Garrett and the child had been walking at a rather brisk pace. The night was young but, in summer, also short. On the other side of the forest was a farming estate where he had booked safety and privacy for a few days. There he had stashed equipment he wouldn't want to carry in and out of the city behind them. Rations, tools, and clothes for the child. But first, there would be a small clearing he had chosen for a short break to throw off the hounds.
He kept her walking by tugging on the rope. Many times, the child would stumble due to tiredness and weakness. A life mostly in a small room had left the child clumsy and unsure on uneven terrain.
Neither of them spoke the entire time. The child could barely keep the head up, but at every sign of slowing, Garrett would get her back up and say "the hounds won't rest and neither will we." He didn't know whether they'd hunt them with hounds fact any other way. The child's former owner did not have a far reach beyond the walls around the assortment of shacks that called itself a "city", but he had learned in his line of work that getting to safety without being chased is better than waiting to be chased.
They arrived on the small clearing and Garrett finally allowed the child to stop walking for a moment. He knelt down.
"What's your name? I am Garetas, and I will be your teacher."
"My Name is Fibi." the child replied shily. Now that he could see her face properly and hear her face, he deduced that she must be a girl. The fur and the non-human skull-structure made it hard to tell at first glance.
Garrett shook his head. "No. I mean the long name. The name your parents used when no one else was around."
The girl was intimidated. She looked around, then cautiously said "Nannade."
"Very good. Nannade. That is your name. From this day forth, no one will call you Fibi anymore."
The girl seemed to be looking forward to that.
"Give me your clothes." He said to her, but before she complied, she looked him in the eye and asked him. "Mammy is dead, isn't she?"
Garrett wasn't prepared as to how much of an impact this question would have on him. He was no stranger to death, killing or even blood magic, but at this moment he felt a pity for the scraggy girl in front of him like he had never before.
"Did she tell you what would happen?"
"No. But she said the same things when Pappy stopped coming back, it never came true, so this one won't come true too." Tears welled up in her eyes, but her mouth remained shut. She turned around and Garrett gave her a moment to regain her composure.
She turned around again and took off her dress. She seemed to be used to that but not afraid in particular. Underneath the ragged dress she wore a loincloth in horrible condition, dirty in all the worst ways. She took it off too and Garrett could see the shabby state the girl was in. Even in this darkness, he could see fleas, lice and other parasites crawl in her fur. He put down a piece of paper inscribed with a formula he had prepared beforehand and threw the girl's dress on it. Then he imagined his fingers go SNAP in his head again and the paper together with the cloth went up in flames.
"NOOO!" The girl cried. She wanted to pick up the dress but she shrank back from the fire. She quickly turned to Garrett and tried to take the loincloth from him.
"GIVE! DON'T BURN!"
"Why? It's filthy and it reeks and it will lead the hounds right to us. And it's probably where those parasites breed!"
"NO-O!!" Nannade didn't stop tugging on the loincloth. It was even dirtier than the tunica, Garrett was very careful to grab it delicately, with the tips of his fingers.
"Mammy made this for me. She tore it from her dress so I didn't have to be naked!"
"Calm down, I'll get you new clothes, for goodness sake!"
Still she held on to the rag. "But it's the only thing I have from Mammy!"
Garrett paused. Any normal child her age would have a stuffed toy they could hold on to, but all this girl had was a dirty cloth used to cover herself with. It was on the verge of falling apart and as crude as a piece of clothing could get. He let go of the clothes and knelt down to her eye level.
"Your mother left you your freedom. And your life. Cherish that. Protect it!"
After holding much in for the entire night, Nannade finally broke out in loud, bawling cries. He held her close to his chest for so long the fire had almost died down by the time she finally detached from him.
He threw the rags on the flame and it burned up in thick smoke. Observing how intensely she stared into the flames, he suddenly remembered something. He went through his backpack and brought forth the vial. It still had a drop of the mother's blood in it, preserved as fresh as it came out of the wound thanks to the vial's special properties. The vial was about as big as his thumb and had a cylindrical, facetted cut. Its clear glass was of very high quality and he had used it in many rites. He showed it to the girl.
"I used this vial in the rite to unbind you from your collar. It contained your mother's blood. There is still some left inside."
She looked at the tiny drop of red liquid in this fascinating pure crystal glass.
"I gift it to you. It is her last sacrifice for you and the first equipment you get from me. When I have time and tools, I can turn it into a protective charm for you."
