Before we start the chapter I want to give a grateful thank you to {Saramagician} who gave me a few ideas for this chapter. R, R, and R. :D
Chapter 8,
Persistence,
"What did he tell you Hood because my brother betrayed you?" Isabella said,
"It's over Isabella I know what you did Guy told me everything in the dungeon last night." Robin replied,
"Well he must have spun you a pretty good story he played on your gullibility." Isabella sneered,
"It's not true." Guy defended,
"Well brother why don't you tell him what you really did when you came to Nottingham." Isabella said,
"You're lying Isabella." Robin shouted, his arm becoming tired from the tight strain on his bow string,
"Well if Guy doesn't want to tell you I'll tell you." Isabella said, walking down the steps to get closer to Robin,
"That's far enough sheriff." Robin ordered, as Isabella reached the end of her descent,
"Guy came to me in Nottingham and asked me if we could work together to bring you down, in return he wanted me to get him accepted by the Prince. Unfortunately he let his guard down and I had him taken to the dungeons where he soon awaited his fate." Isabella explained, Guy turned his head in the direction of Robin's voice,
"It's not true I swear." Guy said painfully,
"Do you really want to take someone back into your midst when you risk it happening again?" Isabella asked,
"Robin how do we know Guy didn't flip sides?" Kate asked,
"Stop listening to her Kate she's lying…the same goes for everyone else!" Robin shouted,
"But how do we know?" Much asked,
"Because he's one of us remember." Robin said,
"Master she may be right." Much continued,
"Enough everyone…can't you see what she's doing? She's trying to turn you against him so she can finish what she started; you have to stop paying attention to her because she's succeeding." Robin explained,
"I would think of all people Robin you would be happy to see Guy on the way out…after all he killed Marian are you really going to forgive him for that?" Isabella asked,
"Enough Isabella." Robin said calmly, "Guy is one of us and past crimes have been forgotten." He added, as he nodded his head at John who waited patiently to free Gisborne,
Li'l John whistled in the background, which was an indication to the rest of the gang to help him with Guy; the man who was going to carry out Guy's execution by now had dropped the rat. He was now leaning backward on the table, and it was evident that he wasn't ready to give Guy up because he made one last attempt to carry out his task. He quickly turned and yanked on Guy's leg, and due to the breaks and the dislocation it was extremely painful, Li'l John backhanded the man knocking him to the ground unconscious.
"Aaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrggggghhhhhh!" Guy yelled loudly,
His painful shriek echoing through the great hall that was now occupied with nobles, his body soon went limp so Tuck quickly placed his fingers on Guy's neck to see if he was still alive.
"His alive now let's get him out of here." Tuck advised, so they all engaged in untying the restraints,
"I advise you to take better responsibility for your men Isabella one more attempt like that and this arrow goes straight through your Prince." Robin warned again,
After they had finished untying Guy John placed one arm around his chest and one arm under his knees trying to limit the further damage he caused.
"Go now!" Robin ordered,
"But what about you?" Kate asked,
"Don't worry I'll be fine...now go." Robin replied, so Kate soon ran out of the great hall to join the others,
"Now we're going to stay here a little longer until I know that my men are safely in the forest, and if any of your guards decide to make a move I will shoot." Robin explained,
Minutes elapsed and Robin didn't know how long it was, but if he stayed any longer he would surely be caught,
"I thank you all for being very cooperative I still have my sight set on the Prince so you'll all stay where you are until I leave…and Isabella try working on your tall tales because they don't get you very far on my watch." Robin said as he slowly backed up towards the door, he then quickly slipped out,
"After him!" Prince John yelled, so the guards soon took off in pursuit of Robin,
Fortunately Robin remembered the way out of the castle, because he could hear the guards were right on his tail, he raced out into the courtyard, the guards even closer then before. It was when he found himself doubting escape that he heard a whinny coming from somewhere close to him, he turned to see a white flea-bitten horse racing towards him, it was Guy's horse.
