"Gisborne! I think I gave a precise order, what are you doing here? In the company of your leper friend, too!"
The sheriff gave a disgusted look to Guy and Marian, who had entered the room a few moments after the black knight.
"My lord, something unusual happened while I was on guard at the gate and I thought you had to be informed immediately."
Vaisey looked at him: Gisborne didn't waste time to dry out or remove his coat, drenched in rain.
"Talk then."
Guy described the arrival of the coach and the mysterious young woman who had fainted in his arms.
Vaisey raised an eyebrow.
"Where is this woman now?"
"I have ordered that she was to be carried in one of the guest rooms and I sent for a doctor."
The sheriff slammed his fist on the table.
"Do you think that I have money to spare for every vagrant who arrives at the castle just because you, kind of idiot, you let yourself to be enchanted by a beautiful face? Maid Marian, if I were you I would feel offended."
Marian was about to reply that she had no reason to be jealous of Guy, but she stopped just in time, realizing that those words would hurt the feelings of Gisborne.
"She doesn't seem at all a vagabond, my lord. The carriage is quite luxurious."
Vaisey seemed to consider the last sentence, wondering if he could take advantage of that unexpected visit to his advantage.
"Let me see this mysterious carriage, then. And in any case you will pay the doctor's bills."
Guy nodded and he led the way to the courtyard. Guy noticed that Marian followed him closely and he knew that she had to be afraid of that situation.
Gisborne let Vaisey to go ahead and he gave an encouraging smile to the girl. While they were inside the castle the subtle uneasiness that had caught him seeing the carriage without driver had dissipated, but, to his extreme disappointment, it returned to bother him when he looked again at the vehicle that was standing in a corner of the yard.
The servants had removed the horses to put them away in the stables so the coach seemed even more abandoned and ghostly.
Marian also must have had the same impression because she had approached even closer to Guy, to the point that their hands touched. Guy wished he took off his gloves because in that case he could touch the soft skin of the hands of Marian, but it was also fine staying so close to her. He didn't move, hoping that the girl didn't step away from him.
Vaisey however was not at all intimidated by the funeral vestments of the carriage and he walked around it, looking at the quality of the wood and of the decorations.
"Maybe you're not quite an idiot, Gisborne. It looks really luxurious." He opened a door and touched the cloth that covered the coffin with no respect, groping and rubbing the fabric between his fingers and making Guy and Marian cringe for that lack of respect for the dead. "And this is of excellent quality, I think this unexpected visit could be fruitful."
Vaisey pulled aside the drape to knock on the lid of the coffin.
"I wonder if there is really in here a body or if it's an ingenious system to transport the riches without being robbed. Come on, open it, Gisborne."
Guy froze. He had done worse things at the orders of the sheriff, but the thought of violating the coffin made him shudder.
He felt that, if he opened that coffin, the spirit of the deceased would have had good reason to take revenge on him. Earlier he had said to Marian that he didn't believe in that sort of things, but then it was before the coffin of a stranger arrived at the castle in such a disturbing way.
"Should I open it myself, my lord?" He asked, hesitantly, and Vaisey looked at him with such ferocity to make him wince.
"No, you idiot, I think I'm going to ask Robin Hood to do it! Come on, you incompetent oaf!"
Guy swallowed, faced with a choice between two equally terrifying alternatives, he took a step toward the carriage and he hoped he didn't look too terrified at the eyes of Marian.
He was about to touch the coffin when a stern voice from the door of the castle stopped him.
"What are you doing with the coffin of my father?"
Gisborne spun around and he sighed with relief, seeing that the young woman who he helped seemed to have fully recovered. Her arrival had spared him the unwelcome task to open the coffin and Guy was incredibly relieved. He vowed that in the future he would have more respect for the spirits of the dead, even though he was a little ashamed for this superstition.
Vaisey eyed the girl from head to toe, then he gave her a patently false smile.
"I was just making sure that it was being transported to a more sheltered place."
"It's perfectly safe on the coach, I don't want it to be moved." The woman said, in a harsh tone.
"With whom do I have the honor of speaking?"
"I'm the Sheriff of Nottingham. The idiot dressed in black is Gisborne, while the annoying burden standing beside him is Lady Marian. Who are you?"
"Lady Millacra." The girl said in a haughty tone, as if her name was sufficient to answer Vaisey's question. "Aren't you going to invite me to continue this conversation in a warmer place?"
The sheriff waved her back into the castle.

Robin Hood covered his face with the hood of his cloak to avoid being recognized as he looked from a distance at the scene in the castle courtyard.
