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"Find out everything you can about the transport," I ordered. "How many soldiers, which road they're using, when they're leaving, and where we can stop them."

I was fitting a fresh string to my bow that evening when a sudden wave of dread made me stop. My chest tightened, and for a moment, I thought something was wrong with me.

Then I recognized the feeling.

Guy.

I could sense his emotions through our bond, although I still hadn't grown accustomed to having someone else's feelings arrive without warning.

Whatever had happened, he'd been shaken badly.

"Robin?"

I pressed a hand against my chest. "Something's wrong."

"With what?"

"Guy."

"How do you know?"

I turned toward the southeast, where Nottingham sat beyond the trees. "Because I can feel it."

Merry stared at me. "You're telling me you can feel the sheriff from here?"

"Yes."

"Well." She sat back on her heels. "That's going to make hiding from him considerably more difficult."

Despite everything, I almost smiled.

I sat down among the leaves and tried to calm myself. My breathing gradually slowed as I wrapped my fingers around the brass compass I'd carried for years.

I thought about Guy, concentrating on the warmth of our bond. I wanted him to know I was safe and that whatever trouble he'd found himself in, he wasn't facing it alone.

Whether any of that reached him, I couldn't say.

The dread remained, although after a while it seemed less overwhelming.

I considered riding straight to Nottingham.

In fact, I'd already risen and slung my quiver over my shoulder before common sense caught up with me.

Charging into a heavily guarded city without knowing what had happened would only get us both captured.

I needed information.

And I knew exactly where to find soldiers who might have some.

The road to Nottingham narrowed for about two hundred yards below the Mansfield turn, running between two steep, wooded banks.

I'd ambushed soldiers there four times over the last three years.

A fifth wouldn't hurt.

We positioned six archers along the banks before dawn, while the others waited behind a beech tree we'd felled across the road.

The transport arrived two hours after sunrise.