Chapter Text
“You should know, I find the fact that your father’s henchman is getting married before us, somewhat disturbing,” Sir Arthur said on one of the daily walks. Valerie’s stomach twisted into a knot as the memory of the proposal resurfaced. It had only been a couple of days, yet by her father’s magical hand the banns had already been read, and on this Sunday – a mere five days away - Guy was set to wed to Marian.
“I guess there is no need for spectacle in their case,” Valerie supplied, thinking on how extravagant a ceremony her father planned for her wedding.
“Sir Guy does not strike me as a man who has a taste for the finer things in life,” Sir Arthur chuckled to himself. “Although I do approve of his bride – she seems well-bred, even if she is of an insignificant descent.”
Valerie raised an eyebrow – she had never heard Sir Arthur speak with such contempt about another person. “And what are the finer things in life, my lord?” The question was an honest one, born from the need to know more about the world – the real world.
“Drinking good wine, like the one they make around the Mediterranean Sea, dressing with the finest silks that brave merchants carry all the way from the land of the Hans. Feasting with a king, or an emperor…”
If what Sir Arthur said was true, then Sir Guy had definitely not known the finer things in life. He enjoyed the cheap, heavy drinks that made him fall into a deep, dreamless sleep. He dressed himself in leather so dark it matched his hair. As for the feasting, she was pretty sure that Guy’s most notable connection was her father.
“He had been unlucky in his youth,” Valerie half-heartedly admitted. “But he does enjoy the absolute trust of my father, and by extension, that of the Prince.”
He did not seem particularly happy with the information. Surely this is no news.
“He has been in your father’s service for many years, I believe,” he said, pausing for a brief moment before he continued. “I had heard…talk that Gisborne was your father’s chosen heir.”
This was certainly news. Pondering on how best to answer, she pretended to be keenly interested in the red-breasted robins flying about. “I am his heir in all the ways that matter, my lord. As you know, women cannot be sheriffs.”
“You believe he will nominate Gisborne as his successor?”
Gisborne, Gisborne, Gisborne! He is more than his title. He is human, for Heaven’s sake!
“I would certainly celebrate such an outcome, my lord. Sir Guy is a capable man and there is not one person I would choose over him,” She spoke before she realized her words could be interpreted in two ways. She rushed to explain herself. “He has a firm grasp of all the things concerning the shire.”
Sir Arthur gave her a half smile. “I admit, I do not hold the man in high esteem – but to hear you talking this highly of him, I am almost convinced of his qualities.” There was some bite in his words, which Valerie noticed, but pretended not to. He went on. “I find him a very strange man, to tell you the truth. Imposing, but also blending with the shadows on the wall when your father speaks. He certainly broods a lot, and he is quite unpleasant in conversation.”
Valerie smiled, but it did not reach her eyes. “He can be all these things, I am sure, but I know him better than that. He rarely shows his good side to people he is not close with.”
Her husband-to-be just nodded. “It seems so,”
“Sir Arthur!” a voice came from behind them; they both turned to see one of the knight’s retainers, rushing towards them.
“Yes? What is it?” Arthur asked, one eyebrow raised.
The man explained that some urgent business was waiting on him back in the castle. The man looked at his master with some unspoken meaning. Sir Arthur sighed and excused himself.
He was already a few paces away when he paused and turned to face her. “Would you require an escort back to the castle? My man will do an adequate job.”
“No,” Valerie said, looking around. “I will walk to the stables; I would like to see my horse.”
If he had anything to say against that course of action, he never expressed it. He just bowed to her and went on his way, to his mysterious urgent business that awaited him, so far from his home…
He is hiding something, she thought as she made her way through the sparse crowd. It was never her intention to go to the stables, but she went anyway. Valerie saw her horse by its stall, quietly sniffing about.
She spent a few moments with it, before the old, abandoned part of the stables called to her. She saw her blunt sword tossed on some heap of hay on the ground – she had thrown it there the last time she practiced, angry that she was not getting any better at sword-fighting.
“Some things take time,” It was Guy’s voice, as he had said these words to her at that time. Ever since then, she refused to touch that blade again. He just shrugged.
I am nothing but a child, and this is why he will never love me.
Something got into her, a feeling of dread. Suddenly, she wanted to flee.
Valerie considered riding; but she had no idea how to prepare her horse, and she could not ride bareback. Asking for a stable boy to do it for her would be like asking her father; the sheriff would know of this the moment she opened her mouth.
She even considered walking – she had no destination, nowhere to go and Nottinghamshire was a vast and wild place. Wolves could roam the woods, but an outlaw’s reach could go even further than that.
Desperate for air, she went outside to the open space. She noticed some commotion going on – some sort of uproar that caused half the crowd to cheer and the other half to boo. Valerie dared herself to go nearer the source of this excitement.
“Good people of Nottingham!” a voice called. “The sheriff is taking everything away from you, it is time to take it all back!”
Sandy hair, lean figure. A quiver at his back, a curved sword by his side.
“Robin Hood! Robin Hood!” the crowd chanted his name over and over again, as his men handed out coins to the peasants.
“Don’t forget to thank Gisborne for his generosity!”
Guy’s wealth was being redistributed in front of her eyes. Anger boiled in her, this was something she could not allow.
“You are nothing but a common thief!” she spat with all the menace she could muster.
Hood took a long look at her in silence; recognition sparked in his eyes. Valerie, felt less confident with her decision now. She could not fight him, if it came to that.
“The sheriff’s daughter is naught but a pampered little girl, playing the lady. The money the sheriff takes from you, he uses to feed and dress her. Your babies are starving so she can have meat in her food every single day! Your sons and daughter shiver in the cold, SO SHE CAN DRESS IN THE FINEST SILKS!”
He was practically shouting by the end of his little speech. Everyone was now looking at her; her legs started to shake.
“WE WANT BREAD!” a man shouted to her face, while another put his hand under her chin and forced her face up.
“You steal all of our money!”
“Somebody’s got to teach your father a lesson!”
“We need food!”
“You leech!”
The cacophony of voices matched the evil in their eyes; hard eyes, angry and others drunken, eyes full of hate – eyes that belonged to people who only needed the slightest of provocation to reveal their bad nature.
They spun her round with such force that she felt trapped in a violent dance she could not escape from. Men and women alike tried to tear at her clothes, pull her hair, strip her of her modest jewel she wore around her neck.
“Leave me alone,” she begged, her eyesight blurring from all the tears.
“Robin, no! Stop this!”
It was the last thing Valerie heard before her world descended into darkness.