Chapter 14

The world went from dim to bright in seconds as they stepped out of the gloom beneath the trees. Paul's eyes leaked water as he squinted ahead. White light from sun on the snowy fields knifed into his head. Eventually his eyes adjusted and he could look properly. Rym was beyond anything Paul had imagined. It was a huge anthill of activity. He could see people lined up at the gates. Even from this far away he could smell the city.

Paul and Daniel joined a thickening crowd of people walking or riding toward the city. He watched a rider kick someone with a sack out of the way of his horse. Paul made sure to give the people with horses plenty of space. The man with sack didn't complain, he just picked himself and his sack up and joined the flow again.

"Foresters?" one of the guards said when they'd reached the gates. "You got work in the city?"

"We worked with the foresters;" Daniel said. "We'll find work in Rym."

"Ain't much to do in the winter," the guard said. "We have our own way of dealing with folks who can't pay their own way."

"We'll keep that in mind," Paul said.

"Fine then, see that you do." The guard handed them a little dark green ribbon. "You wear this and obey anybody but those wearing grey."

"So it's like working for the foresters," Paul said.

"It's nothing like working for the foresters," the guard said. "They might care if you live or die. Get in the wrong person's way here and you'll end up in the Cauldron. Now put on the ribbons or go away."

"These are only for in the city?" asked Daniel.

"Do you want them or not?" The guard looked like he was going to put them away.

"We'll take them," Paul said. They pinned the ribbons onto their furs. The guard pointed to the blue ribbon on his uniform.

"Go," he said, "and stay out of trouble."

Paul and Daniel walked into the city and were immediately lost in the maze of streets. The vast majority of people wore either grey or green ribbons. They made sure to give wide berth to anyone with a different coloured ribbon.

"Now what?" Daniel asked.

"I'll check the Page," Paul said.

Turn around

"What?" Paul asked, but Daniel turned around. A big man was pushing a cart filled with vegetables, but he was struggling to get it moving through the crowds. He wore a grey ribbon and nobody seemed too concerned about getting out of his way.

"May we help you?" Paul asked.

"What?" The man looked up. "Oh, foresters. I can't hire you." He tapped the grey ribbon.

"We're new to the city," Paul said. "We'd be happy to help in exchange for some guidance."

"Oh, very well." The man put the shafts of the cart down. "You push the cart and I'll make a path. We may make it to the market before it closes, after all."

With both Paul and Daniel pushing, the cart was easy to move. The man cleared a path by the simple expedient of walking through the crowds and forcing everyone else to move out of his way. They arrived in a square that was even more thickly packed with people than the streets. Now, what slowed them down were people trying to buy the vegetables from the owner of the cart. The market was louder than anything Paul had ever heard. If he weren't pushing on the cart he'd have put his hand over his ears. The man ahead of them didn't slow for the noise, nor did he step aside from the reeking lumps on the road Paul learned to avoid since they made him slip. If this was a great city, he was glad to live in a tiny village. A desire to drop the cart and flee back to Eben struck him like a blow. He fought tears back from his eyes. He needed to be able to see, but for the next few steps he only saw blurred movements that struck him as being as harsh as noise or odour.

Finally, they arrived at an empty space just big enough for the cart.

"Late again?" The man standing in the space beside them had a cart that was covered with old clothes.

"Harald's gone to the cauldron," the big man said.

"So, you're working with foresters now?"

"They were handy."

"Huh." The other man turned to try to sell his wares to a woman wearing a grey ribbon.

"People don't like foresters?" Paul said.

"Foresters are used to the freedoms of the woods," the man said. "They don't do well in the city."

"So what do we need to know?"

"Where do I start?" the big man said. He interrupted himself to sell a cabbage to a woman. "You're used to having one Boss. Most of the time the Boss is reasonable cause you don't make money long by abusing your crew. You come here, you forget to watch the ribbons. Sure enough you get in the road of a blue or even, the Book forbid, a Red and the next thing you know you're off to the Cauldron."