Threats More Subtle Than Swords, Part 5
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They walked for what seemed to Guy to be an unusually long time. The outlaws were mostly silent, and Guy didn't have anything to say, either. There was no point in antagonizing them, not just now, anyway. It was so quiet that they could clearly hear the sound of horses in the distance.
"Travellers?" Robin asked.
"Money!" John exclaimed.
Guy felt himself being pulled to the left and stumbled to keep up with the change in direction. He had just got into his stride again when Robin stopped suddenly and Guy walked into him, throwing them both off balance.
"Watch out," Robin said in a teasing tone of voice. For an answer, Guy walked into him again, shoving both with his hands and his body. Robin shoved back with enough force to knock Guy onto his backside.
"Get up," Robin said, and there was no amusement in his voice any longer. Guy got awkwardly to his feet, expecting Robin to strike him, but there was only the sound of a rope being thrown, and then the creaking of tree branches. A moment later, Guy's arms were yanked up above his head.
Guy felt a hand on his jaw and jerked backwards in surprise, but Robin followed, forcing a piece of cloth into his mouth and tying it in place.
"Stay there," Robin said, and Guy heard his footsteps move away. Then there was a call of "Whoa!" from one of the outlaws and the sound of horse hooves came to a stop.
"Welcome to Sherwood Forest," Robin said. "Now, you might have heard of us. We are Robin Hood."
We are Robin Hood? Guy mocked mentally. Taking advantage of the fact that he seemed to be alone, he rubbed the side of his head on his arm, trying to catch the blindfold and pull it up enough to see.
"And we want your money," Much put in.
"Show it to us, all of it, and we'll only take a tenth." That was the boy again, the one Robin had called Will.
"Try to hold back, and we'll take it all," Robin finished.
Guy positioned the lower edge of the blindfold on a fold of his sleeve and tried again. The blindfold moved, but fell back.
"You can have it all," came a female voice, "if you'll listen to a proposition I have to make to you, Robin Hood."
Guy frowned. That voice was familiar somehow – where had he heard those imperious tones before?
"I'm listening," Robin said.
"If I come here to-morrow and pay you, will you send a message to the Sheriff that you've kidnapped me and are holding me hostage for ransom?"
Lady Prospera! Guy had been close to success with the blindfold, but jerked in surprise, and lost it again.
"We don't do hostages," Robin said, and Guy snorted in derision. What were they doing with him, if not taking him hostage? He refused to admit that otherwise, it was true. He'd only ever heard of Robin Hood's gang collecting money, never holding anybody for ransom. Robin went on. "And anyway, the Sheriff would never pay."
"That's quite all right," Lady Prospera said. "I don't expect him to. And you won't really be holding me hostage, either. When we come, you just send the message, and let me go on my way. Then, after a couple of days, you send word to the Sheriff that you've killed me, and everything is fine. I'll even give you a little something that you can send to the Sheriff as proof."
"Killing, we do not do," John stated flatly.
"If word got out, that would ruin our reputation," Robin added.
"I don't get it," Much said. "Why lie about all this? Are you trying to get away from the Sheriff without him noticing? There must be an easier way!"
"It's not the Sheriff I'm trying to get away from, and I don't think that's any of your business," Lady Prospera said. "And I can offer you another five pounds if you'll do this for me."
"We don't take hostages and we don't kill them," Robin stated. Guy snorted again.
Guy finally got the blindfold to shift a bit and to stay shifted, so that he could look out from underneath it with his right eye. At first, all he could see was trees, but by turning around and holding his head at a certain angle, he caught sight of the outlaws, all grouped around Lady Prospera and her groom on their horses.
"But we will take your money and donate it to the poor," Much was saying.
"Perhaps—" Lady Prospera said slowly. "Perhaps you could say that we tried to escape and got lost in the forest. Or even killed. Fell into the river and drowned."
"There'd be a search for the bodies," Robin said.
Guy sighed in boredom, and looked away from the scene, up into the trees. The rope attached to his wrists was looped over a high branch in one tree and tied to a slightly lower branch of another tree, too far away for him to reach. Disappointed, he looked back.
