Lady Thief

by A. C. Gaughen

Much sighed, shaking his head. “Why do you lot get to say things like that and I can’t? All blustery bravado, you are, but no one trusts me to handle anything.”

  “We trust you, Much.” Rob’s head tilted a bit. “You just have to explain a little,” he told him.

  “You never make Scar explain.” He crossed his arms. “I learned how to open locks.”

  I gaped. “You learned that in a book?”

  He shrugged. “More from a blacksmith who makes the locks, but yes, you can learn that from a book.”

  “Can you teach me?” I asked.

  “You’re supposed to be a proper lady,” he told me, turning up his nose. “But after you’re done with that, yes.”

  “Well, let’s have at it,” Godfrey said. “Right? Time’s wasting.”

  Much nodded, and he went round the front of the store room while we watched. Much pulled two thin, short metal pins from his pocket and set them to the hole in the lock. He held one with his hand and leaned down to catch the other in his mouth. In my eyes, it looked like all he did were jiggle a bit and the whole thing sprang open like he’d set a key to it.

  He waved us forward and spat the second stake into his hand with a broad grin.

  “Well done, Much,” I praised, clapping his arm.

  He beamed.

  We ducked inside and shut the doors again, keeping the lock with us just in case a wandering guard passed by.

  I settled my free hand on my hip. “We need something to carry the lot of it, don’t we?”

  Godfrey went to a sack of flour and could bare heft the thing. “I reckon so,” he said.

  A frown came to my face. John could have taken two of the sacks at a time without a worry.

  I shook John free from my head. “There should be a cart by the stables. Godfrey, why don’t you help me nick it and we’ll get it over here.”

  “I’ll come with you,” Rob volunteered.

  “Godfrey,” I snapped, glaring at Rob.

  Rob strode forward anyway. “I’m coming with you,” he said. “Godfrey, stay with Much.”

  Godfrey looked at both of us and didn’t move forward.

  Which made me miss John again.

  The stables were on the same bailey, right near the barracks. While they weren’t so much guarded, they were lousy with armor and the men what wore it. We went the long way to the back, peeking round the building to see three men drinking and laughing. I pushed Rob back from the corner.

  “We have to wait,” I told him.

  “There. You spoke to me.”

  I glared at him. “You want me to speak? How the hell could you be so cruel, to deny him his happiness? What are you thinking? You know what a family would mean to John after his whole family were taken from him. John, more than any of us.”

  “You think me cruel?” he asked, angry and sad both, stepping from the wall to look at me full. “I can’t stand this. He runs around dishonoring as many women as he can get his goddamn hands on, doing whatever the hell he wishes, and he gets a child, a wife, a reason to stop fighting and think of himself for once. Whereas I—”

  He stopped sharp, looking away from me.

  My heart cracked. “Oh, Rob.”

  He looked at me. “I’ve been playing by all the rules, Scar, and I don’t think I’ll ever have any of that. Maybe he deserves it more than I do. Maybe he does. Because even if you were to get an annulment, even if”—his throat worked—“even if I get to marry you, I’ll never be able to stop fighting. I will never be free of this burden, and I hate him that he can lay it down.”

  I stared at him, drinking him in till I felt tipsy with the sight of him, and pulled him closer to me, wanting to touch him. His arms came round me and I pressed my face to the crook of his neck. “We’d never be happy without adventure,” I murmured to him. “But we’ll be happy with each other. We will have that chance. I promise.”

  His arms shifted, wrapping round my shoulders and head, and it felt like he were shielding me from the world. “I hope so, Scar,” he said in my ear.

  Sighing, I pressed closer to him. “We should look…” I reminded him.

  He moved over a bit, tugging me with him, to peek. “They’re gone.”

  His arms began to loosen, but I fast whispered, “Kiss me, Rob.”

  Like any good gentleman, he didn’t deny me. He picked me up a bit and held me against the wall, kissing me and making heat and courage flow from my toes to my hair.

  He let me down and his mouth left mine. His forehead touched mine, and I couldn’t bring my eyes to open just yet.

