The Forgotten Keepsake

Chapter 10

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In the face of all that he had to put up with recently, it was no surprise that Guy found himself escaping ever more frequently to the stables. His horse was the only one not to bring him any grief and riding was practically the only thing to bring him any pleasure.

And of course there was the joy of putting distance between himself and the shitshow that was currently unfolding in Nottingham.

Count Friedrich of Bavaria and in particular the fallout of his visit was making Guy's life hell.

Vaisey loved money and power above all else and 'the Booby' had helped others to relieve the Sheriff of a tidy sum and he'd been powerless to do anything about it. Of course, it was everybody else's fault - the Sheriff never seemed to question his own failings whenever his schemes went arse up – the fact that of all the dumb rich nobles there were in this world, Vaisey had decided to invite somebody intelligent enough to outwit him had never crossed his mind for an instant. And that was not to let anybody else off the hook, let's face it, it had been a total farce from start to finish – they'd all messed up but it was always Guy that got to bear the brunt of Vaisey's ire in the aftermath.

It was with this background Guy saddled his horse early one morning and rode out of Nottingham for the day. His mind was so full of other things that he scarcely knew where he was riding to but he found himself smiling as he realised where it was his troubled mind had taken him.

To Castlebrook.

To his surprise, there was a small scattering of houses there, none of them so grand as Locksley or his former home at Gisborne, but although they were small, they looked tidy and relatively new – couldn't have been built more than a few summers ago. Some of the houses had a small yard or garden attached with chickens running about, and nearby was a path leading to fields and a patch of woodlands, then on to the river that divided the village from Clun. It was still quite early but there were people already busying about doing chores and the like - he took care to hang back on the outskirts and observe from a distance as if scared to disturb the idyllic scene taking place before him.

It made him happy to see that there was once again life in Castlebrook. It was not the village it had been by a long shot and what he had done here could never be undone he knew, but it was a comfort to him that this place was once more a home for a few families all the same.

He stood there for some time mesmerized and couldn't bring himself to go any further. A strange fear came over him and he scarcely knew why – it was silly but it was as if this was all somehow a dream and if he moved, even the smallest fraction, that everything would crumble to ash before him and the village would be as he had last seen it - a wasteland of destruction. His horse nudged him out of his reverie and he smiled; the houses were still there - all was well, he shook his head and stroked his companion on the nose, murmuring words of affection before continuing forwards on foot towards the village. He removed his leather jacket; he was not here on business, or to fulfil any unpleasant tasks for the Sheriff and had no wish to alarm anybody or draw any attention to himself with his usual dominating attire. Fortunately, nobody recognised him or seemed particularly interested in his presence, a few villagers nodded politely in passing and one stopped briefly to admire his horse but other than that he passed through largely unnoticed.

He stopped to rest briefly under a tree whilst his horse grazed and all he could think of was Mina. Indeed, he was half expecting his little friend to come running out of one of the houses at any moment and start following him round the village as she always had done. His fingers clenched around the stone she had given him and he closed his eyes to picture her in his mind.

I'm sorry little one.

I know it's no good to you now but I am.

I wish I could go back in time and do it all differently but I can't.

He decided it was time to go. He was getting maudlin again and he didn't want to. He had enough regrets as it was, there was no point going over all this again. He hoped now that he had seen the place once more, he would be able to consign these thoughts, this story of Mina and Castlebrook to memory and to think of other things.