Enemy of My Enemy

Chapter Sixteen - Tests

"Who's that?" A tall shape loomed out of the darkness.

"John, it's me," said Allan.

"What do you want? And why is he here?"

"They're allies now, remember? Robin won't mind."

"You don't think?" Guy heard the staff thump against a tree trunk, twice, just loud enough to rouse a light sleeper.

Moments later – and Guy hadn't heard him approach, or seen from which direction – Robin was there, pulling on his shirt. Guy had a fleeting image of Marian lying in Hood's bed, but anger at her short-sightedness, at her impulsiveness, anger that she'd brought this whole situation about, quickly swamped any other emotion he might have had.

"Gisborne....so keen to talk to me you can't wait till tomorrow?'

"Shut it, Locksley. The sheriff has Meg."

"What?" the outlaw demanded. "Why?"

"Ask Marian. She went to Locksley today, and now Vaisey's accused Meg of consorting with outlaws."

Robin groaned, rubbing a hand through his hair.

"Come on. We'd better talk."

But instead of leading them to the camp, Hood took them off in a different direction; Guy realised this when Allan questioned it.

"Where are we going then?"

"You might have been followed," Robin said tersely. "We heard you were being watched."

"So, the cave?"

Robin grunted an assent. He halted their progress several times, listening for anything beyond the usual, identifiable might-time forest sounds. Only when he was satisfied did they move on.

In the cave, he made short work of lighting a fire from the fuel already stacked there.

"Tell me," said Robin, once the three of them were seated around it. "What's happened?"

"All I know is what I told you. I don't know what Marian wanted, just that she was seen."

"Which means you have a spy in your household – someone reported it to the sheriff."

"Perhaps," agreed Guy. "Or he may have just had someone watching the house, otherwise Marian would have been arrested."

"Well, first things first. What do you want me to do about it?"

The question grated, the blunt assertion that he was going to him for help. Which, Guy supposed, he was, but not in the way Robin meant.

"You can help us by giving the sheriff something of yours he wants."

Robin snorted.

"That again. I thought I told you, he's not getting the pact."

"Not the pact," put in Allan. "He's making this new one, and he wants your seal for it."

"Wait, what?"

"I've seen it," Guy said. "And your name is on the new one, as plain as day, the Earl of Huntingdon."

Robin laughed, incredulous.

"He's dreaming. The king would never believe it. Putting my name on there will just undermine its credibility."

"Full of yourself, aren't you Locksley?" Guy muttered into the flames.

"As your wife told me, grow up Gisborne...."

"Look, can't we just get on with it?" Allan said. "Whether your name will undermine it or not doesn't matter, the sheriff wants it on there, and he needs your seal."