"I was wondering if we should have a little celebration tonight, Gisburne," the Sheriff announced once Sir Guy had - after a long, tiring and frustrating day - returned to the castle. The knight was in no mood to celebrate, but what could he do if that was de Rainault's request. However, he was unaware that there could be anything to be celebrated.

On the other hand, ... a little distraction could not hurt. The winter months had been relatively peaceful as far as outlaws were concerned, but there had been no peace in the castle at any time, which was due to the repair work. The craftsmen had not yet finished fixing the damage caused by King Richard's siege engines.

"My Lord?" was all he replied then, though, not wanting to show the other man that he had no idea what the latter was talking about.

"You haven't forgotten the anniversary, have you, Gisburne?" de Rainault retorted with a grin that the knight did not like at all.

"Which anniversary?" The other one's answer had surprised him quite a bit, therefore he failed to hide his stupefaction. Since when did the Sheriff tend to celebrate anniversaries?

"Well, yours of course, Gisburne!" The older man's grin had grown even wider. There was no mistaking that the Sheriff seemed to be enjoying himself immensely.

"Mine?" Sir Guy was now completely at a loss as to where he stood, for he was sure he had no anniversary to celebrate. In fact, he was quite sure he had nothing whatsoever to celebrate. This had not been any different at any time since he had come to Nottingham, although he had certainly imagined it to be different.

"Yours, of course. Although ...", the other man paused for a moment, "actually it's even two anniversaries. But now hurry up, after all, I certainly won't permit you to join me at the table to celebrate in these filthy clothes."

Two anniversaries? As he made his way out of the Great Hall, the knight racked his brains as to what the Sheriff might have meant, but in the end he had to admit - at least to himself - that he had no idea what was going on. It was no use, though. If de Rainault wanted to celebrate, there was nothing he could do about it. He simply could not evade the invitation, even if he was dead tired. So as soon as he had put on fresh clothes - he could not deny that it was a relief to be rid of the chain mail and the grimy clothes as well - he made his way back to the Great Hall.

Upon arriving there, the knight realized that the Sheriff had not waited with the evening meal until he arrived, but to be honest, he had not expected that either. At the sight of the food, his stomach immediately made him aware that he had hardly had an opportunity to eat anything that day. He did not tarry for long and crossed the hall with long strides to sit down at the table that stood in front of the chair - placed in an elevated position - on which the Sheriff was enthroned.

Following this, the two men were merely occupied with their meals for quite a while, without either of them uttering a single word. The Sheriff even refrained from his usual questions about the day's events, which Sir Guy was quite pleased about. Of course, the knight was aware that he would have to report at a later point that he had not been able to collect all the money owed to de Rainault by the Saxon peasants and serfs, even though he had brought back everything he could lay his hands on. He had considered himself lucky not to have seen anything of Hood and his followers.

"To your anniversaries, Gisburne!" the Sheriff exclaimed quite abruptly - thereby surprising the knight once again - and raised his drinking cup. The other man had no choice but to interrupt his meal and raise his cup as well, even though he still had no idea what de Rainault was actually getting at.

But once more he had failed to hide his confusion from the Sheriff. "I can see that once again you don't have an inkling, Gisburne," the Sheriff gave out in a contemptuous tone. "I'll be willing to enlighten you, though; after all, it's not like I'm expecting anything else from you."

He took another swig from his cup and smirked then at his subordinate. It was obvious that he was enjoying this situation immensely, which was why Gisburne was not expecting anything good.

"It has been two years since Robin Hood first kicked you out of Sherwood. Or have you already forgotten about that, just as you can't remember about so many other matters?"

Sir Guy was lucky in that he was not drinking from his cup at that very moment, for as a result of the Sheriff's words he would have either choked or spat wine across the table. Almost certainly the latter. The first time he was kicked out of Sherwood? Of course, he remembered that humiliation, though he would have liked to forget the entire affair. For what reason did de Rainault have to bring this up all over again? Let's hope the other was not ...

"But surely you haven't forgotten what you were up to a year ago, Gisburne!" All at once the Sheriff's voice had become caustic and the grin had vanished from his face. "Or have you also wiped the fact from your memory that you burned down a barn in the bailey. It was close to a miracle that nothing else went up in flames!" The Sheriff took another sip of wine, while Sir Guy remained in his seat, stunned, for he had by no means forgotten the situation to which the other one alluded, and probably he never would be able to.

The Sheriff, however, was not deterred and was already proceeding, "Oh, I forgot. You also went up in flames. But first you managed to get yourself shot in the back. Tell me, what kind of idiot turns his back on an enemy with a crossbow, Gisburne? No, you don't have to answer that. But surely you agree with me that we should celebrate this anniversary?"

The knight had to stop himself from leaping up and overturning the table to cope with his rage. But maybe it would be sufficient if he just threw his cup at the Sheriff's head, for the memory of that night certainly burned just as hotly inside him as the flames had burned on his body at that time. Moreover, he had also the scars that kept bringing back everything to his mind. The fact that he had not noticed one of the soldiers putting down his crossbow. The fact that he had not considered "Lady" Marion a threat, but instead had focused solely on Hood. The way the bolt entered his back, the terrible pain and the sensation of not being able to breathe. The fall. And then nothing else until the flames had reached him.

But the Sheriff was indifferent to the state his subordinate was in. Obviously he was not yet finished, for he was already going on. "Not to mention the fact that you didn't complete your mission. It was pure luck that the King had already left the town, and didn't have time to look back either. Or that no one else knew anything about what you should have accomplished. It was such a simple task. All you had to do was kill a few people in their sleep."

To this day, Gisburne could not explain what had made him hesitate back then. Had he roused Hood to behold the fear in his eyes rather than killing him in his sleep? He was not sure if there had not been something else behind his decision. But really, it made no difference, since the entire affair had ended in disaster, and as a result, he had nearly died himself. In retrospect, it only amazed him that the Sheriff had bothered to have him treated at all. It would have been so much easier to ...

"Why don't you drink to the celebration of your anniversaries, Gisburne?" the cruel voice of his master interrupted his thoughts and the knight had no choice but to comply with this request, although he had clenched his teeth so firmly that it was almost impossible for him to open his mouth. But he realized now that he had to find another way to avoid letting his rage - but above all his pain - show.

Anniversary! Sir Guy could only hope that this time next year, de Rainault had other matters to attend to.

For the rest of the evening, the knight was just busy getting drunk to the point of senselessness.