VII – Ghosts

It was a strange sight to see, when the lone lady on her horse arrived at Locksley on a warm summer evening. Unlike most travelling ladies, she did not have much luggage with her. The fact that she was travelling alone was even stranger. She had no servants, guards, family members or even friends with her. Yet she held her head up high as she rode in front of the manor and stopped next to a young girl carrying a basket full of laundry.

"Do you work here?" the lady asked.

"Yes, my lady," the girl answered with a curtsy.

The lady dismounted her horse and looked up at the manor.

"Tell Guy of Gisborne that his sister is here to see him."

Lately Guy of Gisborne had seen so many ghosts that seeing his dead mother standing in front of the fireplace shouldn't have been much of a surprise to him. But he still stopped in his tracks when he saw her. Despite knowing full well that this wasn't his mother's ghost, the sight made him uneasy. In fact, it was even worse knowing this was Isabella.

Isabella raised her head as he entered the room, and the two locked eyes. It had been nearly two decades since they had last seen each other, and in that time, they had both grown up. Isabella was no longer the little girl Guy remembered.

"Guy," Isabella said finally. She held her hands clasped in front of her, her back straight and head held up high.

"Isabella," he replied, his voice quiet.

"It is good to see you are well."

"What are you doing here?" he asked before she could properly finish her sentence. She had never visited before, and the two hadn't even exchanged any letters. So why come now?

"Am I not allowed to visit my brother?" she questioned.

"You've never visited before."

This seemed to be enough of a sign for her that they both could drop any pretence of politeness. Isabella sat down on one of the chairs by the fire.

"I need your help," she admitted. Her aura of cool and collected politeness had disintegrated around her.

"Why me?"

"Because I have no-one else," Isabella said. She looked up at him sadly, and Guy felt like a knife had been plunged into his chest. This was not the first time he had seen this look on her face. He sighed in defeat and sat down on the other chair.

"What do you need?"

"Let me stay here. At least for a while."

"Why?"

Isabella lowered her head and smoothed down the wrinkles on her skirt.

"My husband is not a good man. You knew that even when you sold me into that disaster of a marriage. I need time away from him."

"Does he know you are here?"

"No."

Guy sighed and ran a hand over his face.

"He will look for you, won't he?"

"Yes, but it will take him some time to even think of looking for me here. Please, Guy," Isabella leaned over and took his hands between hers. "If you ever cared about me, just let me stay. Or if you cannot do this for me, do it in our mother's memory. If you send me back, I will not live long for much longer."

Guy could hear the desperation in her voice. If she was seeking refuge from him after this many years, she must have been telling the truth. When he looked into her pleading eyes, he didn't see the grown woman in front of him, and instead the little girl that pleaded him not to leave her behind.

"Fine," he sighed in defeat. "You can stay for now. I'll think about it more tomorrow."

Ever since Kate had taken up the role of the Nightwatchman, she had begun enjoying life in the forest much more. Sure, she ran into a lot more danger than before, but she felt it was worth it for the sense of community it built between her and the others. Robin was still clearly not fully supportive of Kate being the Nightwatchman, but he was at the very least genuinely grateful for her enthusiasm. As for archery, Kate had improved a lot. It might have been a contributing factor as to why Robin and Kate got along a lot better than they had before. Adam was still not a great shot, but at least he could hit a target now.

The arrival of summer had also raised everyone's spirits and helped keep the outlaws in a better mood. The nights were warm, the forest was full of life, the trees had sheltering leaves and there were a lot more rich people travelling through Sherwood. Ambushing them in the forest was enough for the others, but Robin was disappointed that they hadn't had a good chance to go against the Sheriff or Gisborne in weeks.

Although they got more than enough from merchants and noblemen that were brave enough to travel through, Robin was itching to at least know what the Sheriff was planning. Not knowing if he was up to something was nerve-wracking to Robin.

So once he heard a rumour in Nottingham that the Sheriff had hired new guards in the castle, it was all the excuse Robin needed.

"I want to go find out what the Sheriff is planning," he told the others one evening after another successful ambush.

"How do you plan on doing that?" Much asked.

Robin shrugged.

"I'll go in the castle and take a look around."

The others stared at him like he had grown a second head.

"You want to go into the castle just to look around?" Allan asked cynically.

