I am sorry it has taken me this long to get the next chapter up, but life seems to want to keep me from my writing, and my readers, but I haven't forgotten you, and so I have uploaded the next chapter, so if you guys are still out there, Read and Review!
Chapter 6,
Calculated Attack,
Robin and Guy were surrounded by guards that then took them to Isabella, she had one of her evil grins on, did she really think that the outlaws were stupid enough to allow themselves to be caught.
"Here to turn yourself in Guy?" She asked cockily,
"Isabella." Guy greeted with a small mocking bow,
"Far from it Isabella, infact we've come to warn you." Robin stated,
"Warn me, what could you possibly warn me about?" She asked, fiddling with her ring,
"You're villagers are dying, they are being attacked by a wolf-like beast, so we thought that we would tell you before it decided to come here and kill you and your guards." Guy explained,
Isabella now stood and walked over to them with her serious face on, "Is this true?" She asked, looking to Robin,
"Unfortunately yes, Clun was attack this morning, many people died, and others are critically wounded." Robin replied,
"What can I do?" She asked, obviously she still cared enough about the people to side with outlaws to save them,
"For a start you can provide medical aid to the wounded, and post guards around the towns to keep watch." Robin began,
"Easy enough, Locksley and Nettlestone will be at risk tonight so I'll send men out tonight, and I wouldn't trust the doctors the former sheriff had in his employ, your better off with your villagers, but if you insist I can send someone." Isabella agreed, "Is there anything else?"
"Not for now, we'll let you know if we need anything else." Robin replied, while Guy stared daggers at his sister,
"Be careful how many guards you send Isabella, I would hate for you to die before you stand trial for what you've done." Guy warned, Isabella smiled kindly at him before she returned to her seat, and they left the castle,
When they were walking back to Clun Robin turned to Guy, "You still care about her don't you?" He asked,
"I made her what she is, if I can one day show her that it is better to fight against prince John instead of serving him, like you…your father showed me, then I will never give up." Guy explained, giving Robin a seldom seen smile,
"I thought you could never forgive me or my father?" Robin asked,
"I hated him and you, because I lost my family that day, what I should have realized is that you lost yours as well." Guy replied,
"My father abandoned me, I had a family, but we were still orphans." Robin said, the anger in his voice still lingered when he spoke about his father,
"Do you think we can stop this beast?" Guy asked,
"Honestly I don't know, we can't track it, and attacking it doesn't seem very simple." Robin answered,
"But they were untrained peasants." Guy reasoned,
"Still there aren't many of us, and it seems hell-bent on killing, we're just lucky it only hunts at night."
"Your probably right, but I can't forget that boy, I feel like it's my fault." Guy said,
"You had no way of knowing they were going to be attacked, there was nothing you or any of us could have done." Robin explained, unable to understand why Guy thought it was his fault,
"Such a waste of life."
Robin knew Guy had changed he just didn't know to what extent, and that he still had compassion for his sister, was another redeeming feature, Robin himself wasn't sure if Isabella could be saved, but for Guy's sake he hoped so.
"I have somewhere I need to be tonight so I won't be here when the sun comes up." Guy said, in a strangely flat tone,
"Where do you need to be?" Robin asked curiously,
"I need to see someone." He answered,
"Who?"
"No more questions, we should get back to Clun." Guy dismissed, his eyes shimmered yellow for but a second, unnoticed by Robin as they continued to walk,
After the day was over everyone returned to camp exhausted after the effort put into the day, so they got to bed early, everyone slept, all except Guy who was fidgeting in his sleep haunted by the murders he had committed. Until once again his name was whispered in his ear, the voice soft and siren-like coaxing him out of the camp and into the forest.
Deep in the forest he was greeted by the witch again, she looked proudly at her creation, but Guy stared at her with fear and anger in his eyes.
"You made me kill those people." He spat,
"Yes, and don't you feel better for it, you crushed those that didn't appreciate you." She said calmly,
"Will you make me turn on Robin next, you know he doesn't stand a chance?" Guy asked,
"If you go after him, it will be because deep down you still want him dead, but don't worry I do not wish him dead, I sense that you despise those that you ruled over for so many years. You want to seek out Locksley next." She explained,
"No I don't want to kill anymore, that boy I killed he was brave till the end, even when death came for him." He almost screamed, as he let out a moan, he was changing again,
"You do Gisborne, tell the truth, your changing again so you can do what you could not do in human form." She sneered,
"Stop this now!" Guy ordered,
"I can't stop anything you've done this yourself." She said,
Guy screamed, and once again hair began to grow, claws grew on his fingers, and sharp teeth replaced the ones he had, canine ears replaced his human ones, and once again he was the blood thirsty beast.
