Actions

Work Header

Rating:
Archive Warnings:
Categories:
Fandom:
Relationships:
Characters:
Additional Tags:
Language:
English
Stats:
Published:
2017-01-21
Updated:
2021-07-26
Words:
267,715
Chapters:
80/?
Comments:
243
Kudos:
378
Bookmarks:
18
Hits:
11,884

The Nightwatchman Doesn't Kill

Chapter 40: The King is Coming

Chapter Text

Guy aimed at the target, and released an arrow, hitting the outer circle.
“It’s no use.” He sighed. “I’m not even near the center.”
“At least you hit it, mate. It’s not that bad,” Allan said, nonchalantly.
“It is bad, if I’m in front of an enemy.”
“You are not, now. And you are improving. A week ago you missed the target and you hit one of the chickens!”
Guy glared at him.
“Don’t remember that to me. The cook was really annoyed!”
“Oh, she’s already over that. I’d say that she has a soft spot for you.”
Gisborne remembered that the cook was one of the servants who hated him more fiercely in the beginning, and he smiled. After the expedition near York, the woman had changed her behavior and now she was always kind to him.
“I think that one of the man on the wagons was one of her family. She is grateful that we saved him.”
“And so you get the better bites, now. And forgiveness when you accidentally kill chickens. It was good, by the way, perfectly cooked.”
Guy scoffed, and took another arrow, but before he could shoot, Allan pointed at the road.
“Hey, Giz, somebody is coming.”
“It’s Lambert,” Guy said, glad to see his friend, and gave a warning glance at Allan. “Don’t teach him other tricks.”
“We had a fun time in the tavern, didn’t we?”
“Maybe, until they kicked you out. I’m happy that you got along well, but Lambert is a decent man, he isn’t used to tavern brawls.”
“Are you saying that I am not a decent man?!”
Guy smirked.
“Are you?”
Allan laughed.
“Alright, Giz, but you like me even for this, admit it.”
Lambert reached them, and dismounted.
“Hello Guy, were you training? Hi, Allan.”
Gisborne put down the bow.
“I was trying.”
“Let me see that bow.”
Guy handed it to him, and Lambert examined it.
“Interesting shape, it’s small, but powerful.”
“It was one of Robin Hood’s spares,” Allan said, “it’s a copy of a saracen bow.”
“But it’s made with the wrong kind of wood. And the rope could be improved too. If you want, I have some pieces of a special wood left from the project that the Sheriff of York commissioned to me, I could make a better one for you, I just need to take some measurements. I’m an alchemist, but I know the features of the different kinds of wood, and I know how to use them.”
“Thank you, even if I’m afraid that you can improve the bow, but not the archer.”
Lambert smiled.
“That’s up to you, Guy, keep practicing.”
“I’ll try, but I’ve had enough of it for today. Come inside, we could eat something.”
“Gladly, thank you.”
The three men went back to the manor, and James ordered one of the servants to get food and wine for Sir Guy’s guest.
Guy sat at the table, glad to rest his leg after standing for such a long time, and looked at Lambert.
“So, what are you doing now? Did you get another job in Nottingham?”
“Not yet. It’s not so easy if I have to avoid working for the Sheriff, but probably I’ll get more chances in a fortnight.”
Guy looked at him.
“Why? What’s happening in a fortnight?”
“I thought you already knew. I heard that they were going to send a notice to all the nobles of the county.”
“I haven’t seen any messenger. Allan?”
“I don’t know anything, either.”
“Maybe they still have to come here, but I’m sure they will. I’ve heard that the king is coming in Nottingham, and all the nobles will have to attend when the Sheriff welcomes him at the castle.”
Guy stared at him, in shock.
“The king… No it’s impossible, the king is in the Holy Land...”
“It seems he’s back. The man who told me works at the castle, and he heard it from the Sheriff himself.”
Guy was glad that he was already sitting, because he felt like he was going to faint.
The king was coming back, he thought, terrified. If King Richard found out about his attempt to kill him, he would put him to death for sure. His crime, that seemed so far in the past, almost a vague memory from another life, now was a real menace, impending on him.
Lambert put a hand on his shoulder.
“Congratulations, Guy!”
Gisborne looked at him, trying to understand what he meant.
“What for?”
“What for?! You’re getting married, now! You told me that! You said that Lady Marian had agreed to marry you when the king came back in England!”
“Really, Giz? No wonder that you look so nervous, then. You’re about to loose your freedom.”
Lambert emptied his cup of wine, and stood up.
“Well, I guess that you’ll be busy, now. You’ll have to tell her, and then organize the wedding. I’d better go, but I hope you’ll invite me.”
Guy thought that probably Lambert would have to come to his funeral, but he nodded.
“Sure.”
“Goodbye, then. Allan, ride with me for a while, I bet that he doesn’t want us around while he tells the good news to lady Marian.”
Allan gave a doubtful look at Guy: he didn’t look so happy, actually he had became very pale, but he guessed that he was nervous at the idea of getting married. He, for sure, would.
The two men went away, and James walked back in the hall.
“Do you want me to serve your meal, Sir Guy?”
“No, I’m not hungry, thank you James.”
“Are you feeling well, Sir Guy?”
He wasn’t. For a moment he was afraid that he was going to disgrace himself being sick in front of the old servant, and he stood still, trying to breathe slowly until that wave of nausea passed.
“Do you want me to send for Matilda, Sir Guy?”
“No, it’s nothing. I just need to lie down for a while. I’ll go to my room, please don’t disturb me.”
