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

Chapter 23 - Is She Nice?

"Allan! Allan, wake up."
The former outlaw opened his eyes with a groan because Guy was shaking him and sat up on the bed, rubbing his face with his hands.
"What do you want, Giz? It's barely dawn."
Guy sighed and leaned toward Allan to face him.
"Exactly, it's already dawn and I have yet to find an excuse to explain this."
Gisborne lifted the candle he was holding to light his face and Allan saw the wound on his face: four parallel scratches, clearly caused by human nails.
Allan noticed that Gisborne was clearly agitated and panicked at the thought that Marian could find out his secret.
"Another mission of the Nightwatchman, eh? This time, those who gave you those marks? The sheriff? Or did you say something that annoyed Little John?"
"It was Meg..."
"Meg? A girl?" Allan grinned, looking at him in amazement.
"It's not what you think!" Guy said, blushing and Allan laughed.
"Then you will tell me about it, but if you want to survive to do so, let me dress up and find a solution to your troubles.
"Hurry up." Guy snarled and Allan grinned.
"Do you know? I think I have an idea."

Marian woke up hearing strange sounds coming from outside the house. It looked like someone was fighting near the stables and she worried, thinking of an attack by bandits, then she recognized the voices of Guy and Allan and she looked out the window to see what was happening.
He saw Allan hitting Guy in the face and Gisborne immediately responded with a shove and they both rolled to the ground where they continued to fight.
The girl watched them for a moment with her mouth open, then she ran down the stairs to try to stop them.
She walked out the door just in time to see Allan who was trying to get up again and Guy who was dragging him back to the ground.
Marian shouted at them to stop, but the two men seemed not to hear her, so she went back into the house, grabbed one of the buckets full of the water that the kitchen maid had used for washing dishes the night before and she emptied it on the two litigants.
This time Guy and Allan stopped and turned to look at her, panting and soaked.
"What are you doing?! Are you both crazy?"
The two exchanged an angry look.
"He has not the slightest respect!" Guy shouted.
"And I'm sick of being insulted!" Allan replied.
For a moment they seemed about to start fighting again, but Marian came up, staring menacingly at them.
"Get up off the ground and explain to me what happened." She raised a finger in warning. "One at a time."
"Hey, I just made a joke and he took it badly," Allan said.
"It wasn't fun at all and it wasn't just one joke. I warned you to stop."
"And when did you warn me? Before or after you gave me that punch?"
"Enough!" Marian shouted "Stop it now! Are you grown men or five years old? Do you think it's sensible to get hurt over a trifle? Grow up, both of you!"
Guy and Allan lowered their eyes and Marian looked at them and shook her head: they both were drenched, battered and dirty with earth and straw. Guy had a bloody scratch on his face while Allan was bleeding from a cut on his lip and they both would get various bruises soon. Overall they looked like two little kids who just come out of a fight.
The girl stared at them, crossing her arms and waiting.
"Maybe..." Guy admitted guiltily. "...Maybe I overreacted."
"And probably I should have quit joking when he told me to do so..."
Marian sighed: knowing them, those sentences were the closest thing to an apology that those two could utter.
She gave them a small smile.
"Go and clean up a little and then come home. Meanwhile, I'll prepare the necessary to medicate those scratches."
The girl went back in, shaking her head, while Guy and Allan headed toward the well.
As soon as they were certain to be out of sight of Marian, they both made a sigh of relief and they exchanged a satisfied smile.
"It worked." Guy said, almost in disbelief.
"I told you, no? Make her to get angry over a trifle and she won't notice anything else."
Allan pulled up a bucket full of water and Guy splashed some of it on his face.
"You saved me, I'm grateful."
"You are welcome. But you could have hit me a little less hard, my lip hurts like hell."
"It wouldn't have been credible. Anyway you used your nails to reopen the scratch and make it bleed again, it wasn't any fun either. I'd say we're even."
"All right, but you have to tell me about this Meg. At least is she nice?"
Guy gave a sort of snort.
"I'll tell you later, when we go to Knighton."

