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

Alan watched a bird fly from one end of the field to the other, then he just shrugged. “I’ll work. I was good at that.” His arms opened for an embrace, and Marion stood and gave it to him. “It was silly of us, thinking this would last? That we’d get away with it?”

But he didn’t wait for a reply, he turned sharply and started away, glancing sheepishly over his shoulder after a few paces to see if anyone else was watching him leave.

“AND WHAT ABOUT YOU?” John Little asked, his face stone and serious. It was no surprise he would stay the longest, doing his best to see everyone off safely, including her.

“I don’t know,” Marion answered, searching for anything to inspire some small cheer within him. The muscles in her cheeks strained to remember how to smile properly. “I could go to Sheffield and wait, but I wonder if there’s any point. I worry that they’re waiting for me. I think the safest thing would be to go home, back to Essex, and hope that none of this follows me there.”

“But you won’t do that,” John predicted, “until you know you’ve tried your last here.”

That time may have already come and gone. A crippling fear suggested she still had every opportunity to make things even worse. If every one of her choices so far had brought them to this point, she should have the wherewithal to realize her choices weren’t helping anyone.

“Where will you go?” she asked him back.

“Don’t worry about me.” His answer was quick, and it brought tears to her eyes. Because she knew he had no other answer. He would stay until everyone else was gone, and then it would just be John Little alone in the woods, with nowhere to go, until the snows buried him.

FORTY

WILLIAM DE WENDENAL

NOTTINGHAM CASTLE

WORDS WERE IMPORTANT.

William always preferred to think he was fairly good with words, better at least than average. He selected his words with care and tried to stay away from vagueness or exaggeration. He was no wordsmith, of course. Meeting an expert like Roger de Lacy reminded him of how pedestrian he must sound, and he was never able to craft a sentence together to make it sound like art. Still, he was careful not to misspeak, at least.

So when he said, “I am surrounded by enemies,” it was not a clever turn of phrase. Coming from a man who had literally stood in the center of a foreign city and held his blade against a swarming mob, he knew precisely what those words meant.

And frankly, he would trade Nottingham for Acre.