Sir Roland Inness is returning to the hills he fled from as an outlaw, as a boy who’d slain three Norman men-at-arms for murdering his father and burning his home. He comes here not merely to pay respects to the dead, but to ask for his people’s support: the Midlands are burning, caught by a growing war between the usurping dog John and those loyal to King Richard, and the hope of continuing resistance at Chester needs men to help defend it. Will the Danes put aside their hatred of the Normans and unite with the Earl of Cheshire against a still worse threat? Well, that decision is made somewhat easier when de Ferrers, the man who made Roland an orphan, orders an invasion of the Danish hills and forces them to rally behind the flag. Matters grow worse, though: the King, attempting to return to England from the Crusades, has been captured by enemies on the Continent, and the Holy Roman Emperor is demanding more than a king’s ransom for his return. Richard’s arrival in England was the only thing giving those resisting John and his allies hope — and from inside the siege line, things look grim indeed. As Roland and Declan try to keep their lord’s people safe, Robin of Loxley and his brother-in-arms Friar Truck are outlaws in Sherwood, stealing wagons to keep the people of the Midlands from starving — and Millie is again serving as a spy, attempting to figure out who is undermining the loyal cause. Given how many of these I’ve read recently, this review threatens to sound like copy-paste beyond this point: it continues being solidly enjoyable, and as Grant points out in his afterword, this is as close as the series has come to being grounded on real events. Grant comments that there’s no reason to think the real de Ferrers was a particularly bad man, he just had the bad luck to be the Earl of Derbyshire when Grant needed a villain. Richard’s captivity and the subsequent wringing of England to pay his ransom did happen, though here it’s not developed as strongly as it might be: it’s happening in the background and the characters talk about how awful it is, but the reader is more focused on the spy drama and Roland’s attempts to break the siege of Cheshire. This is another fine addition to the series that will mostly be remembered for Roland’s recovery of his brother, who in the first novel he was compelled to entrust to the church for safety.

Would that men could be as content with their lot as were dogs!  But the nature of man was to strive, and in their striving, men were capable of the most admirable feats and the most appalling wickedness.

Oren slapped him on the shoulder and sighed. “I might have talked you out of your allegiance to this Sir Roger, but the most beautiful girl in England?  I can see it is a lost cause.”

“What the Prince expects and what the situation allows are not always the same, my lord.”

He had been trained to the blade since he was a boy and had a reputation as one of the finest swordsmen in the Midlands.  Surely he would overmatch some peasant who was more accustomed to killing with a longbow from ambush.  But as he watched Roland close the distance, a nagging thought struck him.  In all his years of training, he had never faced a man who meant to kill him.