"All-Father," Cardin said when Kelton finished his analysis of Barrenkee and his suspected plans. "Can the man be that bold?"

"Can his mind be that sharp?" Beany asked.

"Aye," Paragon replied, shaking his head. "He is both cruel and well-witted. Barrenkee has never been in Freetown, yet he divined we had much to protect and used it against us." He pursed his lips as he considered Kelton's words. Kelton knew where Paragon's thoughts were headed.

"You can see the steps he must follow, can you not?" Kelton asked.

"He would need someone to blame," Paragon said," and permanent silence."

"Legitimacy would require it," Kelton agreed.

"Only if your words are true," Paragon said. There was a weak hope in his words. As if all of this was but a dream that would fade away in the morning.

"His risks are too great for any other course of action," Kelton continued. "He is too cunning to trade short term gain for long term failure." Kelton raised his hand, gesturing around the tiny town. "This can not remain a secret forever. You have to know that."

"Aye," Paragon said. Beany nodded. It was clear they had thought of discovery before.

"And what is your plan when the King's soldiers arrive?" Kelton asked.

"We run," Beany replied. There was no confidence in the response. "We know not where," she added quietly.

"Then we must alter things to suit us," Kelton said. "A plan that holds Freetown intact and dismantles house Barrenkee."

"Us?" Beany asked.

"Aye," Kelton replied. "I was asked to bring more oranges by one of yours. I would like her to be here when I return with more." He smiled. "That, and I dislike the Barrenkees of this world with an awful passion.

"And what kind of plan could save escaped property and ex-viners?" Paragon asked.

"One with great risk and even greater reward," Kelton said. "Barrenkee is not the only one who can be cunning. But first, we must settle on Filgot."

"What of your taskmaster?" Cardin asked.

"He will sleep well tonight with no fear of being silenced," Kelton said. "If not, I leave you and yours to fate." He looked at Paragon. "And you become Barrenkee in my mind."

"You can't..." Cardin began.

"He can," Paragon interrupted, raising his hand to stall Cardin's words. "And Filgot's actions become yours, Kelton. Will you risk that?"

"Aye. It is a fair exchange."

"Cardin, you will head back to the road tonight. The taskmaster will be well cared for until I arrive in the morning. Is that understood?" Paragon said.

"Aye."

"It is best if there is there are no unnecessary words with him," Kelton added. "The less he knows, the less the laws can make him say." Paragon nodded his agreement. "Let him know he sleeps safe tonight. Tell him; a light sword stuck in bone is best removed with a twist of the wrist. He'll know the words come from me."

"You trust easily," Paragon pointed out. Kelton didn't have much choice. He was outnumbered, and he sensed Freetown leaned toward decency.

