Men of Sherwood (A Rogue's Tale Book 1)

by Sarah Luddington

  The wickedness in me rose again. “Though I can if you like?”

  He snorted and turned away.

  “Give me the horse’s reins.” He released his hands on them with harsh effort. I took them, looped them over the fine equine head and began the long trek I had planned. I would not be taking the horse the usual way we used for beasts, or for humans. I wanted a new path for Guy so we’d be walking a long time.

  For long stretches of the journey he remained silent and the horse followed me with surprising contentment. It must mean Guy felt relaxed. I liked that small measure of trust he demonstrated, but then, if I tried anything he probably had a hundred other weapons secreted about his person that I hadn’t bothered to look for – which made me feel like a bloody idiot.

  While we trudged up the hill, I mulled over my attraction to Guy. Something about him fitted against me, the sense of danger no doubt as it did with Robin, but Guy felt vulnerable in a different way to Robin and I wanted to slide between the crevices and gain a handhold so he would twist in the wind and work with us, not against us.

  He burned hotter than Robin, a maelstrom of conflictions. He held that sword on me but hadn’t used it and the moment he’d seen Robin… his entire world had shifted. A gasping maw threatened to suck him under until Robin responded to some unspoken need in them both that left me intrigued but floundering.

  He’d also known I’d come to Nottingham, he’d known the minstrel on the list at the gate was likely to be me, and he’d come to find me. He wanted something from me, needed even, despite his best intentions.

  Or maybe my hubris whispered words that didn’t exist. Maybe I represented the perfect spear point he could use to hunt down his nemesis and I could be used to walk him into our camp.

  “Are you going to kill us?” I asked into the silence of the woodland.

  “If I was going to kill you, Will you would already be dead. I found your camp weeks ago, I just needed to know how many of you lived up there, what kind of force we’d be facing, what kind of barriers to a swift end. I do not trust the men of Nottingham to give me the information I need to carry out a successful raid so I do these things alone. It is why the king trusts me.” The confidence in his voice was not arrogance, just a simple acknowledgement of the truth.

  “And now?” I asked.

  “Now I need to understand Robert’s intention because Robert is a dangerous man that you cross at your peril. At least I now know why you’ve been so successful for so long that even the king has noticed.” He sounded amused.

  “You know I started all this? Robin didn’t have anything to do with it until the autumn,” I said.

  Guy laughed, a broken sound, something unfamiliar to the man who owned it. “Well, that’s just ensured you have prime position on the scaffold, minstrel.”

  He had a good point. “The people of Sherwood cannot continue to provide for the Church and the State. The sheriff and the king want too much from us, Robin understands that, and it’s clear our tactic is working because you are here. You were sent by the king to subdue the rebellion in this, a stronghold for him, because Philip Marc owes King John everything he has, including Marion and therefore Huntingdon.”

  Guy chuckled. “Clever little minx.”

  “I have my moments,” I said.

  “The king has God given rights.”

  “God wants his people to starve to death to fight wars in France we don’t give a shit about?” I snapped. My tension flowed to the horse and he tossed his head. Guy made a soft sound, and the beast calmed in an instant.

  “You don’t believe the king is right to reclaim what was taken in France? Has a right to demand his people’s obedience?”

  “Do you?”

  “I am from Brittany, Will. My lands were lost to us before England was taken by William. I will not throw away my loyalty to the Angevin family as if it were no more than smoke and mirrors. My father made that mistake.”

  “King John is not Henry, and neither is he the Lionheart.”

  “Perhaps not, but having fought with the Lionheart I am in a position to say, he might have been a fine warrior but a king to rule a mighty empire? No. The Lionheart could think about nothing but war, he wasn’t interested in the administration of the land and empires need legislators.”

  “And John is I suppose?”

  “I didn’t say that. But there are no other options.”

  “William the Marshal,” I stated having heard Robin speak of the mighty warrior.

  “An old man who might have the support of many barons but he is not of royal blood and his loyalty is to the throne. It will always be to the throne of England.”

