LXII

"Has Gisborne checked in?"

"No, he has not, and if you'd gone to the trouble of getting up earlier, you'd know that he isn't going to."

Vaisey froze. He'd not expected to find Winchester in his study in lieu of Gisborne's man. It put him off balance.

He quickly shrugged it off however, along with the cryptic comment and the criticism of his morning habits. "Ah Winchester, on good form today I see. Did you manage to get the wine stains out of your crotch?"

Winchester rolled his eyes, "I thank you for your concern regarding my attire, but I think you'll find you have more important matters to be concerned about."

'Hmmm, the fact that you're not dead for one' is what Vaisey was thinking as a re-run of yesterday evening's failed poisoning played through his mind. It was a disappointment that stung worse than any thorn in his side and a sleepless night of dwelling on the subject had done nothing to make him feel any better. He sighed dejectedly before bringing his attention back to the matter at hand.

"Are you going to get to the point?"

"All in good time my friend, but first you must bear with me as I tell you about the morning I've had..."

Vaisey regarded the lord with impatient weariness and as Winchester began to tell his tale, he wondered if it would really be so terrible to just strangle him here and now. Gisborne had often driven him to despair over the years, but at least he knew how to limit conversation to topics of relevance or keep his mouth shut altogether.

"…so as we noticed she was missed, we had to make enquiries."

This brought Vaisey out of his murderous thoughts immediately.

Missed? She? She is missing? Wait...

Vaisey's mind was quicker than Winchester's narrative and so he found himself in the surreal position of listening to him explain despite knowing exactly what was coming.

It didn't help with the shock though. Not one bit.

"...we found nothing at Locksley; no Gisborne, no servants... just a note for Cavendish..."

Vaisey slumped down in his seat and closed his eyes.

He can't have...

As the minutes passed and Winchester blathered on, the implications of this unexpected betrayal became clear and Vaisey's lips curled into a bitter grimace.

Of course he has.

Somehow he'd always known.

All that hard work trying to keep him on side.

All those speeches about unity and loyalty.

All. Those. Years.

For nought.

Better he had died.

Which he most certainly will when I catch up with him...

"Lord Cavendish and myself have organised a search party, though I am not sure what I will do once I find them - that he seduced her is bad enough, but marriage..."

Vaisey's eyes widened.

Oh Gisborne, you never were one to do things by halves...

Winchester's expression darkened considerably and his voice was tight with anger. How strange that for once in their lives, the two noblemen were united in a common cause: the desire to murder Gisborne. Neither of them saw it that way though. As Winchester wallowed in the bitterness that was the failure of his plan, Vaisey felt no sympathy for him. On the contrary, once he'd gotten over the initial sting of his lieutenant's betrayal, it was satisfying to think that in taking Francesca, Gisborne had at least scuppered Winchester's hopes - Prince John wouldn't want the girl now that Gisborne had been with her.

And there will be no takeover here will there, now that you've lost your 'gift'?

As Winchester's ire increased, so did Vaisey's amusement and that only stoked the flames of his fury. He'd always been a sore loser and had a severe lack of humour when it came to being mocked. Vaisey had always pushed those buttons, little knowing how dangerous it was to provoke him.

That was his fatal mistake. Just as it always had been.

The inability to quit whilst ahead.

There was enjoying others' misfortunes, there was mocking others' misfortunes and then there was going too far.

This is precisely how he found himself with a dagger in the chest.

It came out of nowhere

but then again, it didn't.

Had this showdown not been coming for years?

As the wave of horror hit, Vaisey realised that yes, it had, and he'd been so foolish as to walk right into it. It was a beginners mistake, he reflected bitterly, and one that he going to die for.

"Come, you cannot be shocked... you must of known I would not let your pathetic attempt to kill me go unpunished."

Winchester smiled smugly at the dying man before him, as if he'd known all along, but in truth, he'd been lucky - Smythe had picked up the slack in a moment of careless inattention on his part - had observed the servants bringing drinks in new goblets as opposed to pouring the wine into the ones already in use, had noticed one goblet was more ornate than the others...

Vaisey could think of none of this however, for the realisation that he was done for took hold. Adrenaline coursed through his veins, his heart jackhammered in his split open chest and the metallic taste of blood lay thick on his tongue.

In those last moments, he could've perhaps reflected on the futility of a life lived solely to satisfy one's ambitions. Year upon year of planning, scheming, contriving, conniving... Was it ever enough? Did one ever reach the pinnacle of one's hopes and dreams? Or was there always more to be had? Yes, it would've been sobering to realise that he had merely fooled himself as perfectly as he had Gisborne. He'd lived his life dreaming of a better tomorrow - had diligently kept his eye on the prize, little realising that the day would come when it was all for nothing, for what good was any of it when he was to end up as dead as the next man?
One could perhaps argue that in striving for power he was looking to achieve immortality, i.e. to ensure that his name would live on in the annals of history – how galling would it have been for him then, if he could've discovered from beyond the grave, that his name would live on as a footnote in the story of Robin Hood?

Yes, he could perhaps have meditated on this and all manner of other subjects pertaining to his existence as his lifeblood drained away but then he never had been one for that sort of thing.

