still wants me at Locksley," Mariella informed and bit her lip, "Shall we be going?"
"You go ahead," he nodded, "I have to report to the Sheriff."
"Did you catch anyone?" Mariella asked concernedly.
Guy smiled. "Not a one."
Mariella returned the grin. From there Guy dutifully escorted her down to the carriage and then went to report to the Sheriff, eager to finish business here so he could follow Mariella back to the manor as soon as possible.
Author's Note: Sorry I haven't updated in a bit, guys. My health hasn't been suffering lately so... Yeah. Good news is I've been diagnosed with a mild case of chickenpox so I'll be confined to my room for the week with nothing to do but study, read, and write! (I might surf the net and watch movies and videos occasionally.)