"And wouldn’t that provide you with more people to rob?" Lady Prospera had just finished asking.
"The Sheriff's guards don't carry money into the forest anymore," Much said. "It seems there are unsavoury characters about."
"Why?" Robin asked. "Why is it so important for you to get away from Nottingham without being noticed?"
"Why don't you just take the money and do what I ask!" Lady Prospera exploded. "That's what you want, isn't it? Money? Why does it matter to you how you come by it?"
"It matters," Robin said darkly.
"All right." Lady Prospera sighed. "All right." She was silent for a moment, then said, "There's someone who will … take care of my daughter if he thinks I'm dead. He'll either find her someone to marry and give her a dowry, or make sure she has a place in a convent. Well, she needs the help now, because I'm quite poor, but still hale and hearty as you can see. I'm trying to fake my death for him so she can benefit."
Guy wondered just who that someone was. She couldn't meant the Sheriff, could she?
"Well, why didn't you say so before?" Guy could hear Robin's smile in his voice.
"You'll do it?" Lady Prospera asked hopefully.
"I think we can find a way to help your daughter."
Lady Prospera took a pouch from her waist and counted out a few coins. "Here's half of what I can give you. The other half, to-morrow, and then you send the message to the Sheriff, all right?"
Robin took the coins and stuffed them into his own pouch, then shook Lady Prospera's hand. "All right. Pleasure doing business with you –?"
"Lady Prospera," she said. "Of Doncaster. Pleasure doing business with you, Robin Hood."
The outlaws lowered their bows and stepped back as Lady Prospera and her groom turned their horses and rode back the way they came. When she was gone, the outlaws headed back to where Guy was standing. He ducked his head, hoping they wouldn't see that he'd moved the blindfold, but when Robin had untied the rope and Guy could lower his arms again, his actions were revealed.
"Uh uh," Robin said, coming over and pulling the cloth down again. Guy had never hated him as much as he did then, not even when Robin yanked on the rope and made him stumble again.
They walked all through the forest that day, stopping at various points where they either collected sacks of food, some of which Guy was forced to carry between his bound arms, or dropped them off. Every so often, Robin repeated his trick of tying Guy to a tree branch and left him, but never for very long, never long enough for him to slip his blindfold off or work the gag out of his mouth.
Eventually, Guy heard Robin state that they were finished for the day, and they stopped near a stream. Guy was soaked with sweat under his leather jacket, but his mouth was dry, and the gurgle of running water only made it feel drier. He hated knowing that he was completely dependent on Robin for everything, hated how relieved he felt when Robin pulled his gag out and let him have a flask to drink from.
"Allan!" Much shouted suddenly, too close to Guy's ear for comfort. "What are you doing here?"
At least one of the outlaws must have aimed a bow, because Allan called out, "Don't shoot!"
"You following us, trying to get your new master back?" Robin taunted.
"I'm not, I swear!" Allan replied. It sounded like he was on the other side of the stream. "Djaq sent me to get some more willow bark, and I knew there was some growing here, that's all."
"How is Lady Marian?" Guy called out, his urgency at wanting to know overcoming that part of him that didn't want to show any weakness to his enemies.
"She's still alive," Allan said, and Guy felt relief like a cool breeze across his hot skin. "Djaq's doing her best. By the way, I thought you ought to know, Guy. Apparently, the word around the castle is that you're sick, and that girl Laurencia came by to visit you this afternoon."
Guy made a noncommittal sound of acknowledgment, and Allan went on, "You should have seen her face when I told her she couldn't see you! I think she fancies you, Guy!"
The outlaws laughed and Guy gritted his teeth. No doubt they thought it was ludicrous that anybody could fancy him, even a scrawny, toothy adolescent.
"Who's Laurencia?" Much wanted to know.
"Oh, haven't you heard? The servants can't stop talking about it. She's the Sheriff's bastard daughter. She and her mother just came in from Doncaster yesterday and surprised him." Allan was more than happy to supply the outlaws with information. In fact, he sounded pathetically desperate to please them, and if Guy had been able, he'd have put his fist in the man's face, both to shut him up and to remind him where his new loyalties lay.
