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

Chapter 36 - You Owe Me an Explanation

"So he's not here?"
Allan was beginning to be really worried. If Guy and Robin hadn't returned to the camp they could be in trouble.
Even Little John had a grim expression.
"This I do not like. First Robin leaves with Much and Meg to go helping that woman, then Gisborne also disappears... There's something strange."
"Archer said they weren't caught."
"He work for the sheriff's! I do not understand how you can trust him!"
"You said the same about me and Giz, not too long ago."
Little John looked at him menacingly.
"And in fact I'm keeping an eye on you. But at least you two have done something good."
Allan grinned: coming from John, that was a huge compliment.
"Better to go look for them."
Little John nodded.
"I will check the drop points, maybe someone has seen them."
At that moment the secret door of the camp opened and Meg ran past him, followed by a panting Much.
"Allan! John! Where are Robin and Isabella?" The girl asked, anxiously.
"Isabella was captured by her husband's men, but we know nothing about Robin or Guy." Allan said, taking a long look at the girl: Meg was more elegantly dressed than he had ever seen her and, rosy and breathless after running, she was incredibly pretty.
"We were supposed to be chased by Thornton's guards, but they didn't fall for it!" Much complained. "We thought they would chase us mistaking Meg for Isabella, but they didn't. Oh, if anything happens to Robin, I'll never forgive myself!"
"Archer told me that he and Giz managed to escape, but they aren't back yet."Allan explained.
"What are we waiting for, then?! Let's go look for them!" Much said and the others agreed.

Archer looked at the girl who determinedly rode next to him and he felt uneasy.
Allan had told him to check on Gisborne at Locksley without alarming Marian, but the girl immediately sensed that there was something strange and she had questioned him, making him confess that Guy wasn't at Knighton and that not even Allan knew where he was.
Archer thought that if the sheriff had hired that woman to work in the dungeons, the prisoners would confess all their faults even without the need of being tortured.
"Guy trusts you," Marian said. "Is he right to do it?"
"I wouldn't hurt him."
"You already did it, I saw it with my own eyes."
Archer understood that Marian was referring to the lashes he had inflicted upon Vaisey's order.
"I couldn't help it, just as Gisborne was forced to hit Robin Hood. And anyway that happened before..."
"Before what?"
"Before knowing him. Before becoming his friend."
Marian stared at him, amazed. Guy cared about his friendship with Archer, but if Archer was sincere, and at that moment he seemed to be, that bond was mutual.
"Do you think he could be in danger?"
Archer looked at her: this time the girl's tone wasn't as harsh as before, but scared and lost. Seeing her so vulnerable, he was tempted to reassure her, but he knew that Marian wouldn't be fooled by a lie.
"Honestly I don't know. But Guy is full of resources, in one way or another he always manages to make it."
Marian nodded.
"Where do we start looking for?"
Archer had no idea and he couldn't tell her that Gisborne and Robin Hood had been seen for the last time in the woods near Clun, otherwise he would risk to reveal Guy's secret.
If Marian hadn't insisted on following him, Archer would have gone looking for his brothers in the forest, but now obviously he couldn't do it.
"Let's try to ask in the villages, maybe somebody saw him. If we don't find him we will return to Knighton to see if Allan had more luck."

Guy pushed away his wet hair from his face and he smiled as he saw the thread of smoke rising above the treetops: behind the bend in the path there was Knighton Hall and the warm fire of its fireplace.
"Leave the horse here," he suggested, pointing at a group of bushes. "Nobody will see it here and you can take him quickly to get back to the camp."
Robin nodded and dismounted, clutching his cloak with a shiver. It had stopped raining, but both he and Guy were soaked, cold and sore and he couldn't wait to get a little warm.
They tied the horse to a spot not visible from the path and they continued on foot. Robin noticed that Guy didn't fully put his weight on the injured leg.
"Hasn't it healed yet?"
Gisborne looked at him.
"Almost. If you had avoided kicking me there, it wouldn't hurt so badly."
Robin rubbed his jaw.
"Even your blows weren't so light, if you really want to know."
Guy watched Robin, covered with scratches, bruises and mud, and he imagined that he too probably looked like that, if not worse.
"Perhaps it would have been wiser to avoid battering each other..."
Robin let out an amused smile.
"For once I have to agree with you."
Guy returned the smile, then he became serious again and he sighed.
"I know it's my fault. Whenever that monster hurts her, it's as if I hurt her with my own hands."
Robin shook his head and he put his hands on his shoulders to look him in the eyes.
"You couldn't know it, and I shouldn't have reproached you. You may have been superficial, perhaps, but at the time you were very young and nobody could have imagined what this man was capable of doing."
"And now Isabella is in his hands again. I let them capture her..."
"If you really want to blame someone for this, then you and I are guilty in the same way. But we will set her free, I swear to you that we will do it."
Guy nodded weakly.
"I hope so."
"Always the pessimist! Come on, Gisborne, when did I ever let you down? We will save your sister without any doubt. But now let's go before we catch our death."
They walked the last stretch of the path through the woods in silence, then Guy stared at Robin and the outlaw gave a questioning look at him.
"You were just lucky, Hood," Guy said and Robin guessed an amused note in his voice. "If it hadn't been for that rock, I'd have knocked you down."
"Oh really? I have some doubts about it."
"Are you challenging me, Hood?"
"No, also because I don't think you'd have the energy right now."
"Want to bet? I don't need much strength to defeat you and teach you some humility, Hood."
"Then I hope you like the mud, Gisborne, because soon you'll see it very closely."
They exchanged an amused look, perfectly aware that this time it was a game, a friendly challenge that had nothing to do with the madness of a few hours earlier.
Guy grinned and Robin gave him an angelic smile, then they rushed against each other, trying to throw each other on the ground.
Gisborne pushed Robin into a bush, but the other clung to him while falling, made him lose his balance, and they both rolled down a steep slope.
Guy landed with his back in the dust of the road, Robin fell on him a moment later, leaving him breathless for the impact and neither of them had time to react before two horses galloping along the road came too close, risking of trampling them.
Luckily for them both, the riders realized the danger and pulled the reins, causing the horses to rear, but stopping them in time.
Panting, Guy tried to push Robin away to get up from the ground, but when he looked up at the two people on horseback, he stared at them, petrified. Robin, still clutching Guy's shirt in his fist, seemed equally surprised.
Marian dismounted, astonished, without looking away from the two men lying in the middle of the street.
"Guy! Robin! What the hell are you doing?!" She blurted, then she glanced at Archer worriedly, remembering that Robin Hood was an outlaw and he was the sheriff's henchman.
The young man glanced at his brothers in amazement, then he gave Marian a brief smile.
"I didn't see anything, I didn't hear anything and now I have to go back to Nottingham before the sheriff realizes I'm late. Ah, Gisborne, I came to tell you that the sheriff had Lady Isabella locked up in the dungeons of the castle for trying to escape from her husband. I have given orders that no one can enter her cell, I have the key, but if you come to the castle tomorrow, the sheriff will not deny you the right to see her and talk to her."
Archer looked at Marian for a moment, intimidated by the look on her face, then, before one of the other three could say anything, he turned his horse and started off at a gallop.
Marian watched him go, then she returned to pay attention to Guy and Robin: both were soaked with rain and muddy and, even if she hadn't actually seen them scuffling, the signs on their faces proved that they must have fought violently.
The girl noticed that Guy had a bloody cut on his forehead, half hidden by ruffled hair, but she didn't let the worry she felt to soften her expression or the tone of her voice as she approached the two men.
"I think you two owe me an explanation."