Nannade's eyes almost glowed with curiosity. He took a leather cord from his backpack and tied it around the vial's neck to make a necklace. Then he gave her one of his shirts from his backpack. He tied it together with a sash. If she rolled up the sleeves, it almost looked like a proper dress. This would have to do until they made it to his booked room, where he had stashed more for her. They got to walking again. Nannade kept up better this time, although she did still stumble and trip a lot.
They finally arrived on the edge of the forest, the farming estate visible as a collection of distant lights in the valley. They wouldn't arrive there for a while and he was sure they could finally rest to arrive there in the morning. He put down his pack and got out their dinner.
He gave the girl some bread with sausage and cheese and sat her down on a fallen log with a view of the valley. "We'll go down there tomorrow. You'll have a bath and I'll take care of your coat."
"Are the people there good people?"
"They're not bad people, but we must still be cautious. The person who used to be your master will probably hunt you. It is best you stay out of sight for a while."
The girl waited for a moment. "And that is where I will live? To help there?"
"No. Only stay for a short while. I will take you to a different place and teach you."
"Teach me what?"
"You will know it good time. Just eat and relax."
The girl did as she was told until she had finished everything. She once mumbled "I don't like cheese." But when Garrett looked at her, she seemed to be frightened and said hushed "I'll eat it." and quickly took another bite. The girl was still easily scared, unprepared to read facial expressions. Garrett knew he had a stern face, but he couldn't be this scary.
Eventually, Nannade raised her head and her jaw dropped open. The vista was beautiful. The stars hung above the landscape like a swirl of diamond dust and milk, and the lights of the farm estate were faint in the distance. This could very well have been the first time she had ever seen something like this, an open landscape and an open sky. Even Garrett himself got lost in the view. When he finally decided to look around again, he saw tears welling up in her eyes. She wasn't even attempting to hold anything back, he could tell. He moved closer and put his cloak around her. Like this they sat until Nannade could no longer fight the urge to lay her head on his lap and fall asleep. Garrett looked at her tiny body and thought about all the things he would have to do to her to make her strong enough to survive. Endless beatings and injuries he himself had endured flared up from his memories. He carried the frail little being to her blanket and rolled her up tight.
The next morning dawned and the two got up. It was a clear and beautiful day and they were undisturbed by hounds or anything else. In order to wake the girl up, Garrett had to apply more violent shaking than he anticipated. He had ample opportunity to get a look at the girl in better light. She seemed to have the same colouration of golden fields her mother, the mane was darker and had a red hue. Her fingers were knobby, at their end was a claw instead of a nail. Judging by her size she could be six or seven years old, but was probably older and just stunted in her growth. Her body showed signs of malnutrition, and he also saw just how bad the state of her coat and skin was. As soon as he had heard the first rumour of the girl's existence, he had started his plan. The man who used to own this slave must have known her incredible value, but apparently didn't care enough to preserve it properly.
The farm they were going to stay at lay in the middle of a valley flanked by forests, not all as wild and thick as the one that Garrett and Nanneda had made just their way through. The estate consisted of two main two-story houses, a barn and a stable. As they approached, they could see several groups of people travelling along the road. The fields around the estate were already green with crops and soon the dry part of summer would begin.
As the two of them were heading down the slope along the field, Garrett ran Nannade through their story.
"Remember, I'm escorting you to a city called Halonnes where you are brought to relatives of yours, I was hired by them as protection for you."
"But it's not true, is it?"
Garrett thought about it for a moment. "The part with the relatives is wrong, but I might introduce you to a person in Halonnes in the future. She's an old acquaintance of mine." He continued with his instructions. "I stayed at this place before for a dozen days. They do not know of the nature of my profession, but I did pay them for our privacy. We still can't take any chances, so you should not interact with anyone any more than is necessary. It's best you don't talk about your past or where you come from. Also, we'll cover up your neck. I don't want to risk anyone seeing your brand, despite the fur." Garrett took out a fine piece of red silk, embroidered with flowing patterns and tied it around her neck, fastening it with a big and elegant bow in the back. "Just say it's a gift from a relative if anyone asks you, and don't take it off in front of others." She seemed rather delighted at the sight of the pretty cloth. He had bought it with the express goal of hiding any scars left by the sigils of slavery.
