3

Sighing, I picked my way through the crowd to where I could collapse against the fence of our corral. I was filthy, covered in mud and the detritus of walking behind horses for more than a hundred miles, but somehow, that didn’t matter. According to the old man, I was going to be herded like a human shield in front of an army, but I didn’t care. I was so hungry that my stomach was eating itself, but that made no difference to me. Sleep. I just needed sleep. Sinking into the mud at the edge of the corral, I slept.

Something crashed into the fence just behind me. Startled, I jumped to my feet. I craned my neck to see over the wattle wall of the corral, and found myself staring into the hooded eyes of a black fullface mask.

He bellowed, startling me further, but his rage was not directed at me. A boy, two or three years older than I, was wrestling with a large basket. In his haste, he dropped it again, and the masked man shouted, “Stop! That is enough. Just stop! Get out of here!” The boy turned to leave, but the masked man grabbed him by the arm and said, his eyes fixed on me, “No, wait. I have a better idea.”

He marched over to the gate of our corral, stopping in front of the guard who stood there. Presenting the boy, he spoke. “A trade. This boy for that one.” He pointed across the paddock to where I stood, petrified.

“But sir . . . ”

“I know.”

The guard inclined his head. “Yes sir.”

He turned and yelled to me. “You, boy, come here.”

I found myself walking toward him, scared and unsure. Was I jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire? The gate opened just wide enough for me to squeeze through, and I stood there, dazed by what had just happened.

The man in the mask grabbed me by the hair and wrenched my face upwards. Turning my head, he examined me, then spoke to the guard without looking at him. “This will do.”

I think that he was going to march me off to carry the basket, but at that point, my strength gave out. My vision seemed to blur, then it narrowed and went black. I collapsed in a heap at his feet.