When Gisburne entered the Great Hall at Nottingham Castle, he found the Sheriff and his new favorite already seated at the table and had to stifle a grin at the sight of them.
"Gisbuurne!" de Rainault immediately exclaimed. "Where have you been?"
"My Lord!" the knight brought forth, enunciating each word very carefully. "I have been in the villages, looking about." He approached the table slowly.
This was probably not fast enough for the sheriff, however, for he leapt to his feet and now approached the knight in a huff. "Did you get lost on your way back?"
"Lost, my Lord?" Gisburne frowned, as if not understanding what the other meant.
The sheriff sighed. "You're late, Gisburne."
"Late?" the knight repeated. He had stopped, swaying slightly.
"Are you drunk?" his master asked him suspiciously, sniffing his steward. "You stink of ale!"
"That was an accident." The knight uttered the words very slowly, as if he were not sure he could pronounce them correctly.
De Rainault gave him an incensed look, but then sighed again, turned, and went back to his seat. Fitz Edgar had listened attentively to the exchange of words, but wisely did not interfere.
"Perhaps you have time to join us now, Gisburne?". The sneer in the sheriff's voice was impossible to miss.
The knight started moving again and then plopped down on the bench. One of the servants came rushing over to fill his goblet with wine, meanwhile Gisburne brought the plate with the meat close to him. He could certainly use some food now. In the meantime, another servant had already placed a thick slice of bread in front of him. Without paying any further attention to the sheriff or fitz Edgar, he began to eat. Nor did he intend to look up unless the sheriff started yelling. He knew full well that de Rainault didn't like being disregarded at all, so he planned to make that part of his plan. He had his mind set on really pissing off the sheriff over the next few days.
Then, when he had finished eating, he rose tentatively to his feet once again. Staggering one more time, he had to hold on to the table, knocking over his filled goblet. When he tried to reach for it, however, he only managed to push it further away from him, whereupon he frowned in confusion. Then he turned away abruptly, seemingly no longer interested in the mess he had made on the table.
"If there is nothing more to be done, then ...", he had to belch once, "I will retire now, my Lord." He took a deep breath as he was having a serious problem suppressing a fit of laughter right now. At that moment, in fact, the sheriff gave the impression that he was about to have a fit. His eyes seemed almost to pop out of his head and his face had taken on an unhealthy-looking deep-red color.
"Go!" de Rainault brought out after a moment, apparently too angry to utter more.
Proceeding carefully, Gisburne crossed the hall with short, uncertain steps and vanished into the passage that led to the stairs. He would have liked to stop just around the corner, hoping to catch something of what the sheriff or fitz Edgar were talking about, but at that moment some servants approached him. Not wanting anyone to catch him eavesdropping, he had no choice but to make his way to his chamber.
Once there, the first thing he did was to put the latch up, for he did not want to be surprised by anyone under any circumstances, not even by accident. This was something he could definitely do without. When he was finally able to pull his chainmail over his head, he groaned with relief. Although he wore it almost every day and he had become accustomed to its weight, he still found it a relief to take it off every evening. But then a sigh escaped him as well, for he was of course aware he would have to clean it immediately. He knew if he waited to do that, it would be even more difficult. But before he got down to that work, he also took off the gambeson on which most of the ale the knight had dumped on himself had ended up. Very likely it would still stink of it in the morning, but that suited him just fine. It would help him with his plan.
Only after some time he could finally lie down on his bed and now he was quite tired. Still, he was sure he wouldn't be able to fall asleep right away for there was still too much going through his mind. Above all, of course, he was preoccupied with the fact that he had now turned his back irretrievably on de Rainault. He hoped that he had not made a mistake in siding with the earl, but he tried to reassure himself that the man was not known for going back on his given word. He was considered tough, but fair. Of course, he was no less preoccupied with the revelation of his familial connection to the earl and, by extension, to Robin Hood, but he immediately pushed that part of the conversation, which he had had in the woods, to the side. This was something for a later time.
But then his eyes must have fallen shut, for he suddenly startled out of his sleep. At first, he wasn't sure, but then he thought he had woken up hearing that someone was in his chamber. He remained motionless on his bed and listened again intensely, but now he could not hear anything. Warily he rose and groped his way over to the door in the dim light of the fireplace. He was relieved to find that the latch was still in place. By now his eyes had adjusted to the sparse light in the chamber, but he still made his way over to the fireplace to stoke the flames once more. Now that he was awake again, he began to freeze in the cold night air, for he was wearing nothing more than his breeches and chemise.
When he turned around again, he thought he saw a dark shadow on the other side of the chamber that didn't belong there and he was startled, but then he remembered that his door was locked. So how could anyone has gotten in?
"Don't you trust me to have climbed through the window?" came Loxley's voice from the shadows and Gisburne flinched again. He opened his mouth, but could not get a sound out.
