Shrugg was in the circle now, no longer on the outside. He drew on the floor with a stick and the others began nodding, their faces lightening. Even the hopeless barge man seemed swayed. Blaise felt a little hope return. The traveler had thought of a way they might live. Everyone began to move with a purpose.

  Once everyone was occupied, Shrugg climbed up to the warehouse loft and looked out windows all the way around, blinking. That brightness was still in him. He was right on the loft edge but did not seem to notice the fall should he put a foot wrong. What was he looking for? Blaise shivered as his eye fixed on her. Me? He clambered back down, oblivious to the danger.

  “What’s your name?” he asked.

  “Blaise,” she answered.

  “You strike me as an adventurer,” he said. Blaise felt a thrill at being singled out. “I want you to go in secret, go for help. Do you think you can do that?” Her eyes shone.

  Downie, listening in, came forward. “I’ll go,” he said with a quaver.

  “You will?” asked Shrugg, raising an eyebrow.

  “If you leave her out of it.”

  “Shut up, Downie!” said Blaise. “I’ll do what I want!”

  “Blaise!” he whined, “I’m trying to-”

  “Trying too hard! Stupid boy!”

  Shrugg stepped between them. “You too,” he said to Downie. “You can both go. Better that than slavery. You’ll have to be quick and have your wits about you. Can you do that?”

  “I surely can,” said Blaise.

  “Uh, yes,” said Downie.

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  Shrugg outlined what he had in mind. Blaise saw in it a way out of Worthe. She was flushed and excited for adventure. Downie looked scared but kept nodding. They went to get ready.

  ***

  An hour later, Captain Ludwick raised his white cloth and rode to the same spot as before. He advanced at a slow walk while he scanned through half-closed eyes and kept his ears open for any sign of ambush. How many enemies had mistaken his insouciance for ineptitude and lost because of it? Well, all of them, so far. Ludwick allowed himself a smile, and of course the image of his mentor Rickard with his lips puckered into prunes had to appear unbidden to spoil it. “Go away, old man,” he murmured. The more tired he got, the more he imagined his teacher talking to him. It would seem like a ghost except that Ludwick knew that Rickard was very much alive and looking for him.

  Ludwick’s best archers had arrows nocked to cover him. There was no attempt at defense that he could see. He heard hammering and muffled voices from the town centre. “What ho, worthy villagers?” said Ludwick in his carrying voice. “Come now, don’t be shy. Do you agree to our terms?”

  The old woman shouted from behind a building. “We do not agree to the terms. Now be off with you!” The hammering continued.

  “You misunderstand me. If you do not agree to my terms, we shall burn the village and sell everyone into slavery!” There was no answer. Fools! “Torches!” said Ludwick, and his soldiers at the outskirts began lighting torches.

  A gangly fellow in peasant clothes took a few stumbling steps into the road. “Wait!” he shouted. The fellow was waving his open hands in a wretched attempt to show himself unarmed. He was bug-eyed with fear.

  “Hold!” shouted Ludwick, raising his hand. His eye twitched. “Well?”

  The man’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he spoke. It was hard to hear him over the hammering. “I am a traveler here. I believe I can convince them to do as you ask.”

  “They already didn’t do as I asked,” answered Ludwick, waving the white cloth lazily so it pointed toward Shrugg.

  “Let me try.”

  Captain Ludwick regarded Shrugg, facing bowmen and cavalry with nothing but words and open hands. “That’s courage,” said Rickard’s voice in his head. Ludwick found himself agreeing with his old mentor’s assessment. Here was an unassuming youth in inoffensive brown and gray, risking his life for a village not his own.

  Those hands were not casting magic. A spellcaster would change everything. Flaps more like a duck than a wizard. Ludwick was sure there were no magic practitioners for miles about. The man didn’t look dangerous. He continued to bob in place, looking everywhere. “All right,” said Ludwick, signaling his men to stand down. “Convince them. Don’t be long about it, though.”