Broken Arrow

Mark whispered.

But no-one was listening, least of all Azhar, who was urging him to get back on the spot they'd occupied before. The dark-skinned man picked up the sword and started spinning it around again.

Mark hunkered down, trying to recall what Azhar had just done in his position.

'Hey… Hey there, hold up.'

Jack called out to Adele. The woman had certainly made tracks since he'd spied her, and was now past what had once been the main entrance to the museum. She appeared to be looking for something, when she heard his cries.

'Hey there, Adele. Wait up!'

She waved to Jack then waited for him to reach her. When he got closer he saw that, like Sophie, she was wearing a winter coat — only Adele's clung to her, pulled tight in all the right places. He recognised it as one of the long coats Mary sometimes wore. The kind-hearted woman must have lent it to Adele to keep her warm.

'Jack,' she said, smiling warmly. 'How are you today?'

'Well, I'm just fine. All the better for spotting you up here. Haven't seen you much since you arrived.'

Adele's smiled broadened. 'I've been… busy.'

'Have you now? Doing what?'

'Trying to get my bearings mostly. One whiz around the block wasn't quite enough to familiarise myself with this place.'

Jack looked up at the castle. 'Yeah, I know what you mean. I used to come here sometimes, y'know? Visit in the week. It was always free to get in.'

'I wouldn't have thought you were the type to wander round stately homes and castles.'

'I'm a man of hidden depths,' Jack announced proudly. 'Do you mind if I walk with you for a spell?'

Adele hesitated for a second, then gave him another smile. 'No, of course not.'

'Forgive me for asking this, ma'am, but I figure I don't really know much about you and, well, I'd like to. It's kind of what we do around here when we bring someone into the fold.'

'What would you like to know?'

Jack laughed. 'Wanna hear somethin' funny? Put on the spot like that… I haven't a blessed clue.'

Adele laughed too. 'There's not that much to tell really. I was an only child, my mother brought me up alone because my dad died when I was very little. Average kind of education, did okay at school. Left school, did some travelling, you know how it is?'

'Indeed I do,' said Jack, remembering the wanderlust that had taken him from his native upstate New York, into the lights of the big city, then finally to England where he'd made his home.

'Drifted from one job to the next, never really settling on anything. Never really had something I wanted to do, a life purpose like some people have.' She paused to take in the stunning view of Nottingham. 'Not like you; I heard you were a pretty good sportsman. A wrestler wasn't it?'

Jack nodded.

'I'm envious. Not of the wrestling, obviously.' She laughed again and touched him on the arm. 'But that fact you always knew who you were.'

'Oh, I'm not so sure I always knew. But yeah, I guess you could say I was lucky. In more ways than one when the virus hit.' Adele pulled up sharply and her smile suddenly faded. 'Hey, I'm sorry… I… That was real thoughtless of me. What you said back there in York, about having no-one. You lost your family, didn't you?'

'Can we change the subject, please?' Adele said, bristling.

'Sure. Hey, no problem.'

She began walking again, without waiting for him to catch up. Luckily all it took for Jack was a couple of strides. 'Do you know where Robert took off to in such a hurry?' she asked then.

'Robbie? Why do you ask?' Jack fought to keep the jealousy out of his voice.

'Oh, no reason. It's just that he left without saying goodbye or anything.'

'You get used to that,' Jack told her, resting his staff on his shoulder as they walked. 'You should have seen him in Sherwood. One minute he was there, the next…'

Adele looked wistfully out at the view. 'I really wish I could have seen that. It all sounds so… I don't know, romantic. Living in the forest, with the Hooded Man.'

Jack shrugged. 'I don't know if romantic's the right word. It was dangerous, I know that. Especially when we came up against the Frenchman's men.'

She stopped again. 'De Falaise?'

'You've heard of him.'

Adele nodded. 'You hear things. Rumours of what happened.'

'It was a tough time.'

'I can imagine.'

Jack looked at her, searching her eyes. 'Adele, you-'

'You never answered my question about where Robert went.'

'To… To get help. We need to know more about the cult, the people who were chasing you.'

'Right,' said Adele, nodding. 'When's he due back, do you know?'

'Anytime I guess. But-'

'Jack,' said Adele, pulling him towards a set of steps with a locked gate across it. 'You never did tell me what was down there.'

'Oh, that's just the caves. You wouldn't like it down there.'

'Is it where prisoners are kept?' she asked, biting her lip.

'Not anymore. Not since we took over. It's just where we keep the stuff De Falaise left behind. Y'know, weapons and such.'

Adele looked puzzled. 'Robert doesn't use them?'

'You've seen what Robert uses,' replied Jack, a little more impatiently than he'd meant to. Here he was, trying to get to know this beautiful woman, and all she wanted to talk about was Robert.

'I'm sorry,' Adele told him, sensing the mood. 'I don't mean to ask so many questions. I'm just curious about what happens here.' She took his hand. 'Forgive me?'

'Er… Yeah, of course.' Jack could feel the colour rushing to his cheeks.

'Listen, how about you give me a bit of time to freshen up — then maybe we could grab a bite to eat? God, that sounds so normal doesn't it? Sounds like what people used to do.'

'It does.'

'Okay then. Meet you in the dining area in about an hour?'

Jack nodded.

'And listen, thank you Jack. You've been really sweet to me.' She leaned in and kissed him, before running off to the nearest entrance.

Jack beamed from ear to ear. 'You're very welcome, little lady. Very welcome indeed.'

It was a good few minutes before his thoughts returned to what she'd asked about: Robert. And Jack wondered how he'd got on himself, and whether his trip had been worthwhile.

CHAPTER SEVEN

The guards weren't that surprised to see the horse come trotting up St James Street. Robert had already checked in with Rangers positioned at the city's edge, telling them not to inform the castle yet, just his people at The Britannia.

'They'll only want to join us, and I'd rather this was just you and me, Reverend,' he'd told Tate by way of an explanation. 'I don't want Mary being placed needlessly in danger here.' He'd registered the holy man's look of fear when he said that, possibly the only real time he'd ever seen Tate scared.

Robert tried to tell himself that these were just men whose minds had broken, probably during or after The