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

“You won’t burn the forest down,” Arable said, thinking herself incredibly brave by standing straighter. “It would kill thousands of people. It would devastate Nottinghamshire. Nobody is that insane.”

Guy withered her with his stare. “I absolutely agree. You’re not listening. The plan will only be enacted if I fail to stop it. So I’m putting that choice in your hands. As you say, I’m banking that ‘nobody is that insane.’ So will you give up, Robin, or will you let it all burn down? Actually,” an odd thought struck him, “perhaps you will pick the latter. Seems to run in the family.”

Robin flinched, and John Little shouted to stop him. “Don’t, Robin! It’s exactly what he wants.”

“What I want?” Guy shook his head, incredulous. “I guarantee you there is nothing about this situation I have wanted. Because what I want is for you all to obey the law! That’s it! Is that so unthinkable? Is that what makes me monstrous?” He tilted his head toward Arable, recalling her insult. “I didn’t want to hike out here in the middle of the night, risking my men’s lives. What I want is for you to respect your country enough to live fairly, the way the rest of us must. You do remember you’re the criminals, don’t you? You stole from the King! You assassinated a public official! You’re inciting a rebellion while we’re at war! And why? Because your taxes are too high? And your life isn’t as easy as you wish it were? What I want is for you all to grow up.”

Guy bristled, pacing back and forth in front of them. “And if you refuse, then yes I also want to kill you.”

There were other sounds, just underneath his own words, that came from the trees. With his final syllable he recognized what they were, and then it was too late.

The mist moved, in hair-thin horizontal slices, met by grunts and thunks and screams. Time was arrested, letting Guy witness it all fall apart—with no way of stopping it. The hair on Guy’s neck stood as the Guardsman on his left, a diligent veteran named Curtis who had served for five years without complaint, took three arrows in the chest and fell screaming to his knees. One whisper cut the air so close to Guy’s face he felt it across the tip of his nose. The arrow ended its flight by punching a hole through both the hood and the cheek of a tall dark-skinned Guardsman, Sergio, who had been born in Nottingham and now died in the middle of nowhere.

Stop! He screamed, though he didn’t. He was still frozen, feeling victory slough through his fingers, clenching every muscle to return to where he was a bare moment ago. But it was gone. He was sliding backward, back into the hole.