The cook and the kitchen girls were looking at the two men, in awe. They knew very well both Guy of Gisborne and Robin Hood: one was the dark henchman of Vaisey; the black knight who once ruined the life of one of them, Annie; the stern master who barked orders at them whenever the sheriff wanted something; the other was the brave outlaw who helped their families and always made fun of the sheriff. They feared one, and acclaimed the other, but they would never expect to see them working together in perfect harmony.
Robin had gathered them in the courtyard of the castle, and they wondered what he was going to say. They knew that they were in a dire situation and they were all scared, but they didn't know what they could do about it.
Robin and Guy were on the stairs, a few steps higher than the gathered crowd of servants, and Robin began to speak.
"I won't lie to you, the danger is great. If that army succeed in entering the castle, they won't have mercy on anyone, they will kill us all."
The women looked at each other, in fear, and they all began to speak at once.
"Please, listen to me!" Robin said, trying to get their attention again, but they didn't listen, too panicked to pay attention to him.
"Shut up everyone or the army will be the last of your worries!" Guy roared, and the women closed their mouths instantly, terrified. Gisborne turned to look at Robin with a complacent smile and made a gesture with his hand as to say that he could go on speaking.
Robin nodded at him, and he turned back to the crowd of women.
"As I said, the danger is great, but we won't give up. We can fight back, defend ourselves, and we will. To do this we will need your help."
"What help could we give you?" The cook asked. "We are just women. Servants."
"It doesn't matter. Guy?" Robin looked at Gisborne, and the knight nodded back. "Please, listen to Gisborne, he will explain how you can help."
Another murmur spread through the crowd, but they didn't dare to express their doubts in a louder voice.
Gisborne cleared his voice, and he began to speak, uncertain at first, but becoming more sure at every word he uttered.
"It's true: you are women," he said, looking at them, "but the bravest person I know is also a woman. Maybe you think that you can't do anything to help us protecting the castle, but it isn't true: your help will be significant, it could make the difference and save all of our lives."
A young kitchen girl gathered all her courage to reply.
"Sir Guy? What could we do? We don't know how to use a sword or a bow..."
"Can you cook? Are you capable of boiling water?"
"Yes, but..."
Guy pointed a finger at her.
"That's what we need. You will take all the big pots that you have, and you will bring them on the walls, along with all the necessary to make a fire. You'll boil water, and oil, and you'll take care that they keep boiling. Then, if the enemy soldiers try to enter the castle, you will pour them on their heads."
The women looked at him, surprised, then they began to nod, to approve his idea, glad that there was something that they could do.
"Much will show you where to set the fires and how to pour the boiling liquid on the enemies," Robin said.
"What about our children? We can't leave them alone!" One of the women asked, her eyes full of tears.
"And I have an elderly father, he doesn't have the strength to fight..."
"We'll hide them in the cellars," Guy said, after thinking for a moment, "The walls are strong, and the doors are made of solid wood, if they barricade them from the inside, pushing barrels and bags of grain against them, it would be difficult for the soldiers to open them. The elderly ones can look after the children."
Robin agreed.
"Do it. And make sure that they have water and food so they can survive for some days, if necessary. As soon as they are safe, set the fires and begin boiling water and oil."

Allan woke up with Marian shaking him.
"Oy! What's up?" He asked, sleepily.
"Allan, wake up! Where is Guy?!"
He sat up in the bed, looking around and yawning.
"Isn't he here?"
"If he were, I wouldn't be asking you!"
Allan looked at her.
"Why should I know? I was sleeping. Maybe he needed the privy."
"That's what I thought when I woke up and I didn't see him, but he didn't come back. And he took his sword! Why should he take his sword to use the privy?"
Allan shrugged.
"In a inn like this one, I'd take the sword to go anywhere."
"However he's been away for too long, get up and let's go searching for him."
Allan nodded, and he hurried to get ready. He was beginning to worry a little, because it was strange that Gisborne got up without waking him too. At the castle there was no way to keep sleeping if Guy was awake.
They went downstairs, and Marian hurried straight for the stables.
