Chapter 28
"Find him!" Marian heard the sheriff's muffled yell through her door, "He might still be in the castle!" She peeked out her door just in time to see Guy headed her way.
"Marian," he addressed her as a warning, "I thought I told you to stay in your room."
"I am," she said. "But I heard all the commotion and wanted to see what was going on."
"Outlaws in the castle." Guy told her.
"Outlaws?" She asked with feigned surprise.
"They took Allan."
"Did they?" She asked with a small smile. He stopped to look at her curiously for a moment and realized that she'd figured it out. "Then I suppose if I were to go to the stables right now that the horse for Allan would still be there."
"You will not go anywhere near the stables," Guy commanded before lowering his voice to a whisper, "and you will not speak of that again."
Guy realized that she brought up a good point though and that he should make a stop there himself to make sure that this really was an elaborate escape plan of Allan's and not truly a case of the Nightwatchman or Robin coming in to take him by force. If the horse was gone, then he knew Allan was safe. He was nearly in shock when Marian reached up to kiss him on the cheek, obliterating his thoughts about Allan for a moment.
"I'm proud of you, Guy." Marian whispered in his ear. "You did the right thing."
He looked down in awe at the woman he loved who was smiling back up at him and gave her a bashful smile in return. It felt nice to be appreciated for his heroic efforts, to know that he'd made her proud. If a kiss from Marian was the reward, he knew he would be willing to do this more often.
"I will see you tomorrow, Marian. I have to go with the sheriff now, but sleep well." He told her as he reluctantly tore himself away from her door. He wanted nothing more than to stay and bask in her presence, to see if she would let him kiss her in return, but he knew the sheriff was furious at this turn of events and his presence was required.
Guy trailed alongside the sheriff, listening to his ranting and raving, and humbly stood by in silence as several accusations were thrown at him that this was somehow all his fault for having a poorly thought out plan. Guy shuddered at the thought of how much trouble he would be in if the sheriff only realized that it was directly his fault and that his true plan was not only well thought out, but perfectly executed. He helped his friend escape an unjust execution and won the admiration of the woman he loved in the process, all while incurring no worse consequence than a verbal lashing from the sheriff, which is something he received almost daily anyway. All in all, it wasn't a bad day.
When the sheriff finally retired to his quarters after giving the guards orders to continue their search of the castle and the surrounding town, Guy made his way down to the stables alone. It struck him as bittersweet when he found the discarded cloak and missing horse, telltale signs that Allan had successfully made his escape. He was relieved to know Allan had made it out safely, but was surprised to find that he actually missed the man already and wished this entire series of events that led to him running away wouldn't have happened. He figured out pretty quickly that Allan must have dressed as the Nightwatchman as a ruse to trick the guards and likely had arrows similar to Robin's already or knew how to make them, as he could not think of any other reasonable explanation, though found it suspiciously convenient that he would have everything he needed for his plan to work and briefly wondered if he had had some assistance.
He considered the obvious explanation first: that Robin or the Nightwatchman really had been in the castle and maybe they had helped him escape. He pushed that thought away quickly, not wanting to make the mistake of mistrusting Allan two days in a row. If Marian believed in him and had faith in his loyalty, then he would too. Next he wondered if perhaps Allan had paid off one of the guards he was friends with to assist in the escape, possibly even the ones guarding him. That seemed a bit more probable to him, but still unlikely. Most of them would probably be unwilling to take the risk.
Guy realized that leaving the cloak in the stable would raise questions from the searching guards so he bent down to pick it up and noticed something odd as he got closer to it. I know that scent, I recognize it from somewhere...he realized as he lifted the cloak to his face to sniff the fabric. It was floral and sweet, certainly a woman's perfume...Marian.