Lady Locksley

Chapter 41

Treasure Hunt

The Sheriff of Nottingham was furious. In fact, he was incandescent with rage, and had already crushed two songbirds that morning in a fit of temper. Nothing was going his way. Prince John had decided against visiting Nottingham yet again, this time in favour of Scarborough and Vaisey's uncle, Devereux, the Sheriff of Yorkshire. Vaisey knew with every fibre of his being that he was being deliberately shunned, and he felt it like a knife to the gut.
He and Prince John had always been close; in fact, it was John who had persuaded the king to appoint Vaisey as sheriff. They had begun to plot together before Richard had even left for the Holy Land, and Vaisey was Prince John's close confidant; his blue-eyed boy.
But recently, things had changed. Plans had been thwarted, schemes had been obstructed, everything Vaisey had worked so hard to achieve was going up in smoke, and the only person to blame for it was Robin Hood. The outlaw and former nobleman was the proverbial pain in Vaisey's backside. Wherever he turned, Hood was there, with his irritating, pretty little smirk, his smartarse comments, and his band of unwashed miscreants. He set up elaborate rescues, stole money from the rich, stood in the way of every single thing Vaisey tried to do, and the people loved him for it. Whereas he, Vaisey, gave them a place to live, demanded taxes from them on a regular basis, and didn't kill them, yet they could barely afford him common decency. They preferred that.. crook and forest dweller over their own lord Sheriff.
Recently, Hood had broken into Vaisey's castle and released a group of men from the weaponry, where they had been creating a thousand swords of the finest steel for the Black Knights, under orders from Prince John. That John had never mentioned using cheap labour to create said weapons was a fact that Vaisey was happy to ignore, to his detriment. The set-back in his plans had infuriated Prince John. He had assumed that the sword-making was well underway, and discovering that the unwilling and unskilled villagers had been rescued by Hood had enraged him, so much so that he had cancelled his impending visit and sent a harshly worded letter in his place.
Raising the money to pay for the Black Knights assassination of Longchamp, the king's regent, had gone a long way towards mending bridges, and Vaisey had been accepted back into the fold. Once again, he basked in John's adoration, only to have his moment in the sun cruelly snatched away when Hood intercepted the silver on its way to Nottingham.
Vaisey was glad that he hadn't been in the room when Prince John had been informed. The royal visit, arranged for later that week, had been promptly called off, only for Vaisey to discover that very morning that the prince was heading to Scarborough instead.
Vaisey thrummed with barely concealed anger and jealousy at the very thought of it. Scarborough Castle had always been John's favourite of the northern fortresses, and Vaisey couldn't bear to think of him up there with Devereux sniffing around him, attempting to usurp Vaisey as the prince's favourite. Vaisey didn't trust anyone, let alone his slimy, double-crossing uncle.
Keen to offload his grievances onto someone that morning, Vaisey summoned Gisborne and Bridlington to his chambers. It appealed to his perverse sense of humour to watch them compete for his affections like two overgrown children. It massaged his ego, which needed a rub-down after Prince John's cruel rebuffal.
"So, my foolish friends," he greeted them as they hovered in the doorway, eyeing each other, suspiciously. "Come in, come in. Stop dithering."
"My lord Sheriff," Gisborne said, deferentially. "How can we be of assistance?"
"Well, you can come in and shut the door for a start, Gisborne," Vaisey said, chirpily. "Were you both born in a barn?"
Bridlington shuffled out of the way, awkwardly, as Gisborne went to pull the door closed. He cleared his throat, clearly keen to grovel and gain the upper hand.
"Good day, cousin," he said, self-importantly. "How are you faring this morning?"
Vaisey stared at him. "Well, my silver has been stolen by Robin Hood and we are no closer to getting it back." He turned to glare at Gisborne. "The castle security has been compromised by a member of Hood's gang, and.." He swung back to Bridlington. "My cousin brought Hood's sister to live in the castle with us." He crashed his fist down onto a side table, causing a plate to leap into the air and crash to the floor in pieces. "So, as I'm sure you can imagine, I'M NOT DOING SO WELL."
Accustomed to the Sheriff's outbursts, Gisborne remained silent, but Bridlington began to bluster.
"I had no idea that she was related to an outlaw. You know I didn't." He shrugged. "Anyway, she has gone now."
"Oh, well, that's alright then," Vaisey snapped, sarcastically. He stepped closer and slapped Bridlington on the back, hard. "Lepers, my dear Bridlington. Lepers. Gisborne can tell you about them, can't you Gizzy?"
Looking mortified to be dragged into the conversation, Gisborne cleared his throat, uncomfortably. "Indeed, my lord."
Vaisey looked at him, sharply. "Is that all you have to say?" Putting his arms behind his back, he strolled over to Gisborne, sensing fresh sport. "And where is the lovely Marian? I haven't seen her outraged little face around here lately."
Gisborne shuffled his feet. "She and Sir Edward have gone to stay in Locksley, my lord, as we discussed yesterday."
"Ah, yes." Vaisey nodded, losing interest. "And what about you, Bridders? Where is your leper now? Do you even know?"
"In the forest with her outlaw brother, I expect," Bridlington replied with a devil-may-care smile. He realised his mistake as soon as the words left his mouth, and the Sheriff whipped round to glare at him.
"Yes, and my silver!" Vaisey roared. "It is no laughing matter. Prince John is furious, and so am I. So, what are we going to do to get it back?"