Well folks, here is the second part of the Trilogy.
Sir Guy of Gisborne is now both a farmer and a father. A new witch enters their lives, as Auriel's life hangs in the balance. The loving couple then embark on another journey to find the great wi...
She was lying on her bed, still in her wet clothing, when she heard the others return, but she remained where she was, unable in her shame and anger to face her husband, listening as she heard her aunt prepare supper for the little ones and then put them to bed, though she longed to kiss and reassure them.
Her Aunt brought her food, placed it by the bed and stood looking down at her. "You should have guarded your tongue my girl, for your children heard your words and are even now sobbing in their sleep at the thought of losing you. This is a burden no child should have to carry, and the spite of your words has hurt your loving husband almost beyond repair. He has been foolish, but entirely without malice, in this small error of judgement. You must make this right and do it soon."
"I cannot," Auriel replied, sobbing, "for the anger eats away at me still, mingled somehow with the relief of not losing him. I will never be able to unsay the words, he will cease to care for me,and I shall now die without the love of my husband and my children, is that not punishment enough?"
Then she looked up and saw Guy standing in the doorway, hearing him say softly, "You will always have my love and I will carry that love for you to my grave, for I worship the very ground on which you walk. I am heartily sorry for my Gisborne pride, as you call it in your bitterness, but it is all that I have left that is my own."
Then he pointed his finger at her and spat out the words, "and you will not take it from me!" Then he turned and walked back down the stairs, out of the kitchen and into the darkness.
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She leapt from the bed and ran after him, crying out to him, at first unable to find the words, as she fell in the mud at his feet, sobbing and clinging on to his legs, then she shrieked into the sky, as she had on the day he had fallen from the church roof in Nottingham.
"Do not take this man from me! I do not deserve his forgiveness, but let me keep his love!"
Guy did not turn or even acknowledge her presence, pulling her arms from his legs and walking on into the night.
"Do not turn your face from me," she screamed, " for you are my life's breath. If you leave me, my soul will shrivel at the loss of you! I do not ask for forgiveness, but do not deny me your love! My life will be empty of all its beauty without you, and I love you almost to the point of madness, how can I go on when you are the best of me? I will cut out my own heart and place it in your hands, for I will have no need of it, if you go from me!"
Then she sank back, sobbing bitterly, into the mud, not noticing that he had turned and was running back towards her.
He fell to his knees in the muck beside her, pulling her into his arms as they both wept, while she held his dear sweet face in her hands "Dear God, my precious, beautiful man, how can I unsay the words, tell me how I may unsay them" she sobbed, "they hang between us and stab at my heart!"
