The Nightwatchman (English)(From Ashes Vol.2)

Chapter 21 - The Unwilling Bride

Guy helped Sir Edward to get off the wagon, and they both made their way to the entrance of the castle.
Gisborne was tense, as he was every time he had to deal with the sheriff. That month he had managed to gather all the necessary sum to pay taxes, but with Vaisey he could never let his guard down.
Sooner or later the sheriff would take revenge on Guy for his blackmail, but Gisborne couldn't know when and how he would do it and maybe that sense of uncertainty was part of the sheriff's vengeance: he would just wait to hold him in anxiety and making him lose his nerve.
"Oh, no." Guy sighed, seeing the crowd gathered on the steps of the castle and Sir Edward looked at him, worried.
"What's up? What are they doing?"
"The sheriff plans to prosecute someone publicly. I do not envy the poor one who will suffer his judgment."
Sir Edward looked at the people gathered on the stairs: Vaisey was at the center and was holding a roll of parchment, some guards were placed around him and the nobles, who were to gather in the great room to bring the sheriff payment for the taxes, were lined up on the lower steps.
The sheriff saw Guy and Sir Edward and flashed his jeweled tooth in a fake smile.
"Oh, well, Gizzy deigned to arrive, at last. You used to be more precise, it's Gramps that slows you down?"
"We're on time, my lord," Guy said, flatly.
"No Gisborne, for I have decided that you are not. Now shut up and take your place before I decide to arrest you for insubordination."
Guy gave up arguing and he reached the other nobles at the bottom of the stairs.
The sheriff yawned, bored, and started to read the parchment allegations to various prisoners that were taken before him. Most of those poor people ended up in the dungeons or was sentenced to stocks or public flogging and Guy was beginning to feel relieved to see that for the moment no one had been sentenced to the gallows, when he realized that the sheriff's gaze was trained on him.
"You know what, Gisborne? Sometimes I miss the good old days," Vaisey said, looking at him in a way that made him shiver. "I have an idea, Gizzy. Come here, by my side and read this sentence like you did in the old times."
Guy hesitated. He knew that Vaisey would find a way to hit him and he expected at least another public humiliation.
"Come on, Gisborne, what are you waiting for? Or should I order Sir Edward to take your place?"
Guy obeyed and took the scroll from the sheriff's hands. He looked surprised at the girl who was dragged in chains before the sheriff, but the look of Vaisey pointed at him convinced him to lower his eyes on the parchment and start reading.
"Meg Bennet, you have been brought before the Sheriff of Nottingham court for disobeying your father, and refusing all the suitors who have been proposed to you..."
"They were idiots!" The girl interrupted him, angrily. "One was a drunken sot, the second looked like a donkey, and the third was a halfwit with the brains of a tree!"
"And you have corrupted the fourth so he fled with the money stolen to your father," the sheriff intervened.
"He was just a mummy's boy. I'm not going to accept anyone telling me how to live my own life. I don't want to get married, men are so stupid!"
Guy looked at the girl and he would have smiled at seeing so much fighting spirit if he hadn't known that fighting against Vaisey was a lost battle. Surely she would be condemned and Guy was certain that the punishment that awaited her was not at all pleasant.
He looked down and remained silent until the sheriff handed him another parchment.
"Come on, Gisborne, read the sentence too, then I'll let you get back in the flock of noble sheeps who you have chosen to belong to."
Guy stifled a sigh.
"Meg Bennet, you are to be locked up in the dungeons of the castle until the sheriff will find a husband for you."
"You can't do that!" The girl cried and Vaisey smiled in a disturbing way.
"I can and I will, your father agrees with me, but fear not, I am sure I will get a special price for you."
"You want to sell her!" Guy exclaimed, unable to stop, and then he regretted his word immediately, when the sheriff turned his attention to him.
"Does it upset you so much, Gizzy? It shouldn't since you've done the same with your sister. Or are you tired of your little leper friend and you'd like to buy her for you? In this case I'm sorry for you, you can't afford to pay the price that I'm going to ask. Then, Gisborne, do you have something to say against my judgment?"
Guy lowered his eyes and shook his head, but couldn't find the voice to answer.
Vaisey looked at him with a satisfied grin and he turned to the guards.
"Take her away," he said, nodding toward the girl.
Meg tried to rebel, screaming and clawing, but couldn't avoid being dragged to the dungeons.

