A Chance To Believe In More.

A Chance To Believe In More.

The young woman sat at the stream bathing her aching feet - the relative silence of this area of the castle was so different from the noise she experienced after the hours of screaming she’d been subjected to by the Sheriff and the many demands thrown at her by the Lords who came to kiss the hand of the man who could ensure they kept their ill gotten gains. When she’d found herself standing at the outer bailey of Nottingham Castle with her father the new sword-smith, Gwen had hoped never to come face to face with the Sheriff of Nottingham. Vasey was an ill-tempered man who craved the attention of Prince John the younger and somewhat corrupt brother of the Lion Heart himself, King Richard. The whole of Nottingham lived in fear of the man who strove to destroy the once great city for his own gains, her father Adam, had found himself been called upon to serve the Sheriff and along with several other smiths was now housed in one of the lower rooms of the castle creating God knows what for the loyal soldiers that guarded the walls of the castle, both the Inner and Outer Bailey were patrolled from sun rise to sun set. Gwen had found herself sleeping on a straw mattress in a room with three sometimes more other serving girls, she was used to being without her father now but the awful loneliness she felt at not having someone to confide in like she had him, of not having her Father’ reassuring smile to help her get through each day, led to nights filled with tears and half-cocked plans to run away. When he had left that Mid-Summer morning she had promised him faithfully and before God, to be a good girl and to make the memory of her late Mother, Eve, proud and she did her best. Gwen suffered with one thing that got her more threats of the whip and other such punishments and that was her love of freedom and not to be caged in. The one thing Gwen should never have been was a servant, it was everything that went against her spirited nature.

Yet here she was, gaining the small amount of freedom she could find, away from the screams of the man who if she was honest seemed to have been possessed by the Devil - any goodness and purity he may have had at one time now gone through greed and ambition. Gwen Verrall waited hand and foot on the men and women that came here, the Sheriff had commented on his first meeting of the young woman she now was, that she was ‘suitable’. Suitable for what she hadn’t known at the time but now she knew - she was obedient and quiet, she did her duties without question and tolerated the drunken hands that touched her and the irritating catcalls the Lord called out when she walked past them. She smiled demurely at the bald man who made her blood run cold and worked with the other girls to keep the rooms looking clean and presentable. Her father had called her a good daughter, a child that knew her duty to the good Sheriff. Her father had been wrong, she was neither a good daughter nor bowed down in duty. She was a wise woman who knew when to behave and when to search for the freedom she could find elsewhere. She also knew that she maybe called upon at some point to lie with one of the gruesome Lords or be sold off as a cheap distraction. That would be the day her true nature surfaced and the man would take a blade to the gut, there were benefits to being the child of a sword-smith - you learnt the trade from an early age by watching, and Gwen had put that knowledge to good use, she carried with her hidden at all times, a tiny blade that would do a lot of damage. The woods surrounding the castle were her playground when she could escape, she knew of course that Robin in the Hood and his comrades of outlaws roamed the beautiful lands. Yet he had been a name of mystery - a man of legend to many within the walls of the castle. Gwen however wasn’t impressed by the young man who ‘stole from the rich to give to the poor’ - his actions had caused many to have ropes around their necks or be tortured by Vasey’ loyal men. One such loyal man was the Master at Arms, Sir Guy of Gisborne. He was always at the side of the Sheriff it seemed except, much to Gwen’ curious nature to see the man that had a vicious temper and eyes that one girl had described as being ‘taken from the sky’ they were so blue, whenever she herself was forced to be in the presence of the unprepossessing man . She knew he was always dressed head to toe in black, that along with his height and black hair made him imposing to all who came across him. Which begged the question, just why did Gwen want to meet the man who most of Nottingham feared?