XVII
Misplaced Servant
Isabella had been unusually quiet as she assisted Rebecca in making up her cot. she said little and gave off the all the suspicious feeling of someone deliberately skirting about an issue. Rebecca wondered if it had something to do with the shouting she had heard between Isabella and Guy. Shame she had shut the door as she worked, or she would have known what the siblings had squabbled over. As it was, Rebecca decided it was best to let Isabella have her sulk and press onward.
Satisfied with her completed task, Rebecca asked if Isabella required any of her services. Isabella asked her to fetch her some water, as it was steadily growing hotter, even in the relative cool of the manor. Rebecca went to the kitchens to fill a goblet with fresh water recently drawn from the well. Upon returning to her mistress's chambers Isabella had her sit beside her. The spent the next few minutes talking--not as servant and mistress, but as two friends. Isabella demanded Rebecca address her by her name and not as 'my lady' or 'mistress.' Isabella was insistent and would not let Rebecca leave until she agreed to do as she was asked.
After much discussion, Rebecca had to press upon Isabella that even though she had been ordered to wait upon her she had other responsibilities to attend to, providing that this was acceptable.
"I have nothing to say against it." Isabella shrugged.
"If ya have need o' me, just call." Rebecca said as she made her way over towards the door.
"That I will be sure to do...oh, Becca!" Isabella cried suddenly, as if struck by some important information she had failed to give to her friend earlier.
The sudden distressed tone caused Rebecca to turn back around. "Do be wary when it comes to my brother."
Rebecca laughed, "I believe I know how t' deal with him after all these years."
"Even so, he is not to be trusted, no matter what your heart tells you." Isabella saw Rebecca flinch slightly, "Take care."
Rebecca sighed, drumming her fingers on the door, "Ya an' your brother," she shook her head, recalling Guy's warnings for her to be cautious around Isabella, "ya need t' trust one another again. I do take care; I promise ya that Isabella."
"You know I only say this because I would hate for you to get hurt." Isabella replied.
A chill laced up Rebecca's spine. Isabella had been very forthcoming when it came to warnings of how best to deal with Guy. First it was the fact that she had felt betrayed by him as a child when he had married her off to a monster of a husband, then it was that she had heard him say that he would see Rebecca exiled off his lands as soon as he was able to find an excuse to do so. Such warnings confused her and this worry for her safety did nothing to assuage her mounting doubts. Guy had been nothing but civil to her these past few weeks, ever since his recent injury. At any other time she would have been turning cartwheels about the whole of Locksley and now all she could do was smile dully and pray that the heaviness in her heart would quickly leave her be. She knew Isabella wanted to protect her, but Rebecca wished she would stop poisoning her head with suspicions.
"Is that all, Isabella?" Rebecca asked respectfully.
Isabella nodded and Rebecca took her leave. She made her way down the staircase, pausing upon the last step as she thought she saw Guy in the small foyer just beyond the main hall of the manor. Curious, she walked over to the private room and stood in the open and doorless entrance. Guy appeared deep in thought. He was leaning against the mantel above the cold and unlit hearth. An odd tag hung in his hands as he clutched the strap tightly, letting the engraved tag swing back and forth like a pendulum marking the time.
Rebecca cleared her throat and knocked upon the wall, announcing her presence. "Master?" She said softly, smiling a little as he turned to face her, "Forgive me if I'm disturbing ya, but are ya well? Do ya need me to get ya anything?"
Guy eyed her strangely. He could not have looked at her more oddly than if she had spoken to him in some foreign tongue. He said nothing to her, and he did not move from his position against the mantel. Rebecca fidgeted. Was he also upset over his argument with his sister. Really; one day she was going to scheme up some elaborate plan to get these two to sit down together and have a proper talk, this constant distrust and riled temper could not be allowed to continue for much longer.
Rebecca apologized for her intrusion again, "I'll just leave ya be, then..." She said as she backed her way out of the room.
