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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

“Whatever you decide, we’ll follow you,” Alan urged him. “Just don’t decide out of fear. Fear just keeps you from doing the things you know you should. It holds you back. None of us are here because we’re afraid, we’re here because we want to do what’s right.”

The rain fell on them both, harder, until it was impossible to ignore. Finally Robin smiled and pointed at the second glass, now overflowing. “You heard why Friar Tuck is here, didn’t you?” he asked. “Beer. He wanted to be where the beer was.”

“Tuck’s a humble man.” Alan shook his head. “Nobody does this for beer.”

Robin stood and put a hand on Alan’s shoulder. “Nobody does this for fun, either.”

A brave young man named Alan-a-Dale raised his face to the sky to trade his tears for rain. “Then let’s get Elena back,” he said. “Let’s get them both back.”

“Let’s get them all back,” Robin agreed, because it was their only choice. And if they had to pull this off, then they would. There was nothing else to decide.

They walked back to camp together.

INTERLUDE

GILBERT WITH THE WHITE HAND

WELL, THESE GUARDS WERE an entirely different sort of who, weren’t they?

Driven, as it were. Not different in their composite stuff, all blood and bone still, gristle. Men never came different as such, always two arms and legs unlessing they’d been cleaven off. Some men are greedy that way, take more than their fair. But these Guards—these whos—they leaned forward into their future, making of it what they would. Not like Marion’s men, who would only ever push if they were first shoved backward, always losing ground. Driving forward never meant much if you end farther away, did it?

But that wasn’t why Gilbert had left them, them being weak. Nor was it a pity or strategy that made him leave. He’d thought on it, thought harder than he’d wanted to. No, that hadn’t been it. Besides, they weren’t all slave to that weakness. Will Scarlet had killed the Sheriff, but boyo if he hadn’t gone about it the wrong way.

Gilbert touched the pale tan stones with his ungloved hand, didn’t he, because he could. Nothing about the stone was appealing, its craggy porous surface wouldn’t make any singular thing about Gilbert’s life better for having touched it. But Will Scarlet couldn’t touch it as it were, being locked away somewhere beneath where Gilbert stood now.

The middle bailey, Nottingham Castle.

Gilbert opened his mouth and ordered a lesser Guardsman to move, if only to witness the perfection of a thing thought, a thing spoken, and a thing done. The faceless thing hustled off, his blood pumping apologies. A nothing man.