Juliana sat at the table with the sheriff, Sir Guy and her increasingly cross father listening to the sheriff's guests boast about their money, lands and various titles. One man brought up his successfully marrying his youngest daughter to a wealthy German merchant, a feat he was very proud of.

"I was lucky enough to have four sons born to me." Sir Robert added, bothered by being left out of the coversation at all. "Thought my luck had run out when this one came along." he said, pointing to Juliana. "One of my friends was good enough to point out the possible advantages of having a girl."

"Did your sons marry well?" one man asked.

"None of them are married." he sighed. "Guess she's my last hope, since I do not know where those boys are." he laughed.

Juliana bridled at his intentional dig at Kit and his wife, but bit her lip to keep from saying anything.

"She is a lovely one." another man, an Austrian of some sort, put in. "Perhaps we could talk a bit later."

"Oh, indeed." Robert nodded emphatically.

Juliana stopped listening to the conversation, finding that it made her feel ill as she looked at the Austrian man. Fat and his skin had, in odd patches across his cheeks, a rather an odd purplish color, he made her skin crawl. She turned her mind instead to Marian and her understanding with the sheriff. Marian had regained consciousness, but her shoulder still pained her too much, and she had to keep to bed. She had wanted to go to Robin, to tell him of Marian's progress, but Guy was there at every turn. She would not have normally minded Guy's attention so much, had it still been of a flattering nature. Instead, it had turned into a mistrusting, paranoid sort.

She glanced up from her food to see Guy send a quick glance her way before turning his attention to the sheriff and a man on his left. It stung that the glance she'd seen had been rather icy, at best, instead of the more friendly, dare she assume, romantic, glances of before. She was afraid that not only had she gotten her best friend hurt so badly, but that Guy would not be able to trust her again, and anything they may have had starting, would have died.

Her mind then went to the assassin. She had no feelings either way where the king was concerned. Her brothers and sister-in-law did. They made that quite clear when she'd informed them of what the plan was. Her brothers did not think highly of King Richard and Rahmiah started muttering something in Arabic, something Kit knew, and refused to translate for his sister.

What if the plan went wrong? What if they were all found out? Would seeing her father usurped and crushed be worth being executed if found to be a traitor? So many thoughts swam in her head, it began to ache. Shaking her head, she reluctantly brought herself back to what was going on around her. Looking up from her food again, she saw the sheriff getting to his feet, raising his goblet in a toast.

"By the end of the week, our plans will begin to be set into motion." he said, a smile playing on his lips. "Our guest of honor will arrive, and we can finalize details of a plan we are all very, very excited about." he added. "And to those who have helped put this plan into motion, a great reward will be bestowed." he raised his goblet high and bowed his head.

"Here here!" the men all called out as they, too, raised their goblets and cheered before emptying their cups.

A great reward so long as no one caught on and no one was hanged or beheaded for treason, Juliana thought nervously.

xxxxxx

"Juliana!" an accented voice whispered as Juliana felt herself being shaken awake.

"What?" she mumbled as she buried her head under her pillow.

"The Lady Marian, she has taken a turn." Rhamiah answered worriedly.

"What?" Juliana asked, sitting up suddenly.

"Her wound has festered, she has a very bad fever." she said as she dragged her sleepy sister-in-law out of bed.

"Is the sheriff's physician with her?" Juliana asked as she scrambled to pull on a robe.

"No." she shook her head. "He is too drunk and will not wake."

"Is there anything you can do?" Juliana asked, her voice trembling.

"They will not let me anywhere near the lady." she shook her head. "That is why I came for you."

"I'm not sure they'll listen to me." Juliana said as she headed for her door. "Send Daniel out along the North Road." she added, suddenly stopping and turning around. She then whistled. "Tell him to do that, and wait. Then he must ask for Djaq."

"Who?" Rhamiah asked in confusion.

"She is a friend, she might be able to help you." Juliana answered as she went to a writing desk in the corner of the room and began to write. "Give this to Daniel, tell him to give it to Djaq."

"She is one of my people, is she not?" Rhamiah asked. "How will she get in?"

"I'll figure out a way." Juliana said. "Go, send Daniel on his way."

In the hall, Juliana watched the Saracen hurry off to find Daniel and then made her way nervously to Marian's bedchamber.

"Miss Whitney!" the sheriff's voice hissed in her ear as she stood around the corner from her friend's room, getting up courage to go see her.

"Sheriff!" she said. "What are you doing here?" she asked.

"One of my guests has taken ill, it would be very unkind of me to check in on her, don't you think?" he asked with a smile.

"Of course." she answered as she swallowed hard. "I came to check on her myself."

"Of course you did." he sneered. "Best friends and all that."

"If you will excuse me." Juliana said, trying to move past him.

"I'll come with you." he offered cheerfully. "You know, I was very sorry to hear of the little spat between Gisborne and yourself."

"I'm sure you were." she replied dryly.

"Of course, I don't wish to see either of you upset." he said, sounding rather offended by her disbelief. "Unless one or both of you blunder and cost me, then I will make sure you are very, very upset indeed." he added as they reached Marian's door. "I've changed my mind. If you'll excuse me, I'm going back to bed."

"If I did not know better, Sheriff, I would say that you roused yourself merely to warn me again." Juliana whispered as he turned to leave.

"You are smart, at times." he nodded. "I'm sure you'll make that man your father was speaking to at dinner a very fine wife." he laughed before leaving her alone in the hall.

Juliana shook off the effects of her chat with the sheriff and went into Marian's room. Her friend was lying in the bed, her bed covers pushed down and she tossed and turned, sweat pouring from her brow.

"What are you doing here?" the physician asked.

"I've come to help where I can." she answered softly as she moved to the side of the bed and held Marian's hand.

"We've done what we can for now." the man said as he packed things away in a large leather bag. "If the fever does not break soon, we will bleed her, get the bad blood out of her system."

"Is that such a good idea?" Juliana asked as she layed a cool cloth across her friend's forehead. "She lost so much blood with her injury..."

"Who is the physician here?" the man asked, not masking his annoyance at both her questioning his methods and having been dragged from his bed at such an hour.

"You are." she replied, not having the energy to argue.

"Exactly." he said as he closed the bag and headed for the door. "Leave this matter to those who know best." he added before leaving.

"I will when they arrive." she muttered as she held Marian's hand again.

"Robin." Marian whispered.

"No, not Robin." Juliana answered softly. "I'll try to find a way to get him here to you." she said as she sat in the bed next to the feverish woman. "I promise I will. I owe you that much."