The information that the Sheriff had a daughter seemed to stun the outlaws, because there was silence until Robin finally asked, "Her mother wouldn't be Lady Prospera, would she?"
"Yeah, that's the name."
"Allan," Guy growled. "Take that willow bark to Lady Marian now!"
"Yeah," Allan replied, audibly abashed. "Right. I'm going."
"Run!" Robin shouted, and Guy listened to Allan's footsteps, picking up speed and then disappearing in the distance.
"We should go, too," Much said. "It'll be supper time soon."
"Why don't you shoot us a deer, Much?" Robin suggested. "After all, we've got an important guest. We can't offer him something as common as squirrel stew."
While the outlaws chuckled, Guy imagined roasting all of them on spits over a huge fire.
As they set off, Will said, "I can't believe that the Sheriff's got a daughter, or that she fancies Gisborne."
Robin said, "I wonder if the Sheriff is the man that Lady Prospera was talking about, the one who will take care of her daughter if she's dead."
"How can he be?" Will asked. "According to Allan, the Sheriff was surprised when he found out about her."
"Yeah," Robin mused. "But who else could it be? And if it is somebody else, why would they want to wait until Lady Prospera is dead? That doesn't make sense. If it is somebody else, why did Lady Prospera come all the way to Nottingham to tell the Sheriff he had a daughter? She seemed very insistent that we tell the Sheriff she was dead. I think –"
Robin stopped talking for a moment, leaving Guy wondering just what Lady Prospera was really up to.
"I think she's planning to disappear and leave the girl with the Sheriff! If the Sheriff thinks Lady Prospera is dead, he'll have no choice but to take her!" Robin was almost crowing. "What do you think, Guy? Lady Prospera disappears, the Sheriff suddenly has a daughter, what's he going to do? Marry her to you?"
Guy made a derisive sound, which Robin caught.
"No, of course not," he said, making it sound as though Guy didn't even deserve a bastard, let alone somebody as high-born as Marian. "He'll probably aim higher."
"Remember that messenger that went through yesterday?" Will asked. "He just opened his purse and counted out the ten percent without even saying anything."
"Either he's used to paying toll every time he comes through, or … he didn't want to stay and answer questions," Robin said slowly. "Gisborne! He was wearing your colours, where was he going?"
Robin must have stopped, because the rope holding Guy's hands went suddenly slack, and Guy halted just time to keep from walking into Robin. Guy could sense the outlaw standing directly in front of him, and did his best to look down his nose at the man, even though Hood was almost as tall as he was.
"What messenger?" he asked, pretending ignorance. He heard Robin move and, suspecting that the outlaw was just about to hit him, Guy acted first. He lowered his head, Robin's punch just missing his scalp, then butted forwards and connected with something hard, yet yielding. It was intensely gratifying to hear Robin fall backwards with a loud "Oof!"
Almost immediately, however, he felt a hand on his shoulder, spinning him around, and then a fist connected with his face. For one moment, Guy saw stars behind the blindfold. The next thing he knew, he was lying on the ground, the side of his face throbbing. Somebody was sitting on top of him, holding his bound wrists in their hands.
"Where was your messenger going?" Robin demanded.
"What makes you think he had anything to do with the Sheriff's runt?" Guy asked, pulling his hands towards his chest to tug Robin off balance, then striking out. It was a foolish move, since Robin could see and he couldn't, but he might get lucky, and anyway, he had to try something. Robin evaded the blow, then pushed Guy's arms down until his wrists were pressing into his stomach and his elbows were in the dirt. Then Robin lifted himself almost completely off Guy, only to lower his knees onto Guy's biceps just a moment later. Guy groaned at the knobby weights grinding into his muscles, and used his legs to try and get some leverage to buck Robin off. But then somebody else sat on his knees, and Guy groaned again, this time in frustration.
