Jake’s head was all over the place. He had very little idea what was going on. He ran with the three white-clad newcomers out of the house and down Choresh avenue.

They rushed past a couple of the bemused neighbours, not stopping to answer their questions, though the white-clad woman said “Go back to your homes! It is not safe to be outside!”

The other boys in the gang ran with them too, for now, though they kept their distance. It was still night, but the sky was just starting to turn from black to the faintest grey, signalling that dawn was not far off.

Jake was just not sure whom to trust any more. Methistema had seemed so…kind. And she had offered him a stable job with the promise of pay, food and board. But why had she attacked these people so viciously? Jake supposed that they might have been trying to break into the house as well. But then why had they knocked on the front door? And then why had those black knights turned up? The trio in white had rescued him from being killed by the black knights, of that he was certain. He decided he could trust them, for now. Right now he just wanted to be safe.

“Are you alright, young sir?” said the woman, who was carrying the girl tied up with ropes who seemed to have been a prisoner of the black knights.

“Er, yeah, I think so,” said Jake as he ran alongside her. They turned out of Choresh Avenue and made their way further into Ubal. “Thanks for…you know…helping me out back there...”

“Think nothing of it,” said the woman. “Hotzeh,” she said to her older companion, “where should we go to now?”

“We should head back to Skopos’ and Huphantia’s house for now, to regroup,” said the old man of group. He appeared to be blind and was running along holding on to the arm of the woman.

“Really?” said the girl of the group who wasn’t being carried. “Even after everything’s that’s happened?”

“Absolutely” said the woman. “You cannot leave Ubal until you have completed your mission. We should see if any of these young men have scars on their cheeks.”

The three of them stopped in a street for a moment and turned round to talk to the gang of boys, who also paused momentarily to see what the newcomers had to say.

“Greetings,” said the woman. “I assure you, you have nothing to fear from us. My name is Katetheuna. My companions and I are travellers from a land called Larakia. We mean you no harm.”

Larakia. Where had Jake heard that name before?

“What do you want with us, then?” said Yathom.

“We need to know if any of you have scars on your right cheek,” said the woman, Katehteuna.

“We don’t, lady,” said Yathom. “But what’s it to you if we did?”

“We are looking,” said the man of the group, Hotzeh, “for a young boy with a scar on his right cheek whom we have been commanded to find by the King we serve. If none of you have such a scar, you should return to your homes as quickly as possible. Your parents must be very worried about you.”

Of course! Jake realised where he had heard the place name ‘Larakia’ before. The book that he had stolen as his first theft! Could it be? Could these people really belong to the country of the One True King that he had read about?

“We don’t have any parents, you idiot!” said Yathom, who must have been in a particularly impolite mood after the ordeal they had just been through.

“Leave off them!” said Jake, surprised to find himself jumping to the defence of the strangers. “These guys are alright. They rescued us from those soldiers back there.”

“No,” said Yathom. “That’s not how I see it. They attacked us! To’phoro, what do you think?”

They all waited for a response, but none came.

“Hold on. Where’s To’phoro?” said Yathom.

“He’s not here!” said one of the boys.

“Who is To’phoro?” asked Katetheuna.

“He’s our leader!” said Mikros. “A boy just like us! Only even better at thieving!”

“He must have been captured by the Shulites,” said Katetheuna, half to her companions, half to the boys.

Shulites. Shul. Jake recognised that word too. If the woman was right and the men were Shulites, then To’phoro was in deep trouble.

“Hmm,” said Hotzeh. “Tell me, young ones, does this boy have a scar on his cheek?”

“No!” said Yathom. “Is that all you care about?”

“Well, I suppose he might do by the end of today…”

“So none of these boys are the heir? What does this mean?” said the girl to the two adults. “Did the One True King lead us to the wrong place?”

“Of course not,” said Hotzeh, “he does not do that. I may have Seen wrong. But I am suspicious that I did not, and that we are on the right path. In any case, the One True King will work all things for good. We must wait and watch what continues to happen. We will find the heir soon enough.”

They had mentioned the One True King. Jake was right. So these people were true Larakians, the ‘People of The Book’!

He was just about to say as much when a deep, angry voice interrupted them all.

“There they are! After them!”

They had lost too much time talking. The black soldiers had caught up.

“Everyone run!” said Katetheuna.

Everyone ran. The boys in the gang pelted down the street in the grey pre-dawn world, not knowing whose side was whose, but terrified of the soldiers who had re-gathered themselves together and come in pursuit of them.

“I don’t like this!” said the man called Hotzeh as they ran. “Larakians shouldn’t flee like cowards before the foe! We should stand and defend!”

“I know,” said Katetheuna. “We will. But not here, it’s too cramped and hidden. We need to get out into an open space. The Shulites want to steal the heir away in the dark, without anyone noticing. We need to force the their hand, to make them expose themselves. Head for the city square.”