They had made their arrival well before noon. A maidservant was waiting to greet them. Garrett had her send for the head of the estate to clear a few last things up. He still knew him from his earlier stay and Garrett wanted to remind and compensate him for their arrangements, among them a tub of warm water for a bath.
They moved their luggage to their room in the smaller of the two main houses, which was used for a dinner hall and rooms rented out to passing travellers like them. Their room had a single bed and a table with four chairs, a standard bedroom. Garrett quickly noticed that Nannade was looking at the bed with excitement and joy. She let her backpack sink to the floor and before he could react, had already jumped on the soft bedding with both arms outstretched and a joyful exclamation. He quickly dragged her back off again. "Nuh Uh, fleabag! We need to get you properly deloused, let's not give these little bastards the time to wander into the bedding."
The tub was quickly brought in and filled by the maidservant. Garrett undressed the girl again and put her in the tub. He covered her entire body in foam, every nook and cranny, and washed her off in the tub several times. After he had made sure to get the coarse dirt and crusts out of her fur with a brush, he used a lice-comb and a special herbal extract to get the parasites out of her fur.
He made use of the occasion to look at her health and anatomy more closely, he had read a few sources on crolachans, but they had conflicting information or things he had found hard to believe. Her hands and feet intrigued him especially. Instead of nails she had claws that curved along the fingertips. Right now, they were broken, frayed and otherwise poorly kept, but if she took care of them, they could be very sharp and easily pierce skin. When she grabbed something right, the soft fingertips would give way and allow the claws to sink into whatever she was holding. If she also curled her fingers or toes inward, she would bury her claws deep into the skin of her prey. Her joints seemed flexible and mobile, although that could simply have been because she was a young girl. Her ears were long, pointy and mobile. She could raise them up almost perfectly straight, point them backwards or straight to the sides, as well as turn them a bit. So far, they'd often been hanging down, accompanied by slouched shoulders. Occasionally they would twitch up in the direction of a sound. Her tail was short, barely reaching halfway down the thigh, he couldn't imagine it being very useful for balance, like many animals used theirs. Her eyes were yellow and had a slit-oval pupil, like that of a fox or a cat. Her fur was very short, too short to properly bury his finger in it, but it had a soft feel, the hair was fine and smooth after being washed, albeit still crawling with lice and fleas. The skin on her chest, belly, the inner side of her extremities, as well as under her arms, and between her legs, seemed naked at a glance, but upon closer inspection was covered by a light fuzz. Her nose was short and flat, the tip somewhat turned up. Her jaws and nose area protruded forward from the face a bit; it was only noticeable when looking at her skull shape from the side. The insides of her mouth showed a few sore spots and badly healed wounds. She had normal teeth with the exception of the canines, which were much larger, longer and sharper than those of humans, especially the upper ones. Her teeth were also in need of proper care. One of her teeth was missing but he could see the tip of another one coming up right below it. In terms of overall health, she showed signs of light malnutrition as well as some slight bone deformations, as was almost normal for slave children kept indoors or underground. Her skin had a few scratches, some of which got infected. During the entire time that he was washing and examining her, she seemed uneasy. He explained that he was making sure she was healthy but she remained nervous. She was however not panicking or trembling, so Garrett deduced that she might not have experienced frequent physical abuse.
After cleaning and examining the girl, he also called the maidservant to have her groom the hair on his head as well just to be sure. He was convinced he had caught the girl's lice by now.
Then he got the girl's clothes and equipment from the stash he had arranged with the owner of the estate. A backpack, a wooden spoon and bowl, a cup, a thick blanket, a large hooded cloak similar to the one he wore, a shirt, pants, a sash, and leather wrappings for her hands and feet. Despite his best research, Garrett could not confirm how well normal gloves and shoes would fit a crolachan. He had bought everything much too large in size so she could grow into it. As well as that, Garrett handed Nannade her own set of rations.
They got dressed and went to the dining area to see what was left of dinner. Garrett knew that rich meals would be as essential to her recovery as physical exercise. It would take some time, but he was convinced she'd make a quick recovery. Then the actual training could begin.
They spend the afternoon taking a long walk around the fields of the estate. Garrett wanted to make sure her body got used to long periods of activity and being outside as opposed to locked up in a basement with no windows.
At one point, Nannade's dares to ask some questions she had been holding on to for now. "What will you teach me?" was one of them.
"I am a Hidden Hand. Did you ever hear of those?"
