“So what’s your story, I wonder?” He peered at Bombax. “You must have become a serious irritation in somebody’s backside to end up like this. I should set you free, I guess. But maybe that’s not the right thing to do, given the likely nature of those who brought you here.”

Bombax kept staring at him, waiting. He couldn’t do much besides hope that the boy’s instincts persuaded him to make the right decision.

The boy hesitated, and then shrugged. “Well, least I can do is hear you out, listen to what you have to say. Better make it a good story, though, or you’re back on your own.”

He reached around Bombax’s neck and began working on the knots securing the gag. “Those boys knew what they were doing. Can’t get these knots loose.” He stepped back, reached down, and brought out a slim, wicked-looking knife. “Let’s try this. Hold real still now. Else I might cut your throat by mistake.”

It took him two quick swipes with the knife and the gag fell away. Bombax opened his mouth and breathed in great gulps of fresh air. But when he tried to thank the boy, he couldn’t make the words come out as anything other than an unintelligible grunt.

“What’s wrong?” the boy asked, watching him struggle. “They didn’t cut out your tongue, did they?”

Bombax shook his head. He mimed swallowing. Whatever liquid the Mwellret had let him drink had paralyzed his vocal cords.

“Oh, some sort of poison?” The boy shook his head in sympathy. “Makes it kind of hard for you to tell me what’s wrong, doesn’t it? I’m sorry, but I might have to leave you here. Like I said, I can’t chance letting you go if it’s the wrong thing for me to do.”

Bombax shook his head quickly, sighed and nodded. He understood. He tried again to speak, but nothing intelligible came out.

“You’re in a fix,” the boy said.

Bombax nodded.

The boy studied him some more. “Well, I can’t see leaving you, whatever the reason you’re here. No one deserves this. If you’d done something really bad, whoever’s responsible for this would have just killed you and been done with it. This looks to me to be something else.”

He stepped forward again, took out the knife a second time, and began cutting the ropes that bound Bombax to the frame. When the ropes fell away, the Druid fell with them, his body so numb and aching he couldn’t stand. The boy tried to catch him, but Bombax was too big and heavy for him to hold, and the best the boy could do was break his fall.