"Your choice is Barrankee or me," Kelton said with a shrug. "He thinks only of power, and I brought oranges and corn."

~~~~~

"If you lock your wrists, your arm follows the sword, not the other way around," Kelton instructed Beany. He had woken early and found her at the edge of the lake rinsing off sleep with the cool water. She reminded him of his promise. "It should only be rigid in a thrust."

Kelton knocked her blade with the thick branch that represented his. The sword and her arm moved to the side.

"You see," Kelton said, using his other hand to point at where her arm was. "My sword is inside with advantage, and you must return your arm before you can defend. A good swordsman will know this, and add to your movement and twist about your blade near the pummel. If your grip falters, you will be swordless as yesterday."

"And how do I stop it?"

"When I knock your blade, use finesse instead of muscle. Let your wrist bend, and drop the tip of your sword and bring the blade back underneath mine, then upwards, so you own the inside." Kelton demonstrated with his branch. Beany began smiling after repeating the maneuver successfully a few times.

"You cannot fight my strength," Kelton continued, "so you must outmaneuver it." They worked on it a few more times before others began to wake and leave their huts. "I won't be knocking your blade away again," Kelton admitted as he threw his makeshift sword back into the woods whence it came. Beany smiled as she practiced a little more with an invisible opponent.

"I think you teach my lady too much," Paragon called as he approached.

"Beany is a fast learner," Kelton complimented. "I am no expert, but I did have one show me a thing or two awhile back. It took me longer and a lot more sweat to learn the task." He rubbed his arm as he remembered the bruises from Rolic's method of teaching.

"He is a good teacher," Beany said. She sheathed her sword. "Did you come to a decision?" She asked Paragon.

"I'll hear your thoughts now that the day is fresh," Paragon replied. Beany looked at Kelton, who took a deep breath and prayed in silence for the intervention of any God or Goddess that might choose to help.

"I trust him," Beany said, indicating Kelton. "Barrenkee..." She spat on the ground in a most unladylike manner.

"It is a great risk you ask of us," Paragon said, repeating much of the discussion of the night before. "Barrenkee is an owner, and you are but property."

"Aye," Kelton agreed. He had said all he could last night. Attempting to persuade further would border on begging. Few trust those that beg. He stood tall and clasped his hands behind his back and waited.

"We have been lucky so far," Beany said. "It will not last, Kelton's help or not."

"Aye," Paragon said nodding. Then he took a deep breath, let it out, and looked toward the sky. Probably, praying to the same deities Kelton wanted to invoke. He walked to the lake's edge and stared across the water. There was a slight breeze which caused tiny ripples to swim across the surface.

"I have many who depend on me. Action or no action, trust, or no trust. Whatever decision I make, the results will be visited upon their lives." Paragon shook his head. "I will side with my lady. I'd rather trust in you than in Barrenkee's need for secrecy lasting." Kelton smiled as Beany embraced Paragon. It wasn't the forehead she kissed, but it had the same effect on Paragon's mood as Yanda had on Kelton's.

"It is best," Kelton agreed. "I must say, I feared you might decide otherwise."

"So did I," Paragon admitted. He untangled himself from Beany. "It is easier to accept the known than to risk the unknown. If this must end, then let it be with Barrenkee suffering as well."

"I am hoping he suffers alone," Kelton said. "And in that cause, I must begin the trek back. I don't wish to cross paths with his other wagons."

"Aye," Paragon agreed.

Kelton enjoyed the walk back to the wagon. Paragon allowed him to lead, which brought back memories of moving through forests with Gossamer. His spirits rose when he unerringly retraced the previous day's travels. He was still a child of the trees.

"It took me months to learn the way to the road," Beany said. "You learned it with one pass."

"In truth, it pleases me that I still know my way through the trees. I spent most of my life trying to make my way to towns and cities, and now I wish I was back in the forest." Kelton looked up at the sky. "Of course, it's not raining. I do remember spending many days soaked through and through. Or shivering in the snow."

"Where is this forest you call home?" Paragon asked.

"Far away," Kelton replied. "Across the sea and beyond."

"What is it called?'

"It is not known here. Best if it lives only in my mind." Kelton hoped that was the end of it.

"It smells of a secret," Beany said to Paragon. Kelton looked back to see them trading smiles.

"We risk much, and now we know you can track Freetown from the road. Are we not to know your secret as well?" Paragon asked.

Kelton stopped walking and turned around. The two were standing together, Beany adding strength to Paragon's argument. It was true. They risked more than he, or at least more lives.

"For your ears only," Kelton said, his voice dropping to a whisper. "Aragonia."

"Never heard of such a place," Beany said with a shrug. Paragon's eyes went wide, and his mouth opened in surprise. "You have heard of it?" Beany asked him.

"Tales only," Paragon said. "The Dark Isle, I have heard it called."

"That I have heard of," Beany said, her own eyes becoming pools of wonder. "It is said ships go, but sailors never step ashore. Demons roam the land."

"No one ever leaves. None." Paragon said.

"Aye," Kelton said. "And it is best if all believe it true. Old laws forbid such things. This is my trust in trade for yours."

"Who else knows?" Paragon asked.

"Two others," Kelton said. "They have my trust, as you now do."

"As you have ours," Beany said. "We tell no one - if all goes well."

"If it goes poorly, I suspect it will matter little," Kelton said. "For I will have shared the fate before it is heaped upon you."

"Then all must go as planned," Paragon said, indicating they should continue their travels.

"Aye," Kelton said as he continued his lead through the trees. He knew that plans rarely follow a path unerringly. There were always missed landmarks and new growth that could block the way.

They reached the clearing in short order. As designed, Beany took the lead and Paragon remained hidden in the trees. There was no need for Filgot to know of any he had yet to see.

"We are to leave them be, Cardin" Beany said as she approached. Filgot sat comfortably with his back against a tree and his sword across his lap. He was gnawing on a piece of dried beef. The others were a good distance away, sitting between Filgot and the road.

"Leave them be?" Cardin asked as if it was not what he expected.

"Aye," Beany said. "They are to return the way they came. It has been agreed." Kelton remained silent and hoped Cardin didn't argue the point. Paragon was near in case he did.

"Then so be it," Cardin said with a shrug. "May you have a bumpy ride taskmaster." He added with a smirk. Filgot nodded in silence with his ever present confidence. Kelton was thankful he didn't push the issue. Had Filgot been drinking, Kelton suspected the poke would have been returned tenfold.

Kelton signaled for Filgot to remain silent as Beany and the men disappeared into the trees. He began to tend to the horses when Filgot decided he had waited long enough.

"I feared I would have to kill one or two," Filgot said. "You barter well."

"I had the same fear, and know I would not have let it happen without adding to the toll." Kelton brought one of the horses to the front of the wagon to begin hitching him up. "It is best if you report nothing of what you guess and only what you saw. The laws are clear on your duty, but demand nothing of your assumptions."

"I see your mind working," Filgot said. "Have I become a piece in a plan to be shoved around?'

"Nay," Kelton said. "You are my guard and taskmaster. It is I who am the piece that you move around." Filgot laughed.

"I thank you for your message last night. I didn't relish trying to stay awake on watch the whole night."

"I thought it helpful," Kelton said as he continued harnessing the horse. "We must flip the canvas and hide the red in case we meet a Barrenkee wagon. We must feign failure of passage if we do."

"Accosted by bandits," Filgot said, as he proved his taskmaster title wrong by climbing into the wagon and began flipping the canvas to its non-red side. "The cargo is gone since they truly took it." Kelton finished with the first horse and started on the second.

"You must talk with my masters before I," Kelton said. "It is best if they don't question me. There is someone I must speak with first." He backed the second horse next to the first. It was becoming easier to maneuver them. A skill he was beginning to enjoy. "Master Zello will be insistent."

"And who is the taskmaster now?" Filgot asked. Kelton looked into a Filgot's smirk as he finished flipping the tarp. Kelton slowed his harnessing.

"It is a risk," Kelton admitted.

"Aye, and so was that day when you stood at my side outnumbered by viners. I have a mind to trust you in this." Filgot jumped down from the wagon and finished straightening the canvas from the ground.

"I thank you," Kelton said and returned to his duty of hitching the horses.

On the return trip, deep into the second day, they crossed paths with a red-tarped wagon. It was a tight squeeze which set the left set of wagon wheels riding high in untrodden grass to make the passing possible. Kelton remained silent as Filgot warned the other guard of the bandits that lay ahead. The other guard, a heavy-set man, thanked him for the warning and stated he'd turn around at the next opening. His lies were not as convincing as Filgot's half-truths.

"You are good at a ruse," Kelton complimented when enough time and distance had passed. "It was so with the viners as well."

"There is much a tavern can teach you," Filgot said as if it were a simple task. "As a younger man, I'd drink more than the coin in my pocket would allow. A good tale can delay the need to pay, and even score another mug if it's convincing enough."

"You spend a lot of your time in taverns."

"Aye. They are places I know well. There I can be comfortable, not unlike you and these trees. I find people are real, or mayhap less not-real there. I like to laugh, and there it is done often." He smiled. "And the women are less discerning."

"Though I do well with a mug of wine, too much and I am a fool," Kelton said.

"Many are, though I think it healthy to let one's mind loose now and again. We pack things away and as if we were overflowing chests." Filgot shook his head. "It is better to let some of it out, so there's more room to fill later."

"I emptied the entire chest drinking honeyed mead," Kelton said with a laugh. "There was nothing I would not discuss, nor opinion I would not give."

"Mayhap someday, I will have the pleasure of touring taverns with you. There is nothing more satisfying to pulling truths from the secretive."

"Secretive?"

"Aye. I know you to be truthful, yet I can tell you are silent when it suits your mind. You have past secrets and plans that I would delight in pulling from your head."

"Alas, you will have to go without for I will never drink that sum again," Kelton said. "The morning after the mead was a cruel one. Had there been an ample cliff, I may have thrown myself from it."

Filgot laughed louder than he should. What followed were stories of Filgot's morning-after exploits. Kelton began to wonder about a man who knew well the costs of drink, yet sought it again and again. It was different than the dreamvine, yet it had a power all its own. Filgot desire for escape was at least tempered by a path whose costs were short lived. He wasn't the first person Kelton had met who found drink alluring. He was sure Filgot wouldn't be the last.