"Yes. I won't even be stealing anything, so it will be fine," Robin said.

The others still looked sceptical.

"Robin, is this really a good idea? Breaking into the castle is risky enough even if you're not trying anything," John said.

"Well, it's not like we have anyone feeding us information anymore. With Marian gone, we don't have anyone on the inside who knows what is going on in the castle."

Much glanced to John with raised eyebrows and found John sharing his expression. This was the first time Robin had mentioned Marian this casually.

"You can't just march into the castle on your own!" Much protested.

"Fine, I'll take Adam with me," Robin said.

"Wait, what? Why me?" Adam asked. He didn't think Robin's plan was smart, but if Robin wanted to go and get himself killed, it wasn't Adam's problem.

"Yeah, why him?" Allan asked.

"He's least likely to be recognised by the guards," Robin said simply.

"How about asking me if I want to get myself killed for something this unimportant?" Adam asked.

"Adam's right, there's no guarantee this will even benefit us. This is a bad idea," Kate chimed in, taking off her mask and cloak.

"Exactly! So, can we just leave it at that and forget about your suicidal plan?" Much lamented.

"Fine, I'll let it go," Robin said, raising his hands up in defeat.

Still, he knew he wasn't really going to.

That night Guy lay in his bed, staring at the ceiling, unable to sleep. Isabella's sudden appearance had forced him to think about things he would much rather have forgotten. In fact, he often wished that he could forget his past at will and pretend that his life had begun on some very boring Tuesday. He had worked hard to push his childhood as far away from his mind as he could, and that included pretending that he did not have a sister.

Yet now that sister was here, in Locksley, asking for his help to hide herself from her husband. Guy himself had met John Thornton exactly once, on his and Isabella's wedding day. The match had been originally planned and approved by Thornton's father, who had taken pity on Guy and Isabella, two orphans with no-one to take care of them. This pity and humanity had unfortunately been nowhere to be found in the younger Thornton, but by the time Guy had made his mind up about the man, he had known it was too late to back out.

Isabella had of course cried and protested – but that was what young girls did all the time. Guy had only done what he thought was right for the both of them at the time. Who knew if either of them would even be alive now if he had decided differently.

If the 18-year-old John Thornton had been an arrogant menace, Guy hated to think what he had become later. Judging by Isabella's desperate attempt at getting away from him, nothing good. Yet Guy refused to feel guilty for what he had done. After all, he had provided Isabella with security for the rest of her life, while he himself had yet to find his place in the world. But thinking back to when he had said goodbye to his 13-year-old sister, without any knowledge of if they would ever meet again, Guy could hear in his head the words that kept clawing at his conscience.

You were supposed to keep me safe.

Guy turned to his side. His life was already bad enough as it was, and he had enough self-loathing to last a lifetime. He did not need a reminder of one of his first big failures in life – he refused to call it a mistake – in his own home. He would grant Isabella the safety she needed, but not here. Not in Locksley.

By the time Guy got himself up from the bed and dressed, Isabella had already finished eating breakfast. It seemed that time had not changed the fact that she was a morning person – a characteristic that had annoyed Guy in his teenage years, when all he wanted to do was sleep.

"Good morning," Isabella greeted her brother as he sat down to have breakfast.

"Morning. Did you sleep well?" Guy asked, more out of courtesy than genuine interest.

"Better than in years," Isabella said. Compared to the sad and desperate woman he had seen yesterday, this Isabella seemed genuinely happy. She simply sat by the table and watched as he ate. Guy noticed that she was fiddling with something in her hands.

"You still have that then," he said.

"Of course I do." Isabella unwrapped the beads from around her hand and held up the object for Guy to see. Their mother's rosary. It had been one of the very few things they had left of her. Guy could remember how Isabella used to squeeze the cross tightly in her hands every night when they went to sleep, as if she was scared that someone would steal it from her. Guy had let her keep it – he had never had much interest in praying anyway.

Guy turned his eyes back to his food.

"I figured out what I'm going to do with you," he said.

"Oh." Isabella tensed visibly.

"I will take you to Nottingham. The castle has plenty of space and if you really think your husband won't look for you here, then he certainly won't think to go there," he said. Of course, that was not his real reasoning for the decision, but he wasn't about to tell Isabella the truth either.

