Guy unsheathed his sword, and he gave it to Gwen, who held it with both her hands.
"Get used to its weight. This sword is too long for you, and if you really want to learn how to use it we'll have to find a shorter one, but you must be able to wield it without effort."
The girl nodded. The weapon was heavy for her arms, but she was determined to learn, and she didn't complain.
A lock of hair fell in front of her eyes, and she snorted, annoyed. She was wearing boy's clothes that Marian had borrowed from one of the stable boys, but her hair kept falling in her face.
"I wish I could cut it," she said, and Guy shook his head.
"It would be a pity. You have nice hair, like your mother."
"Nice for a lady, maybe, not for a swordsman."
Guy chuckled.
"Put the sword down and come here."
Gwen gave him a questioning look, but she obeyed.
"Why?"
"Turn around," Guy said, and he began braiding the girl's hair, tying it with a leather string. "Here, now it won't get in the way."
Gwen looked at the braid, then at her uncle, in astonishment.
"You are a man, how is it possible that you can braid hair?!"
Guy gave her a bittersweet smile.
"I had to learn to fix your mother's hair. We couldn't afford a maid for her, so I had to do it. We could barely afford food, actually." Guy stopped, unwilling to remember those sad times. "But take the sword again, now, if you really want to learn."
"When will you teach me archery too?"
"In due time. First you must learn how to handle a sword, it would be confusing to learn two different weapons at the same time."
Guy hoped that he wasn't blushing too much while he said this lie. Before he could teach archery to her, he himself still had to learn a lot.
Luckily, he was improving, thanks to Marian's help, but he still had a long way to go.
When the lesson ended, Gwen followed Marian, cheerfully, and Guy gave a grateful glance at the girl, before going to search for Allan.
He had to go to Nottingham and talk with Gwen's parents to inform them that the girl was at Knighton and to ask for their permission to let her stay there for a while. Marian had agreed to keep Gwen busy while he was away, believing that it would be useless to worry her before they had an answer from her parents.
But now Guy was the worried one: he hadn't seen Isabella since she was thirteen, and she hated him for giving her to a violent husband.
He felt a deep rage burning inside his soul, and he wished that he could fight against Thornton and make him pay for everything, but he knew that he couldn't.
If Thornton had an alliance with the Sheriff, he couldn't go against him openly, or he'd put Marian and Sir Edward in danger.
I have to persuade him to let Gwen stay at Knighton… God help me if I know how!
Allan reached him with the horses, and Guy mounted.
"Do you know what to do?"
"Of course, Giz. If things go wrong, I take my horse and run back to Knighton, so the kid can go with Matilda."
Guy nodded.
"Good. Let's go, now."
Slightly limping, Guy walked through the corridors of Nottingham Castle, his old, sad 'home' until he reached the big, dark hall. He was worried, really worried, because of Vaisey, but he was also scared and moved at the same time to see his sister.
She had been all his world, everything he cared for, his only affection, for years. Their years of misery.
And then he had betrayed her, he had left her, to chase wealth and position on his own. Instead he followed a path of blood and pain.
A path to damnation.
He had hoped to give her a better opportunity, but Gwen talked about violence in their home, so he felt guilty and sorry. He had put her sister too on her personal path of pain and blood.
He hoped to be strong enough, to be able enough to help her now.
He silently prayed to find a glimpse, a tiny little glimpse of the lovely gentle, caring little girl she had been, behind all the rage and the hate. He deserved all that rage and hate, anyway.
Guy entered the hall. Vaisey was sitting on his bench, eating something black and greasy, licking clear his own fingers. He stopped his actions to look at him with open contempt.
"Oh Gisborne! Lost your way to the Leper's little house in the country? This is not your place anymore, you know."
"My lord," Guy said, slightly bowing his head.
"Well, we have no need of you here, your position had been effectively reassigned to Shrewsbury. Good worker, good soldier, bright intelligence, no weaknesses. Perfect. Very satisfing. I wish… I had fired you before."
Guy knew better than to answer his provocative words, but still he felt offended. All those years under his thumb. All his loyalty wasted. He struggled inside, not showing his rage, keeping it in check. From outside nobody, including Vaisey himself could know how Guy was really feeling now…
"Gisborne,without a Gisborne. Where are your lands now you have lost the opportunity I gave you to regain them?" Vaisey said, and added, "Look at you now, a little more than a servant to the leper and the old crusty one. What an improvement in your career, boy! What do you want from me, now?"
"To speak to Lady Thornton," Guy said, sternly.
