XII

Choosing Sides

Isabella was feeling rather pleased with herself. The afternoon had turned into a most interesting and fortuitous one, indeed. She allowed herself a small giggle of delight as she made her way through the castle halls. Her dress was torn and her shift was hanging out, and yet she toyed with the ripped fabric with positive childish glee. She was so very clever. She had her brother completely blind to her true intentions and now this hero Robin Hood was wrapped about her little finger. That kiss in the woods was certainly proof enough of that.

As she thought of Robin she swung a leather twined tag in her right hand. It was the day's reward for her toil. Standing at the Prince's side and smiling and joking with him was making her ill. He was a loathsome man, but then what man was not? She smiled, perhaps Robin was different. He seemed a kind and brave man. The sort of man she had only wished had been hers in the first place. She tightened her grip around the tag, Robin Hood's tag. It had been altogether too easy to take it from him as she kissed him. Men were so easy. She almost reviled that she had had to dupe Robin for just a moment, but she would reward him later. They would make such a pair. She wondered if he was thinking of her at this very moment. She felt just like a young girl in love, only she had never been a young girl in love. She had been a scared and dutiful young girl who had been sent away at the request of her brother. Oh, he had told her then it was for her own good. That she would be better off far and away from him, married to rich lord who could provide for her and fulfill her every possible whim. He had said he would miss her and that he would think of her every day and that one day they would be together again once he won back what was rightfully there's. All lies. Guy had only said those things to get rid of her, to get her out of his way. Well, she could tell such pretty lies too, and he would soon be the one to bow out of her way. She swung the tag once more before stowing it away in her shift. The games were about to begin, and she already had an ace up her sleeve.

She made her way back to her chambers to change and make ready for the banquet which would take place in the great hall. She would have to be ready to meet Robin and his gang to let them into the castle. What an entertaining evening this was going to be. She opened the doors to her chambers. "Becca," She sighed, "I require your assistance."

Rebecca gave a start as she took in the sight of her mistress. "What happened?" she asked. The tears on her gown were quite awful and it looked as if she had been ravished by outlaws in the woods. "Mistress? Are ya all right?"

Isabella waved Rebecca's concern away, "Don't be fooled by all of this, Becca. I am quite all right."

"But--"

"Things are not always as they seem at first glance." Isabella said with a suspicious twinkle in her eyes. "Come, help me select a new gown and I will explain."

Still wary of her mistress, Rebecca cautiously went to the trunk at the foot of her bed and began to pull out a few gowns for Isabella to select. As she laid each gown out on the bed for her to look at Isabella explained herself: "I met Robin Hood in the woods today."

Rebecca's eyes widened at that, "Ya mean t' say he did this to ya?"

"No, no. I did this." Isabella said, "I couldn't very well return from the woods looking as if I had just had a pleasant ride now could I? A little tear there and a rip here, and I can play the part of a helpless damsel rather well."

"I don't understand, my lady." Rebecca shook her head. "Why were ya even with Robin?"

"He is a friend of mine." The tone of her voice and the glimmer in her eye told Rebecca that Isabella was taken with the man already.

"Oh no..." Rebecca exhaled, "My lady, ya probably don't know, but Robin an' your brother they..."

"Hate one another? Would love to run a sword through each other?" Isabella suggested. "Yes I know."

"Why?" Rebecca asked Isabella. "My lady...forgive me, but ya don't even seem sorry of this situation."

"Sit beside me, Becca." Isabella patted the space of bed next to her as she sat down.

Rebecca went to her mistress and set next to her. She could read a lifetime's worth of pain and suffering in the woman's eyes. It was such a similar look. She had seen Guy with such darkness in his eyes. He had been unreachable to her when she had offered help and comfort. As she sat with Isabella she prayed she would not be put in the agonizing position of watching her friend suffer without being able to help. She said nothing, giving Isabella time to form the correct words to tell her story properly to her maidservant.

"I want you to know that what I am about to tell you I say only because I trust you absolutely and I know you will keep my secrets safe." Isabella said. "Am I wrong to think this?"

"Of course not, my lady!" Rebecca said, "Ya know I would never deceive ya."