"Alright," Isabella said, but Guy could see the disappointment on her face. "Although I hope that we can still see each other. There are many things I wish to talk to you about. We have a lot to catch up on."

Guy only nodded in reply. In truth, he did not share this desire. If he had his way, Isabella would turn into smoke and disappear, along with the rest of the ghosts that kept haunting him.

"I can't believe you talked me into this," Adam said as he placed the guard's helmet on his head.

"You didn't need much convincing in the first place," Robin pointed out.

The two of them had had no trouble sneaking into the castle, and Adam was beginning to wonder if the guards working there were competent at all. His first idea had been to just knock out a couple of guards to get their uniforms, but Robin had insisted that they didn't attract too much attention to themselves, and so they had found their way to the barracks – completely undisturbed – and found a couple uniforms that way.

"Do you know where the kitchens are?" Robin asked as he peeked around the corner to make sure they were still alone.

"No, but I think I can find my way. I mean, it's a castle, it's not like they're hiding the kitchens. Why?" Adam adjusted his belt one last time.

"Go there and find out what you can."

"Find out what?"

"Anything. Gossip, rumours, changes in the Sheriff's morning routine. Just… Talk to people. I assume you can get a couple kitchen maids to loosen their tongues," Robin said and patted Adam's cheek playfully.

"Of course I can," Adam laughed. "What will you do?"

"I'll take a look around. I know the castle better than you do, so I can move around undetected. I'm sure I can find out something that way," Robin explained.

Adam frowned. "Are you sure about this? Why even bring me in the first place if you were planning on splitting up?" he asked.

"I can't talk to people without getting recognised."

Somewhere around the corner they could hear footsteps approaching. Robin put his own helmet on and looked back at Adam.

"Meet me here in one hour." With that, he disappeared out into the hallway. Adam waited for a moment until the footsteps disappeared, leaving him in the silence on his own, before setting out to find the kitchens.

"My lord, I'd like to introduce you to my sister, Isabella."

Isabella could hear the strain in her brother's voice. The reason was very obvious. The Sheriff of Nottingham was not a tall man, but he seemed to command the room with his sheer presence. Isabella knew all about evil men, and this one had the stench of one that had crept up from the lowest depths of hell. Fortunately, Isabella also knew how evil men should be handled, so she gave an exaggerated curtsy.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, my lord," she said.

"Gisborne, you never told me you had a sister," the Sheriff said, eyeing her from head to toe.

Isabella had known that it was unlikely that Guy spent much time thinking about her, but the fact that he had never even mentioned her – not once – still hurt.

"We haven't really been in touch recently," Guy said, clearly uncomfortable.

"Hmm. And why is she here now? Out of money? Thought your brother might graciously lend a helping hand, for old times' sake, did you?" The Sheriff stood right in front of Isabella, but she wasn't about to let him intimidate her. Instead, she kept looking straight into his eyes, accepting the challenge.

"I thought it had been too long since I had last seen Guy. I thought I would visit some old places from my childhood and reconnect with my dear brother," she said politely.

The Sheriff stared at her for a moment longer before turning around and walking over to his desk.

"Your sister is a better liar than you, Gisborne," he said, pouring himself a drink.

Isabella looked at her brother. He seemed absolutely exhausted.

"My lord, I was hoping Isabella could stay here in the castle for the duration of her visit," Guy said.

"And why should I let her do that?" The Sheriff took a sip from his goblet.

Before Guy could come up with an explanation, Isabella decided to step in.

"My lord, while I enjoy catching up with my brother after so many years, Locksley still holds some… unpleasant memories for me. I would feel more comfortable if I did not have to spend my nights there."

The Sheriff thought again for a moment. He looked at her as if she was a beggar on the street.

"At least I can tell when this one is lying. I don't need any more spies in my castle," he said finally. He took another sip of wine. "I also do not need any more distractions. I am a busy man."

"You will not even notice I'm here," Isabella said. This time there were no lies or deceit in her words. She had no intention of spending any of her time in the presence of this man.

The Sheriff emptied the rest of his goblet.

"You had better not," he said and set the goblet on the desk. "I will agree to this. She can have Lady Marian's old room. But you owe me, Gisborne."

The siblings held back sighs of relief and thanked the Sheriff before leaving the room.

