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Guy looked up.

"Already?"

"Public proclamation at first light. Treason, aiding an outlaw, and murdering the Crown's soldiers in Sherwood."

I frowned.

"Murdering soldiers?"

"Apparently."

"That's a new one."

Little John nodded.

"And the reward for your capture has doubled again."

"Of course it has."

"They've changed the wording too. It says you're to be taken alive. Three separate times."

He looked at me.

"Robin, Fitzwalter wants you breathing."

"I know."

I put the compass away.

"What about Hugh Reyner?"

"Still in the castle. Still free, although Fitzwalter's assigned two men to follow him everywhere. They're not even pretending to be discreet."

"And the roads?"

"Blocked. There are soldiers stationed in every village along the forest's edge."

He rubbed his hands over his face.

"There's something else. It's why I came myself."

I waited.

"A column of soldiers left Nottingham before sunrise. They headed west."

"Toward where?"

"Locksley."

Guy pushed himself onto one elbow.

"How many?"

"Twenty, perhaps twenty-five. Our scout was counting in the dark."

"The chapel?" I asked.

"That's the strange part. They went through the chapel gate and walked straight past the building."