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

Chapter 64 - The Father of My Child

When Guy and Marian returned to Locksley, Allan was waiting for them on the door. On the ground next to him, there were two travel bags ready to be loaded on the horses.
"So, Giz, I'm ready. When do we go?"
"You are not coming, Allan."
"Don't you want to go alone?"
"I don't know how long I'll have to stay away, I need you to stay here in my place. You know how to handle my lands and I know that you will protect Locksley, I wouldn't trust this task to anyone else."
Allan nodded, impressed by Gisborne's words, but Marian looked at Guy, worried.
"Will you go alone? I'll go with you."
Guy smiled at her and touched her cheek with a caress.
"I'm afraid it wouldn't be appropriate. But I will not be alone, Hood will come with me."
Marian looked at him, astonished.
"Robin?"
"He told me about Annie. When he left Nottingham, Hood helped her and they had managed to stay in touch somehow. He knows where she lives now and he has decided to accompany me."
The girl nodded. Probably Robin had decided to leave with Guy because he didn't trust him and wanted to make sure that nothing bad could happen to the child. She was a bit worried at the thought of Guy and Robin traveling alone, but she was relieved to know that Gisborne hadn't to go to accomplish that painful task completely alone.
If nothing else, arguing with Robin Hood would take his mind away from too sad thoughts.
"Look, he's coming," Guy said, pointing to a horse that was approaching at a gallop. He bent to touch her lips with a light kiss, then he took his travel bag from Allan's hands.
Robin stopped the horse in front of them.
"Are you ready, Gisborne?"
Guy mounted, and Marian gave a grateful glance at Robin, then the two men left Locksley.