"Oh my God, does the leper knows you're grown bored of her so soon. Chasing another, Guy? Oh no, of course no… the real love still lives… Lady Thornton is a Gisborne too. Better, she was a Gisborne, but thought better to leave that useless name behind her back. Oh… but you sold her to Thornton. What a pity. Yes, she is here, but I don't think she will want to see you. Anyway, why losing the opportunity to watch a good show? Oh the emotions, oh the drama! A brother and a sister looking to each other's eyes after years and years… You! Call Lady Thornton, now. She is much waited here," he shouted to a guard…
"The best part of the show will be to see her ripping off your eyes from your face with her little sweet fingers," Vaisey said then, viciously, "Oh, there she comes. It's showtime!"
Isabella entered the room, she lifted her eyes. A few steps from her, there was her lost brother. He was even taller, and thinner, and older than the last time she had seen him, but still she recognized him immediately. He had a sad and worried gaze in his eyes, the very one he used to have when he knew he had done something wrong and was just silently waiting for their mother's remarks. She was astonished. Still she could recognize his feelings so well after all those years.
"Mon frere doux," she said, half whispering.
Still,Guy heard it…
She just wanted to leave the room, and never come back. She couldn't bear to be in the same room with him. She turned her back and started to walk away.
"Isabella!" He shouted, half an order, half a prayer.
She answered without a glance: "Isabella is dead to you. You are dead to me!"
She resumed her walk.
"Gwen," Guy said.
Isabella turned her body back to face him at once. Astonished, worried, enraged.
"What have you done with my little girl, you monster?!"
Guy looked at his sister. Her words had hurt him, but he tried to hide how much they did.
He lifted a corner of his mouth in a little smirk.
"I saved her from a hungry wolf, that's what I did."
Isabella was petrified, her little, brave girl in terrible danger, so similar to the ones her and her brother had to face when they were lost and alone. Guy was the one who had saved her in those terrible moments. History repeated itself.
"My God!" she said, "How is she now? My little girl! Where is she? Why are you hiding her from me? Bring her back to me, now, and don't call her Gwen, thats for family, and you're not family!"
Isabella 's voice was a pained cry now.
"Family..." Guy said, in a flat tone. "Was her 'family' really a good thing for her? I'm not hiding her, she's in visit at our home, and she wants to stay for a while. And she IS family, I am her uncle, like it or not."
Isabella felt wounded by Guy's subtle reference to her difficult family. Maybe Gwen had talked to Guy, maybe he now knew what life she, and her children, were living because of Thornton's greed and violence.
Something inside her screamed.
Don't trust him, he lied to you, he sold you, he betrayed left you behind, and you were still so young, so needy.
But Isabella knew that Thornton would beat Gwen the moment she was back. She didn't know what to do.
"How can I trust you to be in custody of a girl? She is… a fragile naive little girl… do you know what a girl of that age needs, Guy? Have you forgot what you have done with a girl… just like her, in the past?"
Isabella felt tears coming to her eyes, but she put an effort not to show her real pain and emotion.
Expecially in front of Vaisey, who was meanwhile asking for more of that orrible food, to enjoy the scene better.
Expecially in front of her brother. How terribly she had missed him, how terribly she wanted explanations for his past behaviour. What did she had done wrong, so wrong to be left behind?
"Answer me, Guy, how could I trust you now with my child?" She said.
Guy could see how upset Isabella was, and he knew that she was fighting against tears. It was amazing to find out how easy was for him to understand her feelings, even now that she was a grown woman.
He wanted to kneel in front of her and ask for her forgiveness, as he had done with Gwen, he longed to take her in his arms and soothe her sorrow, but he couldn't, not in front of Vaisey.
He felt tears in his eyes too, but he blinked to send them back.
He collected himself, then he looked at her.
"No, you don't have to trust me, you have every right not to do it, but you can trust Sir Edward of Knighton, and his daughter, lady Marian. Sir Edward is the former Sheriff, and everyone in Nottingham can reassure you about his moral integrity. Both Guinevere and I are guests in their manor. Your child is in good hands, you don't need to worry."
Guy seemed sincere to her eyes, and Gwen wouldn't be alone. Being in a house of the previous sheriff could have accounted for something, she thought.
But why Guy was a guest too in that house? He seemed to not have a home for himself, after so many years.
Too many questions and too short time, before her husband would come in the hall too. And she was scared of his reaction, she needed time to try to convince him. To try at least.
But for some hours, or some days, her daughter would be away from the road, from the trouble, and from her father's menace. She would still be free.
"I have to consult my husband. For the moment Guinevere can stay in Knighton, but the moment her father will decide differently, you will bring her here immediately."
Guy bowed his head and then he looked again into his sister's eyes. Guy's eyes were now so full of longing, that she wanted to hug him, and maybe hit him, anyway.
