"Now ye have a spare horse." With indifference, Sir Wystan bent down and wiped his blade clean on the decapitated brigand leader's capuchin.

The archer could barely contain his rage and had a brief thought about launching an arrow into the cold heart of Sir Wystan. The surviving brothers may not have been gifted with intelligence, but they instinctively knew any retaliation would be fatal.

Mellester's new reeve, Petrus Bodkin, looked for somewhere to sit. ...