A/N: Thanks to anyone who is still reading.

Chapter 23: Answers

He hadn't come to Locksley and it shouldn't really have surprised her. He would never voluntarily set a step in front of what now was Robin's door again to ask for help, no matter that it was her who had invited him there.

They hadn't agreed on any alternative meeting place. Actually they hadn't agreed on anything at all, seeing that they had parted the last time after a fight and Guy clearly feeling betrayed by the reveal that Marian was the Nightwatchman.

It had needed come convincing, but finally Robin had agreed to help her find him. He didn't know where Gisborne was either, but they had decided to go to Nottingham and start looking for him there. They didn't know if the man hadn't rather fled the town, but he didn't have any other place to go in the shire; yet maybe he had left altogether.

Marian had left the Nightwatchman's attire at Locksley this time, joining Robin just wrapped in a long cloak. People who got a close look at her would recognize her, but as they both were on supposedly good terms with the sheriff at the moment, it seemed better to be seen like that than to risk an exposure of the Nightwatchman.

They rode up to Nottingham in the sunshine of this surprisingly warm spring day. It felt peculiar to ride towards the town gate as openly as this and Marian wondered how many years it had been since they had done that. They had been young, very young, when they had ridden together like that, back then not always everyone agreeing with the manner. But she had been the sheriff's daughter, Robin the very young Lord of Locksley – most people had decided not to mind.

Robin spoke briefly to the guards at the gate, the nervous manner of the men showing Marian that the situation wasn't a matter-of-fact for them either. For so long they had been supposed to catch the very man in front of them, and now he rode in here like that, accompanied by her even more so.

"So let's split up and meet later back at the gate," she suggested, once they were inside the town. "We'll be quicker to find Guy this way."

Robin's look, as he climbed from his horse and tied it to a post, told her that he wasn't enthusiastic about the plan. "Just don't find Gisborne in a too fool mood of his."

"I'll be careful," she promised, but she doubted that Guy would mean her any harm. Yes, he had cut her with his sword the last time they met and the wound on her arm still hurt, but he had cut the Nightwatchman then, and she knew that he would not harm her.

Marian walked over towards he market place, Robin going the other way. She headed in the direction of the Tripp Inn first, knowing Guy had sometimes gone there in the past. She remembered he had met the spy there - Allan as she knew now. Maybe there would be other people who could tell her where he was now, or where he might be likely to go.

She knew it wasn't exactly usual for a noble woman to go to a place like this, no matter that she had been here before, though in disguise then. So it was no surprise that many pairs of eyes were on her as she entered the inn, though she didn't know if it was because she was a woman or because they recognised her.

She didn't have a very clear plan what to do once she was inside, had pondered whether to directly ask the inn keeper or just try to blend in with the patrons. She didn't have to make a decision though, for she had just entered, when she heard Robin's name mentioned in a group of men sitting together. One glance told her what was going on there. Allan was sitting with a cup of ale, several men around him, listening to him telling a story of his adventurous outlaw life.

Marian walked over to the group, coming to a stop behind one of the men.

"So I'm taking out four guards at once," Allan was telling. "Robin's amazing with his arrows, too, you know, and-," he stopped as Marian caught his gaze.

She raised her eyebrows and made a slight movement with the head so as to indicate that she wanted to talk to him.

"Ah, a lady wants to see me," Allan excused himself, standing up, and Marian shot him a look. Considering it wasn't too long ago that he had been found out to be the traitor among Robin's men, he was talking quite carelessly.

He moved over to a secluded corner of the inn and Marian followed.

He didn't get the chance to say anything before Marian started, "Do you have any idea where Guy might be?"

Allan frowned. "I'm not working for him anymore, I told you, well not you, but the others. I didn't lie."

"It's not about that," Marian said. "You might still know where he is."

"I don't know," he shrugged.

"Is there any place he might go to when he can't go back to the castle?" Marian insisted.

"Look, Guy isn't my friend. I didn't even work for him really. I told him a few things, that was a mistake I know that, I swear, but I've got no clue what he is up to now."

Marian sighed. How was she to find Guy if even the person she had figured was most likely to know anything claimed he didn't? As far as she knew Guy didn't have any friends. At least he had none left after some had even fallen victim to his aspirations, as she remembered Lambert. There were lackeys, there was the sheriff, there was her. She didn't know anyone else Guy trusted or had trusted.

