Chapters (76)
- Title Page
- Copyright Notice
- Dedication
- PROLOGUE
- PART I
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- PART II
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- PART III
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- INTERLUDE
- PART IV
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- INTERLUDE
- PART V
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- PART VI
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- FORTY-FOUR
- FORTY-FIVE
- INTERLUDE
- PART VII
- FORTY-SIX
- FORTY-SEVEN
- FORTY-EIGHT
- FORTY-NINE
- FIFTY
- FIFTY-ONE
- FIFTY-TWO
- PART VIII
- FIFTY-THREE
- FIFTY-FOUR
- FIFTY-FIVE
- FIFTY-SIX
- EPILOGUE
- AUTHOR’S NOTE
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
- Newsletter Sign-up
“You’re something special with the King’s army,” Alan continued. “You said so. And we all saw you. The two of you could have taken on all of us.”
“We couldn’t have.”
“If you can teach us to fight like that…”
“You’re not listening!” Robin kicked at a stone. “You shouldn’t be fighting at all!”
“You’re the one not listening now,” John Little lectured. “We don’t have homes to go back to. We have families to feed. And now you’ve brought a lot of attention onto us.”
“I’m here,” Robin drew his words out slowly, “because you stole from the war. I’m the result of the attention you’ve created, not the cause of it!”
“No gain in throwing blame,” Little conceded. “Trouble’s upon us. You can fight. I’d like to know a little of what you know.”
Robin shook his head, something particularly painful crawled into his voice. “Violence is not the answer, John. Not ever.” That was the lesson they truly needed. Yes, he could train them to defend themselves, but along the way he might be able to train their minds as well. To tame their instincts toward violence. It would be a long road, and Robin hoped he had the clarity to walk it. He had failed with Richard, when he wanted to start his war too early. He had failed with Stabhappy. And Edmond, he had failed most of all. It chilled him to think of what would happen if he was equally successful with these people.
The good news was that he had already mastered all the wrong ways to do it. Surely that meant he was homing in on the right one.
He meant to say more, but something caught his eye that arrested his thoughts. A glint in the rubble. When Robin realized what it was, he silenced their commotion.
“We have to leave.”
He moved carefully, as it was his own black shadow that concealed the unconscious Guardsman, unmoving and abandoned, lying amongst the rocks.
“Ah damn it,” John Little moaned. “I think I did that.”
PART III
A THIEVES BARGAIN
TWENTY
GUY OF GISBOURNE
THIEVES DEN
“THEY THINK THEY’RE SMART,” Eric of Felley’s voice was distorted by the injury that bruised the bottom half of his face. His two front teeth were gone, smashed from his mouth by the wild hunter girl Elena, and his bloody gums bled gruesome beneath swollen lips. “But there’s smart, and then there’s smart. They split up, probably hoping we’d lose their trail. I’d say four horses, all in different directions. But which one…” he pointed downward obviously, at two perfect lines driving away from the ruins, “… do you think is the right one?”
Guy stared at the tracks, their only lead. “A carriage. Or an oxcart?”
Eric snapped his fingers. “That’s why you’re the captain.”