"No." The girl replied. Of course she didn't, even among the population that led normal lives in the outside world, they were barely more than a rumour.
"We make sure that mages, warlocks, druids and many other powerful people do not misuse their power, by taking on contracts from groups of such people and punish them according to the laws."
"And what will you teach me?"
"Everything necessary for that. How to fight, how to cast spells, how to sneak, how to steal, how to hide and how to plan ahead."
"Will it take very long?"
"Until you are an adult."
The girl remained silent for a while. "And will you set me free then?
"Only if you do not set yourself free first."
"How?"
"If you manage to run away from me. Or kill me. But know that I will chase you, no matter where you run."
She did not answer anything to that. Instead she looked at the distant forests.
After supper they retired to their room. Garrett was sitting on the table going through his notes, marking down the girl's health and progress so far, while Nannade was watching. He knew she'd have to get to learning the scripts soon. She was already behind on it compared to the students of druids, mages and others. But for now, to get her mind on something useful, he showed Nannade a few dexterity exercises, like letting a coin roll over her fingers or spinning a knife, but eventually, she just lay on the bed, fully clothed, and fell asleep. He decided to share the bed with her. Although she seemed shy, sometimes even afraid of him, she still expressed a strong desire for a feeling of security. After she got undressed, she got into bed and immediately nestled in next to him. She seemed to enjoy even basic human closeness.
Their days on the estate quickly fell into a routine; bathing, grooming and airing out all the bedding and blankets, jogging along the fields and another grooming again in the evening. He paid very close attention to what the girl ate and occasionally ordered extra food for her.He also used the opportunity to learn more about the girl. Apparently, she was nine years old, but she didn't know when her birthday was or when she had last asked her mother how old she was. Her father was "a gladiator in the arena" she had said, but Garrett knew that the dirty assortment of huts that called itself a city, had no arena. It had fighting pits, where they would throw slaves to get mangled by wild beasts, although he didn't know whether the father was the slave or the beast. Occasionally, her father would "make it so that mammy didn't have to work for a day" so they could go out into the city and get fresh air and maybe a treat for the girl. The mother used to have her own room for work, "with a bed and pretty dresses", but then "the men stopped paying for her" so she was moved to the basement. Garrett deduced that the mother's value decreased, most likely due to child birth and sickness. Crolachans' coats were care intensive, as he too had found out over these past few days. The girl had actually spent most of her time waiting tables and cleaning in the inn. Overall, her life experiences consisted of cold walls and mouldy straw.
Half a dozen days had passed before the two of them were finally unable to find any more lice on each other. He still made it a habit to check her head frequently. Her fur had taken on a pretty sheen. Brushing her in the morning was becoming an enjoyable ritual for the two. When a travelling merchant had made the farm his rest stop for a night, Garrett used the opportunity to buy a brush and lice-comb for the girl, just as a precaution for the future.
During their entire stay, Garrett had noticed Nannade drawing quite a few curious looks, especially during meal times in the dining hall. Every time Garrett spotted a pair of eyes dart over to them he had doubts in the back of his head. Did those people look like guards? or investigators? or thugs? Did they know of the escaped crolachan? Or maybe even a price on the heads of the two? One day at lunch, there was a group of children present, a bit younger than Nannade. Garrett noticed them whispering to each other while looking at her. He could tell by the flicking and twisting of her ears that she was trying to listen in. He leaned close to her.
"Do you want to play with them?"
She nodded cautiously.
"Alright, but first: Remember that people are looking for us and what kind of people are." Then he smiled and gave her a gentle shove towards the group.
That and the next day Nannade spent playing with this group of rather active and noisy children. Garrett found it oddly satisfying to watch her chase around and get chased around by other children. He came from a land, where slavery was not practiced, so he could not imagine what it felt like being property from the day one was born, but it was obvious to him that her not being allowed to leave that stinking hut of an inn dealt a blow to her sociability.
He fell deeper into thought until he felt a tuck on his clothes. Nannade was standing before him with daisies and dandelions woven into her wild mane. The other kids were nowhere to be seen but she had a big smile on her face, and held an apple on her hands. "Timmothy gave this to me!" She looked rather cute as she stood there, presenting the magnificent gift she had received from her short-lived friendship. He smiled. Now that the lice were no longer a problem to be dealt with, he decided the next morning would be a good time for something he had promised her at the edge of the forest.