She smiled, "Thank you, Becca. Robin is a friend of mine because, as it is, I have none...save for yourself, of course. I know you care for my brother a great deal, Becca, I've always know it, but you should know he is not the man you think he is."

"Oh, my lady, I have heard such stories before..." Rebecca said mournfully.

"So you have heard how he sold me into marriage when I was but a child? You heard how he left me without word or trace? How he gave me up to a man of a such cruelty and hate..." Isabella's voice nearly broke as she spoke freely. Rebecca had nothing to say in response.

"I am alone, Becca, utterly alone and I must do what I can to assure myself that I will never be put in such a position of powerlessness again. You can understand, as you were left so alone as well. I am going to change things!" She took her hands in hers, "I will make a better life. One without my brother or my husband."

"My lady...I cannot believe your brother would purposefully have placed ya in such miserable circumstances. He always did what was best for ya." Rebecca fumbled to try and make sense of all of this, "Shouldn't ya speak t' him?"

"No good would come of it." Isabella spat, "He has been so far removed from my heart for so long I could not forgive him if I tried. Besides, he dances to the tune of the Sheriff and Prince John; the two most evil of men I have ever met. No, Becca, better to leave him."

This was not good enough, "My lady, pardon me, but ya have not been with him. He is alone too. He has had no one an' any whom he thought cared for him or thought t' show him kindness has only brought him greater misery. You're his sister. We know him t' be proud an' unfeeling sometimes, but ya know as well as I do he needs ya even if he doesn't say it. Ya can't turn your back on him so easily, my lady. It ain't right."

She was not making this easy for her. Isabella faked a smile of sympathy to her servant. If she chose to be so difficult in trusting her she would be forced to break her first. "That is touching, Becca, after all this time you still love my brother."

Rebecca lowered her head at that. "Oh, poor Becca." Isabella said, bringing the woman into her arms, startling her for half a second. "It isn't fair what he has done to the both of us." She heaved a convincing sob, "I shouldn't tell you this..."

"What?" Rebecca asked.

"No...no it's nothing."

"My lady, what is it? Is it Guy? Did he tell ya something? What?"

Oh, she was too predictable! She would make a fine second in command one day once she was cured of her hopeless and sickening infatuation with her traitorous brother. She would come to her senses and she would see that he was truly a vile and evil man, not even worthy of pity. Isabella almost prayed she would. She wanted only to place a crack in Rebecca's heart, she didn't want to go so far as to shatter it entirely. Broken hearts made for cold and calculating minds. Shattered souls made for empty and useless ghosts. "I was riding with my brother this afternoon...before I met Robin. He was...that is, I had mentioned you; thanking him for letting you stay with me and he..."

"Ya had best say it, my lady." Rebecca said quietly, feeling her heart begin to fall away from her at all the little silences.

"He said, he was pleased to have found a place for you outside of Locksley as he was going to have you removed from his service regardless." Isabella said as if stating this caused her such discomfort. "I told him to remember what you used to be to him and that you deserved more than to be cast aside as if you no longer mattered. You've earned so much more than that."

Rebecca shook her head, "No, he wouldn't have said something like that. He wouldn't have!"

"I'm sorry, Becca. I know how much it hurts to be betrayed by someone you loved." Isabella whispered. "But that is why I must work with Robin! We're fighting for something so much bigger. We are going to topple the Sheriff and my brother and everything they stand for. We are going to humiliate the Prince tonight. And that is why I am asking that you come with me to the banquet tonight. See what it is we do. Perhaps you will realize you don't need my brother, that you are better without him, but Becca, know that I would never do such things to you. If you were to work with me...think of what we could achieve!"

Rebecca's head was whirling and her heart felt sick. "I will go with you tonight...an' I will think over what ya said, my lady."

"Good." Isabella beamed. Rebecca would thank her for this, when she was a free woman with means and position. She would realize that she did not need to be tied down with such weakness as affection and love, such things which only clouded judgements. It would be such fun to see her turn on her brother. Guy was wrong about her, Rebecca would make the perfect spy! He would never see it coming. Just picturing the look on his face when he realized that Rebecca was now working for her was too much!

"My lady?" Rebecca's voice was uncommonly weak and fragile. She looked as if she was about to burst into tears, or wretch over the floor. "May I leave ya for now? I...I need t'..."

