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I stood there holding the piece of Hugh's cloak.

For twenty years, he'd served beside me.

He'd carried out my orders, defended my decisions, and trusted me to lead him properly.

He'd stood in a damp cell only days earlier and told me he intended to help whether I approved or not.

He had a wife.

Two children.

And now Edmund Fitzwalter intended to execute him in the courtyard of the castle where we'd both served.

All because he'd tried to retrieve a dead man's letter.

Robin came to stand beside me.

"Guy?"

I folded the cloth carefully and closed my hand around it.

"We have until dawn."

27

GUY

Hugh Reyner had served beside me for twenty years, and there were three things I knew about him. He was loyal to a fault, he was a terrible liar, and he'd sooner lose a hand than surrender something he'd promised to protect.

If he'd managed to retrieve William of Locksley's letter, Edmund Fitzwalter was going to have a difficult time getting it away from him.

Unfortunately, Hugh was scheduled to hang in approximately six hours.

Robin ordered everyone out of the planning shelter except those involved in the rescue. Within minutes, we had the castle plans spread across the table, with Little John, Merry, Alana, and Tuck gathered around us.

Rain had started falling, and I could hear it tapping against the canvas overhead.

"We're not leaving him there," Robin said.

"I know."

"Then tell me what we're doing."

I placed my hand over the inner courtyard on the map. "We're going to get him out."

"From the castle you barely escaped?"

"Yes."

"The castle full of soldiers who want both of us dead?"

"That would be the one."

She stared at me. "Your plans are getting worse."

"And yet you keep participating."

She gave me a look that suggested she was reconsidering that particular habit.