No, Lord Vaisey, Sheriff of Nottingham used the last moments of his life to stay true to form and dedicated his remaining strength to something entirely closer to his heart.

He let out a mighty laugh

and winced in pain as the vibrations spread through his chest.

Winchester was astonished. What on earth could be so funny when one is about to die?

This amused the stricken sheriff even more, so he beckoned his 'good friend' closer, enjoying the dumb look on his his face and once he was within reach, whispered in his ear:

"Good luck with finding another wife."

He accompanied the sentiment with a sadistic smile and a violent stab to Winchester's groin with a nearby quill.


"It is with great sadness that I must announce the death of the Sheriff of Nottingham..."

Lord Winchester made sure to put the appropriate amount of emotion into his speech to the people of Nottingham but if there was any pain he was feeling, it was due to the excruciating wound in his loins.

"He has been murdered by the one person he trusted the most: Sir Guy of Gisborne."

Loud gasps of shock. Incredulous looks. Murmurs of disbelief.

It was a stretch of the imagination Winchester had to admit, but why not kill two birds with one stone? He needed to a scapegoat for Vaisey's murder and he wanted to punish Gisborne; it made sense to tie the two together and as the new sheriff, who would contradict him?

Cavendish was standing at his side as he made it known there was a generous reward for whoever could locate and capture the fugitive, but was frowning because this new development did not sit well with him at all. As apoplectic as he'd been to discover that his daughter had married Gisborne and absconded, this announcement from Winchester rocked him to the core. He'd only just come to terms with the fact that the knight was now his son-in-law but to have everybody think he killed Vaisey!? An inferior marriage in the family, Cavendish could live with, but to have the family name besmirched by connections to a murderer?

Winchester had gone too far now. Had obviously lost his mind. It was bad enough that in a fit of temper, he'd killed his rival but to pin the crime on another?

As his so-called friend appointed himself sheriff, Cavendish swayed with dizziness. What had he done, inviting this man into his family?


"Did you see 'im here this mornin'?"

"No, I did not."

"This stinks to high heaven."

"You're not wrong there."

"There's no way he's dunnit."

"What do you reckon Steve?"

"Nah. I don't believe a word of it."

Having watched the new sheriff depart Nottingham with Smythe and a troop of Prince John's men, Sir Guy of Gisborne's most faithful men convened in private to discuss the accusations made against their former master.

"He's too loyal for that. I mean, you don't work yer whole life fer someone just to go murder 'em on a whim do ya?"

"Well, no, but..."

"What are yer sayin' Dave?"

"Every man his limits..."

"Shit, I would've murdered the bastard years ago."

All murmur in agreement.

"So you reckon he flipped then?"

"Well, he does have a temper..."

"Vaisey was taunting him last night about the wedding..."

The door opens and the men tense up but relax as they see it's only a latecoming colleague. He is smiling the smile of a man in the know...

"Yer never gonna guess what I heard..." He pauses for effect, enjoying every second of it, "Gisborne took off with Lady Francesca first thing this morning."

"Who told you that Nigel?"

"A mate of mine from Locksley; said the servants cleared Gisborne's place out and made 'emselves scarce... There's talk he's married her..."

"Well, that would explain why 'er father's got a face like a smacked arse."

Chuckles all round.

"Well, that's a turn up for the books..."

"Aye, you've gotta hand it to the fella, that's one way of dealin' with a failed weddin' innit!?"

Loud laughter, an 'I tip my hat to thee Sir' gesture, and a salute are the responses to this remark.

"Yeh but... is it not a bit sudden? I mean d'yer reckon the girl were up for it?"

"Oh, she were up for it alright, don't tell me you didn't see the way them two turtle doves were always lookin' at each other..."

"You're gonna say you knew all along aren't ya?"

"Well, now that you mention it..."

Raucous laughter.

"Did no one see her slip off wi' him?"

"What happened to her guards?"

"Not seen hide nor hair of 'em. Reckon Gisborne woulda paid 'em off – he'd bunkered a bit of cash y'know... I know he got robbed at Locksley but he'd got some 'ere an' all, he weren't so daft as to put all his eggs in one basket."

"Always told me he were lookin' to start a family..."

Solemn looks now. It went without saying that nothing would come of that, should he be caught.

"So if he left first thing this morning, who killed Vaisey?"

"Damned if I know."

"You got an hour or two? I'll write you a list of suspects."

"Winchester of course."

"You reckon?"

"Who else?"

"He has profited the most from his death..."

"Hmmm and it seems he's only just started, I asked Smythe where they were going and he said they were off to burn down the forest."

"Ah christ, that's rough, I mean I've got no love for outlaws but..."

"You can be thankful Sir Guy did a runner then, otherwise we'd have been doing that – Vaisey dropped that one on 'im last night."

Grimaces. Sighs of relief.

"So what do we do now?"

"I dunno, I mean I don't much fancy workin' for t'other fella but I've got mouths to feed y'know?"

"Well, here's a thought, how about we stick around and see what we can find out? I mean surely someone knows what went on."

"I agree. This is all wrong, I mean, he was no angel but he's always done right by me and if they end up hanging him for this..."

It was decided then. The truth would out.

They were going to make sure of it.