“Hullo, boys.” When he smiled, the prickly grey needles that littered his cheeks stood at attention. “What a beautiful morning, wouldn’t you agree? Well enough with the small talk. Why don’t you hand over your belongings before I break open your skulls?”

He snapped his hands tight around the quarterstaff, and William swore he heard the wood creak under the pressure. Beside him, Robin did not look nearly as confident as he had a moment ago. They both lowered themselves humbly to the ground, disrobed their belts, and very obviously unbuckled the saddlebags.

The thieves, at least, gave them a wide berth, and William rustled his bag loudly to mask his whisper. “I don’t suppose you can run?”

Robin gave a terse shake of his head. “We could fight? Where do you put our chances?”

“They’re just trying to scare us. These are bandits, not murderers.” If these men had any interest in killing them, it would have happened already. But if they were attacked, that attitude might change.

Still, there were more important things at stake. William eyed Robin and exposed the letters from Richard. “We can’t lose these.” A couple of thieves with letters of immunity from the king seemed like an epic disaster.

Robin’s face turned serious. “Agreed. We’ll have to split up.”

“I don’t like it.”

“Nor I, but you have to get those out of here. I’ll distract them, you run.”

“Hurry up with it,” groaned the mighty John Little. “And be sure there aren’t any surprises waiting in those bags.”

William’s mind reeled to think of an alternative. “I won’t go far. I’ll wait for you down by the river.”

“No, don’t stop. Go all the way to Clipstone.”

“What if you get in trouble? Your leg…”

“I’ll get there eventually. As you said, they don’t mean to hurt us.”

A twig bounced off Robin’s cheek, and the young Will threw another at William, darting his tongue out. “What are you two whispering at?”

“Just arguing about which one of you is more handsome.” William smiled.

The young thief smiled back. “John, tell us again what it was you were thinking of doing with their skulls?”

Time was up, and the mountainous man again demanded their belongings, which his two companions hustled forward to collect.

With only the slightest nod, Robin and William moved in symmetry. William slipped his body low and grappled Alan’s legs, hoisting him up to flip head over heels onto his back. Beside him, Robin swung the heft of his saddlebag into the chin of the blond boy, then pulled him down.

Careful, William thought, don’t hurt them too badly. But he did not dally. He heaved himself up and away, shouldering his saddlebag and pushing off to the south as fast as he could.