"Young Lady, the convoy is ready."
At dawn in Blackstone Castle, an elderly maid spoke to Idelia, who sat in a wheelchair.
Covered wagons stood in neat rows outside the castle gates. More ox carts and carriages waited in the distant Town.
"Do we really have to leave...?"
The elderly maid gazed reluctantly at the imposing black castle. She had lived there for as long as she could remember. So had her mother, and her mother before her.
This was the Reeves family's ancestral home. It was their home, too...
"The Ratfolk are coming. We can take refuge in Annan's territory and help him while we're there."
Idelia held out her arms for the maid to lift her into the carriage. The subdued convoy rolled toward Town, then led a long line of vehicles stretching hundreds of meters westward.
The castle and Town dwindled in the distance until they vanished. Forced to leave their home behind, the travelers grew somber. Only a few boys around Annan's age huddled together, whispering excitedly.
They could expect trouble on the road... The Gods had fallen out of contact at the start of the year, setting churches against one another. Then came news of the Rat Plague, and recently even the Northern Frontier had been in peril. Bandits and mercenary companies would hardly ignore a slow, strung-out convoy made up mostly of Civilians.
A Carriage bearing the Snowflake Emblem of the Twelve Kings of the North rolled steadily near the front of the convoy.
"Are you still there?"
Idelia sat inside, her hands folded and her slender, pale legs together beneath her white skirt. With her head slightly bowed, she resembled a devout saintess.
"What do you want to say?"
A whisper only Idelia could hear sounded inside the carriage.
"If Annan tries to