### 319

The soldiers demand one Crown each before even hearing your question. You pay them their price (remember to deduct this from your Action Chart) and ask if a blond-haired Northlander, dressed in blue robes, is being held under arrest here.

‘Wait here,’ says the bearded soldier, and enters the barracks. Suddenly his companion takes a swipe at you with the shaft of his halberd. Instinctively you duck, avoiding the full force of the blow, but it still catches your temple and leaves you stunned: lose 1 ENDURANCE point. ‘There he is!’ says the bearded man, who has reappeared with a dozen of his comrades. ‘Don’t let ’im get away. They want him down at the South Gate. Seems he’s been givin’ them a bit o’ trouble.’

They surround you with a circle of spears and march you back to the South Gate tower. On the way you overhear the bearded mercenary say to another soldier, ‘If only he hadn’t tried to bribe us with Northland coinage, he’d have got clean away!’

Turn to 162.