I tell her this when we’re on the road. She says not to worry, she’s faced up to worse before. If she needs me she’ll yell for help. All very good, but what if I’m halfway down the ladder with this girl when she does? What am I going to do, drop the girl and rush in to save Blackthorn? Maybe we should have gone to the prince after all, I tell her. She says nonsense, who needs men-at-arms? She’s looking at me when she says it, and I feel funny. Someone like her trusting me to do the right thing, that’s new to me. Could take some getting used to.

We ride fast. The day’s nearly half gone, and what we have to do needs doing in daylight. I start wondering if we’ve made a stupid mistake, but Blackthorn’s got her jaw set and her eyes angry, as if she might burst if she doesn’t save this girl before dark, so I just keep on riding and hope for the best. Stick to the plan, she’s told me, and we can do this. Oh, and make sure you don’t frighten the girl. Hah! Big lump like me crashing through the door of a loft, when someone’s been locked up in there for who knows how long – anyone in their right mind would be scared. And this is a little girl. I say why not change places, she rescues the girl, I deal with Branoc, and she tells me again why that won’t work.

We keep on riding. In the middle of the afternoon we go through Silverlake settlement without stopping, and here we are, down the hill a bit from Branoc’s barn, in a spot where the trees hide us.

We follow the plan. Horses tied up under the trees, healer’s bag in her hand, other supplies on my back, the two of us walking up quiet-like. I stop a bit short of the barn, keeping in cover. Blackthorn goes on. She looks as if she’s never been scared of anything in her life. This is the bit of the plan I hate – seeing her go off where I can’t protect her. Makes my gut ache. Stupid.

I sneak around to a spot where I can see the courtyard. Branoc comes out before Blackthorn can knock on his door; it’s like he’s been watching. They talk a bit, then the two of them go into the house and the door shuts behind them. Don’t like that. But it’s the way the plan works.