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Though the offer of the boats is very tempting, you have made a promise to Amelia that you cannot break. And so, you continue as planned. You take your boat, under the pretense of searching for Amelia, only to deliver her four days journey south to the southern port. The journey is luckily uneventful and you are careful to avoid extended contact with Amelia. This is made easier by Amelia's slow arrival to her sea legs and her frequent bouts of seasickness. By the time you reach the port, she is perhaps already half-regretting her decision, given the longer journey that awaits her. Indeed, she is so exhausted that she does not even have the energy for a tearful goodbye. Nonetheless, she at least reiterates her wish for you accompany her, perhaps realizing for the first time, amid the throng and pulse of the great city, the dangers of travel.
But, then, as now, you must refuse her. You are a humble fisherman and your ambitions reach no further than its limits. You bid her adieu, as her aunt would say, and wish her a safe journey. Then you steel yourself for the journey back and the news you must give to the reeve, the lie you must sell, possibly for the rest of your life.
It takes five days to return (for the wind was not favorable) and on the morning of the fifth day, you can spot columns of ominous smoke rising from the village. Terrible shrieks and smell of burning thatch fill the air. There are men astride horses riding hard across the roads, striking men down with clubs, axes, and spears. They are not heathens, but carry the banners of a neighboring lord, whose knot and swan you recognize at once from your cousin's report. Doubtless they have come to revenge themselves for their peasants sold into bondage and their stolen cattle, or to use it as excuse for their own pillaging.
The villagers are divided between those trying to escape on the boats and others running for the castle. You recognize Mabel among them, trying desperately to find a boat to take her and the twins (her mother appears not to be with her) while men in the distance are closing in.
You decide to:
>Sail past them and wait for them to leave
>Make land further north and race to home to secure your possessions
>Bring the boat close to the pier to rescue Mabel
>Write-in