The horse reared in front of Robin giving a willful snort, "Easy big fella...whoa." Robin soothed, this was his means of escape,
When the guards raced into the courtyard they just had time to see Robin slip onto the horses back, the horse reared once, thrusting its front legs spiritedly, and powerfully, into the air, giving out a loud whinny, before Robin raced out into the open area outside the castle, he had escaped thanks to the horse Guy insisted on keeping.
Meanwhile the others had just made it into camp, John walked briskly to the back of the camp where a new bed was set up for Guy, because he was definitely one of them by now. Tuck helped John place Guy gently on the bed, when he had Tuck soon retrieved his dagger and cut a small slit in Guy's right pant leg, he soon tore it until he could see the full extent of the injuries to his leg.
Guy's leg was covered in dry crusted blood, and the areas that he could see under the blood where a horrible blackish-blue color, his leg had definitely been crushed at some point. Kate had already begun boiling water over the fire, and while that was happening Tuck had Much running around gathering the resources that would be necessary to care for Gisborne.
He had sent Much to Loxley for Some fresh bandages; the water had been heated enough and was now being used to clean Guy's leg, when he had finished removing the dried blood the damage was clearly visible. The skin had been torn in certain areas which had caused the bleeding, Tuck had felt the leg, and saw that there were indeed a few breaks across it.
While Much was still not back Robin trotted Guy's horse into the camp, he quickly dismounted and joined Tuck, when he had for the first time he was able to see the full extent of Guy's injuries. Tuck had moved on to dressing the cuts on Guy's stomach when Robin joined him, "How is he?" Robin asked, which was a stupid question really,
"Not good, his leg had been crushed, and there a several breaks along it, the wounds to his stomach will heal nicely in time but..." Tuck broke off,
"But what?" Robin urged,
"But I'm afraid he may never be able to walk on that leg again." Tuck finished,
"Well we'll see." Robin said, refusing to give in to the information,
At that moment Much returned with the bandages, there were just enough to make a tight bandage for Guy's leg and to cover the wounds to his stomach.
"Here Much help me with the bandages so I can make a splint." Tuck said,
"Yeah sure."
Meanwhile at the castle Isabella was seeing the Prince back to London,
"In future sheriff I advise you that he make sure the event I am called to see is actually going to take place before I arrive or you will find yourself in the deepest darkest corner of England...do I make myself clear?" He asked,
"Very clear my lord it will not happen again I can assure you." Isabella defended,
"It had better not...and for the last time upgrade your security that is the last time I want to come here and find myself threatened at arrow point." He whined further,
"Yes My lord." Isabella acknowledged,
Robin had made a fool of her, her plan, and her attempt to get in the good books with the Prince, in future she was going to take better care of her plans so the same thing didn't happen twice.
A few hours later in the outlaw's camp,
Guy began to groan and move about painfully, Robin quickly took his side, he could hear Guy mumble something but he couldn't make out what it was, but when he began to move about more violently Robin acted.
"Guy calm down...it's me Robin...you're safe." He soothed,
"Robin?" Guy asked, his eyes now wide open and rapidly scanning anything and everything even though he saw nothing,
"Guy what's wrong?" Robin asked,
"it's not true…She tripped my horse on the way back to camp." Guy explained,
"Gisborne it's alright I know she was lying." Robin assured,
"I would never turn you in…not now…and not ever." Guy finished, as he was interrupted by a painful grimace,
"...My leg."