  “These schemes may benefit the people, Scarlet, but I fight for you.” His hands squeezed my waist a little bit, and it made my blood run fast. “I will always fight for you.”

  I opened my eyes, pressing my hand to his face, making him look me in the eye. “Rob,” I murmured. “I will do everything I can so that you don’t have to fight anymore. For me or anyone else.”

  He pressed his lips to my forehead. “Come on, my love.”

  It were short work to get the cart over to the food store. It were terrible hard work to load the thing up, especially where only one of my hands worked and I got shouted at when I tried to use the bad one, and Much had a stump for only a bit more use than me.

  We couldn’t close the doors, neither, so it were a fair messy business, and it weren’t long before a guard came over, shouting at Rob and Godfrey.

  “Stop! What are you two doing? Guards!” he roared.

  I heard quite a clatter and put the cheese wheel wedged under one arm on the cart.

  I just hoped that being a noblewoman had as many nice bits as it were meant to.

  “What is taking you so very long?” I asked, stepping out of the food store. “Guard. Perfect. Where are the rest of your men, you were meant to be here ages ago.”

  “M-my lady?” he asked, looking at my coat that Rob had given me, made of peasant’s felt.

  I raised my chin. “Lady Leaford,” I snapped. “Perhaps I should send one of these men to tell the prince his orders are being ignored.”

  “The prince didn’t give no orders,” he said.

  “He most certainly did. Were you aware that the food dispensed earlier to the people was rotten?” I asked.

  “No, my—”

  “Well, the prince caught wind of that in more ways than one, sir. And he isn’t pleased. His Highness has ordered this food to be brought to the people at once.”

  “It’s the dead of night—”

  I fought to draw myself up higher. “The same time of night that our Lord Jesus Christ overcame death, sir.” I sniffed. “Now will you and your men do as you’re told or must I wake the prince?”

  The man grumbled but turned his back and shouted to several guards for help, and I watched, breathless, as they looked to me for instruction on what to take. They wheeled the cart to the gates and called to their fellows to open it while I followed behind with my friends.

  There were still some of the rioters outside the gates who rallied when they saw them open, and some people ran fast from the square, though I weren’t sure if it were for fear or to spread word. I saw Allan doing tricks for some children, and he turned to me with a solemn nod. The guards hung back, and I walked forward, looking back to Rob and the others. Rob nodded me forward.

  “This food isn’t spoilt,” I told them. “I promise. It’s safe for you and your children. We won’t let you starve, and monks have already been sent for the ones that took sick. Please. Take the food.”

  “Who are you?” one man said, spitting at my feet. “Why the hell should we believe anyone from that godforsaken castle?”

  “I’m not from the castle,” I said.

  “That’s Lady Scarlet,” said Allan, coming beside him with a smile. “And that’s Robin Hood,” he said, pointing to Rob.

  I went back to Rob’s arms as the people trusted his name enough to come forward, and soon the square were filled with folk taking their share of flour and grain and cheese and d
ried meat.

  Hidden amongst the crowd, I pressed a dangerous kiss to Rob’s mouth. “You should go. The prince will figure this out soon.”

  “Come with me,” he said. “They’ll punish you for this, Scar.”

  I shook my head. “I won’t break my bargain. Go.”

  His hand slipped from mine, and he faded in the crowd.

  I caught Godfrey’s arm before he passed. “Godfrey, you may not have the stomach to fight Rob the way John does, but you damn well keep him away from here when the trouble starts, you understand?”

  His nod were lost on me as the crowd started to move, and Much yelled, “Scarlet!”

  I turned toward the castle; Gisbourne were coming out of the castle on horses, with a force of knights and lords alike. “What the hell is going on?” he roared.

  The crowd were flung into chaos as everyone grabbed fast for the food and Gisbourne spurred his horse to them. I ran out, ducking as he reined in his horse hard so not to trample me. Before I could even straighten, he were off his horse and charging toward me. “Goddamn you, Marian! You’re behind this? You!” he bellowed, drawing his sword and running for me.