"Because the Sheriff only sends out his fastest messengers, which means your messengers, when he's up to something with his Black Knights," Robin said. When Guy didn't answer immediately, Robin shifted his entire weight to Guy's right arm and Guy bellowed inarticulately at the pain.
Robin shifted back. "Tell us, Guy, or I'll send Will to fetch Djaq, and leave Lady Marian to die."
"You wouldn't dare," Guy rasped, "You want her alive, too, you told me that yourself."
Robin moved his weight to the left, then found a new threat. "Then we'll take Lady Marian into the forest with us and you'll never see her again."
And no doubt Robin would declare his love to Marian and try his best to make her forget Guy. At last, panting with pain and rage, loathing Robin for knowing his weakness, loathing himself for having one that could be exploited in such a way, and even, just for a moment, loathing Marian for being that weakness, Guy slumped in defeat. "The Earl of Durham. The Sheriff's offered his runt to the Earl of Durham."
"The Earl of Durham? Oh, that's right. He didn't get to marry Lady Beatrice, did he?" Robin sounded distinctly amused. "And now the Sheriff has somebody else to offer to him. Did he happen to say how much dowry he'd send with her?"
"Planning to rob it on the way, Hood?" Guy sneered.
"Of course," Robin shot back. "And if it comes through in the next few days, you can help us carry it!"
He gave Guy a mock-friendly slap on the shoulder, then stood up from where he'd been sitting. The man on Guy's legs got up too, and Guy inhaled deeply, then staggered to his feet. As though nothing had happened, Robin tugged on the rope, and they began to walk again.
Eventually, they came to a stop. Guy heard a strange noise, as though a massive door had opened up right in front of him, but from bottom to top, and not from side to side as doors usually went. He was pulled forward into what he could sense was a large room of sorts, and the same noise sounded behind him, but this time in reverse, from top to bottom. A hand on his shoulder pushed him into a kneeling position, and then his blindfold was pulled down from his eyes to his neck.
He blinked in the light and looked around. It was a large structure, well built and surprisingly cozy, with a roof of what looked like leaves spread across cloth. Guy had been expecting an outdoors camp with nothing better than a well-used tent or two, but this was palatial in comparison. There were bunks, storage spaces bulging with chests and sacks, and even an area with a table to prepare food. Much was already there, slicing meat, and Guy could see skin, deer hooves, and a small set of antlers on the wooden floor underneath.
Robin saw him looking, and raised his eyebrows. Guy pretended to be unimpressed and came up with another sneer. "Not exactly Locksley Manor, is it, Hood?"
But Robin just smiled and ignored the taunt. Instead, he sat down on one of the bunks and placed his elbow on his knee, then rested his chin in his palm and stared down at Guy. Guy stared back, thinking about how much he wanted to smash that smile in and make Robin suffer for the humiliation he was putting Guy through. Hating Robin, hating having to be on his knees and look up at him, Guy slid into a sitting position and tried to appear as though he were lounging comfortably. It was a hard look to pull off with his wrists tied together.
"It's funny that the Sheriff doesn't even know yet that he's going to be left holding the baby, so to speak, and yet he's already offered her to the Earl of Durham," Robin said. "He must have sent a messenger as soon as he found out he'd become a father."
Sometimes, Guy thought morosely, Robin was too damned clever for his own good.
"Now why would he do that?" Robin went on. "It can't be because he loves his daughter and wants her to have a happy marriage. I think he's trying to forge an alliance with the Earl so that he'll have more support when he tries to overthrow King Richard."
Guy had a sudden image of the Sheriff saying, "Blah di blah di blah," and the thought made one corner of his mouth twitch a little.
"We'll have to watch the North Road," Will said. He'd seated himself on another bunk close to Robin and was whittling something with a knife. "Catch the messenger again on his way back, take information instead of money, and see what the Earl says. Maybe he won't want her."
"Will!" Robin exclaimed in pretended outrage. "What are you thinking? I'm sure she's lovely and her dowry will be immense. Who wouldn't want her?"
Guy caught himself smirking inwardly. Will grinned and bent his head to his woodwork.