As soon as he was alone, Guy sat on his bed and covered his face with his hands, in despair. He was afraid that it was the moment to pay for his crimes, and he was scared to death.
Marian found him in the same position, when she entered his room, a while later.
“Guy? Can I come in?”
“Marian?” He whispered, and the girl rushed to his bed, worried.
“Are you ill, Guy? James said that you weren’t feeling well. Is it your leg? Does it hurt so much?”
She sat next to him and she took his hands, moving them away to look at his face. “Oh, you’re so pale! Do you have a fever?”
She touched his forehead, but his skin was cold.
“I wish I did,” Guy, said, and Marian looked at him, worried.
“What’s up, Guy? Tell me!”
“I wish I could just be ill. The truth is that I’m doomed. The king is coming back to England.”
Marian was astonished, this was not what she expected to happen.
“Oh my!” She said, “This is wonderful!” But then, a moment later, she realized, “’Tis soon… so soon… I'm not ready.”
She watched Guy's pained, pale face.
She thought that maybe he was afraid she would leave him, now. Their engagement… this was really too soon. She didn't want to make a choice so important right now.
“Guy… I know what I promised to you, but please just wait, give me time, we are improving so well. I just need more time,” she said.
“Oh Marian,” Guy replied, touching her cheek tenderly with his hand, his eyes sad, “You will have all the time in the world, without me.”
“What do you mean? Guy?”
“The King is coming, he will see me dead. He will judge my doings and execute me, oh Marian...”
Marian understood Guy's reference to his past attempt to kill the King.
“Hush!” She said “Listen to me, Guy, listen to me. That night in the desert, did the King saw you? Could he recognize you?"
Guy lowered his voice. “No, I don't think so. I was masked, my features covered by a veil.”
“Good!” She said, “Now, Guy what you tried to do was terrible. Did you really repent your wrongdoings?” She asked, with a serious tone.
Guy breathed slowly, a little more of color on his cheeks. “Yes, I swear to you, I wish I never did what I did, that night, and a lot a other things under Vaisey's orders. I did horrible things, you're right. I see them in my dreams every night. And I will go to hell when I die. I am sure of it, so sure of it. I richly deserve to rot in hell but... I'm afraid to die, so afraid. Yes I repented.”
“I don't want you to think of hell: you're here, you're alive, you're with me. I don't want you to talk about hell. Am I clear?” Marian said, a little angry. Then she came closer to his ear and breathed inside of it. “I know you're changed, I'm sure of it, that's what I wanted to hear.”
She took a step back, looking into his blue stare, her face really serious now.
“Nobody knows about it, Guy. It's our secret. Our secret. I swear to you, I'll never tell anybody. You're fearing the King's return. I don't want to hear another word from you on this subject, or… I will be angry at you. Will you protect my secret Guy?” She asked.
“Yes, of course I will,” Guy replied, his voice more sure, regaining a sitting position.
“Then I will protect your secret. This is not changed,” Marian replied.
Guy got up, and looked into the girl's eyes. His lovely Marian. She seemed so sure of having everything under control, and for a moment Guy thought, prayed it was true. He wanted to believe that he wasn’t about to die.
“But the sheriff could expose me,” he said.
Marian's expression became stern.
“He ordered it, he sent you there. Your fall is his fall. I'd make sure the King knows it, in case. But he will not say anything to the King. He will exile Vaisey in some Godforsaken place, just for the way he administered Nottingham. We will be free, free. Don't you see, Guy? The King's return is a blessing, and thank God now you are not at Vaisey’s service. We will protect you, stand for you. And I will help you to escape, if the situation should prove to be dangerous for you.”
“My lovely, my brave Marian,” he said, “I hope you're not deluding yourself, for my sake. Thank you. Now it's better if we leave this room. I don't want your people to think I'm not acting properly to you, alone, together in my room for so long.”
He looked for a moment more to Marian's so loved eyes. He felt relived, but his eyes were still sad, not completely believing that he would be spared from the King's vengeance. Marian looked into his eyes, and suddenly she grabbed his shirt, and dragged him to her, crushing her lips on his, passionately.
He was surprised, and overwhelmed, but he grabbed the girl's waist, pressing her body against his, and replied to Marian's kiss with the same passion. His eyes closed, their breathing mingled together as their lips, he felt her hand caressing his cheek, and then caressing his hair, grabbing his hair, his head tenderly.
Please don't stop, Marian, please don't stop. I want you so much, he thought. Then his lips left hers to discover Marian sweet skin on her neck, and felt her tremble, but she still let him kiss her. She didn’t leave his embrace.
He didn't want to scare her, and kissed her neck tenderly, reverently, savoring her scent, her taste, the feeling of her skin, every sensation. Then he left her neck and looked into her eyes, with a tender expression on his face.
“This is perfect, this is the most amazing thing that has ever happened to me.”
Her face was still flushed, and she looked a little worried.
“I should go, Guy. I really should go now,” she said, and passed him going through the open door.
Guy found her hand, and gently turned her to him.
“I love you , Marian. Whatever my destiny will be. I will always love you.”
Marian found her eyes suddenly wet.
“Thank you, Guy.”
He left her hand, and she left his room.

