"Juliana." Guy said as she rode up on her horse, falling into step next to him.
"Hello." she said.
"I thought I heard someone say you were going to be out on a ride with Marian." he said as he looked around, half expecting Robin and his men to surround them.
"She wasn't feeling up to it." Juliana said with a shrug. "Which is good, because I need to talk to you."
"And you couldn't have done that with her around?" Guy asked, arching an eyebrow.
"No." she shook her head. "Not without causing another argument between the two of us." she added.
"I see." he said, waving his men to follow at a distance. "So, what is it you needed to speak to me about?"
"Two hundred pounds." she said.
"I'm sorry?" he laughed.
"I had a chat with the sheriff and he thanked me for my handsome gift of three hundred pounds." she said as she swatted a bunch of low hanging leaves out of her way.
"Really?" Guy asked. "He's getting on a bit." he said as though it explained it.
"You didn't have to do that." Juliana said, not allowing him to dodge the subject. "I'll have to repay you."
"I'm already getting a payment." he pointed out.
"Yes, that covers getting the sheriff to agree to our plan, and asking him to accept my bribe." she reminded him.
"And I did." Guy laughed.
"And two hundred pounds just suddenly appeared?" she asked. "Because I could have sworn that one hundred was the price I'd settled on."
"You don't have to repay me two hundred pounds." Guy said.
"You put in your own money..." Juliana argued.
"Only a hundred pounds." he said.
"Where did the extra hundred come from?" she asked.
"The sheriff's coffers." he grinned.
"Are you telling me that you worked it so the sheriff bribed himself?" Juliana laughed. "Oh, you are good, Guy." she praised.
"I do try." he replied with a wink.
"But, that means there is still the matter of a hundred pounds." she said.
"Perhaps we can make the same agreement?" he suggested.
"That you name what it is you want in return?" she asked. "I'm half afraid that you're going to ask for my first born at this rate." she joked. "But, since I haven't the money, I think that would be the best solution."
"Good." he said.
Their conversation ceased as one of the sheriff's men raced up to Guy and stopped and whispered something in his ear. Turning to Juliana, Guy smiled.
"Apparently, your father has just told the sheriff that some documents of his have gone missing." he informed her, though he felt she would not be at all surprised.
"Really?" she asked. "Perhaps it wasn't those servants after all." she smiled.
"You hired the new servants, if I'm not mistaken." he said as he turned his horse back around to head to the castle.
"I did." she nodded as she maneuvered her own horse. "Are you suggesting that I hired dishonest people?" she asked, sounding shocked.
"I didn't say a word." he said as he nudged his horse and headed back, Juliana following close behind him.
"I've been here not a month, and twice I've been robbed!" Sir Robert's voice boomed as Guy and Juliana walked into the room.
"I was told there was a problem." Guy said as he came to stand next to the sheriff.
"You could say that." Robert snapped. "I've precious documents that have gone missing."
Guy listened to Sir Robert's complaints, along with the sheriff, both men nodding in understanding, all the while wishing the man deaf.
Guy's attention was drawn to one of the new 'servants' who stood in a corner of the room talking to Juliana, who nodded and shooed the man away, waited a few moments, and followed him out.
He'd felt there was something a bit odd about the new servants. None of them would go anywhere near Sir Robert, which he had thought was simply because of the man's surly nature.
Her new maid, a Saracen, would speak to no one but Juliana, and he'd come across Robert's daughter a few times, in dark hallways, whispering with one of the men. At first he thought perhaps she was having some sort of affair, but now, he thought he must have been mistaken.
Quickly seeing that the sheriff seemed to have Robert calmed a bit, and the situation under control, he followed Juliana out of the room. He caught sight of her as she rounded a corner, heading for some rooms that were, at the moment, unused.
Rounding the corner himself, he ran straight into Juliana, who stood smiling.
"Took you long enough." she said as she turned and started walking again. "I'm quite keen to find out what Kit has for us." she added.
"Kit?" Guy asked, moving to catch up to her. She may be short, but she moved quite quickly.
"Theodore is the name all of the staff and such know him by." she said as she stopped outside of a door, knocked and waited for a man's voice to tell them to enter.
"The new stable hand." Guy nodded.
"You've noticed my brother!" Juliana said with a smile as she opened the door, revealing three men and one woman, her maid, standing in the dimly lit space. "Proper names now, I think." she said as she dragged Guy into the room and closed the door behind her.
"Is he the one you were talking about?" one of the men asked.
Guy studied each of the men. The one who had just spoken was tall and thin, his blond hair a mess of curls on top of his head, and his eyes a deep blue color. The man who stood next to him, was tall as well, but rather pudgy, and had brown hair, much like Juliana's. The third man sat at a table and peeled an apple with a dagger. He was blond like the one who spoke as well, but more muscular. He would have guessed none of these men were related to Juliana.