The first son of Herne stepped out of the shadows and he looked exactly as the knight remembered him. His dark hair fell down to his back and his face was adorned with the same annoying smile he had almost always worn when Gisburne had met him. He slowly approached the knight, who would have liked to back away from him, but found that there was no more space behind his back to do so. Instead, he moved warily to the side, toward the window, keeping a close eye on the other. The latter continued to approach the knight confidently, as if it did not bother him in the least to be in the castle of his enemies and, what's more, in the chamber of the man who had so often tried to capture or even kill him. Until the day when the sheriff had hunted him down with dogs and crossbowmen and returned with the claim that Robin Hood was dead.
"You're dead!" Gisburne finally brought out as he continued to move along the wall toward his bed. His remark did nothing more than make the outlaw's grin grow even wider. And if he had hoped to sneak toward the door, he was mistaken, for Loxley had also changed the direction of his advance and was now between him and the exit. The knight had no choice but to retreat again, and all at once his lower legs bumped into something hard. Just at that moment the outlaw jumped forward and Gisburne fell backwards. Because he hadn't been paying attention to where he was, he didn't expect to land on his bed. But before he could recover from the shock, Loxley was standing right in front of him.
All at once, Gisburne found himself unable to move. He stared at the other man, looking directly at a suspicious swelling in his pants at eye level, which made him swallow hard. When he was able to tear his eyes away from it, he let his gaze wander further up, expecting to discover a blade in the outlaw's hand. Surely the man had entered here to attack his sleeping adversary. When the knight discovered that the other's hands were empty and that he was quite obviously not carrying a weapon at his belt either, it increased Gisburne's confusion even more. As his gaze wandered even further upward, he again spotted that particular grin on the other's face, but now the outlaw was close enough that he couldn't miss the twinkle in the green eyes either. Apparently, Loxley was having a great time, while Gisburne didn't know how to react.
Loxley's dark hair shimmered reddish in the glow of the fire and this glimpse distracted the knight. For this reason, he did not notice that the other had extended his hand. Gisburne flinched when he felt a gentle touch on his cheek, not immediately realizing that it was a tentative caress. This contact had an unexpected effect on him, as suddenly he could no longer breathe, while at the same time he felt an all too familiar tugging in his loins. Without meaning to, his gaze sank back down and he looked again at the swelling in Loxley's pants, which now seemed much larger than before.
"I'm not as armed as you imagined I would be", the outlaw whispered in Gisburne's ear and the latter immediately knew what was meant. He swallowed again, for suddenly he was hot and cold at the same time. He wished the other would leave his chamber on the spot, but at the same time he wished he would never leave again. One moment he shuddered at having been touched by a man in a way that seemed intimate, and the next at the other's failure to proceed. The knight was completely confused as nothing like this had ever happened to him before in his life. He had certainly been harassed by other men before and he had also gotten into situations where he had not been able to defend himself against it, but never before had his own body reacted to a man in such a way.
"What do you want, Loxley?" he finally brought out in a rough voice.
"Whatever you want, Gisburne", was the cryptic reply, which did not help him in the least, although he had again immediately understood what the other meant.
Quite unexpectedly for the knight, the outlaw bent down and kissed the other man. While doing so, he pushed his tongue into the other man's mouth with gentle force and explored it at length. Gisburne felt as if all strength had left him at that moment. The sensation that coursed through him was at once terrible and beautiful. This was all too much for him and he fell backwards onto his bed. From that moment on, he no longer noticed anything, because it got dark around him.
When the knight regained consciousness, he did not know at first what had happened. But after his memory returned, he leapt up in a panic and looked around the chamber, only to discover that there was no one here but him. Nevertheless, he immediately checked the door, but the latch was still in place. He then made his way to the window, although he was aware that his chamber was too far above the ground and no one would be able to get in here without a rope. He could not imagine how the damned outlaw had managed to get in here.
Suddenly Gisburne remembered what the other outlaws had tried to tell him a few days ago. They all thought Loxley had died four years ago. The knight also remembered vehemently disagreeing with them. Why had he done that, anyway? When had he started to believe that Loxley was still alive? But what if the others were right? Actually, he was sure that no one could have entered his chamber. Then there remained only the possibility that he had dreamed the whole thing.
He exhaled with relief, because he had solved the mystery of the nocturnal visitor, but then his tongue slid over a small wound on his lower lip. At the same moment he remembered that Loxley had bitten him just there. And then he suddenly realized that his soggy breeches were sticking to his body, and he realized that he had had an ejaculation, although he had not pleasured himself, for his hands were clean. He must have dreamed something that had aroused him, but what exactly? In his mind's eye appeared the image of Loxley moving smoothly toward him, and immediately he sensed something stirring in him again. Gisburne sobbed softly, for at that moment he understood that he was attracted to the other man. And he could not deny now that this had begun years ago. But as long as the other man was alive, he had not wanted to admit it. Now the knight suddenly realized that it was too late to learn whether Loxley returned those feelings. If the latter's friends were right, he would never know. Gisburne collapsed in front of his bed and began to cry uncontrollably.