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

Chapter 24 - What Could I do?

"The camp is yours, now," Robin said, quickly, and Much nodded emphatically to his words.
They both seemed to have a great urgency to start the deliveries, and Guy sighed, glaring at them.
"Thank you very much," he grumbled, going through the secret door. Allan, instead, seemed happy and curious to know Meg.
The girl was sitting by the fire and she seemed to be in an even worse mood than Guy. She looked at the newcomers with resentment.
"Oh well, not only you keep me imprisoned here, but now leave me alone with the sheriff's dogs!"
Gisborne approached her in a couple of strides, before Allan could stop him.
"Don't you dare to call me that!" He growled, threatening, looking into her eyes, but Meg did not flinch in the least: she raised her hand and she threw in his face a handful of dirt.
Guy covered his face with his hands, rubbing his eyes with a groan and she took the opportunity to push him back and make him stumble on the log behind him.
She didn't watch as he fell, but she turned her back and ran away, trying to escape from the camp, but Allan stepped in front of her and grabbed her, holding her tight.
Meg tried to free herself, kicking and scratching, but the young man was able to tie her hands behind her back and he fastened the rope to one of the trees, then he hurried to Gisborne.
"Hey, Giz, are you well? Come, rinse your eyes." Allan led him up to a bucket full of water, but he kept his eyes on Meg. They had been at the camp only for a little time and Allan was beginning to fear that they at their return the outlaws wouldn't find alive all three of them.
Guy took off the dirt from his eyes, cursing, then he looked back at Meg, furious.
"Now I understand why your father preferred to have you arrested by the sheriff rather than having to deal with you!"
Meg looked at him defiantly.
"If having to deal with me is such a great weight, then let me go!"
Guy grabbed the knife with a curved blade that he always carried on him, and both Meg and Allan looked at him, seriously concerned, then Guy threw the knife before Allan could stop him.
The knife cut the rope that Allan had used to tie the wrists of Meg and the girl looked at her hands, amazed that she had been released.
She glanced fearfully at Guy and Gisborne pointed at the door of the camp.
"No one holds you captive. If you want it so much, go. I'll come to attend your wedding with one of the sheriff's allies, or at your funeral, and next time I will think twice before risking my life to save an ungrateful, silly girl."
Allan looked at him, wondering if he had gone mad and started to protest, but Guy ignored him completely and went to lie down on one of the bunks, covering his face with his arm to shield it from the light.
"What do you want, Allan?" He asked shortly after, feeling a presence near the bunk and, receiving no answer, he moved his arm to watch.
Standing next to him there wasn't Allan, but the girl.
"Weren't you eager to go?" He asked, unfriendly, and Meg snorted.
"Like I really could."
"Who's going to stop you?"
"You know very well that I don't have a safe place where I can run."
Guy looked at her, and gave her a small wry smile.
"Then why did you do such a fuss?"
Meg stared at him, pouting.
"I can't stand being told what to do. In fact, I don't understand how you can blindly obey that kind of toad of the sheriff."
"I already told you, I don't work for him anymore. And if I don't rebel openly it's because it would be useless and it would only put at risk not only my life. Other persons would be in danger."
"But I agree on the definition of toad." Allan spoke up, with an amused smile. He had kept an eye on Guy and Meg, fearing a clash between them, but now they both seemed to have calmed down.
"Now that we've established that you're not going to go around alone in the forest, can I also count on the fact that today you have already made your daily act of violence against me and therefore you won't try to kill me in my sleep?" Guy asked, returning to cover his face with his arm.
"Don't worry Giz, sleep well, I'll stay with Meg."
Allan smiled at the girl, who gave him a wary look in return.