She turned around, leaving Allan where he was. She walked out of the building into the town, wandering aimlessly for some time, thinking. She didn't have a way to contact Guy, or did she? After a while she made her way back to the inn, stopping in front of it and looking at the beam where she had seen a sign several times before. Now lifting a piece of chalk, Marian recreated the sign on the beam, before she entered the inn again.

Allan was still sitting with his group of people, though the mood seemed to have become quieter now. Marian didn't show herself to them, but settled down in another corner, where she could watch the entrance without being seen herself. She would wait if Guy turned up, drawn in by the sign Allan used to signal that he wanted to meet the man.

Robin didn't put much effort into trying to find Gisborne. He looked around at a few places that came to mind, mostly taverns, but he had other business on his mind. If he or Marian were to find Gisborne by chance, he would talk to the man, because Marian had asked him to, but for now he decided to go to the castle.

His intention wasn't to visit the sheriff, and so he took some care to not draw too much attention to himself, no matter that he wasn't trying to get in by stealth either. If any guard would try to stop him, he could easily say he had business with the sheriff. After all, this whole pardon thing might come in handy.

He passed the guards at the entrance without so much of a flinch from them. Making his way upstairs, Robin went a little slower, unwilling to have another conversation with the sheriff this day. He was looking for information, but they wouldn't come from a talk with that man. Still, his destination were the man's chambers – he just didn't plan to be noticed. The castle appeared quiet and rather empty; there were hardly any guards patrolling the corridors that Robin needed to evade.

When he got closer to the sheriff's quarters, he could see more and more guards, and he figured that was because of the sheriff's fear of Gisborne. Robin made a quick decision to use stealth after all and climbed upwards along the castle wall to where he would get into the sheriff's bedchamber unnoticed as he had done several times before.

The man wasn't there and listening at the closed door to the adjoining room, Robin didn't hear anything either. What caught his gaze in the room was a piece of parchment that was lying about. Hoping to gain any information as to what Vaysey actually did with the silver, Robin picked it up and read what turned out to be a letter.

It was from Prince John addressed to the Sheriff of Nottingham – curiously without explicitly mentioning Vaysey's name – and didn't mention the silver, much to Robin's disappointment. It mentioned him though. The prince announced a visit to Nottingham in which he beyond other things wanted to determine with his own eyes if the sheriff finally had the outlaw problem by the name of Robin Hood under control. Robin smiled, understanding some of the sheriff's desire for their deal.

The visit was announced for a day in two weeks time, and Robin guessed he would hear again from the sheriff by then. He wondered mildly amused how the man planned to present his success. Robin just had to make sure it wasn't in the form of him being taken prisoner again. He wouldn't let that happen again.

He put the letter back where he had found it and quickly searched the room for any other useful information. Not finding any he looked out of the window into the castle yard, keeping out of sight, but spotting someone else outside.

He climbed out of the window and made his way downstairs considerably quicker than he had come upstairs, intend on following Gisborne, who was now leaving the yard behind, unnoticed by the guards, but not able to evade Robin's eyes from higher above. He followed him into the town and through the narrow streets. In front of the Tripp Inn Gisborne stopped and Robin could see why: The man was looking at a sign made of chalk outside of the building. Robin remembered the sign. He had seen it before in a similar situation at the same tavern, then when he had seen Allan emerge from there about the same time as Gisborne had. Now he knew that the two men likely had met then, Allan selling information about the outlaws.

Robin frowned. Had Allan planned another meeting with Gisborne? Was he as opposed to everything he had claimed still spying for him? Would he tell the man every last piece of information he had to give, would he tell him where their camp was?

The sun was nearly behind the horizon now and Robin had agreed with Marian to meet again at the southern gate by dusk, but Robin decided to follow Gisborne for now. Pulling his hood deeper into his face, he entered the inn. Gisborne was looking around, apparently searching for Allan.

Gisborne walked through the inn, seemingly aimless. Robin followed. When the other reached a corner of the tavern, someone suddenly put a hand to his arm, signalling him to sit down. Robin slowed down, no matter that he was keen to hear what the two men were exchanging, but he was caught between wanting to expose Allan directly and the desire to hear what was going on before they would notice him.

Gisborne had seated himself opposite of the other. There was a look of surprise on his face. Robin edged closer, but he wasn't able to hear what was said, the voices being drowned out in the talking of the other guests. Robin got yet closer and it was lucky that Gisborne was so focused on the other man, or he certainly would have noticed him now.