Vaisey touched the map with his hand, sliding his fingers down the rivers, then along the ridges of the hills. A perfect reproduction of England was under his fingers. He almost seemed to be able to own it all by simply touching it, caressing it. But soon part of the Nottingham County would be his.
And not just to administer it. He had convinced Prince John to let him proceed with his new plan. With a dual purpose: to eliminate the possible obstacles, the Council members still loyal to the King, and to acquire their territories in his, personal, hands.
Both of them would earn from it: the future King would have had less obstacles to the throne and a steady and secure tax flow. He, Vaisey, would begin to accumulate the lands he needed to sit at the table of power and to be able to aspire to larger, more important counties.
Actually in those months, in those years, he had long worked in complete secret to bribe, threaten, convert a good deal of Nottingham County nobles.
Vaisey had acted quietly, all by himself, alone.
No one knew, not even his old master of arms.
Many noblemen, over time, were convinced of the need to join a sort of alliance with Vaisey, if they didn’t want to risk losing their privileges or... life itself.
They were ready to join the stronger party, and swear allegiance to the new King, in case, but they wouldn’t say it in public until King Richard continued to be King.
Others had rejected his proposals, more or less disdainfully, or shaking as leaves. In any case, his plan provided for the elimination of all his opponents, those declared and those hidden, in a single stroke.
Alexander entered in the room in that moment.
“Oh, Shrewsbury, here you are,” Vaisey said. “I don’t pay you to let you to spend your time hanging out in the English countryside. What news?”
“You wanted blackmail items to use against Gisborne, my Lord,” Alexander replied.
“Did I want them? Oh yes, I did. But right now I have bigger plans than destroying that poor cripple and the leper. Well, what are these important elements to make you stay away from Nottingham when I need your presence here?” Vaisey asked in a poisonous tone.
“A sister. his sister. I found her.” Alexander said.
“His sister. Is she alive ? Is she not dead? What do I do with Gisborne's sister now? He sold her when she was a little girl, why should be interested in her, now, after so many years?”
“Gisborne has a ridiculous tender heart, you've said it several times,” Alexander suggested, “The leper is the most obvious demonstration of this. We need the sister to blackmail him, to subjugate, control him, if that's what you want from him now.”
“Not in the immediate. I have better plans. Have you captured her? Where is she?” Vaisey asked.
"Her husband is my friend, Lord Thornton, we come from the same country, for this I was reminded of them, I invited him to come here with his family, with a promise of a assignment for him on my behalf. I made my inquiries. They have some... financial problems, a lifestyle beyond their means. But when they will be here, we will be able to use... freely... of them," Alexander said smirking.
"Oh, you don’t have a heart as weak as Gisborne's, you are ready to dispose of a brotherly friend, even to eliminate him yourself. Very well, that's the right spirit, my boy. But now we have a bigger and more important task to bring on. The King is coming back to England." Vaisey said, smiling.
Cold sweat on the skin. Alexander was blocked for a moment by the news. Then he calmed down.
There was no evidence of his betrayal, and if it should be necessary, he would eliminate old Vaisey in an instant, without him having any time to react. The question was: why Vaisey seemed so pleased to announce such a news? Had he missed something in Vaisey's alliances, maybe?
“Are you short of words now, my dear boy? Instead, you will have to use them in the next few days. Lots of them. You will have to make sure that everyone knows about the return of the King, and that all the nobles in the council have to come to Nottingham where the King will receive them. And talk to him. Amazed? Not as much as they will be, when they see the executioner sharpen his blades for their precious, useless heads.”
“What do you mean, my lord?” Alexander asked, suspicious.