"His horse is not here!" She exclaimed, and Allan rushed to reach her, now really worried.
They went back inside the inn, and the host gave a piece of parchment to Marian.
"Your friend paid for your room, and he left this for you."
The girls grabbed the message from the man's hands, and she hurried to open it.
Allan got closer, trying to look over her shoulder.
"What does it say?"
Marian's face became pale.
"He's gone back to Nottingham to help Robin..."
"What?! Is he mad?!"
The girl crumpled up the parchment in her hand, as if she wanted to make it disappear.
"We must run after him!"
Allan turned to the host.
"When did he leave?"
"In the middle of the night. Silly thing to do, if I have to be honest, but who am I to judge my customers?"
Allan turned to look at Marian, serious for once.
"Marian, I don't think that we can reach him in time. He'll be already in Nottingham by now."
The girl shook her head.
"We can let him go there. He'll die!"
Allan grabbed her arms, and looked at her.
"He will die if we try to follow him. If we want to save him, the only thing we can do is to go to talk to Prince John and persuade him to stop the attack to Nottingham. Giz and Robin together will fight with all their energies, and they will try to hold the town for as long as they can. If we hurry, we might make it in time."
Marian nodded, wanting to believe him. She felt almost stunned, and she couldn't believe that Guy had left her to go to risk his life to help Robin.
I was right, he's a good man… But now I wish he wasn't!
She shuddered, feeling cold as if they were in the middle of winter, and she thought that she just wanted to sit in a corner, alone, and cry all her tears, to weep until she would fall asleep, but she couldn't.
If there was even a single hope to save Guy and Robin, they had to try, they had to run to London and get Prince John's approval to save Nottingham.
Marian looked at the crumpled parchment and straightened it, thinking that maybe those were the last words that Guy would ever address to her. She couldn't accept it and she wondered why it was so much harder to think that Guy could die than it had been to leave Robin to defend the city, just a few hours ago.
Do I love him?
Marian didn't dare to answer to her own question, and she cowardly said to herself, that now she had no time to search for an answer, they couldn't afford to lose time.
She looked at the parchment for a last time, then she folded it and she put her under her jacket, close to her heart.
"Allan! Saddle the horses! We have to go!"

Robin sat near one of the fires that had been prepared on the walls of the castle, to rest for a moment. Gisborne was there too, sitting on the floor, with his back leaning on the wall and his eyes closed. Neither of them had slept during the night, and they had spent the day improving the defenses of the castles, and keeping the army at bay, whenever the soldiers tried to attack the castle and to get closer to the gates.
For now, the soldiers were working hard to replace the destroyed battering rams, and they just tried a few sporadic attacks, just to force them to stay always on guard.
All the able men were on the walls, using bows to aim at the soldiers, while some of the women and the older kids who didn't hide in the cellars with the younger children searched and collected the enemy's arrows, bringing them to the archers. The more skilled ones worked to make new arrows, carving wood and melting metal objects to create arrowheads.
Robin held his hands to the fire, taking in its warmth. The weather wasn't cold, but he was exhausted, and he didn't remember the last time he had eaten something.
He glanced at Guy, and he guessed that it was the same for him too.
"You're a fool, but I'm glad that you are here," he said in a low voice, thinking that Gisborne was asleep, but the knight stirred and opened his eyes.
"I thought we had already agreed that we are both fools," he mumbled, and Robin grinned.
"We are, we are, no doubts about it."
"They have been cutting trees all days. Soon they will be able to replace the battering rams. Do you think that we could try another sortie?"
Robin shook his head.
"No, I don't think so. You took them by surprise, but now they'll be alert, they would kill us before we can get near their camp."
Guy sighed.
"I thought so. The time to fight is coming, then."
"Yes, my friend."
They were silent for a moment.
"I would have never expected to die at your side, Hood," Guy said, with a low laughter. "The sheriff would say that I deserved it for being a sentimental idiot."
"The sheriff is dead, we are still alive. Maybe we are two sentimental idiots, but for now we still have an advantage over him."
"Master!" Much arrived, carrying a blanket and a basket. "You should rest for a while until you can. Keep your strength." The outlaw hesitated, giving an uneasy glance at Guy. "You too, Gisborne."
