there are rumors that the guards seek reasons to arrest good-looking girls for lawbreaking. There’re worse rumors about what happens to them once they’re enslaved.”
Norton chewed a lip, “As you know, Daussie is… truly beautiful. I’d tone that down if I were you.”
Eva and Daum looked at each other in some horror. Eva looked back at Norton, “Do we have to stop in this horrible town?”
Norton looked uncomfortable and said nothing for a little while. Finally, he shrugged again and said, “We’re merchants. We go where we can do business. Business is good in Realth, so you’ll find your fellow caravaners want to go there.” He walked beside them a few more steps, then said, “You need to be careful… It’ll probably be fine,” he shook his head, “but you should still be careful on both counts.” He turned and walked back along the caravan toward his own wagon.
Eva and Daum looked at one another again, then called Tarc, Daussie, and Kazy over so that they could talk.
Aghast, Daussie asked, “How do we know what’s against the law in this awful place?”
Daum said, “We were so stunned by what Norton told us, we didn’t ask. I’ll talk to him again the next time I see him.”
“The next time the caravan takes a break,” Eva said, looking at Daussie and Kazy, “we’ll climb into the wagon and work on the way you guys look.”
With a horrified look, Kazy grabbed at her long braid and asked, “Are you gonna cut my hair?!”
Solemnly, Eva nodded and Kazy gasped.
Daussie snorted, “That’ll teach you to giggle at my hair!”
Kazy turned wide eyes on Daussie, “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. It’s just that I was surprised to see someone as pretty as you… with short, hacked off, boy-hair.”
Daussie put an arm around Kazy’s shoulders. “It’s all right, now I’ll have a friend with the same bad haircut.”
Kazy wiped at her eyes, bereft at the impending loss of her long dark hair, but buoyed by the fact Daussie had called her “friend.”
As the caravan pulled out onto the road again, Lizeth rode along it checking for problems. When she passed the Hyllises’ wagon, she was startled to see the new girl, Kazy, sporting short, hacked-off hair like Daussie’s. She looked for her friend, Tarc, and saw him walking at the rear of their wagon. His eyes were facing straight ahead, and though Lizeth gave him a little wave, he appeared not to see her. She wondered if he was actually oblivious, or, might be angry at her for some reason.
Deciding she’d have to talk to Tarc later, she urged her horse to a trot past the rest of the caravan.
The caravan crested a slight rise and Tarc looked out in awe over the city of Realth.
A river ran through the city, and the massive wall surrounding Realth went right over the river. Tarc could see large poles from the wall sticking down into the water, presumably to block the passage of war boats. Some of the poles looked like they could be lifted to let commercial boats through at need.
A large plain beside the city had several clusters of wagons on it already. Presumably it served as the market for traveling caravans, so the Norton caravan wouldn’t be the only one present during their visit.
It looked to Tarc like most of the buildings inside the walls were at least two stories tall and some were three or four! The streets looked wider than other towns and some kind of tall monument could be seen near the city center.
Arriving at the marketing area, Tarc felt astonished to realize that, despite the presence of several other caravans, there was plenty of room for the Nortons. Once they had circled their wagons, Norton called the caravaners together to remind them of the situation in Realth. “I’m not telling you to be on your ‘best behavior,’ but you had better follow the laws here in Realth. Their laws are not as strictly enforced out here in the marketing area, but you should still be careful.
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