CHAPTER 41“Gilbert was right. They have raised the militia against me already. The forces of seven counties have converged and are marching upon us.”
My eyes closed. I could hear the children breathing peacefully in their sleep, the muffled arguments of soldiers outside the tent. When I could speak, I said, “What will you do?”
“Fight,” he said inevitably. I felt his weight on the bedroll beside me, his hand on my hair. “One last time. And then I’ll find a way to end it.”
“Hereward don’t!” I whispered, turning suddenly into him. “I would stay with you on a battlefield! Just live...!”
But that was the one thing he could not do, the one thing over which he had no control.
* * * *
With Gilbert’s warnings still ringing in my ears, I think I was relieved when the local men rallied to Herew
