*** More apologies are in order. We have had yet another loss in our family only two months after my own father, so things have been less than predictable around the house. I have been out in West Texas for the past month for family and funerals, so do excuse my absurdly long absence. There is no question on whether I will abandon Guy and his travels; you will know when it is finished (if ever)! I hope that you can look past the wait and be bought off by the chunk of chapters I will now be throwing out. Let's get the reviews going again! ***
To assume that either April or Guy got a moment's rest that night would be ridiculous. The shorter of the two had moped about with the anxious knowledge that she held zero power and no opportunity cards to play; the Sherriff's sick ploy was to become an uncontested reality. Gisborne had passed the time wishing he could simply slaughter his employer and cease the nightmares, once in a while fantasizing about taking his own life and granting himself peace, but mostly dwelled upon knowing that he did not have the courage for either task. The most feared man in Nottinghamshire was actually a coward.
"I have heard stories of a man," April suggested as she served her partner a shallow mug of mead, "A man that could help us. He can always achieve the impossible." She developed a distant gaze that glassed over with desperation.
"No." was all the sour Guy returned, his muscles tightening all around his face.
"Well, you don't even know what I was going to say."
"Robin Hood will not even look at you, do you understand?" A hardness swallowed him as Gisborne gripped the cup. His fingers held wood but he could feel them sliding closer and closer to the brink of a cliff and he could not regain control, he could not slow down, he could not prevent his inevitable fall.
"He helps good people." she muttered.
"He is an outlaw, and you have no business mentioning criminals. Outlaws are vermin and they are dangerous, do you understand me?" he clasped onto her wrist with restrained force that only melted with her nod of agreement. He may be spiraling downward, but he refused to enlist his enemy for safety, "Besides, there is no such thing as good people."
"So what do you think of me, then?" April scoffed in a joking manner. Guy's gloved hand waved her off with a meek smirk as they both knew she enjoyed giving him a difficult time. Off the back of this she divulged to her lover that she was clueless as to the next chapter of her life; it was well aware that if she opposed Vesey on this matter she would be killed, but how does one just walk away? He never lent her an answer, but instead fixed himself upon the glossy sunrise that was warming the countryside. Deep oranges that reflected the flesh of fruit swept across wispy clouds above the trees. Red clouds bubbled up the fringe of the hill as Guy's expression dropped. It was not steam nor was is wind, it was dust. Dust that was trampled deep into the earth and dragged back up in the curvature of dozens of hooves; it was the cavalry. They were coming to claim the orphanage.
Back in the rigid security of Nottingham castle, Marian should have felt comfortable. She had every amenity conceivable at her doorstep and Vesey had even loosened her leash by a great extent, yet she felt ill. At what cost did her own freedom come? The washing nausea in her belly would not let Lady Knighton forget that she was in fact responsible for the fate of every orphan at Kirkslee's Abbey. Marian winced her eyes shut and wished away her decaying heart; none of this was supposed to happen. In a fit of jealousy, she had sprinted to the Sherriff of the county and spilled out a furious testimony against Sir Guy. She is the one who informed Vesey of the new building Gisborne ordered for the orphanage. She told him to punish April. She wanted the girl who stole her love to pay, but not at the price of children's lives. In a land of fantasy Guy would lose sight of the church girl and come running back to Marian in desperation, his fling being short lived as April remained in prison for using Gisborne. Yet the Sherriff devised his own system.
Marian could not restrain hot tears that burned the wells of her eyes as she moved restlessly about her quarters. She had been very clear that April was using an official for her own means, but Vesey was much murkier on his plan. It was not until she overheard soldiers saddling up that the young brunette realized he intended on harming the kids to strike; she could only feel more guilt for overlooking this technique he so favored. Why hurt somebody with a flesh wound that can heal when you can tear out their emotions and scar them for years? Yet how could a sane person predict a revenge such as this? There was no way Marian could live another day with herself knowing how many kids would be nothing but bodies in her name. It was also obvious that Guy could never forgive her for this act. She pounded her palms against her temples and recklessly sobbed at the sunrise; she could never have the power to undo this. But maybe she knew someone who could… she had been distant from Robin as of late, but she had not revealed that her heart truly lied with her keeper in the castle. With a few smiles maybe he could save them. If Guy could be used so easily as a puppet, so could the archer of Sherwood. Lady Knighton pounded out a letter and strapped it to a pigeon, water stains marring the note, and released him to the woods, praying in silence that her world could be salvaged.