"Wait." The voice which answered her was rough and unfeeling. Rebecca turned around and saw that Guy was gesturing for her to come back. She did so, but with a growing feeling of trepidation. "Sit." He commanded, pointing to a chair beside the fireplace.
Confused, but knowing better than to discuss the point, Rebecca sat down quietly. Guy remained standing over her. "I want you to know that it is only because of our former friendship that I am speaking with you now." He said each word with deliberate force, as if the fact that he even had to speak such words was a most vile act.
"Former friendship?" Rebecca echoed dully. What was he driving at, and why did he hold the look of betrayal in his eyes? What had happened?
Guy forced himself to look away from her, "For some time now I have had cause to...question your loyalty to me." He held up his hand to stop the onslaught of panicked shouts, "I denied such accusations against you. You have always been my most trustworthy servant and...my friend. So I am going to give you a chance to defend yourself." He showed her the tag he had been holding in his hands, "Tell me how this came to be among your personal items."
Rebecca looked at the tag, her brow knitted as she tried to place where she had seen it before. "This...this isn't mine." She stammered she inwardly screamed as she saw the shift in Guy's expression, his eyes growing darker with increasing wrath. "It isn't...I...I know I've seen something like it before, but...I can't remember..."
"This," Guy growled, shoving the tag closer to Rebecca, "Is the tag worn by Robin Hood and his gang and it was found with your things!"
"What?!" Rebecca's face drained of all colour, "But...I--"
"I imagine he only gives this out to those he absolutely trusts as members of his gang...or as close spies." Guy said.
"But it's not mine!" Rebecca cried, feeling the world spin before her eyes, "There's been a mistake!"
"You can have no knowledge of how much I want that to be true." Guy sighed and Rebecca could hear the longing in his voice.
"It is the truth!"
"Becca, do not lie to me!" Guy shouted.
"I would never betray ya!" Rebecca shouted back, leaping boldly to her feet. "Master, please...this, this is nonsense. Ya know I would never lie t' ya. How could ya accuse me o' such crimes like this?"
"Accuse? Becca, with such evidence against you I could have dragged you to the village square and run my sword through you without so much as telling you why I was executing you." Guy spat. He wasn't certain if it was anger he felt towards her, or fear that he could not be sure if Rebecca really was telling him the truth. From the look of horror in her eyes, Guy could easily believe that there had been a mistake. Rebecca had been a constant in his life. It did seem absurd that of all the people closest to him he should doubt her.
"Ya could kill me so easily?" Rebecca said quietly. Guy lowered his head, no of course he couldn't. The thought of killing Rebecca was repulsive, the fact that he was even having this conversation with her cut him deeply and he was certain that it hurt Rebecca even more.
"The tag is not mine." Rebecca said, breathing in deeply, her voice ragged with restrained emotion, "There's been a mistake. I don't know who has been putting thoughts in your head that I was disloyal t'ya, but they are lying t'ya! I have never betrayed ya t' Robin Hood. I have never spied for him or his gang. I would rather die. I've never told ya lies, or played ya false. I care for ya too much t' hurt ya in such a way!"
Hadn't he heard such words before? Guy's stare hardened at the pleading words from his servant. Marian had said such soothing things to him. That she had only betrayed him once and again because she had tried to do what was right. That hurting him had been an unintentional evil. That she cared for him; truly, no matter what she had done. Of course, it had all been lies. She had stood before him trembling and with the same hurtful and desperate expression Rebecca now wore. He had been weak then and listened to the feeble demands of his heart instead of the cool logic of his mind. How he had writhed against himself as he had tried to force himself to let go of Marian and send her to the hang man for her crimes as the Nightwatchman. He should have done it, it would have spared his soul for Marian's final and decisive strike.
He tried to think back. Recalling little instances here and there where Rebecca should had proven a traitor to him. Robin Hood had managed to break into the Castle recently and humiliate the Prince and that had been the same day he had brought Rebecca to the Castle. Coincidence? Or how attentive she had been towards him since his injury? How she was constantly asking if he was well if something was the matter....cues to get him to rely on her? To trust her enough to tell her secrets without him knowing? All possible and at the same time almost impossible.