Robin urged the horse to reach the camp as soon as possible. None of his companions were in a hurry to return there, but he was a bit worried about leaving Guy and Allan alone with the girl and he had promised to Gisborne that he would be back before sunset.
He flicked open the door and he was concerned to hear that the camp was surrounded by dead silence, then he saw Gisborne, lying on his bunk, completely motionless.
He approached him, more and more worried and was relieved to see that the black knight was just asleep. Before waking him, he looked for Allan and Meg and he found them sitting near the fire, in silence.
Allan was too busy chewing the lunch leftovers to speak, while the girl was staring at the fire thoughtfully, unusually quiet.
Robin gave a sigh of relief and then he shook slightly Guy to wake him.
Gisborne opened his eyes with a start and recognized Robin.
"Oh, it's you."
"That's how you supervise Meg?"
Guy yawned and shook his head.
"She doesn't need it, she has no intention of escaping. And still there is Allan with her."
Robin gave him a surprised look, then he smirked, amused.
"In any case, you're becoming a little too predictable, Gisborne. Lately all you do is sleeping."
"It's not so strange considering that I spend most of the nights helping you."
"By the way, tonight we will have some work to do."
"Other supplies to be distributed?"
"Unfortunately not. The sheriff has been searching for Meg in the villages. Not finding her, he took the opportunity to arrest anyone who seemed suspicious, and tomorrow morning he will send those men to work in the mines as slaves."
"Once inside the mines, it will be difficult to get them out, we will have to free them before they are taken there. Is he keeping them in the castle?"
"No, in Clun. He imprisoned them all in a barn near the tavern."
"So that's where we have to go if we want to free them."
"It won't be easy, I'm afraid. There are several armed men guarding them and I have the impression that Vaisey is determined to set a trap for us."
"Let him try," Guy said, with a wicked smile. "He never succeeded in stopping Robin Hood and now there is also the Nightwatchman. I just want to see how he can stop us."
Robin looked at Guy and gave a short nod, but when he spoke again his tone was cautious.
"Now go. They also went to Locksley and to Knighton..."
Gisborne's expression changed abruptly and Robin Hood saw the worry that clouded his eyes.
"Marian?"
"She and Sir Edward are fine, but obviously they were quite agitated. I stopped at Locksley before returning to the camp, but the sheriff was already gone."
Guy stood up and walked toward the door of the camp.
"Allan, we have to go!" He called and the young man hastened to put down the food and follow him, but he took the time to say goodbye to Meg with a smile.
"Hey, Giz, what happened?" Allan asked hurrying to his horse so Guy wouldn't leave him behind.
Gisborne explained the situation while they galloped side by side and Allan sighed.
"Are we going back to Locksley?"
Guy wanted with all his heart to say they were, but he forced himself to shake his head.
"We'll go to Knighton first. Robin went to Locksley before, but I don't know how the situation in Knighton is. I should have been there."
"You couldn't have known."
"I should have."
They came to the village at a gallop and Guy was worried seeing no one in the streets, then the door of one of the houses opened, and he saw Mary running toward him, followed soon after by her mother.
The woman grabbed the girl by the arm before she could get close to Guy and Allan, and she pulled her back. Mary burst into tears and buried her face in the skirt of her mother.
"What happened?" Gisborne asked, worried, and the woman gave him a hard look full of despair.
"Where were you? The sheriff took away many of our men, and when he took my husband, Jack came to seek you, but he couldn't find you, and the soldiers have taken him too."
"I'll find a way to take them back go home, it's a promise," Guy said and Allan gave him an uncertain look.
Later, while galloping towards Locksley, Allan looked back at Gisborne.
"How do you think to do that? The sheriff will never let them go, even if you beg him on your knees."
"We will free them tonight."
"You and what army?"
"Me and Robin."
"I'll come too."
"No. Just two persons will pass unnoticed more easily. And if anything happens to me, your place is with Marian and Sir Edward, you will need to protect them for me, Allan."
"Stop it! Don't talk as if you think you won't survive! And stop feeling guilty for what happened, you couldn't do anything to avoid it, anyway."
"At least I would have had to be there instead of spending the afternoon sleeping".
"And would have you been able to stand by and watch without reacting? Even Robin and the others couldn't prevent the sheriff to arrest those men. No, it's better you weren't there, Giz."

