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barbarians into it a couple of decades back. Wanted to get them clear of decent folk —”
    “I’ll be careful,” Kael said shortly. He knew if he stood there a moment longer, he was in real danger of knocking the helmsman’s teeth through his lip.
    “Half of the caravans headed to the Valley don’t make it,” he called as Kael marched down the ramp. “They find the bodies later … all pale and torn to shreds, not a drop of blood left in them. If you ask me, it sounds like the barbarians are starting to leak out of the swamps. Everybody knows they can’t resist the taste of human flesh.”
    It sounded to Kael as if everybody knew nothing. Heated words formed upon his tongue as the helmsman babbled on, but he managed to hold them back. He was relieved when the noise of the village finally drowned his voice.
    The mossy houses swept by; the dirt moved quickly under his feet. He kept his head down and stayed on the widest path, the one he was certain would lead him into the woods. Kyleigh would be waiting for him there — in the shelter of the trees and away from the eyes of the village guard.
    The walls around Oakloft were twice a man’s height and wrought from thick planks of wood. They were every bit as mossy as the houses. From a distance, it looked as if the town had been surrounded by a giant bush.
    The wide gate was propped open. A few guards wandered back and forth across the creaking ramparts, spears propped against their shoulders. Kael planned to dart by them quickly. He would keep his head down and walk as if he had important business — exactly how Uncle Martin slipped past the kitchen maids.
    His plan was a good one. Unfortunately, he made it to the gates just as a caravan pushed in from the other side.
    Wagons and horses and hordes of men tromped through, blocking up the gates. The bulk of their party pushed Kael to the side. He knew he would have no choice but to wait his turn. He went to lean up against one of the bushy walls — and leapt back with a yelp.
    A ragged man was tucked behind the leaves, sitting cross-legged with his back against the wall. The man’s skin was so dark with filth that Kael would’ve been less surprised to spot him crawling out of a chimney.
    “Sorry. I didn’t see you there.”
    The man didn’t reply.
    His mane of scraggly hair ran directly into his scraggly beard. His head was bent as if he’d fallen asleep. Between the angle of his head and the severity of his hair, Kael couldn’t see his face.
    “Can you hear me? Are you all right?”
    When the man still didn’t respond, Kael looked closer. His clothing was made up entirely of rags: bits of trousers, shirtsleeves, and what looked suspiciously like stockings were all knotted together and fashioned around his boney frame like bandages.
    He was unnaturally still. Kael had gone to tap him on the shoulder when a knobby hand shot up and clamped around his wrist. “I thought you were dead!” Kael gasped, ripping his arm free. “You could’ve just said you were all right instead of grabbing me like … oh.”
    Oh was all Kael could think to say. For when the man raised his head, he saw that another set of rags had been bound tightly across his eyes.
    He was blind.
    “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize —”
    “Are you going to the mountains?”
    Shock stole Kael’s breath. Filthy though he was, the man’s voice was commanding and clear. He carried his words as if each one had been made to fit into the next — as if he’d measured every lift and fall into a perfect sound. 
    After a moment, his bandaged head tilted to the side. “Hmm … now there’s an answer I’ve not heard before.”
    “What answer?” Kael said carefully.
    “No answer.” The blind man cracked a smile. Surprisingly, he still had all of his teeth. “I’ve asked the same question to every man who’s passed through these gates. And for all the time I’ve sat here, I’ve heard nothing but no s and not today s and even a few never s.