“Exactly.” I flashed him a triumphant grin. “They’ll wake up disoriented and you can tell them whatever you want them to believe. It’s perfect.”
Baron didn’t look convinced. His face was carved in unreadable lines with his eyebrows pulled tight and jaw tense. It was maddening. He wasn’t seeing my brilliance here. He would be positioned at the heart of John’s army and would be able to feed us information from inside the castle. With one well-told lie, he could rise to Sheriff of Nottingham, secure power, and be precisely where we needed him when the moment came. But instead of excitement, hesitation shadowed his features.
Everyone else had broken into pairs or small groups and continued to brainstorm details of the plan. My father traced a route toward Vienna on a weather-beaten map and mused, “Some of us can go after Richard, and having someone on the inside at Nottingham Castle would be helpful.”
“Who?” Alan snorted. “Every single one of us rotted in those cells for months. And Baron will be off gallivanting across the countryside as sheriff.”
“Not everyone was a prisoner,” Will Scarlet said quietly, returning from the unconscious men. His gaze slid to me.
Of course.
The idea sparked through me like flint meeting steel. The only thing better than having Baron within the walls would be having two sets of eyes and ears inside the castle. As long as I kept my head down when Baron marched the sheriff’s men inside, I could pass unnoticed.
Was it risky? Yes. Reckless? Absolutely. But danger thrilled me—it always had. The challenge, the chase, the razor’s-edge escapes… it was the sting of fear that made victory taste sweetest. I lifted my chin. “I’ll do it.”
“Wait!” Baron burst out.
Everyone’s heads swiveled around. “You’re all comfortable sending Laurel off alone without even considering her safety? You don’t know what these men are like. It’ll be dangerous.”
James, the smallest and thinnest of the Merry Men, considered the statement pensively. Alan nodded in agreement. I bristled. Dangerous? Of course it was dangerous.Everythingwas dangerous.
Father spoke very articulately, as if he didn’t want Baron to miss a single syllable. “I’d never casually send my own daughter to her death. Laurel goes on these missions because she is capable. All of us here have weighed the risks. Don’t presume you’re the only one who cares for her.”
“Laurel can handle herself,” Lincoln added loyally. “She always has.”
“She was captured and held prisoner for months,” Baron shot back. “You call that handling herself?”
Heat flared up my neck. “I escaped several times.”
“And you were dragged back each time,” he retorted.
I glared. “Byyou.And now you’ll be on our side. I’ll be fine.”
“Most of those men won’t bother capturing you,” Baron growled. “They’ll kill or torture you.”
“I’m not afraid.”
“Well, you should be!” His hands were fists, his knuckles were white, and his voice cracked from the strain. Why was he so angry? This was a brilliant plan, but it also hinged on his cooperation. Yet he looked at us all as if we were walking willingly into a slaughter.
“There has to be another way,” he insisted.
James tilted his head. “Such as?”
“Anything else,” Baron snapped.
James offered a bland shrug. “We could try to rally farmers and villagers to our cause and use them to fight a fully-equipped platoon of armed and trained soldiers.”
Baron glowered and several men scoffed. Obviously, that wouldn’t work. We couldn’t subject defenseless and untrained civilians to be slaughtered in Richard’s name.
“Or,” James continued petulantly, “we could write back to Prince John and ask him to please reconsider treason.”
Baron rolled his eyes skyward. James spread his hands as if to say,See what I mean? We have no other alternative.
“Do you even understand what you’re suggesting?” Baron growled. Across the clearing, the two unconscious guards began to stir. I hissed at him to lower his voice, and Alan stepped in to administer two swift blows to silence them again.
Baron’s eyes blazed as he swept his gaze across the group. “You’ll die.”
“That is a risk we’re all willing to take,” James replied gently. “Are you?”