"You have been working for Hood the whole time, haven't you?" Gisborne spat rather loudly at this moment and it was the first thing that Robin could understand, though it confused him. Gisborne was blaming Allan for working for Robin? He didn't understand the reply, the talk, shouting and laughter of the other guests ringing in his ears, and tried to get yet a bit closer, turning around now to have his back towards the two men. He slid onto a bench next to the table where they were sitting then, tiredly watched by a very drunken patron.

"You've been on his side all this time," Gisborne declared coldly.

"Yes," Robin heard the reply now, and now he understood. Gisborne wasn't meeting Allan, but Marian. She had made him come here, had probably drawn the sign outside. "I have been helping the poor for a long time, long before Robin returned. But after he came back, we shared this goal. I don't always agree with what he is doing, but we both know that we have to help."

Gisborne was silent for some moments, before he spoke so quietly that Robin had to strain his ears, "I thought there was a chance for us."

"I haven't come here to talk about that, Guy," Marian said. "Things have changed."

Gisborne laughed bitterly. "Yes. Hood managed to turn the sheriff against me." After a pause, he added, "And you were in it, too. Was it all a charade? Was it all to betray me?" his voice grew louder and threatening, and Robin was short of interfering, anger rising in him.

"No, that's not how it was," Marian said quickly. "I'm here to ask you to work with us."

That moment all hell broke loose. Robin felt the table hit him in the side, nearly falling over, as Gisborne pushed it forward in anger, Marian jumping up.

"You betrayed me!" Gisborne yelled and made a move towards Marian, just as Robin untangled himself from table and bench. Gisborne tried to grab her, but Marian ducked and he missed. Robin jumped in front of him, ready to deal a blow. "Hood," Gisborne spat, hesitating only a moment, before he grabbed the nearest bench, trying to propel it towards Robin. This seemed to be the sign other patrons had been waiting for, for suddenly the inn erupted in a full blown fight. Robin dealt a few kicks and blows into Gisborne's general direction, but didn't get close enough to the man in the ensuing chaos. His focus now turning to Marian, he saw her ducking blows and then being grabbed by a man, before she kicked him and he let go of her again. She moved towards the exit, but glanced around, obviously looking for Robin, or maybe even Gisborne. Jumping over a table, Robin was quickly by her side.

"Let's go," he called. He didn't know how long it would take till guards turned up, and he wasn't keen on landing in the sheriff's dungeons again for something as stupid as a tavern brawl.

Once they were outside, Robin hurried on, while Marian stopped, looking back at the inn. A moment later, the door opened again and someone pushed Gisborne outside, the man falling hard on the ground and remaining there, knocked out.

"No brawls in my tavern," a man who Robin recognised to be the innkeeper called after him, no matter that Gisborne probably couldn't hear him at this moment. A few other men followed the same way out Gisborne had gone, most of them heavily drunk, and Robin could hear the clang of guards approaching in their armour from the castle.

"Guy - we can't leave him to the guards," Marian said. "Vaysey wants him killed."

Robin didn't really feel sorry at the thought.

"Robin!" Marian urged him. "I can't carry him on my own. You've got to help me, please." She moved towards Gisborne and Robin followed her grudgingly.

"Why are we helping him, if not the others," he complained, though he knew the answer. The sheriff wouldn't bother with the random drunks. Gisborne he would kill. It was only the question as to why. Why did Vaysey fear the man? Why did he fear him so much that he had offered that deal to Robin – apart from the matter with Prince John that Robin had detected earlier that day? Maybe this was a chance to find out, Robin figured, as he helped Marian half carry, half drag Gisborne away from the site of the brawl.

"Wait here," she said finally as they had reached a dark alley that hid them from view. "I'll get our horses."

Robin liked the idea of having Gisborne walk to the forest bound to a horse like he had once done to Robin after he had given himself up in Locksley to save the peasants there. Marian would probably like the idea a little less. And shoving the lust for revenge aside, he knew that she would be right. Once she was back with their horses, they lifted Gisborne up on one, the man still out cold. Riding out of the town went slowly this way, the lone guard at the gate luckily not given a second glance to an apparently drunk man reeking of ale, and Robin breathed more freely once they were away from Nottingham and on the way to the forest.

Marian would want to pay Gisborne back by helping him, but he, Robin, he wanted answers.

TBC