Mark of the Black Arrow (45 page)

Robin turned and walked back inside the house, shutting the door behind him.

He gathered the lamps first, picking them up and carrying them through the house, going room to room in a systematic search. In his sisters’ room he found an old one, handed down from woman to woman in his family for generations untold, its body cracked but somehow still holding oil.

That one he didn’t empty.

In the kitchen he opened the small iron door on the fire pit. Warmth radiated from inside the oven. Using tongs he dug out a coal that began to glow orange as he brought it into the air. Raising the wick on the ancient lamp, he touched the coal to it. One small puff of breath and the wick caught, the oil blazing to life.

He dropped the coal, set the lamp on the table, and watched the wick flare and flicker. He thought of his mother. Of his sisters. Of his father across the sea. Dead or not, all of them gone.

With a sweep of his hand he knocked the lamp from the table. It crashed to the floor, glass exploding across the surface as oil ran fast and free. The burning wick lay down in the oil, igniting it in a tide of cleansing fire. The flame had just reached the end of the spreading puddle, catching its edge as it collided with the trails of oil he’d tracked through the house, from all the other lamps he’d found.

Fire ran like children, chasing through hallways and into rooms, leaping quickly onto anything that would hold it dear and let it burn.

Without looking back, he walked out the door and into the forest.

A
s winter came to Sherwood, the first dog soldier crawled from its glass womb.

In the bowels of the castle it lay on the cold stone, soaked in potions and saturated with dark magic, while the Sheriff gently picked shards of glass from its skin and sang to it a lullaby of death and destruction.

F
irst I have to thank my amazing co-author, James, who has been a joy to work with and who has made this book so fun. I’m so glad we’ve had the chance to work together. A huge thank-you to our fantastic editor Steve Saffel, who believes in this series as much as we do and whose enthusiasm and passion have been greatly appreciated. Thank you to an amazing agent, Howard Morhaim, who worked hard to make this happen. There are so many at Titan who have helped tremendously with the creation of this book. Thank you to: Alice Nightingale, Nick Landau, Vivian Cheung, Laura Price, Natalie Laverick, Miranda Jewess, Julia Lloyd, Tim Whale, and Paul Gill.

Thank you to our fans who have been eagerly anticipating this book. Your excitement has added fuel to our own and we’re so thrilled to be able to finally share it with you. Thank you as well to Rick and Barbara Reynolds, Juliette Cutts, Ann Liotta, Chrissy Current, Calliope Collacott, Rita De La Torre and Jason De La Torre for their encouragement and support.

–DV

T
hank you to Debbie. An idle conversation on a panel at Timegate has resulted in this book and this series and it rocks! Thanks to D.E.O Steve Saffel who did drive this book further down the road than we were originally going to go. Thank you to Howard Morhaim and his staff. The behind the scenes Titan posse which include: Alice Nightingale, Nick Landau, Vivian Cheung, Laura Price, Natalie Laverick, Miranda Jewess, Julia Lloyd, Tim Whale, and Paul Gill. Thank you to every merry man out there no matter your gender, you are welcome one and all to our Sherwood. Special thanks goes to Krista Merle for being a sounding board.

I couldn’t do any of this without my darling dear, Danielle Tuck.

–JRT

D
ebbie Viguié is the
New York Times
bestselling author of more than three dozen novels including the
Wicked
series co-authored with Nancy Holder. In addition to her epic dark fantasy work Debbie also writes thrillers including
The Psalm 23 Mysteries
, the
Kiss
trilogy, and the
Witch Hunt
trilogy. Debbie plays a recurring character on the audio drama, Doctor Geek’s Laboratory. When she isn’t busy writing or acting Debbie enjoys spending time with her husband, Scott, visiting theme parks. They live in Florida with their cat, Schrödinger.

J
ames R. Tuck is the author of the Deacon Chalk series. He is also a professional tattoo artist, an accomplished photographer, and podcaster. He lives in the Atlanta area with his lovely wife Danielle.