Enemy of My Enemy

Chapter Five - Beginnings

"You wound me, Gisborne," drawled the sheriff the next morning, examining a tray of gems that a merchant displayed before him. "That one, I think."

Vaisey looked up.

"Time for a new tooth," he murmured. "Now - do you think I wouldn't have thought of that, of all the...fripperies....that come with a wedding?"

"I'm sure you have, my lord, but you know how women are. They need time to prepare for this sort of thing..."

"Yes yes, all the pretties. But the arrangements - the priest, and the feast, and the minstrels...all in hand, Gisborne. All you need do is show up."

"That's just it. If that's all I do, she will feel coerced. I've...discovered...that's no way to start a marriage. But if we could delay – say three or four weeks, allow me time to court her..."

Vaisey laughed outright.

"You think you can win this one in so little time, when two years didn't get you far with the Lady Marian? No – soft, Gisborne, too soft. Besides, I know what you're up to. That just gives you, and her, time to try and wriggle out of it."

"Not with her father keeping an eye on her. I'm sure Lord Bennett will keep her, if not under lock and key, then closely watched."

Vaisey considered this; Guy waited, concealing his weariness. He'd had years of practise at it. He could smell the stench of the dungeons still on him; he hadn't taken time to wash down, but had come straight to Vaisey's quarters to try and alleviate the sentence the sheriff had passed on the girl.

That was how he saw it. Being wed to him, with his murky future, it could be nothing else.

He'd had very little sleep. Chains, damp, and the smell of men's fear weren't conducive to it. It didn't help that for years he'd been the one giving out the beatings, or the order for it, himself. What would Meg say, if she knew? But then, how could she not know? He was Vaisey's henchman; everyone knew what he did.

And no one could see past that. No one except Marian, that is, and now this impulsive chit of a girl. She'd come barrelling out of nowhere that time, to rescue him from Hood's dunking. And for some reason, she still had the urge to protect him, stealing Marian's blade so that he couldn't kill the jailer and incur the sheriff's wrath.

He didn't understand it.

Vaisey, who'd been tapping his quill on the desk, now rose and paced to the window. Guy waited.

During the night, he'd had plenty of time to think. If Meg wouldn't escape, then he must find another way out. He owed it to her. A delay, perhaps, one that would give them time to see her safely away. Marian might know of somewhere she could find sanctuary, until all this had played out and it was safe to return.

Marian. Her betrayal hurt him far more than the sheriff's treachery. So blind...they started to surface again, the anger, the self-recriminations. He kept recalling fresh things.....his sergeant, for one. For all the compassion Marian showed to the poor, she didn't shrink from making ruthless choices. She'd let him torture his sergeant to death, believing him to be a traitor. She'd listened to him going on about loyalty, when all the while, her own lay elsewhere. With Hood. And so, she'd kept silent. Guy wondered if he'd really known Marian at all.

These glum thoughts had been swirling in his head, like swill in a goblet, when he was disturbed by Meg's crying. He'd offered comfort; she'd leaned into his hand, trusting, and the unfamiliar stirring of affection he'd felt had surprised him. Of course, he'd withdrawn. She couldn't be allowed to depend upon him for comfort. To depend upon him for anything.