Anything, just to find her lost brother, the good one, the gentle one, the protecting one, maybe still inside of that grown man.
Guy looked at the Sheriff.
"Still here, Gisborne? You make me bored, again. Go, go back to your little village. Lord Edward's of course." Vaisey was cruelly laughing, while Guy turned on his heels and left the room silently.
Isabella looked at the old man with hidden contempt, bowed gently as a lady would do and left the room too.
She reached Guy in the courtyard. He wasn't alone now, there was a young man, helping him to climb the horse. Isabella watched him struggle a little.
What happened to you Guy? She thought.
She walked where the two men were.
"Guy! Guy, wait!"
He turned to see his sister, his beautiful sister, calling him.
"Isabella!" Guy said.
"Take me with you! I want to see my child, now! I miss her so much, take me with you!"
Guy looked at her and suddenly remembered when, so many years ago, he was on a horse, like today, and he was about to leave her to Thornton. His money on his pouch, and his sister calling him, desperately.
"Take me with you! Don't leave me here, mon frere doux, me ne laissex pas ici!"
Guy looked at his sister and got off his horse.
He remembered too well how she pleaded to take her with him when he had left her with Thornton.
He couldn't leave her behind again.
He held a hand to her, and Isabella grabbed it, desperate to go with him to see her child.
Guy was startled to touch her after so many years.
Her hand was still the same, so little between his long fingers.
Guy suddenly pulled her in a hug, feeling the need to hold her close to his heart, to protect her.
He saw a trace of a bruise on her neck, hidden by her dress, and he decided that Thornton would pay for her sufferings, if only he could find a way to do it without putting in danger Marian and Sir Edward.
"Of course you can come to Knighton, Gwen would be overjoyed to see you, I'm sure," Guy whispered, "and we have to talk, you and I, ma cherie, but... can you? Won't you get in trouble if you come with me now? Gwen told me about your husband, how cruel he is..." Guy sighed, upset. "I'm so sorry, Isabella, I know that it's useless to apologize now, but I really didn't know how he was..."
Guy caressed her cheek, tenderly, like he did when she was just a child.
"What will he do if you come to Knighton now? I wish I could protect you, but Gwen told me that your husband has many men, and I don't have but four or five... I swear that I will save you and your children from him, but we need a plan or other people will get hurt."
He was right, of course, and still, it was difficult to admit that he was right.
She had to stay in the castle, for the moment, for the sake of her other children. Leaving the castle without them would be impossible for her, and her husband would punish them on her behalf, or he would simply let them starve, without her around. She had to be reasonable, for the present being.
"You're right, mon frere, I will stay here, but please, take good care of my child. She thinks she is a young and strong one, but still she is a child, in a difficult moment, she needs care and attention, she wanted to protect me, she thinks she can. She is so fascinated from tales about Robin Hood, she wants to be like him. Dissuade her to act against her father, please, Guy. Help me to dissuade her. Her father values her as nothing, a nuisance, and I fear for her."
"She will be safe at Knighton, and soon you and your other children will be safe as well. I will make up for what I did to you so many years ago, it's a promise."
He mounted again, with some difficulty, and Isabella looked at him: Guy still was the brother she remembered, the brother who reassured and protected her, but now she could see a frailty in him, a weakness that made him more human. He wanted to help her, she was sure of it, but he had not the means to do it openly, defying the Sheriff and her husband.
Now she could understand him, he couldn't act without hurting innocent people, her safety could be the ruin of Guy himself and of Lord Knighton's family.
She wondered if that weakness had always been in Guy, and she suddenly realized that it must have been there all the time. Guy was only a boy, then, forced to fight for their survival, and he never showed her fear, he always said that things would improve. But now she could see that he must have been scared, desperately trying to be strong just for her sake.
"Isabella..."
His voice took her from her thoughts, and she looked at him. She could see that he was deeply moved.
"I'm really glad to see you, even if it would have been better to have met again in different circumstances, and I hope that someday you can find the strength to forgive me." His tone was shy, embarrassed and his words a little confused, as he always did when he tried to express his feelings. "I tried to forget what I did during all these years, I even tried to forget I ever had a family, but this guilt has always been a burden on my soul, and sometimes I think that it will be forever. I never asked for your forgiveness for what happened to our parents, not because I didn't care or I didn't want to admit that it was my fault, but because I knew that you couldn't possibly forgive me, I can't forgive myself, and I was to afraid to hear that you hated me. I wanted to give you a decent life, but I failed once again... I'm sorry, Isabella, I'm really sorry."
He didn't wait for her to answer, but he spurred his horse and galloped away.
The young man who was with him, looked at him in surprise, gave a friendly wave at her, then he hurried to follow him.