"Go forth once more my pet, reign destruction upon our enemies." She ordered, as the creature then obeyed and leapt in the direction of what used to be his home town,
There were people in Locksley that he didn't want to hurt, Mafayu, Thornton, would he unknowingly cut them down without a second though? He hoped not. His night vision and additional senses were on full throttle as he bounded towards the village, he remembered that there were going to be guards so he trained his eyes for them.
And there they were the guards as clueless as ever, until one of them more skittish than the rest heard something in the forest and alerted the rest. But even though he did it could not stop what was about to happen, the beast slinked around them causing confusion, they had no idea how many of them there were.
And then he attacked, a swat from his huge claws cut through the guard's chainmail tearing his flesh in the process, and then in the small light from the fire they lit to keep warm they saw it. The black beast with eyes as red as blood, they barely had time for a good look before the beast was growling and barring it's teeth at them, regardless of the pike's and swords they held.
It lunged at a guard and broke his wooden pike in half with its powerful jaws, before it bit him and shook him around violently until there was no more movement. The remainder of the guards panicked and began to run away, but the beast's fury knew no bounds and it rounded them up, taking them out.
The final guard was but a boy, the creature pounced on his back knocking him to the ground, it looked directly into the boy's eyes and saw his fear. It growled deep in its throat before it leapt away to continue it slaughter, a black blur raced through town, it's bark deep and loud, unlike anything anyone had heard before.
Fools rushed from their houses trying to play the hero, but it would only lead to the end of their lives, they were armed with weapons of opportunity, equipment used for their crops. The beast looked to the villagers and growled loudly before he lunged, taking out an older man with one swipe to the throat.
One villager tried to sneak up on the creature but with little success, because it soon turned and barked before attacking, it jumped and grabbed the man by the throat with its teeth. And with a quick flick he was dead, looking up he saw that Mafayu was frozen in her doorway her eyes fixed on him.
He trotted over and pushed her inside, growling and giving out a short bark before he turned and ran off, she couldn't understand why it didn't attack her and instead attempted to keep her out of harms way. The creature remembered his priorities and bounded off for the large Manor that shadowed Locksley; he broke down the door and ran inside.
Twitching its ears scanning for signs of life, it then found them, running up the stars fumbling as it went he burst into a room where it was greeted by frantic screams of the maids that worked here. It slowly walked over to them, the three women pushing themselves as far as they could into the corner, to avoid being killed.
There was a bellow from behind the beast before he was struck hard with a solid object and was knocked to the side with a yelp, he whined through his nose for a moment longer before he looked up and saw that it was Thornton. The creature lunged at the old man grabbing the piece of firewood that he had used for a weapon, and pulling it from his hands it tossed the wood to the side, and then barked in warning.
Once again turning to the girls it lunged and they let out a high-pitched scream, it clawed at them and grabbed them fiercely with its teeth tearing flesh. The creature didn't stop until they were all dead; lapping the blood with its spoon-like tongue he then looked back at Thornton, and took off in his direction climbing the stairs further still.
He came across another girl on his way up, and bit her ankle causing the manservant she walked with to fall down the stairs, it then went for her neck and made short work of her. Running back down the stairs it scoured through the remaining rooms as if looking for someone.
Not finding who it was looking for, it bounded out of the house, leaping on villagers knocking them out of the way as it made its escape. Leaping over the still petrified guard it had left alive, the creature raced back into the forest partially wounded from the blind attack that had been made on it.
When the creature finally made it into the heart of the forest its pace slowed and it laid down in the leaves, slowly transforming back into human form. Guy then looked at the moon exhaustedly, his side hurt and he was sure it was going to be severely bruised, for the moment he didn't want to move.
And as he lay there his memory was soon erased and he didn't remember anything that had happened a few moments ago, instead all he knew was that he was in pain, and that was enough for him. He was tired and wanted to sleep where he was, but something in the back of his mind told him that he had to return to the camp.