~~~~~

Filgot lept off the wagon as it lumbered onto House Tarvakian property. They had spent an extra night in the forest to time their arrival with the rising son. Kelton had work to do, and it would require the bulk of the day. If they entered the night prior, there would have been too much time for questions that he couldn't yet answer.

Kelton steered the wagon toward the small stable yard that sat along the stone fence which surrounded the house's property. He could see Filgot talking with an anxious Zello while Zello's father exited the main house to join the conversation. Kelton stayed clear, helping the man who trained him to care for the horses, unharness and lead the beasts to a trough of water.

"It was a long trip," Master said when Kelton finally approached the house.

"Aye, Master," Kelton said.

"We feared that something had gone wrong." Master flicked his head toward Kelton's quarters. "Yanda is strong, but I saw the worry in her. You should allay that at once." He sniffed at the air. "And bathe after. I'll not have that smell lingering about."

"Aye, Master," Kelton responded, glad that his masters had heeded Filgot's words. "It would be best if I visit the library this day. There are laws I should review."

"I'll take him," Zello offered.

"It may be best if House Tarvakian was not invested in the visit, Master," Kelton said with all the politeness he could summon. "It may take time you can ill afford."

Zello was about to protest, but his father raised his hand to stop him.

"Is the risk great?"

"Aye, Master," Kelton replied. "Though it is much greater if the visit is not made. If all goes well, House Tarvakian will shine. If not, I and others unknown to you will bear the brunt of the failure."

"Trust?"

"Aye, Master. As I trust you."

Master Tarvakian looked at his son who grudgingly shrugged. Kelton was sure Zello had hoped to glean information about the trip while traveling to the library.

"Yanda, bathe, then go as needed," Master said. "Filgot, select someone to take him, then find some water yourself. You both stink like a latrine." He turned, signaling for his son to follow. "Once your clean, I'll see you in the meeting room, Filgot."

"Aye, sir," Filgot said. He nodded to Kelton then moved off to select a guide to the library. Filgot was going to be questioned, of that Kelton was sure.

Yanda was more pleased with Kelton's return than expected. Two kisses on the forehead and an embrace that lasted far longer than a smelly man deserved.