"Of course, Becca." Isabella said sympathetically. "I understand."

Rebecca nodded and dashed from the room, hand clamped over her mouth as she left, but Isabella could hear the keening beginning to spill from her and the sound of her confused and anguished tears was both painful and music to her ears. One step closer. She pulled out the outlaw's tag from her shift and toyed with it a bit, a smile on her manipulating lips. Now for the final brushstroke and her perfectly crafted picture of deception would be complete.

1191

Gemma was coughing again. She had had that cough for months and it had shown no signs of going away. In fact, it only appeared to be getting worse. Far from resting in order to regain any lost strength, the old servant was just as lively as ever. Nothing went unseen or untended to under Gemma Tanner's watch, and it seemed unlikely that things would ever be any other way. Her daughter had been trying to get her to a physician for weeks and Gemma was having none of it. She allowed Rebecca to treat her with the meager supply of medicines she kept in her box of healer's supplies. She had no skill in the medical arts, but had a rudimentary knowledge of which herbs were supposed to help with coughs and lack of strength. Her daughter did the best she could and bore her mother's stubbornness with much the same mentality that kept Gemma up and about despite her ever weakening state.

It had begun to reach such a state that even the master of the manor had tried to step in. Guy never took an interest in the well being of his servants, and he seemed determined not to let anyone feel that he had started now. He began to reduce Gemma's chores and order her to at least two hours of rest with the excuse being that hearing her shuffling about and hacking was beginning to grate on his nerves. It was only until one evening that this game of stubborn patient suddenly became much more grave than he had imagined.

Guy had stolen a moment of the day to devote to his sword training. There were four wooden posts he had set up on the grounds near the manor with which to practice on. He was usually kept so occupied with the Sheriff's business that he often forgot his exercises. He had gotten into several fights with many of the men in the Sheriff's ranks that he was giving daily reminders of his laziness. He was going to remedy that. The next time one of the soldiers chose to rile his temper they would think better of it.

He was stripped of his heavy, black, leather coat and his black shirt was beginning to cling to him as he worked himself into a fine frenzy. The post before him held several marks from where his blade had bitten into the wood. He twirled his sword aloft in his hand before returning to his position. The steady rhythm and hum of the blade cutting down through the air was an almost hypnotic sound. He found himself getting lost in it as he concentrated. Each post represented someone Guy's hatred towards bordered on murderous intention. With each cut and strike he would come that much closer to finally ridding himself of his enemy. It was marvelous incentive.

"I don't think I've seen ya practice since ya were a little boy." A voice from behind him said, "You've gotten rather skilled."

Guy whirled around, sword pointed at the source of the voice. Gemma Tanner raised both her arms, "I'm unarmed." She said dryly as Guy lowered his sword.

"You shouldn't be out here." Guy said gruffly, turning away from her, "You could've been hurt."

"I came out here 'cause I was looking for ya, master." Gemma said as she watched Guy try to return to the same level of blind concentration as before, "I was hoping t' speak with ya."

"What do you want, Gemma?" Guy grunted, striking at the post.

"I'm afraid it's rather important...an' I've already put this off for far too long." Gemma said, and the tone in her voice gave Guy enough of a pause. He turned about and sheathed his blade, wiping sweat from his brow.

"Do you need a physician?" Guy asked her.

Gemma laughed, "That's kind o' ya, master. Offering me a physician, doubt there's any servant in all the kingdom who'd ever be offered a physician by their masters. No master, I've no need for one." She gave a light cough, but she quickly silenced herself.

Guy eyed her, she had a grayish pallor to her skin and her eyes seemed to be sinking deep within her sockets. She looked old, he realized he had never even thought about how old she must be. She had always been an immortal force. He had known her since before he could even remember, a woman like that was impossible to ever picture as growing old. "What is it?" He asked her almost gently.

Gemma smiled at him with all the kindness of a mother, which only made her words all the more shocking for him, "I'm dying, master."

That was impossible. Guy looked away from her and in all directions save for her eyes. Gemma dying? That was about as probable as winter coming after spring. Gemma had always been there. She was ill and she was afraid she would not get better, but she would. She was Gemma. She couldn't die.

