From Ashes, Through the Fire (English) (From Ashes Vol.3)

Chapter 28 - Out of the Cage

Marian smiled, taking one of the children in her arms to make him fall asleep, while Djaq rocked the other one.
"It was really a surprise, I didn't expect they could be twins." Marian said.
Djaq smiled at her.
"I had thought about it, but I didn't dare to hope for it." She sighed, looking at her children. "I had a twin, once. I hope they will never have to endure my own pain."
"They'll be happy, you'll see."
Djaq thought that only Allah could know, but she didn't contradict Marian, understanding that the girl just wanted to wish a good future for her children.
"They are a boy and a girl, just like me and Djaq."
Marian gave her a curious look and the other girl smiled.
"My real name is Saffiya, I use the name of my brother in memory of him. Guy never told you?"
"Did he know that?"
Djaq noticed the flash of jealousy in Marian's eyes.
"When he was a prisoner in Robin's camp, we got to talk a little bit. At that time he thought he had lost everything and he hadn't much hope for the future. I'm glad that now things have changed, you deserve to be happy together."
Marian returned the sleeping baby to Djaq.
"Now I'll let you rest."
Djaq gave her a worried look.
"Is Allan back? What happened to Clun?"
Marian shook her head, nothing was known yet.
The girl came out of Djaq's room, went down the stairs and saw that Guy was snoozing, lying on a bench that was usually lined up against the wall and that he had moved near the fireplace.
Will couldn't be seen, but he returned shortly after, bringing a cradle, followed by Mary and Jack.
"I had built a more beautiful one," he said. "but now I can't risk going back home to get it."
"That was our crib!" Mary said, proudly.
"Alice was kind enough to lend it to us." Will confirmed.
"I'll tell Thornton to see if Robin's one is still in Locksley, you'll need two of them."
"So it's true that they're twins? Can we see them?" Jack asked, curious to find out if the twins really looked identical to each other like they had heard.
Marian smiled at the two children.
"Later, let them be with their parents. They are just born, they must learn to know each other."
Jack gave a short sigh of disappointment, then he decided he would do better to take care of the horses and to make sure they had food and water.
The boy left the house, while Mary approached Guy and watched him sleep, then she glanced at Marian and smiled at her.
"When you get married will you have a baby too?"
Marian blushed. If all went well, sooner or later it would happen, and she would carry Guy's son.
That idea frightened her to death, but it was also unbelievably beautiful to think that their love would give birth to a child, and that she could hold in her arms a completely new person, but who would have a part of both of them.
"I hope so." She said, smiling, and at that moment Guy opened his eyes and sat up.
"What do you hope?" He asked, rubbing his eyes, still sleepy.
"Lady Marian can't wait to have a baby with you, Sir Guy!" Mary exclaimed cheerfully, then she went out to join her brother in the stables.
Guy gave Marian a puzzled look and the girl flushed, embarrassed.
"That's not what I said!" She stammered and Guy looked at her in amusement.
"I know." Guy said, smiling. He had been tempted to tease her a little longer, but he forced himself to behave. "I was awake, I heard what you said."
"So why did you ask?" Marian asked, indignant. "Did you just want to make fun of me?"
"Yes." Guy admitted, candidly, and the girl was tempted to throw at him the first object she could find, but she changed her mind and touched his lips with a quick kiss.
"You wouldn't deserve it, Guy of Gisborne."
Guy pulled her closer, making her sit on his knees and kissed her again.
"I know, and this is to thank you for your generosity."
Marian smiled.
"It's not enough. I believe you should thank me again."
Guy obeyed and he looked back at her with amusement.
"I'm afraid it's not enough yet, what do you think?"
The girl giggled.
"I'm afraid of it too."
Gisborne was about to thank her again when the door opened and Allan entered the house. Guy and Marian got up and went to meet him.
"So? What happens in Clun?"
Allan shook his head, desolate.
"The sheriff has driven all the inhabitants out of the village, using the excuse that they haven't paid all their taxes, and the whole village has been occupied by a company of soldiers."
"It's not the first time he tries to do something like that!" Marian said, furious.
Guy nodded. A few years before the sheriff had intended to let the inhabitants of Clun die of hunger and then use the village as he pleased. He hadn't done so thanks to Marian's opposition, but he had made sure to punish the girl by cutting her hair in public. Guy still shuddered with rage at the thought of that day and he remembered that he had been forced to attend the humiliation of Marian without being able to do anything to stop it.
Allan nodded, pointing at the door.
"When I arrived, the soldiers had already started to occupy the houses, but I still managed to get into the hut of Djaq and Will. I loaded on the cart everything I could take."
"Excellent work, they will be happy." Guy approved. "Take two men and unload everything in one of the empty rooms."
"I wonder why Robin allowed it." Marian said, thoughtfully. "He's usually the first one to oppose these things, why didn't he intervene this time?"
"Perhaps he understood that he could do nothing against all those armed men." Allan replied.
"What will all those people do now that they have lost their homes?" Marian asked, afflicted.
"Some went to live with their relatives in other villages, the others hid in the forest."
"It's not right! We should do something!" The girl exclaimed.
"Forget about it." Allan said, even before Guy could protest. "You haven't seen how many soldiers there are, if we tried to oppose the sheriff, we would only end up in the dungeons or hanging on the gallows."
"If the inhabitants of Clun who are left homeless should choose to move to Knighton, I will try to do everything possible to help them start a new life, but we can't do much else," Guy said, taking Marian's hand and holding it tight to comfort her. "But I wonder why the sheriff needs to set up an army in Clun..."
"They didn't have Nottingham uniforms, those soldiers wore different colors."
"I suppose we'll find out about Vaisey's intentions all too soon." Guy said, then he looked out the window, watching the sky that was beginning to become pink at sunset, and he turned to Marian. "Your father will be worried about you, let me take you back to Locksley."
The girl looked at him.
"Do you want to escort me because I'm a woman? By now you should know that I am not a helpless girl."
"No, I want to come with you because you're my woman and I love being by your side."
And also because later the Nightwatchman will visit Clun and I want to make sure you are safe in Locksley. Guy thought, but he didn't say so.