After breakfast, the two of them sat in their room on opposing sides of the table. On the table was a paper scroll laid out. Garrett drew lines with a piece of sketching coal, half from memory, half according to his calculations. The girl was very attentive to this process. The mere act of drawing on paper seemed to intrigue her.
"What are you doing?" She asked.
"I am preparing the creation of the charm I promised you. Don't interrupt me!"
The structure of the rite started to take shape on the paper. It was a complicated arrangement of glyphs written into commands, geometric lines describing proportions, and formulas. After multiple revisions he was finally content with the result. He reached into a special pouch inside his backpack and took out gauze bandages, a piece of wood roughly the size of his index finger, and his other writing implements.
He had locked the door and drawn the curtains, but he was still nervous of anyone catching them performing a blood ritual. "Give me your hand." He told Nannade. She complied. He turned her palm upwards. "This will hurt. Try not to be too loud." He pricked the blade into her pinkie finger and held it above the inkwell. "Don't suck on the wound, just put your hand on the table, palm up."
With quite a few drops in the inkwell, he started putting the blood to paper, tracing the charcoal lines. Again, Nannade was curious about every detail of the process. From the corner of his eye he observed her ears twitch and turn towards the sound of the scraping quill. Her golden eyes followed the silver quill all the way across the paper. The inkwell required repeated refilling, and at one point he caught her dripping two or three drops of her blood into the inkwell on her own. It took him almost as long to trace the coal lines as it had taken him to deduce and sketch them, but at last, all was prepared. He beckoned her to give him the vial dangling around her neck. He put a last drop of her blood into it and the daughter's drop joined that of the mother.
He put the vial down on a blank part in the centre the paper. "Trust me." He said, putting the piece of wood in her mouth crosswise. "Bite down. You'll need it." Then beckoned her again for her hand. He clasped her forearm tightly in his left hand. The piece of wood creaked as her jaw clenched up. "Make a fist and don't let up, no matter what." With his left thumb he looked for the gap between the tendons, then he put down the obsidian blade down next to his thumb.
In one quick motion he pierced her skin and pulled the blade down her arm. She bit down on the piece of wood and let out a suppressed pained cry. Blood gushed from the cut. Garrett concentrated on the weavings necessary for the spell. Rather than drip down on the table, the blood from her wound was drawn instantly towards the paper, which absorbed the liquid quickly, yet was not stained by it. One by one, the glyphs around the place where the vial laid, flared up and vanished. For a split second, Garrett allowed himself to look at the girl. Her eyes were wide open, her jaw clenched. He could feel her trying to pull her arm away from him, but he had made sure to clasp his hand shut as hard as possible.
The last glyph had vanished and he let up, the incantation was complete. He loosened his hands and reached for the bandages. Quickly he made to wrapping them around her forearm. He wasn't done with it yet before the girl let up her clenching. The piece of wood fell on the table, then she fell forward and let her head hit the table. Her body went completely limp. Garrett looked at her ears. Where he normally could see red veins shine through, he now saw only pale skin.
A realization came over him like a wave of ice. The young girl, already weakened by malnourishment and parasites, had much less blood than he had, a grown man. The required amount of blood for the spell was much too great for her. His mind raced for a second, then it fixated on a specific spell. He quickly undid the bandages stuck his finger in the wound and wrote a few glyphs on her forearm with it. Then he put the blade to his own forearm, cut in and quickly wrote glyphs on his forearm as well, then he put his wound on hers, grasping hers by the elbow, and pressed them together fast.
It took a few moments as his blood flowed out of his veins, was transmuted and then flowed into her veins. After the ordeal was done, he put bandages on both of them and finally allowed himself to fall back in his chair.
He awoke when Nannade was shaking him. "Hey Teacher, wake up!" She said repeatedly. She had a worried look on her face. When he opened his eyes and sat up in his chair, her face relaxed. The sun shining through the window told him that it was well past noon. "What happened to you?" She asked.
He stood up and collected his thoughts. He felt a bit dizzy, as if he had stood up too fast. He staggered over to the bed and laid down. The bandage on his forearm seemed alright, a bit drenched in blood but the bleeding appeared to have stopped. He looked at Nannade.
"Show me your forearm, I need to check your bandage." Hers was fine as well.
"What happened to you?" The girl asked again. Garrett just shook his head dismissively. "Don't worry. The spell was just really tiring."
"But you're hurt. Did you hurt yourself?"