"Oh, Isabella, was it?" the Sheriff called out after her. "Just know that I am not the sort of man who lets women get away with just about anything just because they are women."

"I didn't assume you were," Isabella replied in her cool, polite tone.

Robin had to be quick on his feet to avoid being seen by Gisborne. Hiding in a dark alcove, he waited until Gisborne and the lady he was with were gone. Robin couldn't get a good look at her, but from the quick glance he got, he didn't recognise her. Perhaps this dark-haired lady was another attempt at marriage? Or maybe even something more sinister.

See, Much, I already found out something useful, he thought. Well, this information was not useful yet, but it was a start.

Robin considered for a moment running after Gisborne and the mystery lady to spy on them, but decided not to risk it. Instead, he thought he might check if the good old strongroom had anything fun to offer.

Despite knowing full well that kitchens were usually in the lower levels of a castle, Adam found himself strolling along the empty corridors of one of the towers. Really, he was going the kitchens, this was just a little detour to map out the castle in his head. The last time Adam had been here he had been in such a hurry that the only things he had really paid attention to were possible escape routes. Now he had time, he could take a proper look around. Who knew, maybe he'd end up here again, seeing how Robin had a tendency to visit the castle from time to time.

It was unfortunate, however, when Adam found himself face to face with Guy of Gisborne when the latter suddenly opened a door in front of him. For a moment Adam thought he had been found out. But then he remembered that Gisborne had no reason to know what he even looked like; Adam himself had only ever seen Gisborne from a distance. Much had convinced Robin not to go picking up fights with him, so as a result Robin made the whole gang stay away from the man.

Adam was now grateful for this, because although he could easily recognise the man he had seen a few times in passing either in Locksley or Nottingham, Gisborne showed no signs of recognition.

"You," Gisborne said. "Get Lady Isabella's things from the courtyard and bring them here."

That was when Adam saw the lady standing behind him. She was beautiful – although not his type – and like any proper lady, walked right past Adam as if he didn't even exist. In an instant both Gisborne and Lady Isabella were gone.

Adam decided to follow Gisborne's order to not raise any suspicions. Besides, it gave him just another excuse to snoop around. It wasn't a difficult task either – Lady Isabella had not brought many things with her. Maybe she was very religious. Those type of women usually didn't carry around a lot of dresses and jewellery.

Despite not having a lot to carry, walking down and back up the steep stairs of the castle in the heavy armour forced Adam into a sweat. After deeming Lady Isabella's room boring and not very noteworthy, he stepped back out into the corridor. Making sure no-one was around, he removed his helmet and wiped the sweat off his brow. How could anyone wear this all summer?

That was the moment when the Sheriff himself happened to walk past that same corridor. At first Adam didn't notice him, but the moment he raised his eyes, and the two men saw each other, Adam knew he was in trouble. Of course the only man in the castle who just so happened to know him was standing only a few feet away from him. So much for the stealth mission.

"You!" The Sheriff said, anger building inside him. Before he could even call out for guards, Adam had started running.

The guards swarming the hallways of the castle alerted Robin to the fact that something must have gone wrong. He decided to not go to the strongroom after all. He would have to focus on not being discovered. Changing his plan, Robin began heading towards the kitchens. He had to find Adam and get out of the castle.

Compared to the last time Adam had been running from the guards in the castle, there was one fact that worked to his advantage: this time he at least had a faint idea of where in the castle he was. That still didn't help much. Adam cursed when he heard the guards getting closer. Why had the Sheriff chosen that exact moment to walk on that exact corridor? Now Robin's whole plan was ruined.

God, why was the armour so hot?

He needed to hide. Then he could think – a first time for everything – and come up with a plan to find Robin. Or get out of the castle. Preferably both.

With that simple plan in mind, Adam grabbed the handle of the first door he saw and rushed into the room.

There were both positives and negatives to this. The positive part was that there was no-one else in the room. The negative part, however, was that judging by the look of the room, Adam had stumbled right into the Sheriff's room. There was no time to change the plan, judging by the sounds coming from the hallway. Adam crawled under the desk creaking under piles of… well, probably evil plans. He tucked his long legs under his chin just in time.