Part 6
They walked for what seemed to Guy to be an unusually long time. The outlaws were mostly silent, and Guy didn't have anything to say, either. There was no point in antagonizing them, not just now, anyway. It was so quiet that they could clearly hear the sound of horses in the distance.
"Travellers?" Robin asked.
"Money!" John exclaimed.
Guy felt himself being pulled to the left and stumbled to keep up with the change in direction. He had just got into his stride again when Robin stopped suddenly and Guy walked into him, throwing them both off balance.
"Watch out," Robin said in a teasing tone of voice. For an answer, Guy walked into him again, shoving both with his hands and his body. Robin shoved back with enough force to knock Guy onto his backside.
"Get up," Robin said, and there was no amusement in his voice any longer. Guy got awkwardly to his feet, expecting Robin to strike him, but there was only the sound of a rope being thrown, and then the creaking of tree branches. A moment later, Guy's arms were yanked up above his head.
Guy felt a hand on his jaw and jerked backwards in surprise, but Robin followed, forcing a piece of cloth into his mouth and tying it in place.
"Stay there," Robin said, and Guy heard his footsteps move away. Then there was a call of "Whoa!" from one of the outlaws and the sound of horse hooves came to a stop.
"Welcome to Sherwood Forest," Robin said. "Now, you might have heard of us. We are Robin Hood."
We are Robin Hood? Guy mocked mentally. Taking advantage of the fact that he seemed to be alone, he rubbed the side of his head on his arm, trying to catch the blindfold and pull it up enough to see.
"And we want your money," Much put in.
"Show it to us, all of it, and we'll only take a tenth." That was the boy again, the one Robin had called Will.
"Try to hold back, and we'll take it all," Robin finished.
Guy positioned the lower edge of the blindfold on a fold of his sleeve and tried again. The blindfold moved, but fell back.
"You can have it all," came a female voice, "if you'll listen to a proposition I have to make to you, Robin Hood."
Guy frowned. That voice was familiar somehow – where had he heard those imperious tones before?
"I'm listening," Robin said.
"If I come here to-morrow and pay you, will you send a message to the Sheriff that you've kidnapped me and are holding me hostage for ransom?"
Lady Prospera! Guy had been close to success with the blindfold, but jerked in surprise, and lost it again.
"We don't do hostages," Robin said, and Guy snorted in derision. What were they doing with him, if not taking him hostage? He refused to admit that otherwise, it was true. He'd only ever heard of Robin Hood's gang collecting money, never holding anybody for ransom. Robin went on. "And anyway, the Sheriff would never pay."
"That's quite all right," Lady Prospera said. "I don't expect him to. And you won't really be holding me hostage, either. When we come, you just send the message, and let me go on my way. Then, after a couple of days, you send word to the Sheriff that you've killed me, and everything is fine. I'll even give you a little something that you can send to the Sheriff as proof."
"Killing, we do not do," John stated flatly.
"If word got out, that would ruin our reputation," Robin added.
"I don't get it," Much said. "Why lie about all this? Are you trying to get away from the Sheriff without him noticing? There must be an easier way!"
"It's not the Sheriff I'm trying to get away from, and I don't think that's any of your business," Lady Prospera said. "And I can offer you another five pounds if you'll do this for me."
"We don't take hostages and we don't kill them," Robin stated. Guy snorted again.
Guy finally got the blindfold to shift a bit and to stay shifted, so that he could look out from underneath it with his right eye. At first, all he could see was trees, but by turning around and holding his head at a certain angle, he caught sight of the outlaws, all grouped around Lady Prospera and her groom on their horses.
"But we will take your money and donate it to the poor," Much was saying.
"Perhaps—" Lady Prospera said slowly. "Perhaps you could say that we tried to escape and got lost in the forest. Or even killed. Fell into the river and drowned."
"There'd be a search for the bodies," Robin said.
Guy sighed in boredom, and looked away from the scene, up into the trees. The rope attached to his wrists was looped over a high branch in one tree and tied to a slightly lower branch of another tree, too far away for him to reach. Disappointed, he looked back.
