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“Are you expecting us to be scared? You’re threatening deputized soldiers of—”
“I’m expecting you to be smart and hand the girl over. What does she matter to you?”
The guard scoffed. “She means nothing to me, imbecile. But we don’t take threats from bandits, and we certainly don’t willingly hand over the Sheriff’s property.”
Will’s face was cool and calm. His cheeks hollowed as he sucked in a deep breath. “There’s only one way this is going to end, soldier.”
“Oh? And how is that?”
“Badly. For you.” He stepped forward.
“Enough!” yelled the abbot in a shrill cry. He shuffled forward, holding the hems of his robe above the mud and grass. “You would spill blood in the doorway of a holy house?” His eyes moved past me, to Tuck. “I thought better of you, friar. We’ve broken bread together.”
“It’s not the chaplain’s call,” Will said, “or his fault this is happening.”
“It’s not your call, either, Will,” I grunted.
Will’s brow jumped. He glanced over, eyes twinkling with a threat.
“Put the swords down and let’s talk this over like civilized men,” I said. The head guard whipped his head over, mouth opening with the most obvious retort I could imagine. “Aye, I said men, sir,” I interjected before he could get any words out. “Because apparently you lot can’t keep your cocks sheathed when women are present. Foolish boys.”
The three girls behind Abbot Emery snickered.
The priest standing next to Emery raised his hand to the closest one to shut her up—
But I made a clicking sound that had him freeze mid-swing, his bug-eyes glancing over. “Put another hand on that girl, sir, and there will be blood spilled here today. And that’s a promise.”
Tuck and Alan hemmed in behind me and Will. I heard the rasp of Alan’s steel, and the cracking knuckles of Tuck.
The priest wisely lowered his palm.
In that moment, I knew these girls would find no quarter if they were given over to the priests. Rufford Abbery was strict and unforgiving, and perhaps we were wrong to ever break bread with Emery and assist him. They definitely weren’t getting our goods, now. More and more men are showing their true colors these days. A sign of the trying times, and how much it’s broken everyone. All thanks to Prince John and his mercenary city leaders like Sheriff George.
“We haven’t even asked her yet what she wants,” I said, tilting my chin toward Emma.
“Property doesn’t get an opinion,” a soldier growled. “It does whatever its superior wills.”
“Call her property one more time,” I spat through clenched teeth. I was the only one here without a weapon in her hands, and yet I was being the brashest.
“I thought we were finished measuring cocks, girl.”
“Shame, then,” Alan chirped in true Alan-a-Dale fashion, “because she has the biggest one out of all of us. I daresay you’d want to see it.”
The guard didn’t respond. Again, the servant girls chuckled. They felt emboldened by having us here, threatening guards and priests on their behalf. Yet I knew they’d be paying for their insolence once they got on the other side of those doors.
At the same time, I had told myself we would try things differently. Even as the measured laughter subsided from the servant girls and from the Merry Men’s side of the line, I was planning in my head.
Bloodshed won’t do. We’re already jeopardizing ourselves by being here. The whole camp is trusting us to return. Those lads will be lost without us. I asked myself what Little John would do, and, begrudgingly, I knew the answer right away.
I just didn’t like the answer.
“Fine,” I said at last, meticulously letting my shoulders drop. “We don’t want to start a brawl with the Sheriff’s men, despite the obvious mistake you’re making.”
“Bring your complaint up with Sheriff George,” the guard grunted. “You know where to find him.”
Aye . . . and he’ll know where to find us if we get too carried away. Hell, he probably already does, if Baron Easton of Mansfield is whispering in his ear about the carriage robbery.
I had to hope the girls had been sent out of Nottingham before Mansfield arrived there, yet that didn’t make much chronological sense no matter how I tried to position it.
