Grant What I Wish

Grant What I Wish - Chapter 16. Berserker

Chapter 16. Berserker

Dance, when you're broken open.

Dance, if you've torn the bandage off.

Dance, in the middle of the fighting.

Dance in your blood.

Dance, when you're perfectly free.

-Rumi

Nottingham

1195

When Robin and Guy reached the battlements, the sun was just sinking; the gloaming of the day made various objects stand out in strange relief against the background of field and forest. One glance answered the question of what Robin wished to show him. Soldiers were busily employed dragging at least a half a dozen trebuchets from the forest to the field, a slow and torturous process given the weight and unwieldiness of the enormous weapons.

Guy felt his spirits plummet; he had seen the damage that one trebuchet could do many times before now. Six of them could easily destroy a castle in a matter of days. The soldiers had started a number of campfires, and Guy could make out Vasey riding restlessly on his white steed, calling out orders or curses at recalcitrant workers.

"Dear God," Guy breathed. Robin and John moved to stand by him, each looking equally shaken.

"We'd better pray the castle walls hold against what they hurl at us, at least until Richard's army reaches Nottingham," Robin muttered.

"We had best pray that Richard's army reaches Nottingham," Guy retorted grimly.

"Look," John exclaimed, "the Sheriff is riding toward the castle under a flag of truce." He spat on the ground. "That bastard murdered Alan," he growled. "I refused to believe the poor lad, when he said he was innocent. I was the one who drove him away, straight into the sheriff's arms." His face twisted in guilt and pain.

Robin gripped his shoulder. "We are all to blame for Alan's death, John. But there is nothing we can do at this point to bring him back. The best we can do is to fight the Sheriff-Alan would want us to defeat him."

He glanced at the field below, and then toward Gisbourne. "We will ride out to meet him with Tuck," he declared to Guy, and both men swiftly descended the steep stone stairs to mount their horses. Tuck joined them in short order, and the three rode out to confront the man all had believed long dead.

The three riders pulled up before Vasey and Blamire, each group taking the measure of the other. Guy met and held the Sheriff's malignant glare, remaining expressionless as his nemesis said in a menacing voice, "I will have my reckoning with you later, Gisbourne. Right now, I want my town back."

"Never-you're finished, Vasey," Robin retorted. "Your weapons are no match for the hatred all of us feel for you."

Vasey sneered, "You tell your peasant army that anyone who resists me will die. Poor Alan cried like a stuck pig with his last breath."

Robin made a move to pull out his sword, but Guy stilled him, calling out in warning, "Robin, don't! That's exactly what he wants you to do!"

The Sheriff laughed in an exceedingly unpleasant tone. "Just look at the two of you, bosom friends, after all of the bad blood that has passed between you. I guess Marian never mattered much to either of you."

It was Robin's turn to restrain Guy. When he was certain that his companion was well in control, Robin said in a steely voice, "You'll pay for that, you swine."

"Sticks and stones, Hood, sticks and stones-you have until dawn to meet my demands. Turn over Gisbourne, release Isabella, and cede Nottingham to me. Otherwise, you and your troublesome friends will be wiped off the face of the earth." He smiled sourly once more. "Sweet dreams!"