"What do you want to say, Gisbourne?" Robin demanded, fiercely. "What is it you want to tell my wife?"
Gisbourne, no longer bound, remained weak from his wounds. He sat leaning his back against a tree, but the sneer he gave Robin was as vicious as ever.
"Leave us, Hood," he snarled. "What I have to say is for Marian's ears alone."
"Do you really think I would leave my wife alone with you? Whatever you have to say, you can say to me."
Marian placed her hand gently on Robin's arm. "It's alright," she told him. "We have to give him a chance to ask for forgiveness."
"What he's done is past forgiving!"
"He seeks redemption, Robin. Think of your conscience, and how it tormented you. His conscience must be tearing him apart!"
"What conscience? I'd agree, if I thought he had one."
"Please. Trust me in this."
Robin looked deeply into Marian's eyes, then turned cold, steely eyes on Gisbourne. "I'll be within call," he told them both. Then, with desperate love he kissed his wife, claiming her for himself before Guy of Gisbourne's furious gaze.
Robin strode away to join Djaq and Tuck, remaining where he could observe the interview but not hear it.
Gisbourne had never seen Hood kiss Marian before. Jealous rage washed over him. He still could not believe she had chosen Hood over himself.
"Yes?" Marian said curtly, inviting Gisbourne to begin so as to complete the interview as soon as possible. For so long she had sought his redemption, but now when she believed it had finally begun, she couldn't care. She hated doing this but was ready to listen, for the sake of England as much as for Gisbourne.
Guy looked at her, wanting her as much as ever. The drug he had been given made him sluggish, yet being so near Marian, seeing her, hearing her voice, made his heart thunder within his chest.
What he had done to her in the woods near Bonchurch had not quenched his cravings for her, any more than taking Meg to his bed had. "You damned me, Woman," he cried out savagely.
Marian was aghast. "I thought you were asking my forgiveness!"
"For what? You betrayed me!"
"This conversation is over." She turned and began walking away, but stopped and turned back, wanting to confront him. She would never have such a perfect opportunity, with him weakened and Robin near. "How did I damn you, Guy of Gisbourne? I never asked you to pay me any attention. You forced yourself on me, again and again."
"You lied to me! You pretended to care for me, so you could feed information to my enemy, laughing at me all the time behind my back."
"I was fighting for England. And I did not laugh. I never wanted to deceive you."
"You laughed in my face! You are a whore. You were carrying Hood's bastard, all the while putting on your maidenly airs! When did you and Hood first lie together? Was it before he ever left for war?"
"No, not that it's any concern of yours."
"I want to know. Was it going to be another surprise for me on our wedding night? No maidenhead, along with the scar I gave the Night Watchman? How were you planning on explaining those surprises to me?"
Marian tried to calm herself and gather her thoughts. She needed to take back control of this discussion, or it would turn into further abuse heaped on her by Gisbourne. "Obviously, I did not have to," she replied, proudly. "I punched you in your face and ran from you as fast as I could, hopping onto the back of Robin's horse and riding with him to Nottingham, where I kissed him after not having done in over five years."
Gisbourne looked stunned, then said, his heart pounding tumultuously, "You kissed me, too, one afternoon in Nottingham. We spent part of an hour together...the most perfect hour of my life! One more chance, Marian. Despite everything, your betrayals, your laying with Hood, I offer you one final chance! Return to me, and I will forgive, and overlook all the wrongs you paid me!"
"Forgive me? I would rather die than be with you! Do you know why I kissed you, Guy of Gisbourne? It was to distract you, to save Robin's life."
"No!"
"You were going to bring your sword down on his throat."
Gisbourne remembered his rush of anticipation at wanting to see Hood's blood spurt from his neck. But it was his throat that had been sliced by Hood's sword, only yesterday!
What Marian just told him made him feel the way he had before, just before he'd run her through with his sword. All his dreams of her became nothing more than an illusion. He wanted this to be a nightmare, not reality! He wanted to die, rather than recover from his wounds!
