“The man, Loaf, that old soldier, he died of sickness, in a way. Came back from his travels with an ugly fungus growing on his face. Didn’t seem to harm him—if anything he was stronger than before. But he wasn’t pretty, and some traveler must have complained about a monster who had taken control of a roadhouse upriver, because soldiers came.”

“Soldiers?”

“Of King Haddamander, nobody local, you can be sure. They came here to try to get me to accuse Loaf of something. Anything. I don’t think they cared what the charge was, but they wanted some pretext, since being ugly isn’t against the law when last I heard. They didn’t like hearing that from me, so I got knocked down and kicked a little for my trouble.”

“I’m sorry,” said Umbo.

“Not your fault, unless you’re with the king, and you don’t look to be one of his, since they’re all rich—either started rich or got made so.”

“I can be sorry without taking blame, sir,” said Umbo.

“And be blamed without being sorry, nor guilty either,” said the old carpenter. “Report me for saying so if you want, I’m only a step away from not caring.”

“I’m not a spy,” said Umbo.

“Just like a spy, to say that,” said the carpenter.

“And also just like an honest man,” said Umbo calmly. “If they found no charge against old Loaf—”

“Treason was the charge,” said the carpenter. “Accused him of being the Rebel King’s Captain Toad, the one as leads raids all over Stashiland. Which was known to all of us to be a lie. Never a more doting father than that one, Loaf didn’t stray farther from the roadhouse than to buy groceries and other such supply. When could he have gone raiding? I know the Toad is supposed to be ugly but you’d think they’d want more proof than that.”

Umbo noticed that he referred to Loaf as a doting father. But the questions that raised could wait a little. “They arrested him, then?” asked Umbo.