This scene contained the ingredients of a Walpurgis night, people gyrating around a fire, screeching, some attempting to extinguish the flames, others trying to rescue property, others just gawping, and some making surreptitious efforts to impede the fire fighters. We saw a party of guards in the king’s livery dragging two poor wretches screaming away, caught red-handed. This explained the guards’ activities. King Nemo the Second was not universally loved by his people. But the guards bore down with hard ferociousness on anyone who stepped out of line.
“There is a way,” I said. “Tilda’s blue cloak is large. Torn down the middle it will cover both you and me. We can carry her out as just a couple of calsters—”
“Right. But you had better tell her and get the cloak.”
“Of course.”
When we’