  I ducked under his swinging sword to grab the knife in his boot, angling it at him.

  “Really!” he laughed at me. “You want to fight me with naught but a knife in your hand?”

  I glanced at the cart, where the food were almost all gone. “I don’t need long.”

  Gisbourne swung and I ducked. He lunged and I twisted away, trying to figure out where to stab him that it would get through his thick leathers and chest plate.

  I weren’t doing much to capture their attention. De Clare and several knights were going for the cart with children and adults alike still scrambling for food, his sword outstretched.

  “Gisbourne, de Clare’s going to kill them!” I shouted.

  Gisbourne’s eyes never left me. “He will end what you started, Marian.”

  He swung his sword again, and I ducked, but he tamped his foot down on my bedraggled skirts. With a cry I fell to the ground, and in a swift breath he caught me up, forcing the knife from my hand and pinning me to his chest. He clutched my one good arm and turned me toward the cart.

  I struggled hard as I could as the knights and de Clare grabbed as many people as they had hands. De Clare grabbed a little girl by the arm. I yelled and yelled, and Gisbourne ducked his head to my ear. “This is what you have done, Marian.”

  “Thief!” de Clare cried at her. The little girl sobbed and tried to jerk and twist from his hold, but he paid no attention as he dragged her to a short stone wall. “Do you know what the punishment is for those who steal from the prince?”

  “Leave her alone, you bastard!” I screamed. I knew what he were about as he called a knight over to him.

  “Hold her hand out, sir,” he said, showing the knight how to stretch it over the stone wall so that the wrist were flat and bare.

  “No!” I screamed, fighting against Gisbourne as hard as I could. “Stop it!”

  The little girl understood as de Clare raised his sword to hack at her arm, and she screamed too.

  So did Much. He ran down the wall to barrel into de Clare, knocking him over. Rob took the knight and Godfrey took the little girl and ran.

  Gisbourne’s chest pounded and rolled with deep, hearty laughter. “Robin Hood,” he said, not loud enough for Rob to hear. “Seize him. No one else matters,” he said, and turned to drag me into the castle as the guards and knights flooded past us.

  I slammed my foot into his knee as he tried to walk, and he dropped me, still holding to one arm so I fell and jerked, twisted and hurt. He gathered me up again. “Behave or I will make you still,” he said.

  I did it again, and he dropped me in full, throwing me on my rump so I winced.

  “Damn you!” he growled. “Won’t you stop? Don’t you see what you do, how you hurt these people? That girl would have lost her hand because of you.”

  “No,” I snarled. “That girl will eat because of me. You cannot do your violence and blame it on me. If she lost her hand it would have been because you sat idly by and watched de Clare hurt an unarmed child. It would have been because de Clare is a bully. If anything the only thing I see is how goddamn powerless a noble lady is meant to be, and I am not powerless.”

  He dragged me up. “You’re bruised all to hell, your hand is broken, and can you even imagine how much more pain waits for you tonight?” he asked. “Why won’t you just learn? Why must you make me keep hurting you?”

  “I’m not making you do anything, Gisbourne. Hurt me if you want, but I’ve felt pain. I know what pain is. And it’s less than love, than loyalty, than hope. You can make me cry, or scream, or whatever else. All that will mean is that I feel the pain, that I’m still alive. And as long as I’m living I can promise I’m not afraid of you, Gisbourne. I’m afraid of sitting quiet while the people that are meant to protect others do their best to hurt them. I’m afraid of people like you and Prince John going by unchecked. That’s what I’m afraid of. I’m stronger than your damn pain, and I do not give up.”

  His eyes met mine, his terror-dark brown ones bearing into me. “Neither do I, Marian.”

  My breath caught and I just hung there, staring at him, both of us too damn stubborn to look away.

  I weren’t sure I liked the notion of sharing something with my husband.

  He shook his head and started marching me, holding my arm and walking me on my own two feet, and we stopped and turned to hear a clatter behind us.

  It took about seven knights with their hands on him, but they held Rob fast, dragging him into the castle and sealing the gate behind them. All the brave words I’d just spoke drained out of me as I met Rob’s eyes for a moment. In the dark and the distance, I couldn’t even see the ocean blue of them.

