Robin and Isabella were sitting on the floor, near the fireplace, playing a game of riddles, while Guy paced the room, up and down.
Robin looked at him, a little annoyed.
"Will you ever stop?"
"Guy, come here and play with us," Isabella said in a sweeter tone, looking fondly at her brother.
Guy dropped on the floor near them, and sighed.
"How can you play?" He asked, dejectedly.
They all kept silent, hearing a scream of pain coming from upstairs. Guy buried his face in his hands, trembling.
Isabella got closer to him, put an arm around his waist, and leaned her head on his shoulder.
"She will be alright," she said, but her voice trembled too.
Robin looked at them: he was worried too, but for them it was different, it was their mother who was risking her life in childbirth. He knew how it felt to grow up without a mother and he sincerely prayed for Ghislaine to give birth soon and to be well.
Robin liked Guy's mother, she was a sweet and wise woman, and she gave her love to him too, but she had never asked him to call her 'mother' or tried to take the place of his real mother.
Sir Malcolm arrived from outside: he had been away from the manor when Ghislaine's labor started. The man was worried and pale, and Robin understood that his father was really in love with her, as much as he had been with his mother.
He felt a sudden jealousy, a secret wish that his father had never met Ghislaine, and he immediately felt guilty for those feelings. How could he have those thoughts when she was suffering so much?
Unexpectedly, he felt like crying. He was scared and he didn't want to see Guy and Isabella being so fearful and worried.
"Father..." Robin whispered, trying to hold back the tears.
Sir Malcolm crouched on the floor, near the three children, and he put a hand on Guy's shoulder, caressing Robin's and Isabella's heads with the other.
"I called the best midwife of the County, she will be fine."
"It's too early," Guy said, worried.
"Just two weeks," Malcolm replied, trying to sound sure. In fact, he was frightened, even more than the children, but he was trying to reassure them.
He had never said to Robin that his mother had died trying to give birth to his brother: when it had happened, Robin was too young to understand, and, later, Malcolm didn't say anything on that subject to avoid awakening that sorrow again.
"Did you have something to eat?" Malcolm asked, and the children shook their heads. "Come, then."
They sat at the table, and Malcolm called Thornton, ordering him to bring some food. The servant came back after a while with cheese, bread, cold meat and some fruit.
Robin and Isabella immediately began to eat, while both Guy and Sir Malcolm just put some food in their dishes, but they couldn't find the appetite to taste it.
The man wished that he could find the right words to reassure the boy, but at fourteen years old, Guy was too old to believe that everything would go well just because an adult said so. Giving birth was always a risk, and they were both well aware of that.
Suddenly, a different kind of scream came from upstairs: the cry of a baby!
"He's born!" Guy whispered.
"Why do you say 'he'? It could be a girl!" Isabella complained. "I already have two brothers, I'd prefer a baby sister."
"I don't care if it's a boy or a girl, as long as maman and the baby are both well," Guy answered.
A moment later, one of the maid came downstairs smiling.
"My lord, Lady Ghislaine gave birth to a healthy boy," she said to Malcolm, with a little bow, "just give us some time to tidy up the room, and then you can come to see mother and child."
Robin yawned and sat at the table, picking a slice of bread.
"Does he have to cry so much? He keeps waking us up!"
Ghislaine smiled at him.
"Archer is just one month old, when they are so little, babies cry a lot," she explained. "It's their only way to tell us that they need something."
"Isabella needed a lot of things when she was little, then," Guy commented, "she was always crying, much more than Archer."
His sister stuck her tongue at him, and Robin grinned.
"When he'll be older, I'll teach him how to use a bow. I bet that in a couple of years he'll became a better shot than Guy."
"Very funny," Guy growled.
"Guy will teach him how to ride and how to use a sword," Sir Malcolm intervened. "By the way, Robin, you should train more with the sword too."
"But I prefer using the bow!"
"You talk like that because you know that I can beat you with a sword," Guy said, with a smirk.
"And you will never shoot better than me."
Isabella rolled her eyes, uninterested, but Ghislaine looked at the two boys, with serious eyes.
"Someday you'll both become knights and I'm sure that you will be brave and strong, but there is something that you must never forget. Now you enjoy challenging each other with the sword or with a bow, but always remember where your heart is. Maybe one of you can be better than the other in a certain skill, you can compete to be the best and improve yourselves, but never let this create jealousy or hatred between you. I hope that you will love each other like true brothers, and that you will use your abilities to protect your family."
Archer began to cry, and Ghislaine took him from his cradle to lull him to sleep.
"Maman, can I hold him?" Guy asked, and Ghislaine put the baby in his arms. Archer calmed down almost immediately, and Guy smiled at him, then he glanced at Isabella.
"I remember when you were so little⦠But you weren't so quiet."
Robin moved his chair closer to Guy, to look at the baby too. He was always surprised to see how easily Guy could deal with Archer: he knew how to hold him, what to do to soothe his cries, while Robin was always afraid to hurt or to frighten him.
Later that day, Robin was playing with Guy in the forest, and they were training with the bow.
Guy's arrow went close to the target, and for once, Robin aimed his arrow so that his shot wasn't much better than Guy's one.
"You don't have to let me win, you know?" Guy said, frowning, and Robin shrugged with a cheeky smile.
"Sorry. But you actually improved."
Guy sighed, with a little smile.
"Well, I know that I'll never be a good shot like you."
"You have other talents. By the way, how can you be so good with Archer?"
"What do you mean?"
"You always know what to do with him, how to lull him, you understand if he's hungry or wet..."
Guy nocked an arrow, pulled the rope of the bow, then he shot, getting a little closer to the target, this time.
"That's because I remember what maman did with Isabella when she was little. I was little too, but I remember her at Archer's age."
"I never had brothers or sisters..." Robin said, with a sigh.
"Well, you have one now, you'll learn."
Robin looked at Guy for a moment, then he shook his head.
"No, I don't have a brother. I have two brothers and a sister."
Guy smiled at him.
"Just like me."
