All the Time in the World (English)

Chapter 31 - Marian

"Do you have to go?"
Miriam sighed.
"Yes. Later I have a meeting and I can't be late."
Guy took her in his arms to kiss her again.
"See you tomorrow?"
Miriam smiled, joyously.
"Won't you get tired of me if we meet so often?""
"Never."
The girl giggled.
"Tomorrow, then."
"I'll take you to the bus stop."
Guy held out his arm and Miriam leaned against him, smiling.
She raised her head, feeling a snowflake on her cheek.
"Look, it's snowing!"
Gisborne drew her closer to protect her from the cold. He thought that in his time such a rigid temperature would have been a disaster for many of the inhabitants of Nottingham and that even the most privileged would have suffered. Instead now he would return home and find a pleasantly warm apartment, with no cold drafts to welcome him.
"Do you like snow, Miriam?"
"Yes, but only in the city. In the mountains or in the country, the expanses of snow remind me too much of the desert dunes."
Guy looked at her without understanding.
"The desert?"
"Yes. Have you ever seen it? In the sun, the sand is almost as white as snow."
Gisborne thought he didn't want to remember anything about his trip to the Holy Land, but he said nothing.
Miriam reached out to capture a snowflake and watched it melt on her palm.
"That's where they found me three years ago, you know? In the desert."
Guy felt his heart sinking. He didn't want to know, he didn't want to hear anything else, but the girl continued.
"I was in Israel, somewhere near Acre."
"Acre in the Holy Land?"
"Yes, they call it that, too. They told me that a group of doctors of the association was on a mission to help the poor of the nearby villages, and they found me half buried in the sand and almost dead. I remembered only my name and they understood that I was English by my accent, but otherwise I had to start from scratch." Miriam stopped. "Are you feeling well, Guy? You have become pale."
"It's nothing, I'm just cold," Guy lied, with a shiver.
It had been the girl's words to chill him, and Guy thought he would rather not know, he would prefer to continue to delude himself that Miriam had nothing to do with Marian.
How could he hope to be happy with the woman he had almost killed? Now that he knew the truth, he could no longer lie to himself.
"Oh, my bus is arriving," Miriam said and Guy held her in a passionate and desperate kiss, a kiss that could be their last.
The girl pulled away from him breathless, amazed and amused by so much heat, then she got on the bus, giggling.
"See you tomorrow, Guy. I love you."
"I love you. I've always loved you," Guy said, lowering his voice on the last sentence, then the doors of the vehicle closed in front of Miriam and the bus took her away.

Robin closed better his jacket. It was cold, but usually such temperatures didn't bother him so much. He had lived for years in a camp in the middle of the forest, with only minimal shelter from the elements, and he should have been used to the cold, but evidently having spent so much time in bed as a sick man had weakened him.
A little irritated by that weakness, he pulled out the map to examine it. It was complicated, but he thought he could manage, after all he knew every path of the forest, he would easily learn how to orient himself in that unknown city.
At least, he thought, there were signs with the names of the various streets and he just had to identify them on the map. After examining the map for a few minutes, he was reasonably sure that he wasn't too far from the park that Guy had marked on the map, and he set off in that direction.
He saw the trees in the distance, partially hidden by a wall and he gave a worried look at the road: it was clear that he would have to cross it to get to the park, but he had no idea what he would do with all those cars racing at full speed.
He stood on the sidewalk wondering what to do, when he recognized Gisborne as he was walking out of the park with someone. Robin rejoiced to see him: his friend could show him where the leap in time had happened. He was about to call him when Guy moved and Robin could see the person who was with him.
Marian.
That woman was Marian, Robin had no doubts.
But how could she be alive?
And why was she with Guy?
Then Gisborne drew her to him to kiss her passionately, and Robin watched, petrified and horrified, until the girl went away, climbing on one of those absurd vehicles without horses.
With Marian gone, the spell broke and Robin looked at Guy, seized by a sudden fury.
"Gisborne!" He shouted, and crossed the road to rush against him, without even bothering about the cars.
Guy jerked his head up to hear Robin's scream and the sudden screech of car brakes. For a moment, he was sure his friend would be hit, but the car stopped just in time before hitting him.
Gisborne didn't have time to feel relief for the escaped danger because he realized the reason that had pushed Robin to cross the road in that inconsiderate way: he had seen him with Miriam.
A moment later, Robin's fist hit him and the outlaw dragged Guy to the ground with him, ready to hit him again.

