BooksBarbecue
Back Nottingham
Chapters (76)
  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Notice
  3. Dedication
  4. PROLOGUE
  5. PART I
  6. ONE
  7. TWO
  8. THREE
  9. FOUR
  10. FIVE
  11. SIX
  12. SEVEN
  13. EIGHT
  14. NINE
  15. PART II
  16. TEN
  17. ELEVEN
  18. TWELVE
  19. THIRTEEN
  20. FOURTEEN
  21. FIFTEEN
  22. SIXTEEN
  23. SEVENTEEN
  24. EIGHTEEN
  25. NINETEEN
  26. PART III
  27. TWENTY
  28. TWENTY-ONE
  29. TWENTY-TWO
  30. TWENTY-THREE
  31. TWENTY-FOUR
  32. TWENTY-FIVE
  33. TWENTY-SIX
  34. INTERLUDE
  35. PART IV
  36. TWENTY-SEVEN
  37. TWENTY-EIGHT
  38. TWENTY-NINE
  39. THIRTY
  40. THIRTY-ONE
  41. THIRTY-TWO
  42. THIRTY-THREE
  43. THIRTY-FOUR
  44. INTERLUDE
  45. PART V
  46. THIRTY-FIVE
  47. THIRTY-SIX
  48. THIRTY-SEVEN
  49. THIRTY-EIGHT
  50. PART VI
  51. THIRTY-NINE
  52. FORTY
  53. FORTY-ONE
  54. FORTY-TWO
  55. FORTY-THREE
  56. FORTY-FOUR
  57. FORTY-FIVE
  58. INTERLUDE
  59. PART VII
  60. FORTY-SIX
  61. FORTY-SEVEN
  62. FORTY-EIGHT
  63. FORTY-NINE
  64. FIFTY
  65. FIFTY-ONE
  66. FIFTY-TWO
  67. PART VIII
  68. FIFTY-THREE
  69. FIFTY-FOUR
  70. FIFTY-FIVE
  71. FIFTY-SIX
  72. EPILOGUE
  73. AUTHOR’S NOTE
  74. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  75. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  76. Newsletter Sign-up

Gisbourne took the reins quickly. “So let us resolve the situation. Eliminate the outlaws.”

“How, Gisbourne?” De Lacy snapped his teeth. “You and fifty men go marching randomly into the Sherwood hoping to get lucky? You tried that already.”

“We have dealt with situations like this before. Sheriff Murdac had no problem—”

“A fight is the last thing they’ll give you.” De Lacy shook his head in exasperation, his temper high. “They’ll hide, they’ll wait for you to pass, and you’ll never find them. Even if you did, what would we do with them? It would take more money to search them out than they’re even stealing! Hell, I should give them bloody subsidies!”

William cleared his throat, seeing the opportunity he needed. “If I may, I think this meeting is entirely unnecessary. The robberies have all but stopped in the last week.”

“Only because merchants won’t travel the roads anymore,” the Lord of Papplewick announced with a nasal sneer. “I wish the same were true for my wife.”

The other lords groaned in agreement, but William put his hand up to silence them.

“Have any of them been stopped in the last week?” A few raised eyebrows, but none answered. “As I say, these thieves had already been routed, thanks in particular to the leadership of Sheriff de Lacy. He and Captain Gisbourne focused their attention on the gangs here in Nottingham, which were supporting the thieves in the Sherwood. It took a few weeks, but those efforts have paid off. I think you’ve seen the last of them. But this business about not paying your taxes, frankly it’s exactly what they wanted. Rebellion, uncertainty. You’ve let them play you, even after they’re no longer a threat. The baron has played this properly, and I think we owe him our thanks.”

There was a quiet in the room, and more than a few raised eyebrows. De Lacy’s eyes pierced him, demanding answers for the unlikely compliments. William dared to hope it would work.

“Even if this were true,” Gisbourne said, “it wouldn’t matter to the people. These songs going around, the stories of Robin Hood, those will continue. Until we make an arrest, until we can put a public end to this, the people are going to live in fear.”

“Besides, laying low for a week doesn’t mean they’re gone,” Lord Oughtibridge thundered as he shifted his weight from one unfortunate position to another. “They have the money to turn every town and village in the county against us.”

William glanced at de Lacy for help, but the man shook his head. It was a good try, his eyes said. But it’s beyond that now. He felt the threads slip out of his hand, like the tether to a boat taken by the current without him.