"What would have you done if I hadn't met you?" Robin asked, leaning against the door with his back.
"I would have stolen a horse and tried to reach my brother." Isabella's voice came a bit muffled, but clear from the inside of the room.
"They would have found you right away."
"You mustn't underestimate me, I have more resources than you think."
"Then you and Guy have more in common than you like to believe."
The door opened and Robin turned to look at the two women who had left the room: Meg was wearing Isabella's elegant dress while the latter wore the practical outlaw clothes of the younger girl.
Robin looked at Isabella's legs, highlighted by Meg's breeches. The girl was thinner than Isabella and the clothes that were rather loose on her were too revealing on the other woman.
"If I keep my hair covered with the cloak, they will never notice that I am not the woman they are chasing." Meg said, with a satisfied expression.
Isabella looked at her, worried.
"If they were to capture you, you will be in danger..."
"In that case I will say that I have exchanged my old clothes with yours, they would have no reason to restrain me. And then both Much and I are able to defend ourselves, they won't take us so easily."
Robin had some doubts about it, Thornton's men would not believe in an innocent misunderstanding, but to say so would have been useless. He helped Isabella to climb one of the horses and mounted his own, then Much and Meg took the other two animals and left the stable, while Robin and Isabella waited a few minutes before taking the opposite direction.
They rode in silence for quite a while even after leaving the city walls behind them, then Isabella pulled back a lock of wet hair from her face with a sigh.
"It's raining so hard, now..."
"Better. If they try to use the dogs, the rain will wash the smells away."
The woman wrapped herself in her cloak, shivering. At that moment she missed her fur-lined clothes, but despite the cold she felt a warm spark of hope in her heart.
She was running away from that demon who was her husband and apparently this time her brother wouldn't abandon her. Could she believe it? Could she really hope to escape from hell?
She glanced at the man who rode next to her and wondered if Robin Hood was really as skilled as people said. He was a nobleman who had the courage, or folly, according to some, to rebel against the sheriff's abuse, giving up everything he had just got back after many years of war.
But she had never had the courage or the chance to fight her husband until now, and even now she was terrified of what she had done by running away. She could no longer live with Thornton, but she had never been free and the endless possibilities in front of her scared her to death.
Robin looked at her and she straightened herself upright in the saddle: she wouldn't show him her terror, in all those years pride had been one of the few things that had supported her, allowing her to go on.
"I never thought you and my brother could ally, I confess."
Robin chuckled.
"The same is true for me, but now I think I have learned that when it comes to Gisborne I shouldn't be surprised by anything."
Isabella stared at him, amazed.
"The Guy I remember was too predictable. He was always so deadly serious and gloomy. Even before... Even when things were still going well..."
"Well, I think you'll get to know each other again."
"Maybe." Isabella said. She needed the protection of her brother, but she didn't know if she would ever trust him again.
Robin watched her for a long moment, then pointed at a half-ruined house half hidden in the trees.
"For tonight we can't go any further, horses need rest and we need it too. Come, in there we will be sheltered from the rain."