"So you have risked your life to save her and she thanked you with scratches and insults?"
"Yep."
Allan shook his head and asked no more questions to Guy. Now they were close to Knighton and they couldn't risk being heard by prying ears.
They rode in silence as they entered the village and Gisborne smiled to see the two children who were waiting for them like every morning, sitting on the doorstep of their house.
Mary throw him an apple and Guy caught it.
"Thanks, Mary."
"Hey, no apples for me?" Allan protested and Jack threw an apple to him, trying to hit him in the head, but Allan was quick enough to dodge it and the fruit rolled to the ground.
Mary made an exasperated sigh, she slapped her brother on the neck and she bent to pick up the apple. She dusted it with her hands and then she stood on tiptoe about to give it to Allan.
"Excuse him, sometimes he's so childish. You should grow up, Jack."
Guy and Allan exchanged glances, thinking that Marian had told them the same words with a very similar tone only a short while before and they laughed.
"Mary, Jack, come to eat your breakfast!" Their mother called the children, looking out of the door.
She waited until the children were inside and then she waved farewell to Guy and Allan.
She was still scared and wary of the black knight, but she could not ignore the fact that Guy of Gisborne had defended the village and had brought home her children healthy and sound after she had been afraid of losing them forever.
Guy replied with a curt nod and moved his horse. He tried to be polite to her because she was the mother of Mary and Jack, but he couldn't forget that this woman was one of the first to call on his blood and almost had him killed.

When they arrived at Knighton Hall, the workers were already working and Guy smiled to realize that probably within a day or two the land would be freed completely and they could start actual reconstruction.
They dismounted and Allan took a blanket from the saddlebag.
"What are you doing with that?" Guy asked and Allan stretched it out at the foot of a tree.
"Last night you didn't sleep, right? Go on, rest a little."
Gisborne looked at him, a bit surprised, and he was about to thank him when he noticed that one of the workers was a little aloof than the others and that he had his face covered by the hood of his cloak.
"Rest will have to wait, come."
They approached the man and Guy pretended to examine the contents of the cart pushed by the false worker.
"Hood, what are you doing here?" He whispered. "The sheriff will send definitely his soldiers to look for you, you should stay hidden, at least for a while."
Robin looked from Guy to Allan, noting the signs of the fight they had before.
"Hey, what happened to you? It wasn't Marian, right?"
Allan chuckled at the idea.
"No, it's part of my plan to hide that scratch. If she was aware that it had been a girl to make it, Giz would look a lot worse than that, I'm afraid."
"Stop it, Allan." Guy scolded him, but he couldn't suppress an amused smile. He turned to Robin. "So why are you here?"
"We need to decide what to do with Meg. We can't let her go, but we can't even keep her at the camp forever."
"She's driving you crazy, isn't she?" Guy asked and Robin gave him an unhappy look.
"We can't leave her alone because she would flee on her own, but she wouldn't last much hours if she went alone in the forest. And then she knows who you are, I'm not sure we can trust her. But if we have to keep watch on her, we won't have enough time to deliver the food to the poor."
"What will you do then?" Allan asked.
"We'll stay with her in turn and you two have to do your part too."
Guy shook his head.
"Forget it. That girl hates me and I don't care to go home with other wounds that I'll have to explain to Marian."
"You're the one who convinced me to save her from the dungeons, now take your responsibilities."
"You would have saved her all the same, aren't you the hero of Nottingham?"
"Guy..."
"No."
"Should I remind you all the reasons you have to be grateful to me?" Robin asked with a cheeky smile and Guy looked at him angrily.
"That's not fair!"
"I'll be waiting at the camp this afternoon then. And don't worry, you can go back to Locksley before sunset."
Robin pushed the cart loaded with rubble and walked away from Knighton Hall, whistling.
Guy sighed at the thought of still having to deal with Meg Bennet and he returned to the blanket spread under the tree. Seeing that Allan had been kind enough to bring it, he might as well get some sleep, or he wouldn't have enough energy to deal with that stubborn girl.
Allan followed him and sat down on the grass beside him.
"Hey, Giz."
Gisborne had already closed his eyes, but he opened them to look at his friend.
"What's up?"
"You still didn't say if Meg is cute or not."
Guy thought about it for a moment.
"Yes. I would say she is." He said, recalling how pretty and helpless she looked when he saw her sleeping in the dungeon cell, then he smiled thinking of another face. "But not as nice as Marian."