Marian kept walking back and forth across the room, looking out of the door every few moments, anguished.
When she saw the horses of Guy and Allan, she ran out, going towards the two men.
Gisborne reined in, dismounted before the animal was completely stopped and hugged the girl.
"Are you well?" He asked eagerly and Marian shook her head, her eyes filled with tears.
"They came this afternoon as if they owned the whole world and they started to chase people from their homes in order to rummage everywhere. I saw them drag a sick woman out of her house, and then, when they found nothing, they took away many men, accusing them of non-existent crimes..."
Guy stroked her cheek softly and avoided reminding her that maybe the sheriff was not the master of the world, but he owned the village of Locksley.
"Did they also search our house?"
Marian gave him a burning look of anger.
"It was the first they began with. The sheriff has personally searched your room, Guy. And when they left the house, it was completely devastated. Thornton and the servants have been working till now to fix it and they have not finished yet..."
Gisborne exchanged a look of relief with Allan: thankfully the costume of the Nightwatchman wasn't hidden in the house, but inside a hollow tree in the forest.
"Certainly he sought an excuse to arrest me too, but he may not have found anything compromising."
He broke away from her with a sigh and they began to walk toward the house.
"Where were you, Guy? If you had been here maybe you could have done something to stop them! To prevent them to take away those poor people!"
Gisborne shook his head.
"No. I wouldn't have done anything." He said flatly.
"How can you say that?"
"There was nothing I could have done. And I hope you have had enough sense and you didn't try to fight the sheriff."
Marian stopped in front of him, to look at him indignantly.
"If I didn't oppose him, it was only because my father and Thornton have stopped me, but I should have done it, and you should have done it too!"
"It would have been very stupid of us."
"You'd just have stood there watching?" Marian asked, incredulous.
"Yes."
"Marian, Giz's right, to resist would only have made things worse." Allan said, trying to calm her down, but Marian moved her angry glare on him.
"And how can you say that since neither of you was here?! You haven't seen how they treated those poor people! Who knows what they'll do to the prisoners now..."
"They will work in the mines." Guy said grimly.
"But it's like a death sentence! We must do something to free them!"
Guy banged his fist on the table, startling the other two.
"No! We can do nothing! I can't do it, Allan can't do that, and especially you can't do it!"
"And who can stop me?"
"I, damn it! Take every stupid idea that could come into your mind off your head, or..."
Marian's slap interrupted him suddenly and Guy stared at the angry girl.
"You have no right to tell me what to do," Marian said, her voice full of contempt.
"But I have that right," Sir Edward said, entering the room and watching his daughter with a stern look. "And of course I've never taught to behave in this way. Sir Guy is right and forbid you to take any initiative."
Guy stared at Marian for a moment, hurt by her words, then without another word he turned away and went upstairs. The other three heard him slamming the door of his room with violence and Allan shook his head.
"You have exaggerated, Marian. Giz just wants to protect you, you shouldn't have told him those things."
"But how can you ignore what they are going to do to those poor people?"
"I think Sir Guy knows it all too well," Sir Edward said sadly. "but he also knows what could happen to all of us if he were to openly oppose the sheriff."

Guy stood with his back to the door of the room and touched his cheek with his hand. It was still burning because of Marian's slap, but what really hurt him was the contempt he had heard in her voice.
You have no right...
It was true, he had no right to tell her what to do, he wasn't her husband nor her betrothed for the moment, but he couldn't allow her to take risks, and he couldn't tell her that he actually was going do something to liberate the peasants arrested by the sheriff.
With a sigh he barred the door behind him and sat down on the bed, staring into the fire that flickered in the fireplace. He waited for nightfall, and when the shadows of the night invaded the room, he went to the open window. He climbed on the sill and lowered himself silently. He took one last look at the lighted window of the main hall, and he was able to see that Allan, Marian and Sir Edward were sitting at the table, each focusing on their plates to avoid having to talk to the other two.
Guy allowed himself a long moment to look at the face of Marian and he vowed that if he survived he would do anything to win that right, then with a sigh he walked away into the night.