  We’d walked a long way by now and my legs were aching, the going rough. The trees were close together and the ground littered with leaves hiding deep mud and narrow streams.

  “You know a lot,” I said.

  “Just because you see whatever Robert has told you, it doesn’t mean I am only about that thing,” Guy said with a blade’s warning of anger in his voice.

  I jumped over a fallen log and the horse lurched to follow me.

  “Damn it, I’m going to break my neck if you carry on like that,” Guy snapped. “If you insist on this charade then at least ride before me so we can move at a sensible pace and I won’t fall out of my own saddle.”

  I stopped walking, and the beast huffed into my ear making me chuckle. “Alright.”

  The thought of riding that close to him with his long body pressed against my back made my skin feel tight and a strange ache began low in my guts. It didn’t take long before I sat there, Guy’s weight pressing into me, the saddle tight, holding us secure.

  I startled when Guy’s arms encircled me. “I told you the tie was too loose.” He breathed the words into my ear and I shivered.

  “You’re not having the reins,” I said, trying to at least fake my control.

  “I don’t need them,” he said. A single command in a language I didn’t recognise had the horse moving forwards without a struggle.

  26

  THE REST OF THE journey proved faster but did nothing to make me feel more comfortable. Guy’s slim but strong body fitted against my back in a harmony similar to but different from Robin’s. His hands maintained an easy and gentle grip on my hips, long fingers holding me with such lightness I often didn’t feel them at all, except for the burn of awareness his entire presence created. I tried not to press into his heat but we were going uphill a great deal and that meant I had to feel him pressed to my back as we leaned over the horse’s neck. His breath caressed my jaw and cheek and once or twice I felt his smooth skin brush mine. I tried very hard not to work out what I felt pressing against my backside, but the soft torture created a tingle inside me that began to make my blood fizz.

  How could I be attracted to Guy of Gisborne and Robin? And why didn’t the word ‘attraction’ feel big enough?

  “We’ll stop here and I’ll get down, we’re close and I don’t want them to think you have me prisoner,” I said.

  Guy’s hands tightened a little and I felt his lips close to my jaw. “Do you want to tie me again?”

  I closed my eyes and breathed in, only to be surrounded by Guy’s scent, which didn’t help. How could his beautiful, accented voice sound so obscene and needy? Or maybe that was my obscene and needy mind creating mountain ranges out of a mole’s hump.

  “It might be wise,” I almost squeaked, making him chuckle.

  I swung my leg over the horse’s neck and slipped off the side, silent in my self-chastisement while I retied his hands. We covered the last of the distance to the encampment and came up over the harshest side of the small plateau.

  It felt like I’d been away for months. The late afternoon light shone over the golden trees and I felt their shiver when the wind picked at them. Now we were here I realised I’d made a stupid decision bringing Guy to our home and Robin would doubtless have my hide for this act of defiance.

  “Will?” came a voice from my lef
t.

  I turned and waved. “Much, can you find Robin for me? I have someone here he’s going to want to talk to, and make sure it’s Robin not Marion.”

  They’d been busy while I’d been away, the beginnings of a palisade going up along the parts of the escarpment that were harder to defend. I watched Much race off and the horse shifted behind me. In surprise I turned and watched Guy come down off the animal.

  “I didn’t tell you to get off,” I said, irritated by my complete lack of control over the man.

  “Robin will know I can order my horse to attack, like this I am defenceless and he’s less likely to kill me.”

  “You’re scared, aren’t you?” I could see points of colour on his cheeks that peeked from under the blindfold. He hadn’t made a single attempt to remove it and for a man used to being in charge it must be hard to surrender like this to someone like me. Surrendering control to Robin would be understandable but not me – a commoner and outlaw.

  “I am not scared. I am… wary. Worried perhaps about how he will react to me.” Guy spoke with the same quietness the leaves had when they tumbled to the ground in the autumn wind.

  Our quiet interlude vanished. A tumble of people spilled from the cave, including Marion and Tuck. I groaned. Robin came with them but I watched only Marion. Her expression went from pleased to see me to registering the man next to me and rage twisting her beautiful face.