And as he made the journey back to his new home, he was oblivious to the woman who was watching him from the shadows, when he returned, he tip-toed as silently as he could and slipped back into bed. The following morning found Much cooking breakfast, Robin making new arrows for his quiver, Kate sleeping in, along with Little John, while Allan and Tuck talked amongst themselves.
Guy however was growing increasingly annoyed by Much's heavy breathing, so annoyed that he was almost ready to say something about it, because due to his heightened senses he could hear what other could not.
"Much would you please shut up; I can hear you from here." Guy said, making the camp look at him including Much,
"I haven't done anything." He defended,
"Can't you breathe like a normal human being?" Guy asked,
"What's your problem today Gisborne?" Robin asked, protecting his friend that hadn't done anything,
"Nothing." Guy dismissed, as he rolled over on his bed,
Robin stared at Much, and he stared at Robin, they had no idea why Guy was picking on him today, Guy was becoming increasingly strange as of late and the entire camp wanted the old Gisborne back.
Minutes later an agitated Gisborne adorned his tunic and sword, "I'm going out." He said,
"But you haven't eaten yet." Much stated,
"That's alright I don't feel like Quail today anyway." He dismissed, as he then walked out of the camp and into the forest,
"So that's what we've been eating lately." Kate said, a smile on her face,
"How did he know it was Quail?" Much asked,
"Well it's nice to know we haven't been eating those poor fluffy creatures." Allan teased,
Guy's course was set to Locksley, to see Mafayu he wasn't sure, it was odd for him to seek a woman's company on his own accord, but perhaps it would be nice to speak to someone who could look past what he had done. Something he couldn't find with the outlaws.
But when he arrived at Locksley, he saw that the beast had been here last night, and so he swiftly made his way past the bodies of Isabella's guards and looked around to see if Mafayu was alright.
"Mafayu…Mafayu!" He called, as he looked around and walked over to her house, and to his delight he saw her come out,
"Sir Guy."
"Are you alright? Are you hurt?" He asked,
"No but I have been tending to the wounded all night, the Manor was torn apart." She explained,
Isabella. Realization set in and he took off in the direction of his old home, when he made it to the Manor he walked through the door less frame and looked around, an animal had definitely been here. Objects had been broken when they fell to the floor, and there were dried blood prints on the wooden floor.
He saw Thornton tending to a boy's wounds, he had a minor scratch mark to the arm, but that wasn't important Guy wanted to know if Isabella had been here last night.
"Thornton, are you alright?" He asked,
"Yes Sir Guy I am quite alright." The manservant answered,
"You know I have no claim to that title anymore." Guy said,
"True enough Sir Guy." They both smiled,
"Was my sister here last night?" Guy asked,
"No, but lucky she wasn't that beast killed all the women in the Manor, I tried to save them, I even attacked the beast, got a good hit in too with a piece of firewood. But it took it from me, and killed them anyway." He explained,
"But it didn't kill you?" Guy questioned,
"No but instead it was as if it gave me a warning, as if telling me not to interfere."
"Then that would suggest that this creature can think for itself." Guy said, not willing to accept what came along with that,
"Yes that would be what it looks like, you have one very smart and dangerous creature on your hands Sir Guy, I suggest you deal with it as quickly as you and Master Robin can." Thornton suggested,
"Did you say it killed all the women?" Guy asked,
"Yes, most peculiar as if it was looking for someone specific."
"I think I know who it was after." Guy said,
"Who?"
"My sister, that beast has an agenda, and my sister is on its hit list, I have to warn her, to make sure she takes precautions." Guy explained,
"That would make sense; you should warn her at once, is Master Robin with you?" Thornton asked,
"No, he doesn't know that Locksley was attacked, if you would do me the favour of riding into the forest and alerting him I would be very grateful." Guy answered,
"At once Sir Guy." He agreed, as Guy left the building to warn his sister in Nottingham,
Thornton had no idea where Robin's camp was and he new neither of his masters were going to tell him, so he travelled into the heart of the forest and started calling his name. Eventually Robin and his gang turned up out of the woodworks.
"Master Robin thank goodness I found you."