"Master, you have t' believe me." Rebecca said softly as she became disheartened at Guy's prolonged silence. Her lower lip trembled as a tear fell down her cheek. "Ya know me..."
"Do I? I do not forget that for nearly eleven years Robin was your master as well." Guy said.
That hurt her. He could clearly see the wounded expression in her eyes. "Robin was never my master." Rebecca whispered. "An' that tag is not mine!"
"Still you persist with these lies?! It was found with your things! Clearly it is yours!" Guy shouted.
"No!" She wailed, "I swear, master...it isn't mine!"
"Fine." Guy shrugged, "Let us suppose you aren't lying to me. Even so," Guy sighed, "it is too much of a risk to trust you." He could not open himself up to be cut down so easily again. Rebecca may be telling him the truth, but he could never trust her again even if she was, not after this. He turned away from her, finding it unbearable to look into her tear-filled eyes. "There is only one thing I can do."
"Master..." Rebecca seemed to guess at what he might say. The panic in her voice nearly silenced him.
"You must leave Locksely."
"No!"
Guy winced, "You are no longer my servant...you can no longer be permitted to stay within the grounds of Locksley. Take whatever you own and leave; I want you gone before nightfall." He marched swiftly from the room.
He should have expected Rebecca to follow, but he did not expect to hear such a keening cry emerge from her lips. It was as if she had been stabbed, the pain was so prominent in her voice. She ran to him, heedless of propriety. "Do not do this!" She begged.
"I have no choice." Guy admitted. Rebecca ran her fingers through her hair, her eyes darting about in desperation. She looked like a lost child; a ship without direction. Tears were pouring from her eyes. The accusation and sentence had been thrown upon her so quickly she must still be trying to work out what she had done to deserve this. She looked so helpless that, for a moment, Guy wished he could retract all he had said to her, but he could not. He would regret it if he did. There was no way to prove her innocence.
Rebecca fell to her knees, grabbing Guy by the ankle of his boots to stop him from walking away from her. "Guy!" She cried, "Guy, I beg ya! Please...I've done nothing wrong! Don't send me away!"
Her cries were gathering the attention of the other servants and soon there were bystanders watching the spectacle curiously. Guy pulled out of Rebecca's feeble grasp. "This display is pathetic." He hissed. "Any other master would have had you killed immediately for even the slightest suspicion of betrayal. I am giving you your life and I am giving you your freedom as a reward...."
"But I have no where t' go." Rebecca cried, "You're all I have! Guy! The tag is not mine! Punish me if ya think I have done wrong, but do not send me away!"
"I can not afford to be wrong in my judgement." Guy said coldly, "Becca, it is best if you leave."
"No--"
"That is my final order!" Guy roared, "There is nothing more to be discussed." He had to get away. Rebecca's cries were intolerable. If his resolved weakened he would succumb and ignore his doubts against her if only to stop her from crying. He hurried as far away as he could, but everywhere inside the manor he could hear Rebecca crying and screaming for him. He burst out the door leading out into the grounds beyond the manor.
He was still holding the tag. He took one look at it and flung it from him, letting out a cry of frustration and rage. Rebecca may have been innocent or she may have been guilty. He would never know. He couldn't allow himself to trust enough to try. After today Rebecca would be gone. He had taken for granted her presence in Locksley. Now with this ugly shadow of doubt hanging over her she would forever be tainted. He had lost her. He hadn't realized that she had been all he had truly had as well.
1191
Guy had been in a most disagreeable mood ever since he had finally emerged from his quarantined state nearly three days ago. The entire household was on edge. No one could ascertain why their master should awake more angry at his mere existence than relieved to be alive at all. He had been sick and kept away from the rest of the world for nearly three months. For a man to return from so long in a fevered state could be seen as nothing short of a miracle. Yet, from the way Guy went about it, he seemed to feel he had been cursed.