"I thought I was your protector against Hood," Gisbourne wailed tragically. "I wanted to be your protector!"
"You tried to murder me! And you...you violated me. What kind of protector does that?"
"You forced me to do it!"
Marian looked at him in disgust. "Robin is my protector, and I am his. That afternoon in Nottingham wasn't the only time I saved his life. It was my hairpin that stopped the sheriff's guard from killing Robin, the day he became an outlaw. And it was my idea for Robin to tie me up when you trapped us in a tree, so Robin could escape."
Gisbourne felt each thing she told him another knife wound to his heart. "You made me believe you were returning to me! But instead, you were deceiving me! You are a liar!"
"We've been through all this before. Goodbye, Guy of Gisbourne." Having said what she wanted, Marian turned and began walking toward Robin, Tuck, and Djaq. She was somewhat shaken, but felt stronger than she had since Gisbourne's attack on her near Bonchurch.
Gisbourne cried out after her, "You will pay for your crimes! The king will not return, and I will marry Lady Margaret! She will be mistress of Locksley! Your days are numbered, Whore of Hood! It is only a matter of time before the sheriff catches you, and I will celebrate, watching you and your outlaw lover hang!"
As if on cue, Sheriff Vasey's voice rang out and the man himself appeared, astride his cream colored horse. "Oh, Robin Ho-od! Clever little traps you set in the forest, Hood, catching some of my men! But you didn't think, did you, hmm, that you'd set a trap for yourself? I have you surrounded, Hood. Don't even think of escaping."
"Nice of you to join us, Sheriff," Robin called back, nocking an arrow to his bow. "Sorry we can't stay. My men and I have no intention of-"
For once, Robin lost his train of thought, for at this moment, Marian rushed over to him. "Get behind me!" he ordered her.
"Why? Robin, if we're surrounded-
"Just do as I say, for once!"
"Ooooh!" the sheriff crowed. "If it isn't Lady Hood, showing defiance! I heard you'd returned from the dead, Missy! How I have missed your bleeding heart! A clue...no. And now, here you are, in the forest, where I suspected your heart was all along."
"Sir Guy is unharmed, Sheriff," Marian called to him. "Mostly. He's over there, against that oak. You may take him, if you promise to let us go."
"Good thinking," Tuck told her. "An exchange."
"Do you think I would trade Gisbourne for Hood? A clue..." The sheriff shook his head. "Prince John's in Locksley this very moment, being entertained, shall we say, by the leper Isabella! Bringing him your head, Hood, is just what I need to make him forget the way you botched my mission to the Holy Land! That, and my little scheme of preventing the king's return!"
"What have you done to the king?" Robin demanded.
Marian caught her breath. "I was going to tell you! The king's imprisoned in a castle dungeon, somewhere in Europe."
"I see your spy is still busy gathering information, Hood," the sheriff called. "Do you know what I do to spies, hmm? Oh, I have a special punishment planned for you, Missy!"
Robin's arrow zipped past the sheriff's ear, so close it almost shaved him, landing instead in a guard's arm.
"After them!" the sheriff ordered, as his guards began rushing the outlaws.
Robin disabled many with arrow wounds, but many others got through, and began battling the four outlaws with swords. The sheriff meanwhile reached Gisbourrne and had him lifted onto the back of another soldier's horse.
Sheriff's men were dropping back, mostly by arrow wounds, until Robin ran out of arrows and began fighting with his sword. He killed no one, but wounded so many the others hung back or began to retreat.
Robin pulled a soldier off his horse and ordered Marian to ride it back to camp.
She refused. "I will not leave you!"
"We're all leaving," he told her, forcing another soldier to the ground. "Djaq!" he shouted, looking for the Saracen.
It was then he saw her, flung face down over the rear of soldier's horse, being carried away to Nottingham.
Sheriff's men continued retreating. The sheriff himself realized the battle was lost, but took comfort that he had caught at least one of Hood's gang.
"Oh, I've caught your prized Saracen, Hood!" the sheriff gloated. "I look forward to your attempt to rescue her! Oh, yes! This is good! This is good!"