"Thornton, what brings you here?" Robin asked, quite shocked to see his former man-servant in the forest,
"Locksley's been attacked, Sir Guy sent me to find you, that beast needs to be destroyed Master Robin, it killed all the maids in the Manor, I tried to save them, but there was nothing I could do." He explained quite frantically, the clothes he wore partially blood stained,
"And it didn't kill you?" Much asked,
"To my luck no, but Sir Guy and I found it quite peculiar, he came to the conclusion that the creature was after his sister." Thornton replied,
"Isabella, why would it go after Isabella?" Tuck questioned,
"I don't know, but what I do know is that you are dealing with a creature that can think for itself."
"A creature that can think for itself could mean…" Allan began,
"I don't want to know what it means." Much interrupted,
"Where is Gisborne?" Robin asked,
"He went to see his sister in Nottingham." Thornton replied,
"Right the rest of you to Locksley, I'm going to find Gisborne." Robin ordered, as he took the road to Nottingham, while the rest of his gang and Thornton took the road to Locksley,
Guy walked casually into Nottingham as he had no interference from the guards, making his way through the familiar corridors of the castle he entered the courtroom, where Isabella was.
"Isabella we need to talk." He began,
"Of course, my guards reported Locksley being attacked last night." She agreed,
"No I mean we need to talk about you." He corrected,
"Me?" She asked,
"Yes, that creature went to Locksley for a reason, it was looking for you, it was trying to kill you." He answered,
"That's ridiculous."
"All the woman in that Manor were killed, if you were there last night you would have been killed to, so you're only lucky you decided to stay in the castle." He explained anger in his voice,
"Is this your way of showing me you still care brother?" She asked spite in her tone,
"Just because we have disagreements doesn't mean I'm going to let you be killed by this creature." He yelled,
"I don't see why you would care you left me with a creature when I was thirteen." She returned,
"This is not the time to bring up the past Isabella."
"What do you propose then brother?" She spat,
"Let me protect you." He insisted,
"I let you protect me before remember, your protection tried to have me drowned with the man you now work with." She sneered,
"You'd rather die then?" He asked, his voice raised,
"What you want me to hide out in the forest, like Kate?" She asked aggression clear,
"Is this about Kate now, because Robin likes her instead of you?" Guy asked angrily,
"And what if it is?" Isabella asked,
"You'd rather let your selfish personal feelings take priority over your life?" He demanded,
"You let power and position come before your own sister."
"Would you stop bringing up the past Isabella." He nearly ordered,
"You think it's something that I can just forget?" She asked,
"We can discuss this all you want once I know you are safe, and not protected by incompetent fools." He agreed,
"Hope I'm not interrupting anything Gisborne's." Robin said cockily, walking on the conversation,
"Robin will you please tell my sister she needs protection." Guy asked,
"I am quite capable of taking care of myself." She dismissed,
"And that'll come as a great comfort when you're killed next." Guy spat,
"Enough!" Robin ordered, both of them looked at him, "We need to confirm what this creature knows, if it can go after Isabella, then it has an agenda, we need to know if it will go after her again or if it has a new target." He continued,
"He's right, putting my safety aside that beast just attacked our home, and we need to find a way to stop it, I had mustard bombs before and it worked on the lion, if we can stun it long enough, then we can kill it." She explained,
"No." Guy said,
"No what?" Robin asked,
"Maybe we don't have to kill it, maybe we can understand it." Guy answered,
"How do you understand something that has killed and wounded countless people?" Isabella asked,
"We kill it there's no other way." Robin agreed,
"Clun is the only town that has not yet been attacked, and we know that it attacks during early morning, so if we make sure we get to Clun before early morning, we may have a chance." Guy explained,
"Gisborne's right, it has a pattern to its attacks Clun is the only village it hasn't attacked, and it makes sense that it would show up there next, and with a well planned strike we can end this." Robin seconded, "I'll get Tuck to whip something up, with luck it will be enough to take care of this problem once and for all before anyone else get's hurt." He continued,
"Despite my brothers intention to keep me safe, the majority of my men will be hidden in Clun ready for the attack, they can hold it off long enough for you to ambush it." Isabella stated,
"That is not a good idea." Guy reasoned,
"When my safety is compared with the lives of all those villagers, I will defend them even if it means leaving me open to attack." She said,
"Then its settled, after we've done what we can for the wounded in Locksley we'll start work on the bombs that should have the same effect as the one you had." Robin said, as he gestured towards Isabella,
"Then we'll see how it goes tonight." Isabella said,
"I still think this is a bad idea." Guy continued,
"Well I've made up my mind, so destroy this thing while you can." She answered,
With a sideways glance at his sister, he turned and left with Robin, he still thought it was foolish of her to order most of her men away from the castle leaving her as an exposed target. But he knew from experience that when she had made up her mind there was no changing it, so he just had to do what he could.