"And wouldn’t that provide you with more people to rob?" Lady Prospera had just finished asking.
"The Sheriff's guards don't carry money into the forest anymore," Much said. "It seems there are unsavoury characters about."
"Why?" Robin asked. "Why is it so important for you to get away from Nottingham without being noticed?"
"Why don't you just take the money and do what I ask!" Lady Prospera exploded. "That's what you want, isn't it? Money? Why does it matter to you how you come by it?"
"It matters," Robin said darkly.
"All right." Lady Prospera sighed. "All right." She was silent for a moment, then said, "There's someone who will … take care of my daughter if he thinks I'm dead. He'll either find her someone to marry and give her a dowry, or make sure she has a place in a convent. Well, she needs the help now, because I'm quite poor, but still hale and hearty as you can see. I'm trying to fake my death for him so she can benefit."
Guy wondered just who that someone was. She couldn't meant the Sheriff, could she?
"Well, why didn't you say so before?" Guy could hear Robin's smile in his voice.
"You'll do it?" Lady Prospera asked hopefully.
"I think we can find a way to help your daughter."
Lady Prospera took a pouch from her waist and counted out a few coins. "Here's half of what I can give you. The other half, to-morrow, and then you send the message to the Sheriff, all right?"
Robin took the coins and stuffed them into his own pouch, then shook Lady Prospera's hand. "All right. Pleasure doing business with you –?"
"Lady Prospera," she said. "Of Doncaster. Pleasure doing business with you, Robin Hood."
The outlaws lowered their bows and stepped back as Lady Prospera and her groom turned their horses and rode back the way they came. When she was gone, the outlaws headed back to where Guy was standing. He ducked his head, hoping they wouldn't see that he'd moved the blindfold, but when Robin had untied the rope and Guy could lower his arms again, his actions were revealed.
"Uh uh," Robin said, coming over and pulling the cloth down again. Guy had never hated him as much as he did then, not even when Robin yanked on the rope and made him stumble again.
They walked all through the forest that day, stopping at various points where they either collected sacks of food, some of which Guy was forced to carry between his bound arms, or dropped them off. Every so often, Robin repeated his trick of tying Guy to a tree branch and left him, but never for very long, never long enough for him to slip his blindfold off or work the gag out of his mouth.
Eventually, Guy heard Robin state that they were finished for the day, and they stopped near a stream. Guy was soaked with sweat under his leather jacket, but his mouth was dry, and the gurgle of running water only made it feel drier. He hated knowing that he was completely dependent on Robin for everything, hated how relieved he felt when Robin pulled his gag out and let him have a flask to drink from.
"Allan!" Much shouted suddenly, too close to Guy's ear for comfort. "What are you doing here?"
At least one of the outlaws must have aimed a bow, because Allan called out, "Don't shoot!"
"You following us, trying to get your new master back?" Robin taunted.
"I'm not, I swear!" Allan replied. It sounded like he was on the other side of the stream. "Djaq sent me to get some more willow bark, and I knew there was some growing here, that's all."
"How is Lady Marian?" Guy called out, his urgency at wanting to know overcoming that part of him that didn't want to show any weakness to his enemies.
"She's still alive," Allan said, and Guy felt relief like a cool breeze across his hot skin. "Djaq's doing her best. By the way, I thought you ought to know, Guy. Apparently, the word around the castle is that you're sick, and that girl Laurencia came by to visit you this afternoon."
Guy made a noncommittal sound of acknowledgment, and Allan went on, "You should have seen her face when I told her she couldn't see you! I think she fancies you, Guy!"
The outlaws laughed and Guy gritted his teeth. No doubt they thought it was ludicrous that anybody could fancy him, even a scrawny, toothy adolescent.
"Who's Laurencia?" Much wanted to know.
"Oh, haven't you heard? The servants can't stop talking about it. She's the Sheriff's bastard daughter. She and her mother just came in from Doncaster yesterday and surprised him." Allan was more than happy to supply the outlaws with information. In fact, he sounded pathetically desperate to please them, and if Guy had been able, he'd have put his fist in the man's face, both to shut him up and to remind him where his new loyalties lay.