  Robin stopped in his tracks which meant he wasn’t close enough to Marion to prevent her racing towards me.

  I stepped in front of Guy. “Marion, please, he comes in peace. He’s not armed.”

  A knife flashed in her hand, her eyes focused on Guy. “He’s a murderer,” she yelled.

  I pushed Guy backwards into his horse without taking my eyes off Marion. “He’s here in peace.”

  “He’s Marc’s lackey.” She had the sense to stop before attacking me.

  “He’s a lot more than that, he’s here to talk to Robin.” I dared not take my eyes off her but I worried the others would take matters into their own hands, especially as Tuck carried my bow. “Please, all of you, he’s here to speak with Robin, nothing more. He is no threat, not this time.”

  “I don’t need you to speak for me, minstrel,” Guy said, pushing against my back.

  “You can’t see what I can, just fucking stay put,” I said, shoving my shoulder back to prevent him from moving.

  Robin’s legs woke up at last and he moved towards us. “Will, what have you done?”

  “He just wants to talk. He came to me, I didn’t go and find him,” I said. “Things are changing and you need to talk to him. Please, Robin.”

  I’d seen more warmth in the ice covering the streams up here than I saw in Robin’s gaze. “All of you, get back inside. I don’t need him seeing faces.”

  “Robin, I don’t think –” John’s firm voice made Guy twitch behind me. Did he recognise something?

  “He knows me of old and he already knows I’m here.”

  “This is wrong!” Marion cried out. “He was there,” her voice cracked and her pain washed over me, “he was there when…” The tears were a tumble of grief.

  Robin placed a hand on his sister’s shoulder. “I know, Marion. Tuck, take her somewhere safe.”

  Tuck stared at me like he didn’t recognise me. “How could you do this to her?” he whispered, gathering Marion to his chest. He began murmuring to her and I watched Alan flank them, carrying my bow. John turned and ushered the others back to the cave.

  Robin didn’t move until the last of our people were safe. “Take him back into the tree line, Will. I’ll not have him see our work here.”

  “Don’t trust me, Robert?” Guy asked, an unpleasant twist to his soft voice.

  “I have no reason to trust you, Gisborne.” Robin strode off.

  “Can you get on the horse without help?” I asked.

  Guy reached up, his fingers found my cheek and brushed down in feather-like distraction. “If he kills me, Will, it won’t be your fault.”

  “I’m more worried about the others,” I said.

  Guy shrugged. “I’m a soldier who never planned on surviving the Holy Land. What happens, happens, fate is a mistress I understand.”

  I grunted and waited for him to lift himself back into his saddle. We trailed after Robin and when I found him in the woodland glade we’d often used to find a little privacy before our small hut became home, I stopped.

  “You can get down,” Robin said.

  Guy dismounted but made no move to remove his blindfold. The silence stretched, warped as it became thinner, twisted into a new creature that made my throat tight and heart pound. Guy shifted, his breathing coming in shorter breaths and Robin just stared at us.

  “Did you fuck him?” he asked at last, looking at me.

  The words hit like a quarterstaff smacking me around the head. “No!”

  “Remove the blindfold,” Robin snapped. Guy moved his hands to lift it. “No, Will can do it.”

  I turned my back on Robin, feeling very nervous, and lifted the blindfold off Guy’s face. He blinked rapidly, the daylight deep in this part of the woodland during the end of the day. He focused on Robin and I saw a flash of emotions almost too complex to name before he shut down.

  “May I have my hands released as well?” Guy asked.

  I glanced at Robin who nodded once. He watched as I untied Guy and stepped away. I chose to remain the third point of a triangle between the men.

  “What are you doing here, Gisborne?” Robin asked.

  “Maybe I want to talk about what happened in the Holy Land before I drag your arse back to face charges in Nottingham, Lord Huntingdon.” Of all the things I expected to come out of his mouth a provocation like that wasn’t one of them.

  Robin growled and I watched his shoulders hunch in a well-recognised movement as the precursor to violence. “Stop it,” I snapped. “From what I understand you two hardly need to compare the sizes of your dicks.”

