Guy nodded. Frankly, he didn’t know how he felt about the proposal. It was one more step away from doing things lawfully, and closer to doing what was right. It was not a thin line, as he had expected, but a long gentle ramp—certainly one easier to walk than his travel today. Still, at this moment he needed Marshall’s head clear above all else. He risked nothing by giving his promise now, when a thousand things could believably keep him from fulfilling it later. Trivial things, such as being dead.

“The Guard is nothing if we don’t have each other’s backs,” he answered. “The Sheriff doesn’t understand that. We take care of our own.”

Marshall seemed satisfied, and they started bouldering up the wall.

The climb was tricky but not as perilous as it seemed, always offering enough rock to rest upon. Guy watched the lip up above grow closer, where waited the true danger. The ascent gave the foreboding sense of climbing up to some giant’s kingdom, up to another world. It was easy to see how the commonfolk had been seduced by the cult of this Robin Hood persona. But Robin of Locksley was just a man, a slave to the same desperations of survival as anyone.

You’re not going to die here, Guy tried to convince himself.

Not in the middle of the woods. Not forgotten in a hole.

His whole life had been a whetstone, sharpening him for a moment like this.

When Guy made his final scrambles up the slope, his stomach turned.

There was a small flat glade, well-protected by natural walls, an absolutely perfect spot for Robin’s men to hide. But it was empty, and the few signs of any campsite were well grown-over with tussock.

Guy turned in panic to look back down below. The tiny shape of Ferrers was on his back, clutching his head with both hands, and beyond him was the last glimpse of Stutely riding off on Merciful, leading the other two horses by their reins.

BETWEEN THEN AND NOW, an eternity of humiliation passed. The world was black and burnt, and those who suffered deserved it. It was past midnight and Guy’s body could barely move, but his soul couldn’t bear to sit still. He was done with civility, he was done with the cat-and-mouse bullshit that was Robin of Locksley.

There was too much at stake, and not enough time.

Rising from the earth in front of him, the Rabbit Cage was a gravestone. Cold bars for a cold night. Guy dismissed the unfamiliar Derbyman, who retreated back down into the stairs within the cage, leaving only the limp prisoner he had dragged up.

“Sorry to disturb your sleep.” Guy ground his teeth. “I could come back at a more convenient time.”

Will Scarlet coughed out dirt and slowly roused himself to a seated position, back to Guy, against the bars, but gave no answer.