The information that the Sheriff had a daughter seemed to stun the outlaws, because there was silence until Robin finally asked, "Her mother wouldn't be Lady Prospera, would she?"
"Yeah, that's the name."
"Allan," Guy growled. "Take that willow bark to Lady Marian now!"
"Yeah," Allan replied, audibly abashed. "Right. I'm going."
"Run!" Robin shouted, and Guy listened to Allan's footsteps, picking up speed and then disappearing in the distance.
"We should go, too," Much said. "It'll be supper time soon."
"Why don't you shoot us a deer, Much?" Robin suggested. "After all, we've got an important guest. We can't offer him something as common as squirrel stew."
While the outlaws chuckled, Guy imagined roasting all of them on spits over a huge fire.
As they set off, Will said, "I can't believe that the Sheriff's got a daughter, or that she fancies Gisborne."
Robin said, "I wonder if the Sheriff is the man that Lady Prospera was talking about, the one who will take care of her daughter if she's dead."
"How can he be?" Will asked. "According to Allan, the Sheriff was surprised when he found out about her."
"Yeah," Robin mused. "But who else could it be? And if it is somebody else, why would they want to wait until Lady Prospera is dead? That doesn't make sense. If it is somebody else, why did Lady Prospera come all the way to Nottingham to tell the Sheriff he had a daughter? She seemed very insistent that we tell the Sheriff she was dead. I think –"
Robin stopped talking for a moment, leaving Guy wondering just what Lady Prospera was really up to.
"I think she's planning to disappear and leave the girl with the Sheriff! If the Sheriff thinks Lady Prospera is dead, he'll have no choice but to take her!" Robin was almost crowing. "What do you think, Guy? Lady Prospera disappears, the Sheriff suddenly has a daughter, what's he going to do? Marry her to you?"
Guy made a derisive sound, which Robin caught.
"No, of course not," he said, making it sound as though Guy didn't even deserve a bastard, let alone somebody as high-born as Marian. "He'll probably aim higher."
"Remember that messenger that went through yesterday?" Will asked. "He just opened his purse and counted out the ten percent without even saying anything."
"Either he's used to paying toll every time he comes through, or … he didn't want to stay and answer questions," Robin said slowly. "Gisborne! He was wearing your colours, where was he going?"
Robin must have stopped, because the rope holding Guy's hands went suddenly slack, and Guy halted just time to keep from walking into Robin. Guy could sense the outlaw standing directly in front of him, and did his best to look down his nose at the man, even though Hood was almost as tall as he was.
"What messenger?" he asked, pretending ignorance. He heard Robin move and, suspecting that the outlaw was just about to hit him, Guy acted first. He lowered his head, Robin's punch just missing his scalp, then butted forwards and connected with something hard, yet yielding. It was intensely gratifying to hear Robin fall backwards with a loud "Oof!"
Almost immediately, however, he felt a hand on his shoulder, spinning him around, and then a fist connected with his face. For one moment, Guy saw stars behind the blindfold. The next thing he knew, he was lying on the ground, the side of his face throbbing. Somebody was sitting on top of him, holding his bound wrists in their hands.
"Where was your messenger going?" Robin demanded.
"What makes you think he had anything to do with the Sheriff's runt?" Guy asked, pulling his hands towards his chest to tug Robin off balance, then striking out. It was a foolish move, since Robin could see and he couldn't, but he might get lucky, and anyway, he had to try something. Robin evaded the blow, then pushed Guy's arms down until his wrists were pressing into his stomach and his elbows were in the dirt. Then Robin lifted himself almost completely off Guy, only to lower his knees onto Guy's biceps just a moment later. Guy groaned at the knobby weights grinding into his muscles, and used his legs to try and get some leverage to buck Robin off. But then somebody else sat on his knees, and Guy groaned again, this time in frustration.