  Both men stared at me. I swallowed hard and tried to dispel my nerves. “Try talking, please. I didn’t bring him here to hurt any of us, I brought him because he agreed to talk to you.”

  “I did not agree to anything, minstrel,” Guy stated.

  I stared at him in disbelief. “Really? You’re going to let your damned ego get in the way now? You could have arrested me last night, or this morning, but instead you chose to come with me in peace. You chose, Guy, because you want to talk to Robin, so fucking talk and stop provoking him. Let him trust you.”

  Robin snorted. “I’ll never trust him.”

  “Even though he saved your life?”

  “Will, don’t…” Guy murmured, his entire stance wary.

  “What’s he talking about?” Robin asked, taking a step forwards.

  Guy backed off despite being out of reach already. “Robert –”

  “That is not my name.”

  Guy closed his eyes for a moment. “Robin,” his voice softened, “I am sorry. Will is right, I’m here to talk, that’s all.”

  “Why is he talking about you saving my life?” Robin said, stepping even closer. Guy backed off another step but a tree stood in the way and he stopped.

  “It’s not important, Robin. Really, it’s not.” A flash of genuine fear flickered to life in the darkness of Guy’s grey eyes.

  Robin looked at me. “Not my story to tell.”

  “We have more important things to discuss,” Guy said. “More relevant to you and your people.”

  “Such as?” Robin asked. “It must be important for you to risk your life by coming here.”

  “If it were anyone but you governing these people I would have destroyed you all by now,” Guy stated and I didn’t doubt it for a moment. “But it is you and I know you are clever enough to understand how unsustainable this is. The king sent me and he will send others. Rebellions are beginning throughout the lands. The barons who have lost their lands in France are unhappy, they switch sides, choosing Philip
over John if they are offered their continental lands in exchange for their loyalty. John then promotes others to their lands in England. Henry’s empire has gone and will never come back. The barons who only have lands in England are not earning enough to pay the taxes for wars they don’t want. They aren’t interested in Europe’s troubles. They want peace here so they have a chance to grow their holdings. The winds of change are coming to England once more.”

  “And all this politics and dick tugging by nobles interests me why?” Robin asked. The scar on his face remained in shadow and as I watched the two men talk I could see their beauty; one rough-hewed from the rock of the land, the other moulded from the grace of air given form. It made me tingle all over and the ache in my guts grew so tight I could hardly hear their words.

  Robin turned his back on Guy and walked to the log we often sat on together. “Tell me more.”

  Guy relaxed at last and joined him on the log, sat a fair distance away but they faced each other in such a fashion that they might be mistaken for friends. I tied the horse so he could eat and opted to watch but not get between them.

  “I was sent here by the king. He is unstable at the best of times, but since losing in Poitou and the problems with Pope Innocent it’s become worse. He has settled with the Pope at last but the northern barons are still against him. The Church is not happy he still claims too many of their bishoprics, and Philip will never surrender Normandy. I know Philip too well, which is why I’m in England. The man’s fury over the Lionheart is still fresh for reasons I will never understand.”

  Robin grunted and picked at the bark he sat on. “I think I know. Their friendship became a battleground because Richard wouldn’t admit Philip might be a better tactician and… well, they might have shared more in common with us than many supposed possible.” A flush of colour raced up Robin’s cheeks and I bit back a smile. Guy’s cheeks also coloured, the shades of a bright dawn making his eyes soften to a silvered mist.

  “The Church at least is calmer now, but Philip Marc is all that stands between Winchester and the northern barons taking England’s throne. If they truly seek to rebel, join the Welsh and the Irish that come over the water in the spring… Robin, war will finish off this country. She is already weak and exhausted from years of conflict overseas, she needs peace and John isn’t interested. He will shore up Marc no matter what. You cannot defeat the High Sheriff of Nottingham and even if Marc goes, there will be another and it will be harder and harder to hide. They’ll have me burn the damned forest to the ground if I cannot root you out any other way.”