Marian had to admit defeat and give up chasing Robin. The forest was immense, and he'd had a good start ahead of her. Even by climbing off Fauvel's back to track Lochinvar on foot, Marian could not follow for long. Once the tracks reached a shallow stream, she knew Robin had eluded her.
"I'm going to have to send you home," she told Fauvel sadly, turning him back toward the meadow.
She hoped Isabella would be gone before she returned. But only Meg had returned to Locksley. Isabella remained in the meadow, gathering flowers and placing them in a handkerchief.
"Picking flowers for the table at Locksley?" Marian called out, mockingly. "Somehow I doubt they'll end up in a vase. You're after poisons, aren't you? You really are a venomous snake, as my husband said."
Isabella betrayed none of her surprise at Marian's return. "Do you think we Gisbournes allow common wildflowers to grace our table, any more than we allow common outlaws? The plants are medicinal. Guy will need medicine, once your vicious husband releases him home to Locksley."
"Locksley will never be Guy's home, nor yours, Isabella."
"No? Then why do its servants obey us? Why do we collect village rents, and keep our belongings there, not to mention sleep there at night whenever we're not sleeping in Nottingham Castle? Where is it you sleep, by the way?"
"In my husband's arms. But I don't have the time to speak with you. I'm only here to return Fauvel. Treat him gently while he's in your care." She leaned down in the saddle and spoke gently into the horse's ear. "When the king returns, we'll be together, for good."
"When the king returns!" Isabella laughed. "Such a pleasant refrain for you and Robin to cling to! You haven't heard, but the king is rotting in a dungeon cell somewhere on the continent of Europe! I won't tell you what duchy, of course! Robin might lead his brave little band of outlaws to catch a ship and try to rescue him, just as he did in the Holy Land! With wonderful results for you, I might add! Almost killed, your body hideously scarred, your little baby buried! Sob!"
"The king, in a dungeon? And don't you dare mention my baby!"
"Whose was it, Guy's or Robin's?"
"You are disgusting. I don't sleep with multiple men, as you do."
"Of course you don't. It can't be any fun, being frigid. Are you surprised, the king has enemies? Prince John is beloved by his fellow rulers."
"That's because he is weak! They fear and hate a strong ruler, and seek to control Prince John to take away his lands. Our land! England, as well as his Angevin holdings! Even Aquitaine!"
"Oh, such touching love for your country! Just like Robin's! I ask you, who is weak and who is strong? One brother reigns supreme here, while the so called Lion Heart perishes in a distant dungeon. Hmm, I wonder! Are you frightened now, Lady Marian? Do you regret your choice of husbands? You might have married Guy and been Lady Locksley. That was always your dream, wasn't it, to be Lady Locksley, ever since you were a little girl?"
"Robin has always been my dream, my love, and my desire."
"How prettily put. He was my desire, too, I admit. But now he is my enemy."
"You cannot compare...I do not wish to waste any more time talking with you." Marian climbed down from Fauvel's back and sadly told him goodbye, then turned and ran into the forest.
Isabella stared jealously after her. "One day you shall taste my venom," she spat quietly after Marian's retreating figure. "But first, you shall watch your handsome husband perish at my hand. One day."
...
After Robin tied Gisbourne securely to a tree, he threw cold water at his face to wake him from his stupor.
Guy groaned and opened his eyes, then scowled at Robin while struggling weakly at his bonds. "I'm not afraid of you, Locksley. We've been here before," he managed to say.
Robin toyed with his Irish knife, the knife he had once flung into a tree less than an inch from Gisbourne's face...the same knife he'd later used to slice open Gisbourne's cheek. "You're mistaken, Rapist. I've never held you in this part of the forest."
"I meant we've been in the same situation."
"With you my prisoner, you mean?"
"Except you'd never wounded me before. You have the advantage, Hood."
"It was Locksley a minute ago."
"You hadn't called me by such an ugly name then."
"What else should I call you, after what you did to my wife?"
Gisbourne sneered. "Your wife? You're not married. Allan may be a liar and a traitor, but he told me about your so called wedding. Marian was only being kind, reciting marriage vows because she expected to die. If she'd truly wanted to marry you, Hood, why didn't she do it before?"
"It was your sword sticking into her, causing her infinite pain, killing her but for the child I knew nothing about! The vows we spoke were real. King Richard was there, blessing our union. What you did to Marian is unforgivable. Prepare to die, Gisbourne. I'm sending you to Hell."
"Empty threats, Hood." He laughed, in mocking hatred. "Marian wanted it, when I found her near your hunting lodge. She's been stirred by me since the beginning. You can't satisfy her, rushing through it with your skinny little prod. And you can't kill me, not if you want your beloved people of Nottingham to survive. Or have you stopped caring about the poor?"
"I care." Robin began toying with his knife again, longing to plunge it into his enemy's chest. His thoughts grew even more dark. "Do you know," he began, shifting the conversation, "when I was in the Holy Land, fighting to recover Jerusalem, the king took a small party out hunting? I was among them, along with Lord Sheridan, Robert Earl of Leicester, LeGrande, and a knight my own age, Sir Lucas of Florin."
"What is this, Locksley? A bedtime story?"
Robin ignored him, his thoughts sinister. "Much came with me. There were deer in the hills, and cedar and olive trees. We shot several bucks, imagining ourselves back home, with the war and the desert far away. Then, while we slept that night in the open, Saracens raided our camp, more successfully than your attempt, when you disguised yourself and tried to kill the king."
"I delivered a fatal wound to you, Locksley! You should be dead!"
"Like you did to Marian?"
"I didn't want to kill her! She forced me to do it!"
"For speaking the truth? You never take responsibility, do you, Gisbourne? It's always someone else's fault. Which is why you're going to die today."
"I once believed Marian would save me from my sins. But I was wrong! She was created by the Devil himself for the express purpose of damning men like me."
"Men like you." Robin uttered a single, brutal laugh. "You blame my wife, because she is lovely, for your damnation? You're an even bigger coward than I thought."
"Aren't you going to finish your story?" Gisbourne sneered. "What tales of your knightly valor do you mean to boast to me about, Hood?"
Robin seethed with silent rage. This was not how he longed for vengeance. He wanted to fight his enemy, not speak with him! He wished he could undo what he'd done, and battle Gisbourne with swords or fists, not with words. But words were all he could use now. "Saracens raided our camp at night," he continued. "We fought them off, but didn't realize our loss until morning, when we couldn't account for Lucas. We discovered his body, its head missing, hanging upside down from a tree, the blood still draining out of him. That's what I imagine doing to you, Gisbourne. Cutting your head off your body, and hanging your carcass upside down from a tree."
Gisbourne shuddered. "I tell you, you can't kill me! Unless I die a natural death-"
"Your death will be natural. Prince John will not harm Nottingham. I said it's what I imagine doing, not what I'm going to do."
Gisbourne relaxed, until Robin began speaking again.
"I'm going to leave you here, Rapist and Would Be Murderer, where no one can find you, weak and wounded, without water or food, my arrow points poisoning your bloodstream, hastening your death. I won't kill you directly, as much as I want to. I'll let the forest decide."
"What do mean, 'let the forest decide?' You can't leave me here, Hood! You'll be found! Demon is shod with my identifying mark. My men might already be on their way."
"And when they come, if they're not first caught in my traps, I'll kill them, too."
"This isn't you, Hood! Not the white, wooly weakling who can no longer kill!"
"You've seen me kill, Gisbourne. Make no mistake. I usually choose not to. But today, after what you did to my wife, I choose to deliver death. Yours."