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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

TUCK KEPT THE FUNERAL service short and humble. He read from Romans and called for silent prayer three times—once for each soul that had not returned. The longest, of course, for Much. There was some less-than-silent shuffling during the silences for Will and Elena. There were those who blamed them for what would come next. Marion had few arguments why they were wrong, but that did not lessen the blame on her own shoulders.

Some were already gone. The widow Fionne and her daughter Maege had been seamstresses for Walter of Locksley, and had mended every torn shirt and cooked many meals without complaint. They slipped away at the end of the funeral with the rest of their family, without even giving farewells. Marion wondered if they were afraid someone would try to stop them. Gilbert with the White Hand had vanished like a ghost. Perhaps he was never even there at all.

Others wavered, half-packed, unsure what to do or where to go. The kindly Amelia feared for her children. “Whatever it is that started in Bernesdale, we all know it won’t end there. We can’t fight. What do we do?” Her husband Baynard had been Lord Walter’s chamberlain, but was arrested on the day of the fire and never heard from since. Her oldest boy Norman was Much’s age, and the comparison terrified Amelia. Her little girl El was too young to understand any of it. Marion asked her to have faith, to pray, but her words tasted hollow.

A flurry of ravens tormented the group with their ceaseless cawing, as if even the Sherwood would no longer tolerate their lingering.

“WHO DO I PRAY for?” Marion asked Tuck, watching another family disappear past the treeline. “I want to pray for Will and Elena, to give them whatever peace is left. But Roger de Lacy had a wife, he had family. Do you suppose they pray for Will to suffer? Whose prayer speaks loudest?”

Tuck shook his head. “That’s not how prayer works. At Bernesdale, when they broke my arm, I prayed for myself. For myself. My face was in the dirt, praying I would get out of there alive, and I didn’t even see what happened to Much. Do you suppose what happened to Much was my fault, because the Lord was taking care of me instead of him?”

“Of course not.”