"Yes, I had to, to finish the spell."
He wanted to slip away back into slumber, but she kept shake him. "Don't die!"
"I don't die, I just need some rest."
"How much? You look very sick!" She sounded increasingly worried.
"It takes four months to recover all lost blood." He mumbled
"You can't sleep that long, I'm hungry!"
Eventually, she got him to the dining area by continuously pulling his arm. Of course, no food was being served at the time, so he fell asleep on the table instead.
After much begging and distressed crying from the girl, the maid put a bowl of cold stew and bread before the two latecomers. Somehow, despite his exhaustion, he managed to finish the meal and lug himself back to his room.
The next morning found him well rested. He still felt listless, but much more awake and aware of his surroundings. Nannade was spritely as ever, urging him to get dressed and get breakfast. Before that however, he taught the girl how to check and change bandages to make sure the wounds would not fester. He saw immediately, that both their wounds would need cleaning and redressing. Especially in her case, a lot of hair that could cause infection had gotten into to the wound. With slow but steady hands, he cleaned the wounds, applied alcohol disinfectant, and stitches to the rather grizzly wounds he had dealt to them both.
At the breakfast table a maid stepped over to them. She looked at him with a stern expression, hands on her hips. "You scared me yesterday. What were you doing to that girl?"
He looked at her then put on an assuring smile. "Everything is fine, no need to bother." The Maid seemed not satisfied with that answer but turned around anyway. He felt angry with himself for being so careless both with his apprentice's and with his own life.
They had finished their meal and headed back to their room. As he came close to the door, he saw that it was not entirely closed. Did he leave it open in his drowsiness? The girl had left the room before him, he would normally always close it. He beckoned Nannade to stay where she was, drew one of his throwing knives from a hidden sheath, raised it above his shoulder and carefully pushed the door open. He saw that all the implements from the ritual were still on the table and in front of the table stood the concerned maid. She held the vial in her hand and looked at the blood inside, as well as the obsidian blade and inkwell with blood. She turned her head and noticed him, then let out a scream. He took his knife, rushed over to her and pushed his hand on her mouth.
"This was supposed to be an especially private room, I had an agreement with your boss. So, if you don't want anything to happen, you better leave everything as it is and say nothing more of it ever again." He took the vial from her, reached into his pouch and let a few coins fall into the pocket of her apron, then he released her from his grip. She slowly backed away, her gaze fixed on him, and out the door, slamming it shut behind her.
Garrett looked at the vial, inspected it carefully, turned to the girl and gave her the vial. "The ritual seemed to have been a success, your mother's last wish to set you free and protect you from her own fate has flown into the vial. From now on, as long as there is your blood in it, your mother's last sacrifice will protect you from any spells directed with ill intent towards you." She took the vial and turned it in her hand to observe it from all directions. A tear welled up in her eyes. She hung it from her neck, pressed it close to her chest and said "thank you". Garrett didn't know to whom exactly.
"Now, pack your things, we'll leave immediately. I don't trust that snooping maid."
They packed their things quickly. Garrett would have preferred to stay another half dozen of days to recuperate, but they were running out of time. He looked for a flask that contained a yellowish-brown liquid in his backpack. It was a tonic containing mostly liver oil and pig's blood, disgusting but his only resort for now. He downed the vial and followed it up with a shot from his hip flask. It would take some time off the time his body needed to replace his lost essence.
They set out on the road running by the estate and headed down for a while. Then, when there were no other travellers in sight, Garrett took the path between the fields.
"We won't be staying on this road." He told Nannade.
"Why not?"
"I'm not taking you to a city yet. There is a friend who lives some time away, but we need to get to a river on the far side of that forest." He pointed to the heavily forested hills and mountains flanking the valley. "We'll stay there for a while. I already sent a notice ahead we'd be coming some while ago."
"Will we hide there?"
"Not just that. Your training will finally begin there. There are many things you need to learn and I can't teach you everything myself."
"Why didn't we go there from the farm?" The girl's questions started to annoy him, but he had to make sure she understood the situation.
"Because then people would know that we're heading into the forest. Anyone hunting for us could deduce by that where we're headed."
She appeared to think for a moment. Then she replied. "You lie a lot."
"Yes. As I said, we're wanted people. Truth and lie are part of my profession like thread and needle are for a seamstress."
It would take them two days to reach the river port, three days on the boat and another half dozen by foot until they'd reach their destination.