Alan-a-Dale tagged David of Doncaster, who tagged Arthur, and so on, in circles around John, but never did they bring him into it.

“Why’d you come south with us?” John asked Friar Tuck, sitting on a log and watching the others. “You don’t mean to come to Nottingham tomorrow.”

“I try to be where I’m needed.” Tuck fidgeted. “I don’t always get that part right.”

“But supposing your arm were right as your head, you still wouldn’t go with us.”

The friar kept his lips tight. “That I wouldn’t.”

“I don’t value shame none, Friar, so I don’t mind telling you I wish it had been my arm they broke instead of yours.”

“That’s kind of you.”

“It’s not. It’s not kind. I wish it, so that I might have a reason not to go.”

They watched on silently, as Arthur tagged Nicks Delaney, who swatted at Geoffrey and Thomas. These two were young farmhands with thick moustaches from Bernesdale, joined not a week ago. Men John barely knew, who were spry to risk their lives without enough reason. The Delaneys insisted, being so close to Bernesdale, that they could rally another dozen men from the village like it was nothing. But Robin wouldn’t have it. They’d labored over the details of the plan too much to change it now.

“You don’t have to go,” Tuck said.

“I do,” John corrected him. “If I didn’t go tomorrow, I’d have no business staying none neither. These are my boys, and I don’t fancy losing any more of them.”

Thomas tagged Gamble Gold, who tagged Peeteys Delaney, who tagged Robin and fancied himself the king of the world for having done it. John’s stomach twisted. Iffing they needed to run tomorrow, there would be no keeping up for him.

Iffing they couldn’t find Will and Elena, or that their faces were recognized in the crowd and a host approached, John knew he couldn’t outrun the first of them. It’s why he didn’t play now, and why they didn’t make him. These boys all hoped for success tomorrow, but in failure they also had a chance of escaping again. John, on the other hand, would only be coming back if all went well, every last bit of it.

He could have made an argument against his own participation, to say his size was a hindrance, that he would endanger them all. His was a unique shape, more likely to draw attention than anything else. But there was no pretending John believed it himself. If forced to stand his ground, at least he might be able to give his boys a head start. There was no knowing how many of them he might save by simply being there.