The Nightwatchman Doesn't Kill

Chapter 24 - Let Go of the Past

The tour of the castle seemed to never have an end, and, from Alexander's point of view, all that effort from the little bold, painfully smelly man wasn't even particularly useful. He had already studied, before leaving London, a complete map of the castle, or rather, of the usually known parts of the castle. What interested him, the hidden parts, the tunnels, the secret internal and external passageways of the castle, the spoils rooms, the treasure room (the real one), he wouldn't learn from Vaisey.
The night would help him, it would give him the opportunity and the necessary protection in order to investigate on his own.
Strange kind of man, the old one, so strange and peculiar that for a moment, The Redhead had wondered how he managed to obtain and maintain the position of Sheriff of Nottingham. But under the guise of his smug and heavy irony and his taste for violence, not too subtle, he could see in him an undeclared tendency to sycophancy and repulsive bed practices and preferences that, in all probability, had paved his way to Prince John.
Not seen, the Redhead's mouth twisted with an expression of disgust. A moment later, Vaisey turned to him.
"The idiot that had your position before you proved to be a perfect incompetent, it won't take much to get all his tasks in your hands," Vaisey said.
The idiot.
The old man kept repeating that word, more and more rabid, referring to the previous Master at Arms, Guy of Gisborne.
He shouldn't wonder about it, given the impression of the Half-French that he had had in the Holy Land. He perfectly remembered the failed mission of the latter, and all the attempts to investigate how a group of not-enough-skilled assassins could have infiltrated among the soldiers of King Richard, and reached him so easily.
For the rest, the courage and recklessness of the young Robin of Locksley was enough to stop them. He had foiled the assassination and he was highlighted once again, one too many for his liking, before the Lionheart.
But fortunately, he had also been hurt enough to prompt the King, at the suggestion of the Redhead himself, to send him back home to heal properly.
Better.
Among those in charge of investigating the assassination attempt, aiding and abetting,was, in fact, Alexander.
Months of cover-ups and silting followed. A couple of them... literal.
Never leave any traces behind. Better to bury them in the desert sand.
Deeply.
So the case was closed with no other responsible inside King Richard's troops.
It must have been a plan of the Saracens, the King was convinced of this.
A Good Work.
And it was about time to go back in England, taking advantage of Prince John's gratitude because he wasn't even suspected of being the instigator of the attempted Royal murder, and just before the war in the Holy Land was over.
Whatever the outcome of the latter would be.
"For your salary, you can take advantage of Locksley's incomes, you will administrate it by yourself, waiting for Prince John to allocate that land... definitely. Manage it with a firm hand. No gloves, neither velvet nor... leather. The previous manager was Gisborne. And he was unsuccessful, of course. Foolish man. Idiot. He lost more time behind the skirts of that leper-woman instead of learning what was important to rule those lands. Prince John, not me, of course, desires to get more taxes from those lands now. And from a couple of other smaller places such as Clun and Knighton. Especially from the Leper's Lands"
Vaisey laughed, bitterly, coarsely, of his own joke.
Interesting. Simply put, he had provided much useful informations with a few words.
Locksley was actually taken from Robin while he was in the Holy Land, given to the Half-French and later taken from the latter.
The promise of that particular land was therefore a decoy for Vaisey, who wielded obvious and most interesting lands for himself to keep a good part of their proceeds.
And Gisborne had had some relationship, of course, just as unsuccessful as his management of Locksley, with a noble woman of the lands around Nottingham, particularly disliked by Vaisey (the leper). The latter was the reason, the true one, of the anger Vaisey had towards the Half-French.
For someone like Vaisey, an incompetent as Gisborne shouldn't have been a big problem.
He could have, and should have, fixed it before.
Much earlier.
But Vaisey seemed to have had, towards Gisborne, some expectation that went beyond the simple relationship between Master at Arms and Sheriff.
An expectation that had been disappointed.
Very disappointed.
The Redhead wondered what it might be.
Not out of curiosity, of course, and certainly not for fear of a return on the scene of the Half-French.
Gisborne seemed dead and buried, although he was probably still alive, somewhere.
And maybe 'the idiot' would continue to remain alive, as long as he kept staying away from the Sheriff.
Alexander wanted to understand their relationship to avoid it, however, to avoid the same mistake he did.
He wouldn't allow it, whatever it was. He would be the Master at Arms of Nottingham Castle.
This was the task that was given to him by Prince John. Well, most of it... The rest of his new tasks wouldn't be known by the old Sheriff.
Prince John had not appreciated the news of the failed assassination in the Holy Land, and Gisborne, nothing more than a pawn, convinced by Vaisey to be a knight, was not the only one to be considered responsible for the failure.
Vaisey's expectations were not the only one disappointed.
But Vaisey not seem to show concern about it. Instead, he should worry.
In his strange way, the old Sheriff seemed to be rather pleased with his arrival, and eager to show his power and efficiency to him.
To impress him, to seduce him, somehow.
But Alexander was not one to be seduced.
He was single-minded too.