“Now there is the stuff they make songs of,” I said, and we laughed. “But not all are up at the Keep. I saw a girl just now, coming for water, down in the ruins.”
“Well, up at the Keep they are rejoicing. There will be some who will have small heart for that. Foxglove was wrong. The folk of Neatbay did not yield easily before the Red-Ships. Many, many died before the Neatbay folk retreated to the Keep.”
“Does anything strike you as odd about that?”
“That folk should defend themselves? No. It is-”
“Does not it seem to you that there were too many Outislanders here? More than five ships’ worth?”
Burrich halted. He looked back to the scattered bodies. “Perhaps those other ships had left them here, and then gone out on patrol ….”
“That is not their way. I suspect a larger ship, transporting a sizable force of men.”
“Where?”
“Gone now. I think I glimpsed it, going into that fog bank.”
We fell. silent. Burrich showed me to where he had tethered Ruddy and Sooty and we rode together up to Bayguard. The great doors of the Keep stood wide open, and a combination of Buckkeep soldiers and Bayguard folk mingled there. We were greeted with a shout of welcome, and offered brimming cups of mead before we were even dismounted. Boys begged to take our horses for us, and to my surprise, Burrich let them. Within the hall was genuine rejoicing that would have put any of Regal’s revels to shame. All of Bayguard had been thrown open for us. Ewers and basins of warm scented water had been set out in the Great Hall for us to refresh ourselves, and tables were heavy with food, none of it hard bread or salt fish.