The Journey To Acre

Chapter 25

There comes a time in life when you have to make a decision.

A crossroad lies ahead and you must choose which way to go.

You can hazard a guess as to where each path might lead, but cannot know for sure. There are no signposts. No helpful clues. Add to this a sudden urgency brought on by a change in circumstances...

Roughly one week after Vaisey's demise, word reaches Marian that Guy is dying of fever.
If Vaisey's death had been surprising, this utterly floored her.

The stone in her stomach becomes an anvil, making her waking hours unbearable and any attempt at repose impossible.

More callous tongues would suggest that this turn in events should hardly matter since Gisborne was destined to die anyway, and some might even go so far as to suggest that he deserves to suffer - that hanging was too good for him - but Marian cared nothing for any of that; the girl she had once been might have tried to retaliate, or to convince such people otherwise, but the woman she has become knows better. They don't know Guy and have no wish to. No amount of fighting his corner is going change that.

So, she pulls away. Builds a wall around her feelings. Takes every ounce of pain, every measure of grief, every memory of her time together with the man she is about to lose and uses it to strengthen her resolve...... and just as with Vaisey all those months on the Mary Peel, she'll not have those who oppose her get the better of her. She'll not let them keep her down.

Not when the Prison guards refuse her entrance (yet again)... nor when her friends beg her to let it go...

Not when Robin refuses to put in a good word for her so she can visit Guy... nor when King Richard's men make it plain she hasn't a chance in hell of getting an audience with the Lionheart...

So be it.

Tired of playing nice and having the door slammed in her face, a decision forms in her mind. From there, it's not a large leap to digging out her old robe from the Mary Peel, climbing out the window and sneaking off to the dock before anyone notices she's missed.

.*.

In a scene so cliché as to be amusing, Sully is swift to take action.

What she'd been thinking, strolling into the dockside Tavern looking for all the world like the grim reaper, he cannot fathom, but he'd known straight away who it was and dragged her out of there before it all kicked off.

"Christ milady, were you lookin' to get yerself dun' in or sumthin'?"

"I thought I'd just find myself a quiet corner and get my bearings."

"Aye, you made the place quiet alright, coulda heard a mouse fart..."

"Didn't think they'd notice me."

"Well, that worked a treat, didn't it? They'll prob'ly be talkin' for years of how death strolled in one day fer a spot of lunch..."

Marian frowns because she could hardly have strolled in there without the cloak, could she? She's about to say as much, but notices Sully is trying not to laugh.

She punches him on the shoulder but is trying not to laugh herself by this point.

"P'raps yer can wear it to the dungeons eh? Think the guards would run a mile!"

She hopes he has a better idea than that, but is glad they're on the same wavelength.

**********

He's growing weak.