"Yes it is." Juliana said. "This is Sir Guy. Guy, my brother, Christopher, Daniel and Marcus." she added. "And this of course is my dear sister-in-law, Rahimah."
"And you're sure he can be trusted?" the man she introduced as Christopher asked.
"Yes, Kit, for the hundredth time." she sighed. "Did you find them all?" she asked.
"No." all three men answered at once.
"What do you mean, no?" she asked, staring blankly at each.
"Your father seems to have hidden some elsewhere." Rahimah answered.
"Maybe he tucked them away at one of the inns you stopped at." Marcus added as he put his dagger away and began to eat the apple.
"He wouldn't have done that." Daniel said as he continued to look Guy over, assessing him.
"Then where are they?" Marcus asked.
"Edward's." Kit said suddenly.
"What?" Juliana asked.
"He didn't hide them all here, and he wouldn't have just left them at some random inn." Kit said. "He must have hidden them at Edward's. He'd have a chance to get them when needed, and there would be plenty of places to hide them." he surmised.
"Then how do we get 'em?" Marcus asked.
"I'll go." Juliana said.
"Just gonna knock on their door and say, "Hello, I need to poke about your house a bit to find letters that my father is using to blackmail people with"?" Marcus asked
"No, I'll come up with a reason to stay there." she answered, sounding both annoyed and impatient. "Edward said that if I ever wanted to, I could stay with them for a bit."
"What will your reason be?" Daniel asked.
"Father and I had a row." she suggested.
"You always have rows, you've been putting up with him for years." Kit put in.
"Fine then." she sighed. "I'll tell them I'm vexed with Sir Guy."
"From what I've heard, Marian will be quick to believe that." Daniel agreed.
"Good then, that's settled." Juliana said with a nod.
"Do you mind that?" Rahimah asked, looking at Guy who'd stood by silently, listening to the siblings come up with their plans.
"Marian would most definitely believe it." he said.
"It'll cast you in a pretty bad light." Juliana said.
"I don't think she could have any lower opinion of me." he said, attempting a smile, but failing.
"Maybe we should let them in on this." Marcus suggested.
"Who?" Kit asked, turning to look at his brother.
"Edward and his girl." he answered as he spit out an apple seed.
"No." Juliana said. "If we get caught doing anything, I don't want them to be in trouble."
"Maybe if we explain..." Marcus tried again.
"No." Juliana said.
"Listen to Julie." Daniel said. "She's brought us this far in all of this."
"Exactly, she's the brains of this operation." Kit said fondly, feeling quite proud of his baby sister.
"That's it then." Juliana said. "I'll quickly go pack a bag and head off." she added as she turned.
"Good luck." Marcus said. "He had those damned things hidden all over the castle, some of the oddest places." he added. "In the latrines for cryin' out loud!"
"No matter how long it takes, I'll find them." Juliana said. "You all need to be careful while I'm gone." she added as she stopped at the door and turned to look at her family.
"I'll make sure they're safe." Guy said.
"Thank you." she said before opening the door and leaving, Guy waiting a few minutes before following.
Juliana tossed a few things into a bag and tossed the bag onto her bed. She looked up and realized it had began to rain.
"Perfect." she said with a smile.
A knock at her door startled her a bit, but she quickly recovered and gave permission for the person to enter.
"Is the horse ready, Rahimah?" she asked as she went through her bag once again.
"No." Guy's voice answered from the doorway. "Your horse threw a shoe and they're replacing it."
"Oh." she said, looking up in surprise. "And they sent you to tell me?" she asked.
"No, I was just curious about the story you're going to tell Marian." he answered as he came in and shut the door behind him.
"Oh, I've come up with a brilliant story." she said happily.
"Do share." he said as he leaned against the wall.
"I confessed to you that I had fallen in love with you, and you rejected me cruelly." she said with a smile. "And you then went onto tell me that you were only befriending me in hopes of making Marian jealous. I'm quite proud of that story." she added as she walked over to the chest of drawers and went to grab her brush.
"I wouldn't do that, you know." Guy said as he took Juliana's wrist in his hand.
"What?" she asked as she gasped in surprise.
"I wouldn't reject you." he answered, staring down at her intensely. "If you were to confess that, that is."
"Oh." was her only response as she stared back, finding it hard for her to swallow or even breathe.
"Juliana..." Guy began before being cut off by Rahimah swinging open the door.
"Your horse is ready now, Julie." she said as she stopped and stared at the two of them. "I'm sorry, I can come back.."
"No." Juliana said quickly, suddenly finding her wits. "I need to go." she added as she tossed her brush in her bag and took off.
Idiot! she scorned herself. Why did you just stand there like such an idiot? She wanted to kick herself. Her mind had gone completely blank, and she had no idea what to say. She'd never had a man talk to her in such a way. Now he was going to think she was either stupid or uninterested. Or both!
She mounted her horse and took off at a dead run in the direction of Edward's house. By the time she arrived, soaking wet at their door, the tears she'd planned on using for good effect, were all too real.