"Does it hurt that bad?" Robin asked,
"No not that...not that bad." Guy replied, his breathing was considerably heavy, and beads of sweat began to collect on his face,
"It's still dislocated...I can feel it." He said,
"Tuck doesn't want to touch it until your better but he has placed a splint on it." Robin explained,
"You need to relocate it." Guy said,
"But I don't think that's a good idea." Robin insisted,
"Robin...don't make me do it myself." Guy warned,
"Alright, alright...I'll go find Tuck he's down at the stream." Robin said,
So Robin quickly left Guy to go and find Tuck, luckily he was just a few feet from the camp when Robin found him,
"Tuck Guy's awake and he wants to relocate his leg...he's suffering." Robin explained,
"Right if he's awake then we can set it, we couldn't before." Tuck agreed, they hastily made it back to Guy's side,
"Right...Guy this is going to hurt I want you to move and little as possible, the breaks in your leg make moving a danger." He explained,
"I understand." Guy said,
"Robin hold him down as well as you can." Tuck ordered, so Robin secured as much of Guy as he could,
Tuck placed his hand on certain areas of Guy's thigh trying to find the best place to hold it, when he had found the right spot he gave Robin a warning glance, before he briskly snapped the bones back in place. Guy jolted suddenly into the air, so Robin made more of an attempt to keep him down, Guy's shrill matched that of an animal that had just been snared in a trap, and it was loud enough so that everyone in or outside of the camp could hear him.
After Tuck had relocated the leg Guy fell back into the much more pleasant arms of unconsciousness,
"Let him rest and if he comes to again...(Fishes around in waist bag)...give him this." Tuck said, as he drew out the desired bottle, pouring a small amount into Guy's mouth,
What is it?" Robin asked,
"It will keep him unaware of his pain, but in a state of consciousness." Tuck replied, as he handed Robin the bottle,
The following morning,
Guy stirred awake, to find himself struggling against the sudden blinding light that shone on him, thanks to Tuck's medicine he wasn't able to control his own actions like he should have been. He shielded his eyes with his arm, and began to groan, but he was left to himself while the others slept, eventually his eyes were able to be cooperative with the sunlight, but all he found was a fuzzy mess.
After he blinked several more times, he found that things were becoming clearer, so after closing his eyes for several minutes he opened them again. He was frightened when he suddenly saw Robin squatting beside him, he took a few more moments to focus before a child-like smile swept across his face.
"I take it that means you can see again?" Robin asked, as Guy's smile suddenly swept across Robin's face, he couldn't help but rejoice,
"I never thought I would see the day when I would be happy to see you Robin." Guy said, quietly, slowly, and groggily,
"How do you feel?" Robin asked, disregarding what Guy had said deliberately to stir him,
"Like I haven't been breathing in enough air, my head feels like its swimming." Guy replied, as he weakly raised a hand and placed his thumb and pointer finger on his temples as his vision began to swim and blur.
"Wait." Guy suddenly said,
"What?" Robin asked,
"What happened to my leg...why can't I feel the pain anymore?" Guy asked, with a slur in his sentence,
"Tuck gave you some medicine earlier and it stops the pain...and I'm sorry." Robin apologized,
"For what...what did you do?" Guy asked,
"I'm sorry I ever doubted your loyalty...from now on I won't ever suspect you of ever being unloyal again." Robin explained,
"Thanks Robin that means a lot to me." Guy thanked, grateful that he was finally one of them...at last,
"Besides it was kind of a stupid conclusion wasn't it...I mean everyone knew that you would never side with her after what she did to you." Robin joked,
"Yeah but you fell for it didn't you...gullible." Guy said, mumbling the last word of his sentence,
"True but...well never mind you just work on getting better." Robin said, as he was about to rise and walk away, but Guy grabbed his arm loosely,
"Robin." Guy called after him, robin then squatted back beside Guy,
"Thanks for...accepting me...and saving me." Guy thanked,
"Don't mention it...now get some rest."
Robin walked out of the camp after that to tend to the horse that had saved his life, it was strange how that was, the horse belonged to Guy, but yet it had come to save him. Robin knew that Guy had changed he was a completely different person now, and that he was nothing like he used to be, he had forgiven him for Marian's death, and he thought that Guy had even forgiven himself.
Finally he was able to understand why Guy couldn't forgive himself, because there was another person underneath the stony outside that locked in the good. Robin no longer thought of Guy as an enemy, instead it was like he had been his brother all along and that they had never had a fight in their life. And he had felt so bad when he realized that Isabella had been messing with him all along and that he had wrongfully judged Guy.
Hey I hope you liked the chapter, feel free to tell me if you did indeed like it. And uploaded as promised.