Robin took the basket from his hands, grabbed a loaf of bread, breaking it in two and giving half of it to Guy, then he shared the rest of the food, some cold meat and a few pieces of cheese, with him.
"Thank you, Much. We both needed it," Robin said, with a grateful smile, and Guy gruffly mumbled his thanks too.
"Eat and try to sleep, I'll keep watch, and I'll wake you up if they try anything," Much said, nervous and afraid, but trying to be brave.
Sir Edward's ghost looked at Robin and Guy too.
"Much is right, Robin. I can see how tired you are. Sleep and get some rest, I will keep watch too."
"Very well, we know that we can trust you," Robin said, answering to both Much and Sir Edward.
Satisfied to see that Robin had appreciated his help, Much went away, and Sir Edward vanished too.
"This might be our last meal," Guy said, and Robin rolled his eyes.
"Always the optimistic one, aren't you? Well, if you are right, we might as well enjoy it."
Guy nodded with a grin, and they ate, savouring that simple food as if it had been a nuptial banquet.
Ironically, Guy thought, that could have been his nuptial banquet.
At least, if he was going to die, he'd have the consolation of having married Marian, the love of his life, even if his dreams had turned to be so different from reality.
I stole that from them, at least. He thought, proudly, then he glanced at Robin and he felt saddened for him. I stole that from him, too.
Robin drank some wine from the flask, and he passed it to Guy, then he grabbed the blanket.
"I'm afraid we had to share this too."
Guy shrugged.
"Not a problem for me. I slept in worse conditions when I was traveling with Isabella."
Robin nodded, he had seen the memories of those terrible years in Guy's mind.
"Why did you never make contact with her after her wedding?"
"I wrote her in the beginning, but she never answered. I thought that she was still angry at me for marrying her off. I should have insisted, maybe I should have gone to Shrewsbury to see her, but then, working for Vaisey, it was better not to have a family."
Robin stretched on the floor, next to him, and he pulled the blanket over both of them.
"You should search for her."
"If we survive, I will."
"We have another reason to survive, then. I'm curious to see how little Isabella grew up. She was a nice child. Nicer than you at least."
Guy chuckled.
"Very funny Hood. Now shut up, I want to sleep."

"They're coming! They're coming! Master! Gisborne! They're coming!"
Guy woke up at the sound of Much's voice, and he found himself crushed by Robin's weight. The outlaw had rolled on his side, and he was hugging him in his sleep, snoring loudly.
Gisborne pushed him aside, shaking him to wake him up.
"Hood! Hood! Your friend is calling us! They're coming!"
They both got up in a moment, and they ran to the edge of the walls to look at the attackers: the soldier were carrying the new battering ram near the gate.
"So this is it," Guy said, looking at the soldiers with horrified fascination, "I had hoped that it would take longer to replace the battering rams..."
"We have to hold them back for as long as possible. The more we resist, more chances the children in the cellars have to survive."
Guy nodded and he took a bow. Robin looked at the weapon, lifting an eyebrow.
"That is one of ours..."
"We confiscated them from one of the inhabitants of Locksley last year. The sheriff wanted to torture him for making weapons for you, but you set him free. We kept the bows, however: they are good weapons."
Guy aimed to one of the soldiers who were pushing the battering ram, and his arrow hit him in a leg, while Robin shot another man. The other soldiers hurried to retreat, to get out of shooting range.
Robin let out a surprised whistle.
"Nice shot!" He said, impressed, looking at Guy. "Once you were terrible."
"I was terrible until a few days ago. I'm making good use of your memories. I could still improve a lot by training, but your experience helped."
Robin laughed, amused.
"Well, Gisborne, I thought that you were too proud to take archery lessons from me."
Guy shrugged.
"I found out that pride is often overrated."
Robin gave a friendly pat on his shoulder.
"Well, now I'm surely glad of it. Let's keep them away from the gates."

The soldier came back, using shields as a cover, and eventually they managed to slam the battering ram against the gate, while other soldiers, armed with bows, shot at the walls, trying to hit Robin, Guy, and the other archers of the castle.
