Outcasts

Chapter 7 - A Terrible Archer

Guy looked at the bows, huddled in a corner of the camp. There clearly were more weapons than men able to use them, and most of the bows were covered in dust.
Robin Hood's bow wasn't with the others, it was placed on the lid of an empty trunk, with its quiver, and it was kept clean, but it made him shiver because it reminded him of a relic, even if Robin Hood wasn't dead, yet.
"What are you doing here?!"
Gisborne turned, startled, and he glanced warily at Little John.
"We don't have much food, Matilda asked me to go and hunt something in the forest."
"If you think that we will trust you with a bow you are out of your mind."
Djaq reached them, worried.
"But we do, John. Guy is one of us now."
"Gisborne will never be one of us!"
"But we need him! You work a lot and we know it, but without Robin, Much and... Will... without them, we can't feed all the wounded people and the villagers who need our help! I try to hunt as much as I can, but I also have to help Matilda. We are too few, we can't even rob the travelers, even if there were any, and anyways we don't need gold, we need food! Gisborne is strong enough to use a bow, now, so he's going to do his part, just like us."
"Look, I know that you don't like me," Guy said, looking at him, "but I won't betray you. I don't know if I could survive on my own, and I know that I have a debt with you all because you let me stay here, so let me repay this debt somehow. I'm not a good archer, but I can try."
Little John glared at him.
"Betray us and you're dead. And don't try to touch Robin's bow."

Guy looked at the hare, drawing the bow, then he released the arrow, realizing immediately that he would miss his target. His arrow embedded itself into a tree, but the hare fell to the ground, hit by another one.
Startled, Guy looked around, trying to see who had shot it, and he jumped when he heard a voice, just behind his back.
"You're a terrible archer, you know?"
"Marian!"
The girl lifted a finger, disapprovingly.
"And you didn't hear me approaching. If I were an enemy, I could have killed you even too easily. If you want to live as an outlaw, you have to improve a lot."
Guy looked at her, annoyed.
"I don't want to live as an outlaw. But I don't have much choice, don't you think?"
Marian went to pick up the dead hare, with a little sigh.
"I know. No one of us wanted to live like this." Marian pulled her arrow out of the hare and she held the dead animal to him, like a peace offering. "Here, take it. Little John will complain and say that you are useless if you go back empty handed."
Guy ignored her.
"I can still catch a prey without having to rely on your pity. And I'm not afraid of Little John."
Marian shrugged.
"Suit yourself. I was just trying to help, no need to be so proud."
"I'm trying to do my part. And then, if you give me your prey, they'll complain about you not doing your part."
"To do it, they should acknowledge my presence," Marian said, bitterly, and Guy noticed tears in her eyes just before she turned away her face to hide them.
"Why do they ignore you? You're always at the camp, but they never talk to you..."
"You don't remember, and I don't want to talk about it."
Guy glanced at her, uncertain.
"Do you want me to leave you alone?"
Marian grabbed his hand.
"No, please!"
"Marian?"
The girl sighed.
"You are the only one who doesn't despise me. For now. I feel so lonely."
Guy nodded. He still didn't know what he felt for Marian, once he had loved her deeply, but now all his emotions were tangled, damaged, maybe forever. But he could understand her loneliness because he was very lonely too.
Djaq and Matilda talked to him, but they were the only ones, all the others still feared or despised him and even the ones who didn't openly show those feelings just avoided him.
"So... what do you want me to do?"
Marian let his hand go.
"I don't know."
Guy glanced at her. He had never seen Marian so uncertain and dispirited.
It was as if the siege had changed everything, for all of them: some were dead, others crippled for life, Robin Hood had lost his mind, Guy a good part of his memory, and Marian her courage.
We are all alike.
"Well, you could help me with my aim, so I won't go back to the camp empty handed."
Marian smiled at him, grateful, and they walked through the forest, searching for another prey. After a while, they saw a pheasant, and the girl put a finger in front of her lips to tell Guy to be silent.
The knight nocked an arrow, and he drew the bow, ready to shoot, while Marian quietly approached, touching his arms to adjust his stance. He released the arrow, and this time he hit his prey, but Marian noticed the grimace of pain that crossed his face.
"Guy! Are you hurt?"
He shook his head.
"It's nothing. Some of my wounds still ache a little if I overdo. I just put too much strength in drawing the bow."
Marian lifted a hand, as if she wanted to touch him, but then she let it fall.
"I'm so sorry..." She mumbled, then she hurried to pick up the pheasant.
Guy was sure that he had seen tears in her eyes.

Matilda reached Gisborne at the river, looking at him. The man had his chest naked and he was washing up, scrubbing away every trace of sweat and dust from his skin.
The healer looked at the many scars that crossed is back and his arms, trying to check if they were healing well.
Guy heard her steps, and he turned to smile at her.
"It's a very warm day, but the water of the river is always freezing," he commented, while the woman sat on the bank, close to him.
"The pheasant is almost cooked," Matilda said. "It will be good to eat some meat today. Thank you for catching it."
"I have to confess that I've been helped."
"By Marian?"
Guy looked at her, surprised.
"How do you know?"
"She was waiting for me to come back at the camp and she asked me to check your wounds, she was worried."
Guy frowned.
"I told her it was nothing, just a little pang, nothing to be worried about."
"Well, let me judge that." Matilda patted the grass in front of her. "Come, sit here and let me see."
Guy obeyed, and the healer carefully checked each of his scars.
"Does this hurt, if I touch it?"
"A little."
Matilda nodded.
"It's normal, nothing to be worried about. There was a lot of damage, but your wounds healed well. You probably will feel pain when you are tired, if you strain yourself too much or when the weather changes, but there's no danger. You'll have to live with some pain, but I'm sure that you can endure it well enough."
"Why was Marian so worried, then?"
"I guess that she feels responsible."
Guy frowned.
"Why?"
"If she was unhurt during the siege, it was because you shielded her with your body."
"Really?"
Matilda nodded, and Guy realized why the girl had told him that she was in debt with him, why she was at his bedside when he woke up, but still he couldn't say how this new knowledge made him feel.
"When the siege was over, she thought that you were dead, and she ran away in shock. When I found out that you were still alive and took you to the camp, she was even more shocked and she felt terribly guilty for abandoning you there after you saved her life."
"I can't remember anything."
"Do you want to remember?"
"I don't know. I think I don't."
The healer patted his shoulder.
"I can't say what it would be best for you, but it doesn't matter. Your mind will remember what happened when it's ready for it, or maybe never at all. It's how it is, and we can't do nothing to change it."
"Matilda? Often I don't understand what I feel, if I feel anything at all. Do you think I'm broken? That I lost my mind like Robin?"
Matilda caressed his cheek, motherly.
"Who isn't a little broken, after what we all had to endure? I've been lucky, I didn't lose much in the siege, but still my heart breaks to see what happened to the county. All those lives lost, so much suffering... And you were in the middle of it, how could you not be broken? But you are doing your best to survive and you are doing well. You should be proud of yourself."
The woman smiled, switching to a down-to-earth tone.
"But now hurry up to get dressed and come, or they will end up eating all the pheasant without us."