Chapter 57 - Brother of Mine

65 2 0
                                    

Guy noticed the presence of someone behind him, but he didn't interrupt what he was doing; he pushed the wooden beam in its place, and then sustained it as two workers fastened it to the other ones. When he was certain that the other workers had finished, Guy turned around.
"It's a lot of time since you last showed up, Gisborne," Archer said, nodding at him.
Guy noticed the worried looks of the villagers, and decided that it would be better to move away from the house under construction to talk to Archer. He reached him and walked with him to the place where he had tied the horse.
"I was unwell. Hood's arrow hurt me more seriously than I thought in a first moment."
"Now you look pretty fit, though."
Guy nodded.
"I'm healed, but I had to make up for the time I lost."
Archer turned to look at Knighton Hall.
"You really care about this house," he commented, a little impressed. The last time he had been to Knighton Hall, he had looked at it burning, but now there weren't traces of the fire anymore and the reconstruction proceeded in full swing.
Guy gave him a distrustful look.
"Yes," he said, reluctantly. He didn't want to show Archer how important it was to him.
Perhaps he was his brother, and Guy hoped to be able to bring him to their side, but for now, Archer was still working for the sheriff, and Gisborne wasn't going to show him the things that he loved and that Vaisey would certainly use to hit him.
Archer gave him an ironic smile.
"Hey, I'm not here to burn it again, you can relax."
"What do you want then?"
"It seems to me that you and I still have a pending challenge."
Guy smiled. This time it was Archer who came to look for him, it was a small step forward.
"What do you propose? I'd rather not risk our life this time."
"How well do you shot with a bow?"
Guy shook his head.
"I'm pretty bad, I'm sorry," he lied. Since he began collaborating with Robin, his skills had much improved, but he couldn't allow Archer and the sheriff to find out, otherwise they might suspect that he was the Nightwatchman.
"We'll try something else, then. Come?" Archer hinted at the horses and Guy hesitated.
He didn't want to stop working at Knighton Hall, but following Archer would help him not to think about his situation with Marian, and perhaps he would make a few more steps in his mission to take Archer to their side.
He nodded.
"Wait a minute, I have to give some instructions to the workers."

Allan took a piece of cheese and chewed it, pretending to be focused on the food. He glanced at Marian and realized that the girl was hiding something: she was too nervous and her gaze couldn't hide her inner torment. Allan was more and more confident that she had seen Meg's performance in the tavern, but before he could think of a way to pull Gisborne out of trouble, he had to be absolutely certain of that.
But he couldn't ask her directly, or he would end up complicating the situation.
"Allan?" Marian looked at him in the eyes, and the young man looked back at her, a bit uncomfortable.
"What?" He asked, his mouth full.
"If Guy did something wrong, would you tell me?"
Allan glanced at her, surprised. He didn't expect such a direct approach.
"Why do you ask? Don't you trust him?"
Marian winced, hearing Allan's words. She had trusted him, and Guy had betrayed that trust, she thought angrily. She was about to say it, but then she remembered every time when Guy had blindly believed her, while Marian had only used him to gather information for Robin Hood.
When he had learned the truth, Gisborne had never reproached her for playing with his feelings and never talked again about those betrayals. Why was it so difficult for her to forgive the adventure of a night?
"I'm worried about the influence that Archer seems to have on him," she said quickly, seeing that Allan was expecting an answer.
Allan noticed that Marian had avoided answering, but for now he decided not to insist.
"I don't understand that, either, actually. But Giz is not stupid, there must be a reason for looking for that man's company, I want to trust him."
Marian envied Allan. She wished that she could blindly believe in Guy as he did, but she couldn't take away the image of that woman from her mind.
It was absurd: she could accept and forgive everything Guy had done to serve the sheriff, but why couldn't she forget a simple betrayal?
"You are his friend, Allan, help him to make no mistakes. Loneliness can lead to approaching the wrong people..."
Allan looked at her and guessed from her expression that Marian was no longer talking about Archer.
"Giz is no longer alone like he was in the past. He has more friends than you think," Allan said in a casual tone, just to tease her.
"Ah. Really?"
Marian didn't know what to think of Allan's words. Perhaps he was referring to Djaq and Tuck, but then he wouldn't have said 'more than you think'. Was he talking about female friendships?
The girl was jealous, and she was about to make more explicit questions, when someone knocked on the door.
Allan and Marian exchanged a perplexed look, and both thought that it could be Guy, but shortly after, Thornton entered the kitchen, followed by two peasant women in tears.
"What happened?" Marian asked, worried.
"From what I could understand, tonight the children of these women didn't come home. They are looking everywhere, but they can't find them anywhere."
"What if the sheriff took them? It wouldn't be the first time that he arrested children," Allan speculated, making the two mothers cry even more desperately.
Marian glared at him reproachfully for being so tactless.
"What's up? I didn't say anything false! It has already happened in the past, with little boys who had seen something they shouldn't. On that occasion, they must thank Giz if they were not executed right away."
"Allan!" Marian shushed him, seeing that the two women were more and more upset. "Stop talking and go to Nottingham to find out if they have been arrested, Thornton, gather the servants and have the horses saddled, we will join the search too."

The Nightwatchman (English)(From Ashes Vol.2)Where stories live. Discover now