The Ghost

Chapter 17 - The End is Coming

The cook and the kitchen girls were looking at the two men, in awe. They knew very well both Guy of Gisborne and Robin Hood: one was the dark henchman of Vaisey; the black knight who once ruined the life of one of them, Annie; the stern master who barked orders at them whenever the sheriff wanted something; the other was the brave outlaw who helped their families and always made fun of the sheriff. They feared one, and acclaimed the other, but they would never expect to see them working together in perfect harmony.
Robin had gathered them in the courtyard of the castle, and they wondered what he was going to say. They knew that they were in a dire situation and they were all scared, but they didn't know what they could do about it.
Robin and Guy were on the stairs, a few steps higher than the gathered crowd of servants, and Robin began to speak.
"I won't lie to you, the danger is great. If that army succeed in entering the castle, they won't have mercy on anyone, they will kill us all."
The women looked at each other, in fear, and they all began to speak at once.
"Please, listen to me!" Robin said, trying to get their attention again, but they didn't listen, too panicked to pay attention to him.
"Shut up everyone or the army will be the last of your worries!" Guy roared, and the women closed their mouths instantly, terrified. Gisborne turned to look at Robin with a complacent smile and made a gesture with his hand as to say that he could go on speaking.
Robin nodded at him, and he turned back to the crowd of women.
"As I said, the danger is great, but we won't give up. We can fight back, defend ourselves, and we will. To do this we will need your help."
"What help could we give you?" The cook asked. "We are just women. Servants."
"It doesn't matter. Guy?" Robin looked at Gisborne, and the knight nodded back. "Please, listen to Gisborne, he will explain how you can help."
Another murmur spread through the crowd, but they didn't dare to express their doubts in a louder voice.
Gisborne cleared his voice, and he began to speak, uncertain at first, but becoming more sure at every word he uttered.
"It's true: you are women," he said, looking at them, "but the bravest person I know is also a woman. Maybe you think that you can't do anything to help us protecting the castle, but it isn't true: your help will be significant, it could make the difference and save all of our lives."
A young kitchen girl gathered all her courage to reply.
"Sir Guy? What could we do? We don't know how to use a sword or a bow..."
"Can you cook? Are you capable of boiling water?"
"Yes, but..."
Guy pointed a finger at her.
"That's what we need. You will take all the big pots that you have, and you will bring them on the walls, along with all the necessary to make a fire. You'll boil water, and oil, and you'll take care that they keep boiling. Then, if the enemy soldiers try to enter the castle, you will pour them on their heads."
The women looked at him, surprised, then they began to nod, to approve his idea, glad that there was something that they could do.
"Much will show you where to set the fires and how to pour the boiling liquid on the enemies," Robin said.
"What about our children? We can't leave them alone!" One of the women asked, her eyes full of tears.
"And I have an elderly father, he doesn't have the strength to fight..."
"We'll hide them in the cellars," Guy said, after thinking for a moment, "The walls are strong, and the doors are made of solid wood, if they barricade them from the inside, pushing barrels and bags of grain against them, it would be difficult for the soldiers to open them. The elderly ones can look after the children."
Robin agreed.
"Do it. And make sure that they have water and food so they can survive for some days, if necessary. As soon as they are safe, set the fires and begin boiling water and oil."

Allan woke up with Marian shaking him.
"Oy! What's up?" He asked, sleepily.
"Allan, wake up! Where is Guy?!"
He sat up in the bed, looking around and yawning.
"Isn't he here?"
"If he were, I wouldn't be asking you!"
Allan looked at her.
"Why should I know? I was sleeping. Maybe he needed the privy."
"That's what I thought when I woke up and I didn't see him, but he didn't come back. And he took his sword! Why should he take his sword to use the privy?"
Allan shrugged.
"In a inn like this one, I'd take the sword to go anywhere."
"However he's been away for too long, get up and let's go searching for him."
Allan nodded, and he hurried to get ready. He was beginning to worry a little, because it was strange that Gisborne got up without waking him too. At the castle there was no way to keep sleeping if Guy was awake.
They went downstairs, and Marian hurried straight for the stables.
"His horse is not here!" She exclaimed, and Allan rushed to reach her, now really worried.
They went back inside the inn, and the host gave a piece of parchment to Marian.
"Your friend paid for your room, and he left this for you."
The girls grabbed the message from the man's hands, and she hurried to open it.
Allan got closer, trying to look over her shoulder.
"What does it say?"
Marian's face became pale.
"He's gone back to Nottingham to help Robin..."
"What?! Is he mad?!"
The girl crumpled up the parchment in her hand, as if she wanted to make it disappear.
"We must run after him!"
Allan turned to the host.
"When did he leave?"
"In the middle of the night. Silly thing to do, if I have to be honest, but who am I to judge my customers?"
Allan turned to look at Marian, serious for once.
"Marian, I don't think that we can reach him in time. He'll be already in Nottingham by now."
The girl shook her head.
"We can let him go there. He'll die!"
Allan grabbed her arms, and looked at her.
"He will die if we try to follow him. If we want to save him, the only thing we can do is to go to talk to Prince John and persuade him to stop the attack to Nottingham. Giz and Robin together will fight with all their energies, and they will try to hold the town for as long as they can. If we hurry, we might make it in time."
Marian nodded, wanting to believe him. She felt almost stunned, and she couldn't believe that Guy had left her to go to risk his life to help Robin.
I was right, he's a good man... But now I wish he wasn't!
She shuddered, feeling cold as if they were in the middle of winter, and she thought that she just wanted to sit in a corner, alone, and cry all her tears, to weep until she would fall asleep, but she couldn't.
If there was even a single hope to save Guy and Robin, they had to try, they had to run to London and get Prince John's approval to save Nottingham.
Marian looked at the crumpled parchment and straightened it, thinking that maybe those were the last words that Guy would ever address to her. She couldn't accept it and she wondered why it was so much harder to think that Guy could die than it had been to leave Robin to defend the city, just a few hours ago.
Do I love him?
Marian didn't dare to answer to her own question, and she cowardly said to herself, that now she had no time to search for an answer, they couldn't afford to lose time.
She looked at the parchment for a last time, then she folded it and she put her under her jacket, close to her heart.
"Allan! Saddle the horses! We have to go!"