Robin Hood observed Guy. They rode for hours, and Gisborne had not yet spoken a single word, completely absorbed in his thoughts.
"Hey," Robin called him. "Are you alright?"
Guy frowned, as if he had forgotten his presence, and looked at him, shaking his head slightly.
"It seems so absurd..."
"Yeah," Robin said, serious. "I didn't think that you were interested in that girl."
"Annie thought that she loved me. Probably she believed or hoped to be reciprocated and I never did anything to refute it."
"You deceived her because it was convenient for you."
"I'm afraid I did," Guy admitted. "You don't know how it was to work for Vaisey... You can't imagine how miserable it is to live to obey any order of a man like him, how cold and empty is the life at the castle..."
"You could leave."
"And lose everything I had earned so far. Lose every hope of regaining my lands. I would never have done it, not then. But finding Annie's warmth waiting for me after a day of violence and humiliation was pleasant, a comfort, and I didn't want to give it up. Sometimes I found myself thinking that if she hadn't been a servant and I hadn't worked for the sheriff, it wouldn't have been too difficult to try to return her feelings."
"Easy for you, don't you think?"
"I can't deny it, I have been selfish with Annie. And I also admit that I was comfortable with the fact that she went away with the baby, and that I could avoid the hassle of closing that relationship. But I can't remain indifferent in knowing that she is dying."
Robin nodded.
"Maybe..." Guy continued. "Maybe Annie won't even want to see me, but if I can help her, I'll do it somehow."
"You can count on me for that, too," Robin said.
"Thank you. Really, Hood, I'm grateful for what you're doing."
The outlaw gave him a sad smile.
"Brothers for the better and for the worse, remember?"
Guy smiled him back, but he didn't say anything, and they continued to ride in silence.
Annie turned her head to look at her son. Seth was sitting on the floor, aligning some pebbles as if they were an army, and he was focused on that game. The baby had ruffled hair and the clothes he was wearing were dirty with dust and dirt, and the woman sighed, heartbroken.
She didn't have the strength to wash and comb her son, and the other servants who took care of him since she was ill didn't bother too much.
A tear of anguish slipped over her face. What would have been of Seth once she was dead? Who would take care of him? Who would love him?
"Seth," she whispered, and the child raised his eyes, obviously reluctant to stop playing. Those blue eyes shaded by thick and dark eyelashes always gave her a pang of emotion, especially when her son's gaze was morose like now.
"Come to Mommy, Seth?" Annie whispered, but the baby shook his head.
"No, later," he said, going back to his game and Annie sighed. She wanted to get up, hug him and keep him close to her, not letting him go for all the time she still had, but she didn't even have the strength to lift her head from the pillow.
A woman, one of the other servants, came into the room and looked at her with pity.
"Annie, there are visitors for you."
"I don't know anyone, there must be a mistake," Annie said weakly.
"They are two riders, from what I understand they have traveled all night. I have not seen them, now they are talking to Lady Glasson. She told me to warn you and to take care of Seth while you talk to them.
She bent over to take the baby and Seth rebelled, starting to cry and kick. The woman pulled his arm, and scolded him, then she dragged him out of the room, ignoring Annie's protests.
Annie closed her eyes and burst into tears. Was that the life waiting for her son once she died? A life without love, treated like a stray animal?
She heard the door being opened, and she tried to hold back the tears. She knew that Lady Glasson was already generous enough to keep her and Seth even now that she could no longer work, she couldn't look ungrateful. Many would have just sent away a sick servant, to beg in the streets, without the slightest pity.
She looked at the person who had come in, and she stared at him in amazement.
"Robin Hood?"
Robin went into the room and Annie realized from his distressed expression how much sick she looked.
"Why are you here? Did you hear that I'm dying and you came to deal with Seth?"
Robin approached the bed and looked at her face.
"You don't have to worry about Seth," he said and the girl noticed that he didn't have the courage to deny her upcoming death. "In one way or another he will be cared for and protected."
"Will you take him to the forest with you? Look there, on the fireplace, I still have the bow and the arrows you gave him when he was a newborn. You were nice to come. Jane said that there is someone with you, who has accompanied you? Much? Or one of the others in your gang?"
Robin made a sad smile.
"No. The person with whom I came has more rights than me to be here."
Annie looked at him without understanding.
"Who is it?"
"Your son's father."
The girl looked at him, her eyes wide open, scared.
"Guy? Guy of Gisborne?! Why did you bring him here? He mustn't get near Seth! He will hurt him!" She said passionately, then she paled and closed her eyes, panting, touching her chest with one hand to calm the crazy beats of her weak heart.
"No, no, Annie, stay calm," Robin said, worried. "Guy will not do anything to Seth, he's not the one he used to be, he's changed."
"I don't believe it. One who leaves a child to die in the woods can't change, he has a black soul."
Robin shook his head.
"Do you trust me?"
"Yes, you saved Seth."
"Then believe me, so many things have happened in these years and Guy is very different from how you remembered him. I can guarantee for him, now he is my friend, I consider him like a brother, and you know how much I hated him then. At least let him talk to you, listen to what he has to say."
"Don't let him take my son."
"He won't do anything if you don't want, I guarantee you. Talk to him, I'll be out here, you won't be in any danger. Just one word and I'll come right away, but you won't need to call me, Guy is no longer a threat."
Annie looked at him, doubtful.
"So, can I let him in?"
The girl sighed and nodded.
Robin smiled at her and he left the room.
Annie was waiting, agitated, and, shortly after, the door opened again.
Guy of Gisborne hesitated on the threshold and closed the door behind him, then he stopped, uncertain.
Annie's first thought was that he had not changed at all. Guy of Gisborne was exactly as she remembered, the attractive knight dressed in black that once had made her lose her mind, the dangerous man who had broken his heart.
She watched him silently as he looked back at her, and Annie found herself thinking that, looking at him better, instead he seemed completely different.
The arrogance he once had, had vanished from his eyes, and Guy seemed far more tired than she had ever seen him in the past, even when he came back to his rooms after a tiring day at the orders of the sheriff. He was disheveled, with dark circles under his reddened eyes, and he had a spatter of mud on his cheek. Annie remembered Jane's words when she said the two travelers rode all night.
Gisborne certainly looked like he did, and at that moment he tremendously resembled Seth when he came home torn, dirty and tired after playing all day, but still quite energetic and stormy to refuse to go to bed quietly.
Annie found herself smiling: even if there was the slightest doubt, no one could have said that Guy of Gisborne wasn't Seth's father.
Guy was still silent, and he just kept staring at her, as if he was petrified.
In his eyes Annie could see how desperate their conditions were.
She had once been young and pretty, cheerful and lively enough to attract the knight's interest, but the disease had changed her. Now she was too lean, pale and she looked older than her age. Her light hair was streaked with white and her face was hollow, her hands livid and swollen.
Certainly she was no longer beautiful.
"Come here. Get closer so that I can see you well."
Gisborne winced.
"Annie..."
The knight took a step toward her.
"Robin says that you've changed," Annie said in a low voice. "Once I thought that I saw a good side in you, the side that could be sweet. The liar side who said to have feelings that didn't exist. Now what side of you are you showing me, Guy of Gisborne? What do you want from me?"
Gisborne dropped to his knees beside the bed, leaning his forehead on the mattress, near the girl's hand, without daring to raise his eyes on her.
"I'm sorry, Annie, forgive me. I'm so sorry."