Guy came riding into Locksley late that evening, his temper at an all time high. The Sheriff seemed to glean a fair amount of delight in taunting him about his exploits in the Holy Land, and the failure he had proved. If he had to suffer through another recount of his failings he would burn the entire cursed shire to the ground just to spite the man who had send him on the impossible mission in the first place. It was not his fault that one soldier had still had the strength to fight him. His plan had worked brilliantly, but what did it matter? It had been poorly executed. Three months wasted.
A loud crash resounded in the entrance hall and Guy heard the muttered curses of one of his servants. A clay pitcher had dropped and shattered in half upon the floor. Rebecca was kneeling down to gather the pieces up, while her companion stood above her, hands on her hips. "That's the third thing you've broken today!" She exclaimed, "If you aren't fit to work today, Rebecca, you should rest. Everyone's been saying so!"
"I'm fine." Rebecca muttered, sniffling. "G-g-go an' fetch a b-b-broom."
Muttering to herself, the other maid went off to fetch a broom to help clean up the mess. Guy would have walked away from the scene without a second thought if Rebecca hadn't begun to cry. She sat upon the floor staring down at the broken pitcher, sobbing quietly as if the very end of the world had come.
"It's just a pitcher." Guy remarked, alerting Rebecca to his presence. She looked up at him like a deer starting at a hunter's appearance, "You're not going to get thrown out of Locksley for breaking a pitcher. Stop snivelling over it."
"Sorry, master." Rebecca said quietly as she gathered up the broken pitcher.
"Go and fetch your mother." Guy suggested, "She's always been good at mending broken wares."
"Y-y-yes, master. I'll...I'll see t-t-to that!" Rebecca burst into tears once more as she ran from the hallway.
Guy was a bit stunned at the display. Rebecca wasn't normally so weepy eyed over the common accident of breaking a piece of pottery. Usually she was the steady-handed one with the broom and a sharp word over the incident. Why had she broken just as easily as the pitcher?
The other servant returned wielding a broom. She let out an exasperated sigh as she realized her companion had already cleaned up the mess and fled the scene. "You," Guy barked, causing the servant to nearly drop her broom in surprise, "What was wrong with the girl?"
"Master, thought you knew." The servant said quizzically, "Her mother, old Gemma, died not but a few days ago."
"Died?" This broke through his sullen mood. He couldn't have heard the woman right.
The maid nodded, "Everyone knew she was ailing for a time. Fever came an' took her."
"Why wasn't I informed that one of my servants had died?" Guy shouted at the unfortunate maid.
"We...we all thought that Rebecca had..."
He did not wait for the maid to finish her statement, for he stormed past her, following the direction Rebecca had taken. She could not have gotten very far. He paused as he turned a corner, she was no where to be seen and there were no doorways leading out towards the outside grounds. Standing in silence for a moment, he was finally able to hear the tiny sobs echoing as if coming from the very walls. He walked stealthily, following the sound. Eventually he came upon a broom closet with it's door slightly ajar. He pushed it open, the door swung in, creaking on its hinges.
Rebecca jumped, "Master!" She wiped frantically at her eyes and made a show of searching through the closet, "I was just l-l-looking for...I thought that..."
"Becca, why didn't you tell me?" Guy asked her quietly.
Rebecca looked at him shamefacedly, "Y-y-ya had just gotten well, master." She choked, "I...I didn't want t' tell ya just yet."
Guilt flooded him for a moment. Rebecca had kept her mother's death a secret from him because she had thought his own health had been more important, but he had not been sick. He had not been there at all. "You should have told me." He reprimanded.
"Couldn't..." She said, shaking.
He sighed, wondering now what to do with this useless wreck of a woman. He was not without complete sympathy. Gemma Tanner had helped raise him from a boy and he was not likely to ever forget that, no matter how much he had distanced himself from her family. "Come out of here." He ordered, stepping back to let Rebecca through.