"Don't look away from me, master. I ain't afraid o' the truth, nor should ya be." Gemma barked, and no one ignored Gemma when she gave such an order.

"How...how do you know?" Guy croaked out. "How can you be sure?"

"If ya live t' be as old as I am, master, you'll know too." She chuckled, "My strength ain't what it used t' be. I'm running out." She coughed.

"You can rest. Let the other servants take over for you. There are physicians in Nottingham. I will--"

"Ya always were a kind boy." Gemma said softly, "Don't think I had forgotten it. Shouldn't worry for me, master. I don't."

"Then why tell me this?"

"I said I didn't worry for my own sake. Didn't say I didn't worry for my daughter's." Gemma sighed, her breathing labored.

"Becca?" Guy's brow furrowed as he tried to think of how she should matter at all in this, "You haven't told her." He guessed.

"Aye, an' neither will you, master. I know my girl. Better t' let her think she's fixing it. If she knows she can't she'll fall apart." Gemma said sadly. "It's for her sake I'm talking t' ya now. She won't have anyone after I'm gone. I need t' know...I need for ya t' promise me she'll always have a home here. That ya won't abandon her."

"Gemma," Guy began to shake his head, "I can't promise that."

"Yes ya can." Gemma said, "'Cause ya wouldn't dare t' refuse a request from me, my boy."

Guy scowled at her, "You can not order me into anything, Gemma and I can not make promises like these."

"Guy of Gisborne ya will not scowl at me like I am one o' your pretty maids t' be frightened and sent running from ya. My own mother served in your family's household before ya were even born. I was your mother's maidservant. My husband died for your father in the wars, my daughter was once your closest friend an' am I asking ya t' remember what my family has done for ya!" Gemma stood tall against her master, eyeing him with the same frigid look she would often give to him as a boy when he had caused some spark of trouble.

"The past has no bearing now." Guy said. "My offer to bring a physician here to Locksley for you still stands. I will carry your secret with me, but as for the well being of your daughter I can only promise her position here for as long as she is needed."

"And that is all ya have t' say t' me, master?" Gemma was hurt at the coldness in Guy's tone. The utter detachment from her and from the mention of his family and his past. It seemed that his family no longer existed for him, as if he had erased them from his memory and his heart.

"Yes, Gemma."

"Then ya are not the man I had ever hoped ya would become." Gemma retorted, "This cold block o' ice. Are ya yet human, my boy?"

"You will not speak to me in such a manner." Guy spat.

"I helped raise ya from a baby!" Gemma said, her voice cracked with fatigue and with disappointment. "I loved ya like a son! All I am asking is that ya look out for my daughter, master, she'll have no one but you after I'm gone."

"You're not going to die." Guy said, and now Gemma understood why he had been refusing to accept her simple request.

"Promise me anyway, master. I've never asked for anything from ya or your family before. Grant me this. No one else need know." Gemma said.

Guy finally nodded reluctantly. "Fine then. I give you my word. Your daughter will be kept safe in Locksley."

"Thank ya, master." Gemma looked as if she would turn away and head back to the servant's quarters, but she stopped in mid-step and turned back around again. "Master? Permission t' speak freely?"

"Gemma, I'd say you've had it already." Guy sighed.

"You are a good man, master. I remember how ya were as a child; always asking for more responsibility then ya could possibly handle, an' never thinking of yourself half the time." She smiled at him sadly, "I don't know what happened t' ya all those years ago. I don't know what made ya believe ya had to hide your soul, master, but don't conceal it so, lest ya intend t' loose it for good."

Guy turned away form her much like a child would after being chastised for a fault in their character that they were unwilling to acknowledge. "Good night, Gemma." He said in a low tone. His patience for her prattling was at an end. She may have always treated her as a son, but he would not be spoken to like a disobedient child.

He could hear her sad sigh as she walked away, "Good night, master."

A/N: Originally Gemma was only supposed to crop up in a few scenes and for the most part she was going to be mentioned by name only, but somehow I found her character growing on me and I wanted to explore it a bit more. She's not going to be in many more sequences, but I've found this character to be more important to my plot than I first assumed. I just love it when characters--canon or OC--sneak up on you like that. :)