Promises

It was a beautiful day for it he couldn't help but muse. The sun only just rising and the colours of the land making you feel warm. Guy half expected it to be miserable and cold reflecting his mood.

"Any last requests?" A voice asked behind him. Guy turned and saw it was Robin. Smug little Robin.

"None" Guy turned away from him and stared straight. He gritted his teeth. He wasn't about to let Hood see how he was feeling.

Robin leaned in close to Guy's ear "your dead man walking Gisbourne"

"Never seemed to do you any harm" Guy sneered back.

He started walking at the sound of the drums. There was a crowd as there always is at these types of events. Guy briefly wondered what kind of people would want to see a man get hanged? And to think Marian called these people innocent! Guy moved along slowly he might as well draw out his last moments on this earth and put on a good show for the masses.

So this was it the reward for being a good man. When he had been arrested there was a debate about his punishment. Life in prison or death. Death had been chosen so he could be made an example of to other backstabbing parties plotting their own schemes. Guy was not too shocked at the news nor did he seem to fear it. The idea of rotting in a jail cell while she lived a happy life with HIM! That was what he feared.

He saw her out of the corner of his eye and turned ever so slightly to look her way. She was standing with the rest of Hood's gang as he expected. She was beautiful. When he had seen her seen her he first been attracted to Marian's beauty. Then as time when on he had been attracted to her fiery sprit it had of course caused him no end of grief but he loved her passion nonetheless… he was a fool. He had done what she had asked of him. He had done it to prove himself once and all in her eyes but it amounted to nothing.

As an official addressed the crowd and listed the crimes for Guy's punishment (he missed a few out but Guy was past caring) Guy watched as Robin moved to stand alongside Marian. The message was clear Robin had won and Guy had lost. The two had locked horns ever since Robin's arrival from the holy lands. But in reality Hood had always the advantage. He was the better shot with the bow, the better swordsman, the better thinker and in Marian's eyes the better man. Marian looked like she was controlling her emotions. Well Guy hardly expecting her to have tears in her eyes and screaming words of love now.

The official then asked if Guy had any last words. Guy looked at him and simply shocked his head. The official then nodded to the guards next to Guy moved in front of the rope that was there in front of him. As they tied it around his neck tightly Guy couldn't help but think of the last time he had seen Marian. It had been just yesterday when she had seen him in his cell.

Guy sat back slumped in his cell. He didn't know how long he had been here maybe days maybe just hours. This was a nightmare. It had to be. Here he was alone and caged with no hope. He looked up when he heard the door to his cell begin to unlock. It was probably Hood or one of his gang. Come to gloat or pour salt onto his wounds. Instead it was Marian, beautiful Marian. It was the first time he had seen her since he had been taken prisoner. Since he had confessed to her that he had done what she had asked.

"My executioner" Guy said as Marian entered his cell.

She flinched at the title he had given her but entered regardless. She was going to do this. She was going to see him again. He looked beaten and defeated. There were bags under his eyes which told her he wasn't getting much sleep. He looked thinner too so she guessed he wasn't eating. His black leather clothes the ones he always seem to wear had been taken although she noted that his prison rags were black. She liked him in black it looked good on him.

"I've spoken to Marian and even King Richard" Marian told him she tried to look strong but her voice was wavering. She could barely look him in the eyes "I have tried hard Guy but… but your past crimes have worked against you."

"Well I'm sure you did your best" Guy replied sarcastically.

"That's not fair! One act doesn't excuse a lifetime of crimes!" She replied forcefully at him.

"Well if that's the line you used I'm surprised I have lasted as long" Guy joked cruelly.

How can he be like this? Marian thought to herself. Here he is about to be executed and he is making jokes. Lesser men would have begged, spilled their guts and confessed to their sins to escaped their fate yet Guy looks like he is bored of waiting.

Marian shouldn't have been feeling like this. They had won. The sheriff was dead, King Richard was saved, England would be safe and she and Robin could marry and live happily ever after. She should be feeling happy, good and excited about the future but then there was Guy. The loose end that was still to be tied up. She felt guilty every time she looked at Guy and the fate that was awaiting him.