  The last time he were in this castle he were tortured. He had come back to me broken, and my mind tumbled now with all the new horrors they could inflict. All the things his hurt heart couldn’t withstand and should never have to.

  Gisbourne dragged me out of his sight, and I prayed with everything I knew that I would see the ocean blue again.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Gisbourne didn’t bring me to the chambers we shared. He went up, straight to the prince’s chambers. Gisbourne entered without being announced; the prince were awake, in a heavy brocade mantle, the princess in a chair facing away from me. Gisbourne pushed me in front of him and I stumbled, catching her chair to stand. The girl jumped out of the chair and stared at me, but it weren’t the princess; it were one of the young ladies that had attended the princess in the market, in nothing but her underdress and a mantle.

  “Out,” Prince John ordered her. She looked at him, pale and wide eyed.

  “My lord?” she questioned.

  “Out,” he repeated, glaring at her.

  She looked at all of us and ducked her head and scurried.

  “Sit,” Gisbourne said, pointing to the chair under my hand.

  “No,” I said, standing straight.

  “She can stand if she wishes,” the prince said, looking at me. “It makes little difference.”

  I stared at him. It weren’t so simple as saying it were his evil heart what made him ugly—Gisbourne had the same such heart and I still knew he looked well. The prince were different, like gazing into the eyes of a snake; there were a beauty there, but the only thing it had ever been used for were terrible things, and it made the prettiness terrible too.

  “Do you have any idea the ways you have vexed me?” he asked, turning away from me to the window. He opened it, and I could see him watching something. “You and your lover.”

  “What have you done with Robin?” I asked, my voice rushing higher than I wanted. I stepped forward but Gisbourne grabbed me back and pushed me into the chair. I cast about; there were a knife by a tray of cheese on a small table too far from me. There were heavy cups in my reach. Gisbourne’s knife were tucked into his belt now, not far fr
om me.

  “He’s simply in the stocks. If he doesn’t freeze to death by morning, I’ll deal with him then.” Something caught his eye outside and he sniffed, then looked back at me. “But you. You are a problem.”

  He ran his eyes over me, then looked at my face. I didn’t move none.

  “Do you have any idea what’s going on here?” he asked, spreading his arms. “Do you?”

  “You’re feeding my people rotten food. That’s all I need to know.”

  He looked fair worried. “No, my dear. No. We are on the brink of civil unrest; with Richard away and England splintering at the helm, they need someone strong to lead them. Someone beloved. Someone to unite everyone. Someone to bring them back to the faith of the Crown.”

  “Faith of the Crown? You make yourself a false idol,” I spat.

  “No. They will make me into an idol, Marian. They will worship me.” He sighed. “But only if you stop telling people that I’m doing very bad things. It’s my turn to be the hero, not yours.” He waved a hand, not even looking at me as he said, “Gisbourne. Kill her.”

  I leapt from the chair, grabbing a cup and sliding sideways, making myself less to aim at. “Oh you can try, love,” I growled at him.

  Gisbourne just stood there like a lump. His jaw were awful tight, like every muscle had been twanged like a bowstring. “No. My lord prince.”

  “No?” Prince John snarled.

  Gisbourne pulled the knife from his belt and handed it to Prince John. “No. I’m not killing her.”

  Prince John looked at the knife handle like it were poison. “You know why I cannot spill her blood,” he sneered.

  “I will not dishonor my name, your Highness. And I will not take that curse upon me, even to spare you from it.”

  Prince John’s chest began to rise and fall faster and faster. “You disloyal scum,” he growled. “I do not fear God,” he said, snatching the knife and turning to me.

  “Like hell,” I snapped. “Come at me with that and I’ll break your pretty face, your Highness.”

  “Gisbourne, hold her at least, would you?”

  The door opened rough and fast, and Eleanor strode in with fair surprising speed for such a woman. I thought I saw the pretty girl that were half dressed in the hall behind her, but I couldn’t be sure. “John.”