"Because the Sheriff only sends out his fastest messengers, which means your messengers, when he's up to something with his Black Knights," Robin said. When Guy didn't answer immediately, Robin shifted his entire weight to Guy's right arm and Guy bellowed inarticulately at the pain.
Robin shifted back. "Tell us, Guy, or I'll send Will to fetch Djaq, and leave Lady Marian to die."
"You wouldn't dare," Guy rasped, "You want her alive, too, you told me that yourself."
Robin moved his weight to the left, then found a new threat. "Then we'll take Lady Marian into the forest with us and you'll never see her again."
And no doubt Robin would declare his love to Marian and try his best to make her forget Guy. At last, panting with pain and rage, loathing Robin for knowing his weakness, loathing himself for having one that could be exploited in such a way, and even, just for a moment, loathing Marian for being that weakness, Guy slumped in defeat. "The Earl of Durham. The Sheriff's offered his runt to the Earl of Durham."
"The Earl of Durham? Oh, that's right. He didn't get to marry Lady Beatrice, did he?" Robin sounded distinctly amused. "And now the Sheriff has somebody else to offer to him. Did he happen to say how much dowry he'd send with her?"
"Planning to rob it on the way, Hood?" Guy sneered.
"Of course," Robin shot back. "And if it comes through in the next few days, you can help us carry it!"
He gave Guy a mock-friendly slap on the shoulder, then stood up from where he'd been sitting. The man on Guy's legs got up too, and Guy inhaled deeply, then staggered to his feet. As though nothing had happened, Robin tugged on the rope, and they began to walk again.
Eventually, they came to a stop. Guy heard a strange noise, as though a massive door had opened up right in front of him, but from bottom to top, and not from side to side as doors usually went. He was pulled forward into what he could sense was a large room of sorts, and the same noise sounded behind him, but this time in reverse, from top to bottom. A hand on his shoulder pushed him into a kneeling position, and then his blindfold was pulled down from his eyes to his neck.
He blinked in the light and looked around. It was a large structure, well built and surprisingly cozy, with a roof of what looked like leaves spread across cloth. Guy had been expecting an outdoors camp with nothing better than a well-used tent or two, but this was palatial in comparison. There were bunks, storage spaces bulging with chests and sacks, and even an area with a table to prepare food. Much was already there, slicing meat, and Guy could see skin, deer hooves, and a small set of antlers on the wooden floor underneath.
Robin saw him looking, and raised his eyebrows. Guy pretended to be unimpressed and came up with another sneer. "Not exactly Locksley Manor, is it, Hood?"
But Robin just smiled and ignored the taunt. Instead, he sat down on one of the bunks and placed his elbow on his knee, then rested his chin in his palm and stared down at Guy. Guy stared back, thinking about how much he wanted to smash that smile in and make Robin suffer for the humiliation he was putting Guy through. Hating Robin, hating having to be on his knees and look up at him, Guy slid into a sitting position and tried to appear as though he were lounging comfortably. It was a hard look to pull off with his wrists tied together.
"It's funny that the Sheriff doesn't even know yet that he's going to be left holding the baby, so to speak, and yet he's already offered her to the Earl of Durham," Robin said. "He must have sent a messenger as soon as he found out he'd become a father."
Sometimes, Guy thought morosely, Robin was too damned clever for his own good.
"Now why would he do that?" Robin went on. "It can't be because he loves his daughter and wants her to have a happy marriage. I think he's trying to forge an alliance with the Earl so that he'll have more support when he tries to overthrow King Richard."
Guy had a sudden image of the Sheriff saying, "Blah di blah di blah," and the thought made one corner of his mouth twitch a little.
"We'll have to watch the North Road," Will said. He'd seated himself on another bunk close to Robin and was whittling something with a knife. "Catch the messenger again on his way back, take information instead of money, and see what the Earl says. Maybe he won't want her."
"Will!" Robin exclaimed in pretended outrage. "What are you thinking? I'm sure she's lovely and her dowry will be immense. Who wouldn't want her?"
Guy caught himself smirking inwardly. Will grinned and bent his head to his woodwork.
Part 6