The hours passed and he strode steadily onward, thrashing a path through the fronds ahead of him with his staff, slowing only slightly to take nourishment from the rations in his pack. As evening drew close, the brilliant colours of the plain began to meld into a dark grey making it difficult to separate land from sky. Jep waited as long as he dared, then took out one of the tiny blue balls Prize had given him. Following her instructions, he popped it into his mouth and swallowed it with a generous gulp of water from his skin.

Within moments, the night turned to an eerie pink, and he could see the grass, hillocks, horizon and sky all clearly defined. It was an amazing sensation to actually see in the dark. Encouraged, he moved faster through the night, without stopping, and eating only as necessary.

With first appearance of the sun, the effect of the tiny ball wore off, and Jep's vision returned to normal once again. He felt strangely energized in spite of going without sleep or rest for so long and when he glimpsed the change in the landscape ahead, he knew he'd reached the end of the Great Plain—or so he thought. A loud chattering noise reached him from the grass not too far ahead. He slowed his pace and cautiously poked ahead gingerly with his staff.

"Yaaagh!" The cry gave Jep a mighty start. He leaped forward, ready to do battle, and stopped short. A tiny person stood rubbing his backside and frowning at Jep. "Ye poketh me, but why?"

"I-I- uh, I'm sorry- I didn't..."

"I do but worketh at my task, how have I offendeth ye?" The little man adjusted the rope around his waist and picked up the rather wicked looking knife he'd dropped.

Jep spread his hands, "No! No, you didn't- haven't... offended me. It was an unfortunate accident. I heard this noise and I—"

"Noise! Ye thinketh my song a noise!"

Jep shrugged helplessly and offered his most humble apology, which the funny little man seemed to both accept and ignore, as he continued his work and his song.

Jep studied the rope tied about the man's waist and the fact that it trailed off behind him into the bushes at the edge of the plain. "Why do you have that rope about your waist, sir?"

The man looked at him as though he was crazy. "The Loamites, you fool."

"Loamites?"

The man stopped again, clearly annoyed, and lectured Jep about the hostility between the Loamites, the race that lived in a labyrinth of tunnels beneath the plain, and his people, the Huths. The grass, which the man called Huthwheat was a main staple in the Huths' diet but the roots were a special delicacy to the Loamites, and so harvesting the Huthwheat was potentially dangerous. If the Loamites happened to grab onto a Huth worker, the rope tenders at the edge of the plain could haul him to safety.

As Jep stood and listened, suddenly the ground collapsed and the worker began sinking into the soil. Jep reached forward to help but before he could do anything, the little man burst out of the hole and flew backwards through the air, bouncing out of sight. Surprised, he looked down, saw that he too was in danger of sinking into the ground, and broke into a run toward edge of the plain.

His escape was short lived as he found himself facing a band of miniature workers, all brandishing gleaming, and deadly looking knives. Behind the group stood a group of wagons loaded with bales of the grass and tended by the tiny females of the race.

"He beeth no more than a fool." The rescued worker spoke up. "Let him on his way."

There was grumbling and mumbling but the group parted, leaving a pathway for Jep to pass through. "I seek a place named Nygard. Maybe you could help me find its direction."

"I toldeth ye he beeth a fool. The only way to go taketh ye to Nygard, idiot." They all pointed as one to the west.

"Thank you kindly, and I am not an idiot, sir. An idiot is a person who, instead of negotiating with his neighbours, chooses to risk his life while he works. Did you ever think of talking to the Loamites and perhaps deciding on an agreeable payment or trade for your Huthwheat?" Jep puffed his chest, bowed briefly to the women and marched confidently past the dumbstruck faces of the Huths.

*****

Mary and William thanked the old man tending his sheep and continued in the direction that they believed Jep had taken. It was two days since they slipped away from the palace and were just beginning to feel less apprehensive about possibly being followed. William believed that the Count didn't want to spare any more of his men from the palace, content just to let the pair of them go. The first night proved awkward as they spent it outdoors in the hills above Graf.

They hadn't planned for such an intimate situation and William wound up sleeping behind a fallen log out of sight of their fire. The second night they found food and separate lodging in a small inn, where they learned that the Count's men had stopped and questioned the owner quite harshly before helping themselves to his food and wine.

Certain that this was the route Jep had taken, William, having no clues other than the hints from King Hugh, the couple set off the second day for the only place they hoped Jep might head for—the Wye Valley.

"What do we do if we don't find him, William?"

"We just have to hope we will. In any event, there's no going back to Graf."

"But even if we do, what then? What will become of us?" Mary's negative questions began to wear at William's patience and he snapped back, regrettably. "You insisted that you come along, Mary, not I. You could have stayed in the palace and served your Queen quite happily. This is something I feel I must do." He stopped, seeing the dismay in her face and the slump of her shoulders. "Mary- look, I didn't mean... come, let's rest a while." He sat beneath a tree at the side of the road, beckoning her to join him.

"Why are you being mean to me?" She settled near him, fingers twiddling with the fringe on her jacket.

"Mean! Mary, if I were to be mean to you, you wouldn't be here at all! Look, what's done is done. We've burned our bridge, there's nothing to do but forge on—together."

"Now you're angry..."

"Oh my god!' William jumped to his feet and started down the road, calling back over his shoulder, "If you're coming, come. If not, well..."

"William! Don't you dare leave me behind!" As fast as she could, Mary ran down the road after him, annoyed that he didn't slow down.

It was late in the afternoon before they came upon any sign of life. A tall wooden wall enclosing a small village set against the side of a rocky hill. Outside the wall, small children played in the dusty earth, while several adults tended some scrawny sheep. Approaching the gated entrance, the people fell silent, watching the young couple with a dark curiosity. William nodded politely and ushered Mary through the gate ahead of him. Inside, they stopped in their tracks.

The place was nothing more than a sorry collection of makeshift lean-tos, hovels and run down shacks. The street was a muddy, rutted mess and in several places, broken wagons lay abandoned where they bogged down or broke. Raucous laughter issued from one of the larger structures off to their right and a number of people moved noisily in an out of its entry.

"I don't feel very comfortable about this place, William."

"Nor I. Let's move on, we'll find some other place for the night." They turned around, shocked to see the huge gates closing and a massive brace swinging into place to lock it tight.

"Excuse me, sir! We wish to leave." William ran up to the nearest man, resting a hand on his sleeve.

The man glared at the hand on his arm and sniffed loudly, spitting into the mud at his feet. "It's closing time. Once the gates is closed, they don't open again 'till morn."

"But we don't want to stay here, we just—"

"Too late! Shouldn't have come in if you didn't want to stay." The man turned away, joining several others who simply ignored the couple.

"William, what do we do? Why do they lock the gates?" Mary whispered nervously, trying to keep her boots out of the cloying muck.

"I don't know. Maybe there's an inn or perhaps a stable where we can spend the night." He took her hand and they picked their way carefully through the mud into the centre of the village.