"We can't keep the walls," Robin said, ducking to avoid an arrow. "Much! Take the archers in front of the gates and form some rows! Women, now it's the moment to use the oil! When your pots are empty, take cover inside the castle! Gisborne, with me!"
Robin ran down the stairs, and Guy followed him.
"Do you have a plan?" Guy asked, hoping that Robin had one of his crazy ideas.
"Not really. We'll be a backup for Much and the archers. They are untrained, they can shot their arrows in the group of enemies and hope to hit somebody, but you and I can put each of our arrows to a good use. We'll keep our position for as long as we can, and then we'll retreat inside the castle too, putting barricades on their way. We can't stop them, but we must slow them down."
Guy nodded, and he took his position, holding his bow. He didn't have many arrows left in his quiver, but he was determined not to waste any of them.
The battering ram hit the door again, and Guy looked at it, scared. The gate held, but it wouldn't last much.
I am going to die, he thought, terrified, and for a moment he regretted coming back. He could have been with Marian, safe and far away from Nottingham. From his position, Robin nodded at him, to signal him to be ready, and Guy recovered his courage. The peasants, lined up in front of the gates, looked at him, Robin, and Much, waiting for their orders.
Robin trusts me. Those people rely on us, they put their lives in our hands, and they follow us.
They were surely scared, they had no training at all, but still they were ready to fight for their lives and their families.
The women poured the last of their boiling liquids on the attackers, and then they ran to take cover inside the castle. One of the girls cried, hit by an arrow, and she fell from the walls, landing on the courtyard, were she lied dead.
Everyone looked at her, in horror, and the men began to lose heart. They realized that they could easily die too, and some of them began to look at the entrance of the castle, pondering if they could make it inside, to take refuge with the women, or even with the children in the cellars.
Robin realized that in a few moments they could panic and run away, and he stepped in front of the gates, to reach the body of the dead woman.
The gates trembled again under the battering ram, menacing to give way, but Robin ignored the danger. He respectfully lifted the dead woman in his arms.
"This woman gave her own life to defend Nottingham! She was just one of the humblest maids of the castle, but she died like a hero. Her efforts, and the efforts of the other women, stopped many enemies, the risks they faced helped to delay the enemy and protect our town! Our families! Pay respect to her and don't let her sacrifice to be vain!"
The men hesitated at Robin's words, uncertain if they should run or if they should stay and fight.
Guy left his position to reach Robin in front of the gates, he unsheathed his sword, and he knelt in front of him and of the dead woman, facing the archers too.
"My sword is at your service. I have done wrong in the past, but now I am ready to give my life to protect this town. Will you follow me?" Guy looked at Robin, and stood up. "Will you follow us?!"
"I will!" Much cried, holding his bow, and soon the others joined their voices to his, finding their courage again.
Guy helped Robin to carry the dead woman aside, resting her body in a protected corner of the courtyard, then Gisborne covered her with his cloak, respectfully, before going back to his position.
The battering ram hit the gate for one last time, and the wooden door shattered. A moment later the soldiers began swarming into the courtyard.
"For Nottingham!" Guy cried, then he pulled the rope of his bow, and released an arrow, hitting a man. Robin did the same from the other side of the courtyard and a moment later even the first line of the peasants shot their arrows and moved from their position to allow the second line to shoot again. The men lined up again in the back of the formation, and got ready to shoot another arrow.
Many of the soldiers fell, but there were many other ready to take their place, and soon the archers began to run short of arrows.
Robin gave the order to retreat, and the men ran into the castle while he and Guy covered their back.
They had few arrows left too, and Robin shot the last one, unsheathing his sword and glancing back to see if the men were all safe. A moment later Guy joined him, and they fought together to stave off the attacking soldiers.
A man attacked Robin from behind, and he would have killed him, but Guy pushed Robin away, parrying the blow with his sword. The blade of the enemy broke against Guy's sword, and a piece of metal hit Guy on the forehead, cutting his skin and making him bleed.