The bedraggled woman emerged from the dark closet, her dark hair was dishevelled and falling out from it's ties. Her eyes were red and puffy and her face was grimy with tear stains. Guy stared at her. There was a time when seeing her so miserable would have wrung something other than pity from him. "Get yourself to the servant's quarters." He said, "You shouldn't be working."
"Thank ya, master, but I'd rather not...better t' have something t' do..." Rebecca said.
Guy nodded silently to her, and for a moment Rebecca thought that he would leave her to her own devices, but he did not move away. When news of her father's death had been brought back by Guy's father, Guy had been with her to comfort her. Now he was so distant Rebecca wondered if he was truly the same man. If she had been a bolder woman she might have spoken out. She might have begged for him to be a friend to her for just a moment.
"Should go..." She muttered, pressing her hand against the wall to afford her self some control over her shaking legs. Her strength was rapidly leaving her and she had not even noticed immediately when her legs had finally given way; there was only the strange and heavy feeling of falling.
A hand about her waist stopped her descent. She turned about and wrapped her arms around Guy. She was perfectly aware such an action would be unwanted, but she hardly cared."She shouldn't have died like that. I told her she needed t' rest...but...she wouldn't listen. She was...all I had." Her words came out in choked gasps as she tried to speak through the wall of her tears. "What...what d-d-do I do now, master?" She whispered.
Guy placed one arm about Rebecca, awkwardly; letting her cry against him. Rebecca held tight against him. He was warm, and even though his own hold about her was reluctant at best, there could be no better comfort. She closed her eyes, her head pressed against his chest. Eventually her tears stopped. Once she could gain proper control of herself, she pulled away from Guy. "Forgive me..." She whispered.
"Where did you bury her?" Guy asked her.
"Next to my father..."
This surprised Guy, although nothing would have proven more logically; "In Gisborne?"
Rebecca nodded, "She married my father there. She gave birth to me there. That was her home. Thornton and I took her to the grounds near where Gisborne manor used t' be an'...I...I think she'd have been happy...." She bit her lip. "Why do ya ask, master?"
Because he would undoubtedly make his way over to Gemma's grave later, although he would not say this to Rebecca. He was not Gemma's kin, Rebecca was her daughter and she had every right to cry and grieve. He had none. He remembered the promise he had made her just a few short months ago. She had given him protection over the one thing she possessed: her daughter. So what was he to do? He couldn't tell Rebecca this. If he admitted he had had any knowledge of how grave Gemma's health had been she would never forgive him. Funny, how that should matter on some small scale.
"Get some rest, Becca." Guy said, "That's an order. I can't afford to have you falling ill as well."
The coldness of his tone caused her to lower her head. "Ya intend t' keep me on, then?" She asked quietly.
"Yes." He grunted, "Don't bother me with these ridiculous questions."
Rebecca could not help, but smile a little. There was fine line when Guy would prove harsh out of sheer cruelty and when he would purposefully mask his feelings. This code was not a difficult one. She had confronted him with unexpected emotion and, not knowing how to handle the onslaught, he had retreated in the only way he knew how.
"Master..." She raised her voice again as he turned to leave her, "Thank ya." She said quietly, consenting to him leaving her while all the while silently praying he would see how much she needed him now and return to her.
He nodded to her. He hadn't done anything to be worthy of thanks. He knew that nothing he could do or say would lessen Rebecca's grief. There is nothing that can be done to lessen a child's grief over their parents, no matter how old that child might be. No one could have possibly understood this better than Guy. He could hear Rebecca crying lightly even as they both walked away from one another, down opposite ends of the same hall. She would do her best to conceal most of her sorrow from him and from the servants, but it was sapping the energy from her. She should have told him sooner...but it did not matter. He would keep his promise to Gemma, he need not think anymore on the deal he had struck with her. Now there were things to be set in order, and a grave to visit.
A/N: So how is Izzy going to react to this turn of events, hm? And how is Becca going to come out of all this double dealing? Also, one more wicked little twist is still to come. You think separating Guy and Becca is the worst I can do? You haven't seen the half of it.
Next chapter will be up soon!