Guy And Marian Retold

Lucky Escape

"You are really ok?" he asked a few moments later, and I nodded again.

"He had not gotten that far when you shot him," I responded. "Did you kill him?"

"I think so, but I did not stop to check," he answered, and I shuddered again.

"I hope you did," I whispered.

We lay like that for a while, and I must have dozed off, because I woke with a start, crying out for Guy. I had been caught in a nightmare with Lord Winchester. He held me and whispered in my ear that it was all right, he was with me, and I was safe. I calmed down and relaxed into him, and then raised my face. He lowered his and kissed me gently, and I moved my hands up over his chest and around his neck.

Our kiss deepened and I moaned softly, wiggling closer to him. I felt his response, but then he broke off the kiss and laid his forehead to mine, his breathing labored. He shook his head.

"Marian, I don't want to hurt you or scare you any more than you already are." I placed my finger against his lips.

"This is very different than what happened today, Guy. I love you, and I want to be with you." He shook his head again.

"I can't, Marian. I can't take the chance." I cradled his face with my hands and drew it to mine.

"Make love to me, Guy," I whispered, and he groaned. In short order he had pulled me to him and we were kissing passionately. He rolled me to my back and looked down at me, his expression full of need and tenderness. He positioned himself and slowly, so slowly, entered me, both of us gasping at the familiar feeling. I tilted my hips to take all of him in, and we stayed in that position for a few minutes. I framed his face with my hands and drew him down for a much slower kiss.

He started moving again and my hands slid down his back. He drew out as slowly as he had entered, and then repeated his actions until I was panting with need. I urged him to speed up, but he refused, continuing his slow assault until I though it might drive me mad.

"Guy, please," I gasped, and he complied, driving into me once, twice, three times until I cried out my release. He didn't take too much longer to reach his, and then he collapsed on top of me. After a few minutes, he rolled over and brought me into his arms, kissing my forehead. I fell asleep then, nightmare-free until morning.

I woke in his arms, looked up at him, and found him gazing tenderly at me. I smiled, and he smiled back, his hands stroking my back. I returned my cheek to his chest and we lay like that for a while. I started speaking after a few minutes, telling him what had happened. He listened, and when I was done, he explained that Robin had seen the wagon leaving the castle.

"He said that something didn't seem right about it, so he followed and sent Allan to find me. I was in a late night meeting with the Sheriff -- which was, of course, part of the plan to kidnap you -- but Allan managed to get a note in to me. I pretended it was from someone who wanted to give me information about Robin, and the Sheriff let me go."

He went back to the room to tell me what was going on, but as soon as he saw the empty chamber, he knew that I was in that wagon. They had ridden hard to catch up with Robin, took over the wagon, and found me. I was extremely thankful that Robin had seen the wagon, for who knew if they had found me in time otherwise? Probably not.

We had to get out of bed eventually, but we were reluctant to. The aftermath of the night's events could be bad, indeed. Even if Lord Winchester was still alive, he could demand retribution from Guy, and we both knew that the Sheriff would have no problem hanging even his second in command. And if he was dead, it wouldn't take the Sheriff long to figure out what had happened.

So we stayed in bed, talking and making love, until hunger drove us downstairs. Robin came by not too much later to see how I was doing. I thanked him profusely for his role in saving me, even giving him a huge hug. He stammered that it was his pleasure, and he was glad I was ok. Then he explained to both of us that his men had made sure the wagon and Lord Winchester made it to the edge of the forest and sent them on their way.

"He was alive when we left him. Whether he still is..." Robin shrugged, and Guy and I exchanged a glance. At least Guy hadn't killed him outright. Robin stayed for a bit, and we decided the story would be that he and his men decided to rob Lord Winchester's wagon and happened to find me inside. After rescuing me, they brought me here, where Guy found me after leaving his informant, not wanting to go all the way back to the castle. Since Winchester had never actually seen Guy, he wouldn't be able to refute the story.

With that settled, Guy and I decided to go back to Nottingham and see where the Sheriff's head was at. Turned out the Sheriff didn't care about Lord Winchester any more. He had signed the pact the evening before, hence his swift departure, with me, in the middle of the night. The Sheriff did seem a bit disappointed that I had returned, but when Guy confronted him, he shrugged and said I was a leper anyway, and what did he care if I was here or not?

Fuming, I left the Sheriff to Guy and retired to our room. I no longer felt safe around the Sheriff, but I didn't know what to do about it. Guy couldn't just up and leave...he worked for the man. The alternative, which I feared we would have to take, would be to continue to live under his thumb and hope this was the worst of the circumstances we would find ourselves in.

When Guy returned to the room, he told me I didn't have to continue to live at the castle, but I felt that I had no choice. I didn't want to leave Guy here alone. My place was with him. After trying to talk me out of it, he finally acquiesced.

"I don't want to see you get hurt, Marian," he said softly, and we held each other close.

"Nor I you," I responded, just as softly. 

"We need to help Robin get that pact," he said after a few moments, and I agreed. But how? We sat and talked about it until dinner, but no plans leapt to mind. Our frustration grew as each plan we concocted failed to hold up to scrutiny. It was locked in the Sheriff's bedchamber, so there was no way to really "accidentally" happen upon it.

Sighing, we made our way to the dining room, where we had a tortuous dinner with the extremely excited Sheriff. Forced to listen to his gleeful exclamations, we held hands under the table to help each other from stalking off in disgust. Guy even managed to pretend to be excited for him.

When we finally made it back to the room, we sighed in relief. Catching each others' eye, we smiled, and then slowly broke into laughter. Our frustrations boiled over into our mirth, and we were soon clutching our stomachs as we laughed helplessly.

"I thought that was never going to end!" I exclaimed, and he nodded in agreement. "I was beginning to think he was in love with that pact!"

"I think he is!" he responded, and our laughter died as we realized what we had said. Of course he was, in his own, twisted way, in love with it. The pact represented his power in England, with King Richard off fighting a holy war. It would put Prince John in power, and the Sheriff would be counted one of the loyal. I wasn't sure how much loyalty meant among these men, though.

"Ah, Marian, I wish you didn't have to be involved in this. If only I hadn't married you," Guy said suddenly, and I took a step toward him.

"I was involved before we wed, and I would be involved now whether we were married or not," I responded, and he look intently at me for a few minutes before nodding his head.

"You have definitely always had a knack for getting yourself into the middle of everything," he said, and chuckled, drawing me into his arms.

"You know me so well, Husband," I said softly, and he bent his head to kiss me. I wound my arms around his neck. When he raised his head back up, we were smiling at each other. "I'd rather be involved as your wife than as Maid Marian," I continued, and he held me tight.