So when they returned to Locksley, they did their part for the wounded, even Guy helped those who needed care, although helping someone who was wounded was still alien to him. But while he was doing this, the one person he wanted to see wasn't there tending to the wounded, and he was growing concerned questioning if she was dead.
So when he saw the chance to slip away he seized it and walked over to her house, he then entered without knocking and startled the occupant who was inside; his trained ears caught her surprise.
"Sir Guy you frightened me." Mafayu began,
"I know, I'm sorry, I was worried when I didn't see you tending to the wounded, so I came to see if you were okay." He explained,
"I'm fine Sir Guy you have nothing to worry about." She assured, turning her arm and Guy then caught the bruise that she was hiding,
"No, you're hurt." He said, as he pointed at her bruised elbow,
"It's nothing the creature simply knocked me inside trying to protect me." She explained dismissing it,
"Protect you?" He asked sceptically,
"Yes I don't believe he's as violent as he appears to be." She reasoned,
Guy gave a huff of disbelief, "Won't matter what you think, it's going to be killed tonight and then no one else will be hurt." He said,
"Robin doesn't mess around I see."
"He doesn't want to see anymore loss of life and neither do I, there's been enough killing." Guy said simply, "I need to get back to Robin, make sure you stay inside tonight, I don't want to take chances, if my sister wants to expose herself I can't stop that, but I can at least protect you." He continued,
"Are you to be my Dark Knight Sir Guy?" She asked,
He could at least smile at the comment, "Friendly concern." He answered, as he then left the building to return to Robin and the rest of the gang,
Guy returned to the wounded and observed the goings on for a while, watching as physicians fervently tried to close wounds on both men and women. He realized that no matter how much they tried it didn't matter at all because these people were old, did Robin really think that they had much of a chance?
Or perhaps that was his biggest issue, he didn't find it to be a rewarding trait, clinging to false hope when there was none had let him down too many times to think that there was a place for it here. It just seemed inevitable that these people were going to die.
This routine was starting to feel like clockwork, wake up to the news that there had been an attack, tend to the wounded, fix houses that had been ruined, and so forth. He was getting tired of all of it, and he almost relished the moment when the beast would no longer walk through their forest.
Finally they returned to camp, tired and drained of the desire to even eat their afternoon meal, but since they knew that they were eating Quail and not Squirrel it wasn't so bad. How Much managed to catch the tiny birds however they would never know, because on occasion they saw them in the forest, and they were definitely fast runners.
Guy also knew that much was cooking peasant as well he had eaten it on occasion so he knew from the taste what it was, but his heightened sense of smell helped as well. Guy was showing more beast signs as of late, even though the curse that was placed on him was only very recent, and he had not yet learnt how to control his other side.
When the meals were dished out everyone sat together at the table that was positioned in the centre of camp, but Guy sat by himself on his bunk. Which was unusual because his alternate persona was a wolf and they were pack animals, Kate however held a distasteful presence, so he strayed from the group.
The meal went without a word, no one spoke, their mood clearly one that wanted to lie down and sleep, and soon that's what they did, as they curled up in their furs and slept peacefully, their bellies full. Once again Gisborne didn't sleep, and instead sat there waiting for the voice that would call him into the forest.
However when he heard the coaxing voice he ignored it, it was hard but he kept at it, focused all his energy into ignoring the voice that forced him into bloodshed. His eyes flashed yellow, but he still fought, his limbs quacked with the desire to follow the voice into the forest.
Finally his fangs and claws started to appear and the beast arose, so he then walked from the camp and into the forest almost with a willingness to greet the witch.
Will Guy ever be able to ignore the witch that 'holds his leash' so to speak, or will he be forced into killing more innocents?
You can find all this out and perhaps more in the next chapter!
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