“I mean in addition to the official invitations and proclamations on the upcoming return of the King, you will have to spread the voice in every single district, and noble house of the county that I, Vaisey, the evil sheriff will be put under charge and under judgment by the King himself, if there will be someone ready to testify my wrongdoings before the King. Oh, and I will be dethroned and condemned. What do you think of it?" Vaisey said, now pompously sitting on his bench.
“I do not understand, don’t you fear the King's revenge?” Alexander replied, realizing that something was hidden in Vaisey's talk because he felt so safe in talking about the King.
"Of this King we could hardly fear the revenge, for it is not King Richard. We could call him King Philip, but it wouldn’t have the same effect on the crowd, though it is his name. For now, of course, he will find his death soon after.” Vaisey laughed bitterly.
"An impostor? So the real King is not in England, yet," Alexander asked.
“And God willing he will never return,” Vaisey replied, in a fake prayer attitude.
“But how he can fool an entire County?” Alexander replied.
“Oh my dear boy, you know him well, I've met him too, but the vast majority of the County has never seen the King of England in the face. The only name will incite fear, and unexpected courage in serpents and traitors. They will fall into the trap, like bees attracted to sweet honey. I will trap them here, kill them, taking their poor lands and bringing them to prosperity. My prosperity,” Vaisey concluded.
“Clever, almost perfect,” Alexander said.
“What is almost perfect, Shrewsbury? How can you doubt the success of my plan?” An angry Vaisey replied, “Speak now!”
“You didn’t take Hood into consideration. Hood knows him well. He is an outlaw now, but he will be the first wanting to meet the King personally, and alone, for obvious reasons. And if he saw… King Philip... before the others, he would immediately understand the deception and wreck your plan. So...”
“So what? So what, Shrewsbury?” Vaisey pressed him.
“So I'll make sure to attract Hood to a place outside Nottingham, maybe in a lovely little war camp, the way the King likes to do, and he will believe the King wants to meet him before he gets here. You don't know how much he loves the King. How special is their relationship. I know. I saw it with my eyes. Hood will go to the fake camp alone, of course, for the sake of his King. I'll make sure of that too. I didn’t forget that in my assignments there is also to get rid of Hood. This is the right occasion. I've got something that will help us. Both of us. I certainly will need to be well rewarded for this substantial improvement of the plan,” Alexander said, pointing out the words, touching the map on the table with his big hands.
Vaisey came down from the bench, walked over to the map and with a quiet gesture, moved Alexander 's hand from the map:
“What would convince Hood to leave his men behind and end up in a trap? And what would convince me to let you participate in my banquet? What do you have for me, Alexander?” Vaisey hissed.
Alexander put his hand in his jacket, at the chest height. "This would be enough." And he pulled out the personal seal of the King of England.
"Is it true? Did you stole it in the Holy Land. From the King?" Vaisey said, Taking the seal in his hands, scrutinizing it.
“No. It's a perfect copy. The King has the original, of course. He doesn’t suspect that there is a perfect copy. Not even Hood. Hood is not the only one to have had the sympathy and the proximity of the King. This… seal... It's a good precaution, to have something that can save your life, if necessary, isn’t it?"
"Clever, and almost perfect, because now I know your secret,” Vaisey said with a light but at the same time threatening tone.
“I also know yours, my lord,” Alexander returned the tone and intention. But then he added: “My Lord, we will share great results, together. Those you didn’t get with the help of the Half-French.”
Alexander held out his hand to Vaisey, retrieving the seal from Vaisey's hands and putting it in his jacket. He made a slight bow and walked away, without waiting for the sheriff's answer, who, somewhere between piqued and flattered, let him go, laughing up his sleeve.