His informant was not mistaken, a very mysterious coach arrived at the castle and Robin had never seen before the lady dressed in black who was talking to Vaisey.
He wondered who she was and he decided that he'd have to find out. If she was a young innocent girl he'd warn her, but if she was an ally of Vaisey, he would try to foil their plans.
He watched her to go back to the castle followed by the sheriff and, shortly after, by Marian and Gisborne. He found himself in a foul mood: Marian was too close to Guy of Gisborne and she followed him like a shadow.
He didn't like that situation and he would have to fix it by persuading Marian to flee into the forest with him.

Marian and Guy exchanged a doubtful look.
The sheriff had accompanied the stranger woman in his own studio and he had closed the door behind him, slamming it in face of Gisborne.
Guy wondered why Vaisey wanted to talk privately to the woman, but he wasn't too disappointed to have been put aside.
He was tired and cold and if the sheriff didn't require his services so much the better, he would take some time to rest. In the company of Marian, among other things.
He smiled at the girl.
"Given that the sheriff doesn't like our company, how about going to look for a turnip in the kitchens? I will show you how to make a lantern of it, as I promised."
Marian looked at him. She would have expected to see him irritated or disappointed to be excluded from the confidence of the sheriff, but at that time Guy was looking at her with the playful and a bit mischievous expression of a boy ready to break some rules in order to embark on some funny adventure.
It was the same expression she had always found on Robin's face since she knew him. Since they were kids she followed him in the most unlikely deeds that inevitably made them to get in trouble with their parents, but she had never regretted it. Every time she had gone along with Robin in his improvised adventures, she always had fun even if afterwards she had to spend long days locked in the house, with nothing else to do but embroider, as punishment for their recklessness.
To see the same expression on Guy's face intrigued her. The henchman of the sheriff had never shown that lighter side of himself and she wondered if seconding it would make her to live pleasant moments as those who once she had with Robin.
She thought, with a slight sense of guilt, that she shouldn't even ask herself that question, she shouldn't want to spend time in the company of Guy of Gisborne, but she couldn't deny she was being flattered by Guy's interest.
Since his return from the Crusades, Robin had become more serious than before, less carefree and totally dedicated to his mission of helping the oppressed. Marian admired him and shared his ideals, but sometimes she missed the Robin of her youth, who used to throw himself headlong into trouble just for the fun of it.
Gisborne watched, hopeful, then, seeing her hesitation, his expression become sad, and he could not completely hide his disappointment.
"But maybe you're tired, I should not keep you awake..."
Marian made a decision and she smiled.
"I could not sleep quietly after all those the stories you have told me. Now it is your duty to carve that lantern for me."
Guy's face seemed to light up at those words and Gisborne held out his arm.
"Then let me go with you, my lady."
Marian nodded and put her hand on the inside of his elbow, letting him to guide her.
They reached the kitchens and they sneaked into the pantry after Guy ensured that the servants were distracted.
He closed the door behind him and smiled.
"Well, no one saw us. Now let's find those turnips."
"Why didn't you just ask to one of the cooks? I doubt that they would deny something to you."
Guy looked at her seriously.
"I could do it, but it wouldn't be any fun." He said in a solemn tone and Marian chuckled.
She didn't mind at all the lighter side of Guy of Gisborne, and she was flattered that he showed it only to her. It was a great sign of confidence from the black knight, and once again her conscience pricked by reminding her that often she had taken advantage of that trust without scruples.
She vowed to be more careful in the future, to find a way to help Robin without harming Guy.
She watched as he turned his back to her, busily rummaging through the shelves and the baskets of the pantry, and she found herself smiling at his enthusiasm.
"I found them!" Guy said, turning to look at her. He had a big turnip in each hand and he smiled with the same satisfaction of a cat who had just caught a mouse.
Marian noticed that his cheek was dirty with dust and she raised a hand to clean it, instinctively.
Guy flinched at her touch and he looked at her, stunned, and she suddenly realized that he could misunderstand that situation: they were alone in a small, dark room and she had just stroked his cheek.
If Guy had felt authorized to kiss her, she couldn't blame him too much, Marian thought, while her heart inexplicably accelerated its beats.
But Gisborne didn't do it. He seemed to notice her embarrassment and he blushed slightly, too.
He stepped back, put a turnip in her hand and used his free hand to pull out a knife.
"Let's get out of here and I'll show you how to carve it."
Both slipped out of the pantry, taking care to avoid again the servants and that sort of a game served to allay their embarrassment. When they reached the lightened fireplace in one of the rooms of the castle, Marian was again enjoying herself like a disobedient kid and Guy smiled.
