Chapter 16
Into the
Woodcutter’s Forest
One by one, Master Brooks led each of Nicolas’ companions back into the great room.
When Ranulf returned, he was shouldering a large burlap sack, with a smaller leather bag tucked securely into his belt. He was smiling and humming merrily to himself. When he dropped the burlap sack to the stone floor, it jangled and clinked and clattered. Benjamin, however, returned looking much the same way he’d left, but when he opened his weather cloak, Nicolas could see several new pockets artfully stitched inside; just the right kind of cloak for a “snatcher” to wear. Adelaide was the last of the three to return, her little goat following sleepily at her heels. She had a soft leather roll, decorated with stitched beads, slung across her back. “It’s full of e