Robin saw the blood on Guy's lip, but he didn't feel the slightest satisfaction and raised his fist to hit him again. Gisborne grabbed his wrist to block it, and he tried to push him away, but he didn't try to hit Robin in turn.
"Liar!" Robin shouted. "That was Marian, don't even try to deny it!"
"I don't intend to do it, but let me explain!"
Robin freed his arm and tried to give him another punch.
"And what is there to explain?! She is alive, you knew it and you kept it hidden from me!"
Guy kicked him away and tried to get up from the ground, but Robin pounced on him and slammed him into the side of a parked car. He hesitated for a moment at the sound of the alarm and Gisborne took advantage of it to try to immobilize him.
"It's true, but I would have told you, I swear!"
"Do not swear, slimy parasite! When were you thinking of doing it? After taking advantage of her?!"
This time it was Guy who hit him.
"I would never do that! I love her!"
"You killed her! Don't you dare say that you love her! She is my wife, murderer!"
The two men continued to scuffle without even noticing the policeman who was approaching quickly, alerted by the car alarm and by the commotion.
"Stop!" He ordered. "Stop it immediately or I'll have to arrest you!"
Robin and Guy ignored him and the agent sighed, deciding to take the radio to call for reinforcements, but he stopped before making the call, stunned: a moment before the two men were rolling on the ground, trying to hit each other, the moment later they vanished into thin air.

Robin tried to hit Guy again, but all of a sudden he found himself unbalanced and realized that he and Gisborne were sliding down a slope, without the slightest control. They rolled without being able to stop, raising a cloud of dust that crept into the mouth and the nose, making it difficult to breathe, and soon after they were lying on the ground, side by side, confused and bruised.
Robin was the first to stand up and look around, while Guy, who had received another punch before that sudden fall, had been lying on his side, with his face in his hands.
"Gisborne."
"I wanted to tell you, Hood, really," Guy said, without moving. "But I wasn't sure she was really Marian, I swear."
"How can you not be sure?!" Robin snapped, forgetting for a moment the situation in which they were. "Don't you have eyes?!"
Guy sat up.
"I know: she's identical to her, but she doesn't remember anything. She says her name is Miriam and she is so different from her... I couldn't understand if she was Marian or not, only today I had the certainty."
"And in the meantime, did you have to kiss her? What else did you want to do?!"
"In the meantime, I fell in love with her."
Robin grabbed him by the coat.
"What the hell does that mean?! Haven't you always said that you loved her? What's different now?!"
"The difference is that I fell in love with Miriam! I waited to tell you because I was hoping it wasn't her, that she was a different person! And at the same time I felt guilty because hoping for such a thing was almost like wishing Marian was really dead..."
Robin let him go, shaking his head, while Guy returned to cover his face with his hands, afflicted.
"Gisborne?"
"I would have told you, Robin, I swear. I just wanted to have some more time with her."
"No, stop it, we'll talk later. Now look around."
Guy raised his head, hearing his nervous tone, and he gave Robin a puzzled look, then he winced as he saw the environment around them: they were in the desert, at the foot of a sandy dune. He grabbed a handful of sand and let it run through his fingers.
"Where are we? It's so warm... This is not Nottingham!"
"I think you know very well where we are."
Guy stood up and looked around, shaking his head. He didn't want to accept what he saw, yet he couldn't pretend not to recognize that place, the cursed place that so often was the scene of his nightmares. The desert, the too hot sun, the desolate profile of the abandoned city...
"No. It can't be... Not Imuiz... No."
He saw, in the distance, a group of knights, with the white uniform of the soldiers of King Richard the Lionheart and he shook his head in a panic.
Robin was tempted to leave him to his fate and go to reach those knights on his own, hoping to find a way back to England and to his companions, but then he sighed and grabbed Guy by the arm, dragging him to a ruined house where they would be sheltered from the sight of the soldiers.
"I don't know why I'm helping you. I should leave you at the mercy of the king's men. But I don't want to have your death on my conscience, even if you don't deserve it."
Robin had talked harshly, expecting an equally harsh reply, but Gisborne said nothing and the outlaw gave him a worried look. Guy was as pale as a dead man and leaned his back against the crumbling wall, pressing a hand to his stomach, where he had been hit by the sheriff. He seemed to be breathing hard and his face contracted into a grimace of pain.
"Gisborne?"
Guy didn't answer, but he collapsed to the ground, holding his stomach with a heartbreaking moan.