They approached the fire and Guy finally took off his leather coat, still wet with rain, hanging it to the back of his chair and then he sat down in front of Marian, grateful for the warmth of the fire that allowed him to warm up after so many hours in the cold.
He smiled Marian and he began to work: he cut the top of the turnip and began to dig into it carefully, creating a space large enough to put a candle inside it, then he proceeded to perform the more difficult task: carving a monstrous face on the surface of turnip .
He had almost finished when the door of the room burst open, letting Lady Millacra in.
Guy gasped in surprise and the knife slipped from the turnip, opening a cut on his palm.
Marian looked at the blood, worried, and she looked for a clean handkerchief to wrap the wound, but, before she could do it, she noticed that Lady Millacra had approached them, staring intently at the blood running through Guy's fingers.
"Sir Guy, I was told that it was you who helped me." She said in a low, but warm and musical voice, intense like the purring of a cat. "Now it's my turn to reciprocate your kindness."
With a fluid motion she took hold of Guy's hand and she raised it to her face, then she put her lips to the wound to suck the blood.
Gisborne didn't move, petrified by surprise at first and then too shocked to react. The girl's lips were cold on his skin and what they were doing around his wound was both painful and extremely exciting.
No woman, not even the most uninhibited tavern girl, had never touched him in such a sensual and natural way. It seemed that Lady Millacra was determined to devour him and at the same time it was like that for her it was perfectly normal to behave like that.
Guy had the impression that if she wanted to, that woman would be able to completely obscure his free will and that she could force him to do whatever she wanted.
That feeling scared him to death, but at the same time it was so overwhelming that Guy didn't have the strength or the will to escape his touch.
He met Marian's gaze and her eyes were able to snatch him from this unhealthy enchantment and to bring him back to reality. She looked furious and she looked at the other woman without hiding her anger.
"Let him go now!" Marian said and only then Guy managed to find the strength to pull back his hand, cradling it to his chest to protect it.
Lady Millacra smiled amiably.
"Oh, sorry, was I rather inappropriate? In my country it's an innocent gesture, mothers do it when their children scratches their knees while playing, I didn't mean to offend you." She said, with an air that was so innocent and hurt that Marian felt guilty. "Maybe it's best that I withdraw to my rooms, your sheriff was so kind. He agreed to host me until tomorrow, when I can resume my journey."
The young woman ran away, leaving Marian and Guy equally confused.
The girl was frightened by her reaction: when Lady Millacra had touched Guy, her first instinct had been to attack her, to send her away from her territory. But why would she consider Gisborne as hers? She was in love with Robin, what she felt for Guy was friendship, mixed with a lot of guilt, nothing more.
Guy continued to hold his arm to his chest, shaking. He felt the blood running down his wrist and the wound throbbed, but he didn't dare look at it for fear of finding the mark of the lips of the woman imprinted on his skin like a branding iron.
What she did to him upset Guy and it was both exciting and disgusting to think that Lady Millacra had drunk his blood, that a part of him now was inside the body of the woman.
He roused himself with a shudder. What was he thinking? Those were morbid and prohibited thoughts and he should remove them from his mind.
"You are still bleeding. Let me see."
Marian took his hand, gently, and for a moment Guy feared and hoped that the girl would repeat the same gesture of Lady Millacra, but Marian merely examined the wound and she bandaged it tightly.
"It's not a deep cut, but try to keep it clean."
Guy nodded, trying to smile.
"Thank you."
Marian picked up the engraved turnip, she put a candle inside it, she lit it and then she placed it on the mantelpiece, hoping it could really watch over them, then she took Guy's knife and she began to carve the other turnip.
"What are you doing?" Guy asked. Now that Lady Millacra was gone, he began to feel calmer.
Marian looked at him.
"I feel that you, too, need protection, I'm carving a turnip for you."
Guy chuckled. That was the most tender and ridiculous phrase that someone ever told him, and he had to restrain himself to avoid taking Marian in his arms and kissing her.
He loved her, he thought, and his only desire was to be able to start a family with her, to be able to protect her from every possible danger.
Suddenly realized that earlier it was Marian who protected him with the ferocity of a wild cat.
What did it mean? Was it possible that she had feelings for him?
He had no way of knowing it, and at that time it wasn't really important to find it out: they were together, both found pleasant the company of the other and Guy had the impression that they were getting closer.
In time he would be able to win her heart, Guy thought, but for the moment he was determined to enjoy every moment he spent with her.
He watched as she carved the turnip, working for him.
He was still wet with rain and his hands were frozen, but in that moment Guy felt only a pleasant warmth.