### 139

The mounted patrol approaches and encircles you. The officer is an aristocratic-looking soldier with a pencil-thin moustache, and he looks at your dishevelled robes with disdain. ‘What are four lowly plains-herders doing abroad in the city tonight?’ he asks.

‘We came to deliver horses to the barracks,’ you reply. He shakes his head slowly; he does not believe your story. ‘You are all under arrest,’ he says, and with a flick of his riding crop he motions his men to dismount and detain you. Gildas is the first to react. He grabs the officer by his sword belt and pulls him out of the saddle. You and the others follow Gildas’ lead, and quickly you unhorse and overpower the officer’s men. Then you mount their horses and gallop away along the street, leaving the patrol lying unconscious in the gutter.

To continue, turn to 212.