Sir Edward climbed on the wagon without waiting for Gisborne to help him.
For the rest of the council, Guy had remained silent, keeping his eyes to the ground and Edward knew that the sheriff's words had disturbed him deeply, and yet Edward couldn't ignore one of the phrases uttered by Vaisey.
"Did you really have sold your sister?" Edward asked, without hiding the disapproval in his tone.
Gisborne nodded slightly, without looking at him.
"It wasn't the worst thing I've done in my life, sir." He said, without even trying to deny.
"It's immoral, you should be ashamed of yourself."
"It would have been better to let her live in the streets, starving?! Or to wait for the cold of winter to take both of us away? It would have been more acceptable, then?" Guy broke and Sir Edward looked at him, surprised to see that he had tears in his eyes.
"I didn't know..."
"Me neither! I didn't know what to do or how to get out of that situation. When they offered me a good price for her hand in marriage I accepted. It seemed to me that it was the only way to guarantee a decent life to her and to obtain the means to become a knight and try to regain back the lands that once belonged to my family."
Sir Edward looked at him, not knowing what to say and Guy gave him a wry smile.
"I told you, you have believed to see the good in me when there was none at all, and now that you begin to understand really who I was you are disappointed."
"I can't deny it: it's not pleasant to think about certain things in your past, but I know you are better than you think. If I saw the good in you, it means that there was some, but this doesn't mean that you don't have bad sides too. I think that what is important is how you want to be from now on."
"I can't change the past, but I try not to forget it so I can hope to become a better person."
Sir Edward's expression softened.
"If Marian fell in love with you, it means that you are succeeding."
"I always have the impression of not doing enough. I should have prevented the sheriff to imprison the girl and instead I just watched and I didn't say anything..."
"And what would you have solved? You'd ended up in the dungeons in a cell next to her."
"Robin Hood wouldn't be aloof."
"In fact, he became an outlaw and he lost everything he owned. You're not Robin Hood, Sir Guy. If the sheriff should arrest you, you wouldn't be the only one to lose everything, but the sheriff would hit even Marian, Allan, me and the people of Locksley and Knighton. Not counting those who are dependent on the Nightwatchman to survive. Sometimes to stand aside and watch is the most difficult choice, but also the better one."
"You are right. I can't do anything," Guy said, then he smiled "but the Nightwatchman could."
Sir Edward looked at him for a moment, then he nodded.
"Be careful and remember that you won't risk only your life, but ours as well."

Much dangled the dead hare before the eyes of Robin Hood, joining him along the path toward the entrance of the camp.
"Today we'll have a terrific lunch," he said, proud of his prey. "I just have to decide how it's best to prepare it."
Robin shook his head.
"I don't think so. Look."
He pointed to the arrow planted in one of the trees near the secret door.
"Someone was here!" Much said, worried. "What if the sheriff had found the camp?"
Robin pulled the arrow from the tree and he showed him the black fletching.
"This is one of Guy's arrows. This morning he and Sir Edward had to attend the council of nobles, if he came looking for us at the camp in broad daylight, something must have happened. I should better go look for him."
"At Locksley?"
"Knighton. If I go to Locksley I'd risk being seen by Marian, Gisborne wouldn't give me an appointment there."
"Should I come with you?"
Robin thought about it for a moment, then he shook his head.
"No, you stay here, cook the hare and warn the others: if tonight we will have some challenging mission, a good meal will definitely be helpful to keep our strength up."
Robin walked back along the path, still holding Guy's arrow.
He was concerned: it had never happened that it was the Nightwatchman the one who contacted Robin Hood and Guy certainly wouldn't have searched for him so urgently for a trifle.
He reached the hidden place where they kept the horses and he took one, then he climbed into the saddle and galloped towards Knighton.