Someone opened the door. Adam couldn't see who it was, but he hoped it was anyone but the Sheriff. He held his breath, which was extremely painful, considering that he had been panting heavily just a moment before. The next moments felt like an eternity, and Adam spent all of them thinking he was about to pass out.

Then the door closed. Adam wasn't sure if it was safe to breathe again. Had the person stepped inside or just taken a look to make sure the room was empty? Eventually he was forced to breathe, his lungs burning as he gasped for air. He waited for a few more moments, but nothing happened. There were no sounds inside the room, except for his own heavy breathing. The noises outside were gone as well.

He decided to risk getting out from under the desk.

Of course, it was just his luck that he banged his head on the underside of the desk while untangling his legs. A large pile of papers crashed to the floor. Great. Adam began scooping them up quickly, hoping they hadn't been in any particular order. For a brief moment he considered the fact that these papers could contain information Robin might want. But the priorities had changed, and now getting out was more important than trying to smuggle out a few papers. Adam stacked what he'd gathered in his arms back onto the desk.

He was reaching for the next pile of papers when something caught his attention. There, on the parchment, he saw something that made him feel like he had hit his head again. Or that he was holding his breath again. Either way, he was frozen in place, the moments feeling like an eternity. He kept staring at the parchment, unsure what to do.

The small rational part left in Adam forced him to move. There was no time to think. He grabbed the paper, folded it and shoved it under his belt. Then he finished collecting the other papers, set them on the desk, and headed out of the room.

He forgot to listen before going out into the hallway and nearly slammed the door against Robin's face.

"What did you do?" Robin demanded. He didn't seem very surprised to run into Adam.

"The Sheriff saw me."

"Well, let's get out of here. I think we've given the guards enough exercise for today," Robin laughed.

Disappointment and guilt washed over Adam as they rushed out of the castle, the shouting of the guards doing nothing to drown out his own buzzing thoughts.

"See? I told you this was a bad idea!" Much cried immediately once Robin and Adam had gotten back to the camp and told the others about their little adventure.

"But we're fine, aren't we? You said our plan was suicidal, and we barely ran into any trouble," Robin said.

"You call running from guards barely any trouble?" Much asked, waving around the knife he was using to chop vegetables for their dinner.

"It's not the worst thing that's ever happened to us!"

"Did you at least find out something?" Allan cut in.

Much continued to cut up the carrots with a frown on his face.

Robin seemed happy to change the subject. "Yes! I saw Gisborne with some lady. I didn't recognise her, though."

"Another desperate attempt at marriage?" Kate asked bitterly. After the situation with Meg, she hated the thought of another poor woman ending up in the same position.

"Maybe," Robin said with a shrug.

"Gisborne called her Lady Isabella," Adam said and snatched a piece of carrot from Much's cutting board.

Robin's gaze snapped to Adam. "Are you sure?" he asked. He tried to piece together the brief glance he had gotten of the woman and his memories of a quiet little girl he had last seen a lifetime ago.

"Yeah. I was carrying her things into the castle when I got caught," Adam said and grabbed another piece of carrot.

"I think she's Gisborne's sister," Robin said.

"Gisborne has a sister?" Allan exclaimed.

Robin nodded.

"What is she doing in Nottingham?" Much asked.

"I don't know. But I really hope this is just an innocent family visit," Robin replied, stroking his chin.

Adam's sudden reappearance at the castle confused the Sheriff. It had now been months since he escaped the dungeons, and the Sheriff had just assumed that Adam had gotten as far from Nottingham as he could. But now the boy was here. Why? And where had he been all this time?

When the Sheriff got the news that the boy had once again gotten away, he was angry. But that was nothing compared to the rage he felt when he heard that Robin Hood had been seen fleeing with the boy. Of course. That explained why Adam was here. He was one of Robin Hood's little outlaws.

This could be bad for the Sheriff. Several of the original plans he had had in store for Adam were now gone. But perhaps not all was lost. In fact, by accepting the boy into his gang, Hood may have played right into the Sheriff's hand. So long as the boy was with Hood, the Sheriff could wait and play the long game. The Sheriff was not sure what his next move would be, but he was in no hurry making it.

Power was something he had always craved. And power could always be bought. But there was one currency that was even stronger than money: Information. And the Sheriff now held information that he could exchange for the upper hand at the right moment. All he needed to do was wait.