"I think if… if you where to talk to the King or even Robin they might" Marian begin.

"What?! Beg for my life?! Get down on my hands and knees and beg in front of HIM?!" Guy raged the mere image of Robin's smug face with that smug grin on his face as Guy begged for his life turned his stomach.

"If your too stubborn and full of pride then you deserve what's coming to you!" Marian fired at him turning her back and moving back to the door.

"I did what you asked Marian!" Guy yelled at her.

"I know and I've told Robin" she quickly replied upset turning back to face him.

"Bet he doesn't know what you offered me" Guy sneered at her. Marian looked away ashamed and Guy couldn't help but laugh. "Of course he doesn't that might spoil your honeymoon."

"Guy don't you understand!? They are going to kill you!" Marian all but screamed at him.

"I don't care anymore" Guy whispered. He said it with such conviction that he almost believed it himself. Maybe he did. He was tired of it all, tired of Robin, tired of looking like a fool, tired of the sheriff and all his promises but most of all tired of Marian and all her games. He just wanted it to end. To be free of everything that this world has to offer and everything that he lost.

"You can't meant that?" Marian said shocked "this isn't you talking."

"Isn't it?! How would you know? I was just a mere toy to use in one of your games! Something to play with when you got bored or needed something!" Guy spat the words out like they were poison. All the times she had looked at him differently, the times she had hinted that he meant something to her it had all been a lie. She had used him and he had been blind all this time.

"That's not fair! What I did I did for England" Marian

"And what has England ever done for me?" Guy mocked. Marian was unable to answer. "Why are you here Marian?" he asked simply.

"I want… I mean I think… I want you to request an audience with Robin" Marian struggled to say.

"Why?" Guy stood up.

"I told you if you talk to him there is a chance he can help you" Marian said.

"But why do you want me to do this" Guy pressed her. She hung her unable to look at him. Her stomach was turning and she felt pain all around her.

"Because what is happening to you isn't fair" she had tears in her eyes.

"Life isn't fair" Guy stated. He looked at her and could see the guilt written on her face.

"Was everything you said to me a lie? Your promise that you made to me? Kill the king and you would willingly give me your hand in marriage" he asked quietly. It cost him to ask and he deserved an answer but all she could do was nod. A nod that was all she could give him. He was doomed to die tomorrow and she couldn't even give him anymore than a nod. She was a coward. She was not the noble woman she makes out to be but rather a killer.

Guy said nothing and want he knew had just been confirmed to him. Part of him wanted to lash out. Damn the guards who were behind the door and strike Marian for all the pain and humiliation she had caused him. But he was too tired of feeling and acting such a way.

"You should go" Guy said quietly turning his back on him. Marian looked pained and tried to think of something to say some words of comfort to him. But she knew it would be pointless and she suspected that he would not believe her. She turned to towards the door.

"Marian before you go" Guy spoke his back still to her and continued "I have a sister Isabella."

"You never told me you have a sister" Marian said confused.

"You never asked besides I haven't seen her in years. We don't get on as I arranged her marriage to a man named Thornton" Guy couldn't look at Marian at this point. He didn't want to see the disgust she no doubt felt at the news of selling his sister. It was enough that he felt it inside him. "They live down in Dover. She may hate me for what I have done but… she should know of my death."

Marian looked at Gisbourne. Once again like so many times before she felt so many conflicting feelings for the man who stood in front of her. Disgust, fear, anger, pity and sadness. Never a man not even Robin could stir such conflict within her. She simply nodded "I shall make sure she receives the news."

With that there was nothing left to say. Marian left Guy alone.

Guy returned to the present as the official said his last few words and nodded at the guard holding the lever. Guy knew what this meant. He looked straight at Marian and she looked back at him with what seems to be a tear rolling down her cheek.

"Goodbye" Guy whispered as if she was the only person in the world.

The ground he had been standing on fell and he was left to hang and choke to death… Guy was finally free of this world. All because he had listened to the promise from the woman he loved.

The End.

Reviews and comments always welcome