The Journey To Acre

Chapter 7

It's been a couple of days since Sully last set eyes upon the Mary Peel and he finds himself pleased to see her again.

He likes a change of scenery as much as the next man, but he's had his fill of this town. Perhaps if he'd spent the entire time drinking and fraternizing like his colleagues, he might have liked it better, but he has a boat to fix and that requires materials. In the interim, he's acquired them, (courtesy of much mangling of the French language on his part), and is therefore good to get started, but it's late in the day and he's in need of rest, so he's told the captain he'll get on it in the morning.

He finds Guy in his usual spot on deck. Pretending to act casual as Archie trots over to greet him.

Missed you too lad.

The young man greets both with a tired smile and Sully represses the urge to embrace him. If anyone was the definition of 'not the touchy feely type' it was Sir Guy of Gisborne, which is a shame really, because Sully suspects a decent hug is what he's short of. As it is, he'll have to do with a pat on the back and cat hairs all over his trousers.

"Well lad, how's it been the past few days? Bet it was nice to have some peace and quiet for a change eh?"

Guy nods the affirmative, but a certain haggardness in his appearance tells Sully that things have not been as peaceful as they could've been. Normally when considering what could be robbing a young man of his sleep, he'd assume a particular nocturnal activity was to blame, but based on what he's seen of Guy and Marian, he knows that gymnastics of the amorous sort are off the table. Why exactly this was, he could not say - it was obvious that they were attracted to one another, but since all attempts at getting Guy to open up on the subject had drawn a blank, he's put the matter in the 'it's complicated' category and left it at that.

No doubt the sheriff had his part to play; after all, as fond as any woman might be of Guy, Vaisey was certainly a deterrent. A spoke in the wheel of any potential match, that's for sure. No, it was a shame for the lad, and from the looks of him, time alone with the girl had not helped his case so the carpenter decides to cheer him up with some goodies he's brought back from town.

**********

"Food. You should eat."

Guy pauses to see if Marian will take interest in the offering, hoping something different will tempt her. Alas, to no avail, she doesn't even look at it.

"Sully brought it from town," he adds, thinking this argument might convince her. Nope. No joy.

He sighs and turns to leave. They've been on this journey for what feels like a lifetime and one would think that even the slightest change would cheer her, but she's still angry at him for not helping her save the king. What she doesn't understand is that if he grants that wish, it will be the last thing he ever does.

If he lets her go, Vaisey will kill him. Pretend she overpowered him and escaped? Vaisey will kill him. Leave with her? Vaisey will find them and well, you get the picture.

And... if, under some miraculous set of circumstances, she stays with him (which she wouldn't), and they somehow manage to get word to the Lionheart (they wouldn't), what then? Will the king just conveniently forget his years of service to Vaisey and allegiance to Prince John? Not likely.

Guy was a first-rate fantasist when he wanted to be, but even he couldn't get on board with that.

"How long are we going to be here?" she asks, interrupting his train of thought and he shakes his head because he doesn't know but even if he did, he wouldn't tell her.

"The sheriff is still away?"

You know he is. He would be here tormenting you otherwise.

"It has to be now Guy. Whilst he's distracted."