"What's the matter, Gisbourne, hmm? Robin Hood shoot his little arrows at you again, scaring you out of the forest? Tell me he didn't wound your other arm, too!"
Gisbourne, seething with fury and shame, sucked in air through his teeth, in an attempt to master his anger. When he answered, he managed to keep his voice low, but his eyes registered pure hatred toward his rival, the sheriff's latest discovery, Ruthless Rufus.
"My lord, this is no laughing matter," Gisbourne seethed. "Hood had dozens of men with him. I escaped unharmed, but he wounded several of my men."
"Well, la dee dah dee dah! And what, exactly, Gisbourne, hmm, did you expect to happen? Sneak into sunny Sherwood, kill Hood, rescue Marian, and bring me my Pact back? A clue...no! If it were that easy, Robin Hood would have been dead the first day he fled to the forest!"
"I had to do something," Gisbourne snarled, glaring at Rufus. "Unlike some people, who do nothing but hang about you, drinking your wine and flattering you, while Marian...!"
"Marian!" the sheriff interrupted, snidely. "Of course! She's the reason, Gisbourne, hmm, you're finally showing some backbone again, braving defeat against Hood's little forest snares and tricks! You ought to know by now, Gisbourne, you'll never catch the outlaw, sneaking into his own private domain! What makes you think you'll succeed now, hmm? I was in his camp, and I cannot find it! And how many times in the past did we try, and fail? Yet you waste MY time, and MY resources, hunting for Hood, all because of A LEPER! Do you think I'm impressed? A clue...NO! By the way, say hello to the new Lord Bonchurch!"
"You didn't give him Bonchurch Lodge," Gisbourne fumed, glaring daggers at Rufus.
"Oh, yes!" the sheriff gloated. "Take heart, Gisbourne! He's better than the last peasant I installed there!"
"My son Edmund is supervising our moving in now," Rufus said, his lips twisting in an arrogant smile.
"You see, Gisbourne," the sheriff added, "while you've been leading your men on a wild goose chase through Sherwood, dodging arrows, Rufus and I have been plotting a way to really capture the pretty little outlaw. Shall I tell you what our plan is, hmm?"
"Go on," Gisbourne seethed.
"I think I'll let Ruthless tell you instead. It was his idea, after all!"
The pause, heavy with tension between the two rivals, was broken only by the sheriff's satisfied laughter. "Oh, this is good! This is good! Watch out, Gisbourne, hmm, lest, while you're being a misery addled mess, obsessing over Marian, Rufus here might outdistance you, and take everything you and I have worked for for so long!"
Guy's skin prickled, as he worried about losing his wealth, his position, his new home...everything! He wondered briefly about the sheriff's "relationship" with Rufus. The man was too old and not "pretty" enough to please the sheriff's secret, depraved tastes and proclivities, but the mention of him having a son might explain a lot.
At last, Rufus was ready to talk. "You're wasting your time, hunting Hood in the forest. When you're hunting such a clever fox, you need to flush him out, into the open. You need to draw him out."
"We've tried that, as well," Gisbourne barked. "Even the prize of a silver arrow at an archery competition, failed."
Rufus snorted. "A silver arrow? You think he loves money?"
"He loves showing off!" Gisbourne shouted back. "You know nothing about the outlaw!"
"I know he loves his people, as foolish as that is. Which is why, Sir Guy of Gisbourne, I am going to set fire to his village, letting the smoke draw him to us, like a bee to honey."
"My village," Gisbourne corrected. "Locksley is mine now! Besides, we've tried harming his filthy peasants before! What makes you think you'll be successful, catching Hood now?"
"IT'S BETTER THAN SEEKING HIM IN THE FOREST!" Sheriff Vaisey's eyes looked as if they'd pop from their sockets, he was so enraged.
Guy knew that the sheriff wasn't only angry at him. It was Robin Hood who caused him so much frustration. With Hood still holding the sheriff's Pact, still thwarting so many of the sheriff's schemes, Vaisey would grasp at any seemingly new plan to capture him yet again.
Guy was torn, wanting Rufus to be successful, yet longing for him to fail. Somehow, he needed to turn things around and take credit for capturing Hood, if indeed they could, to regain his secure position as the sheriff's second-in-command. For without power and position, what good would it be to rescue Marian? She would not have him without wealth and power, and if he could not have her, they might as well both be dead.
"Do what you will," Guy snarled. "Burn the rest of the village. But don't touch my house!"
He hated to think of losing Locksley Manor, but never gave a thought to how devastating it had been to Marian and her father, to see their ancestral family home burned to the ground.