The sudden pain made him stagger, and the blood blinded him, but Robin grabbed his arm, pulling him away from the path of another blow.
"Run!" Robin cried, leading him towards the castle, and Guy followed him, stumbling, still unable to see. The door closed a moment after they entered the castle, and the men hurried to pile furniture and barrels in front of it, to bar it from the inside.
Robin pulled Guy aside, worried.
"You're wounded!"
"It's nothing, just a scratch. But I have blood in my eyes."
Robin untied the scarf he had around his neck, and he used it to clean the blood from Guy's face, then he pressed it on the wound, to staunch the flow.
"Better?
Guy nodded.
"Yes, thank you."
"You are right, it's not deep, but it bleeds a lot. Maybe you'll need stitches." Robin continued, moving the wad from the wound to look at it, and then pressing it again.
"Told you, it's nothing." Guy said, smirking.
"You saved my life."
"And you saved mine just a moment later. So?"
Robin grinned.
"So are we even again, my friend?"
"Of course we are. And I guess that we'll die at the same moment too. Very soon, I'm afraid," Guy said, as they heard Prince John's soldiers slamming the battering ram against the door of the castle.
Robin looked at the door: it had been strong, made of solid wood, but now the wood was old and frail after years of negligence, and it surely wouldn't last long.
"I fear that you're right again, Gisborne. I hate when you do."
Another slam.
The door cracked, but still held. Robin and Guy knew that the next blow of the battering ram would probably be the last one.
Guy tightened his hold on the sword, and glanced at Robin.
"So this is the end..."
"For you and me both, my friend."
"At least she's alive, and safe."
Robin nodded.
"Let's protect this people till the end, Guy. We will die knowing that we did everything we could."
"I'm proud to die at your side, Hood."
"See? Me too, we're even once again."
They waited, ready to fight, but the battering ram didn't hit again.
After a while, Guy and Robin shared a questioning look, not daring to break the silence, and they both winced when Sir Edward's ghost appeared in front of them.
"What's happening?!" Robin asked. "Why aren't they coming?"
"They are withdrawing!" The ghost answered. "They are going away!"
"Why?" Guy asked, afraid to get his hopes up.
The ghost flickered for a moment, and he came back, smiling.
"There's another army! And Marian and Allan are with them!"
"Maybe they got an agreement with Prince John!" Guy said, but Robin wasn't sure of it.
"It's too early. If he was traveling south, they couldn't have reached him so soon. Come, Gisborne, let's go and see what's going on. Much, stay with the men."
"It might be a trap, Master! I'm coming with you!"
"No. If it's a trap and something happens to us, you must lead the men and keep defending the castle."
Robin opened the door, and he and Guy sneaked out of the castle, climbing the stairs that lead on the walls to look down. Prince John's army was really going away, and a smaller group of soldiers was heading towards the town.
Robin looked at those soldiers, dumbfounded, and Guy gave an uneasy glance at him.
"What's up, Hood? Who are those men?"
"Look at their flags! That's King Richard's coat of arms! The King came back to England!"
Robin smiled: finally the King was back, and he would bring justice with him!
The outlaw hurried to go back to the courtyard to wait for his arrival, and Guy followed him, in silence. Robin turned to look at the knight, and noticed that Guy was very pale.
He realized that he had to be worried of being accused as a traitor, and he hurried to reassure him.
"Don't worry, the Sheriff was the only one who knew about the Holy Land, and he's dead. I'm not going to tell, I swear. Your secret is safe."
Guy nodded weakly.
"Thank you," he said, swaying a little, and Robin hurried to support him.
"Guy?"
"I feel faint."
"Too many emotions, I guess, and the loss of blood. Rest for a while, and you'll feel better."
Robin helped him to lie down on the floor of the courtyard, cradling his head, and pushing once again a wad on the bleeding wound on his forehead.
"Here. Be quiet now, recover your energies."
Guy smiled at him, tired. Now that all the tension of the impending fight had dissolved, he felt exhausted.
"Go on, Hood. Go and meet your King, you've waited him for so long… I'll be fine."
Robin shook his head and patted his chest with his free hand, affectionately.
"The King can wait."