Falconer's Prey

It is the Year of Our Lord 1193, and the true King of England, Richard I, called Lionheart, is captured on his journey home from the Third Holy Crusade. All England has borne the heavy yolk of taxation to pay the cost of this endless war, and now must bear the added burden of ransoming their beloved monarch from a cruel captivity. In his absence, the King's appointed Regents have been challenged, their power usurped by his envious brother, Prince John. Meanwhile, the evil and avaricious Sheriff of Nottingham, John's lackey, conspires to enrich his own coffers by leveling unjust taxes on the already impoverished citizenry of Nottinghamshire. When his greed is frustrated at every turn by his old nemesis, Robin Hood, the sheriff plots to capture and hang the bold outlaw and his entire band, which is encamped in Sherwood Forest. Into the band's midst comes a desperate young woman called Alice Johnstone. Alice has just escaped after dark years of confinement in the sinister Abbey of St. Mary's - an institution controlled by Robin's sworn enemies, the corrupt and depraved Bishop of Hereford and his henchwoman, the wicked and unholy Abbess. In an attempt to cheat her stepdaughter of her rightful inheritance, Alice's stepmother has enlisted the Bishop's aid in imprisoning Alice in a madhouse. Although she asks for and accepts the sanctuary of Sherwood Forest and its brave defenders, the lovely young fugitive does so with a curious reluctance. Willful and spirited and with secret plans of her own in the making, Alice refuses to adhere to the camp's strict rules - rules made to ensure its survival. It falls to Robin Hood's second-in-command, the handsome, (and exasperated) Will Fletcher, to tame the lady's tantrums and conceits, and within days of her arrival, Alice is rudely upended and soundly spanked twice. In her short but highly enlightening stay, the lady will become uncomfortably familiar with a number of the implements used to enforce the camp's security - the wooden paddle, leather strap, and even the humble, durable birch switch. At the heart of her disobedience is Alice's determination to rejoin the mysterious man with whom she has fallen in love, French nobleman Geoffrey of Gascony. Her infatuation and stubbornness combine to draw her deeper into danger and to put Robin's men in peril as well. By the time the villainous plot against her is revealed and thwarted, and the Sheriff's dastardly attack on the camp beaten back, Alice and her new friends have faced death more than once, and a wiser, oft-chastened Alice has found a truer love.