"There is a large gathering outside the palace gates of citizens who are likely to lose their lives if they try to overtake the soldiers there. I came to see if you would be willing to talk them down, help them see reason, until the bigger fight can occur," Baldr said carefully.
He didn't want to reveal too much to the stranger he knew led the underground rebellion in Logi. Sigurd seemed to see right through him though.
"It is within theirrights as free citizens to speak out against injustices forced on them," Sigurd replied as he stepped out further into the sunlight. "Who are you or I to stop them?"
"If it means protecting them, shouldn't we interfere?" he said carefully.
Sigurd watched him closely, trying to discern any familiar features beneath the darkness of his cloak. When he seemed to find what he was looking for, he let out a deep sigh before muttering something about "those gods damned Elven."
"I take it you are working for our friends in the north," Sigurd said, his voice dropping to a low whisper that Baldr struggled to hear over the busy morning chaos.
Baldr's silence was answer enough.
"Let's go then," Sigurd replied as he pushed past him and headed toward the palace. "There are a few stubborn asses in that mob, I'll need help wrangling them away from the group."
Without waiting to see if Baldr was following, the pit keeper wove through the crowds of merchants and residents of the slums who seemed to be going about their mornings with one eye over their shoulder. The tension that radiated in the air was smothering as fear and anger choked all other emotion. Things had gone from bad to worse for these people and there seemed to be nothing Baldr could do for them.
"You're leaving," he said to Sigurd in a whisper that was drowned by the busy streets, but the pit keeper heard him.
"I am," he confirmed. "There is a group from Engate sailing to Nida this afternoon. With the winds, we hope to make it there by moonrise tomorrow."
"Good. How many are traveling with you?"
"You expect me to tell you that?" Sigurd asked as he halted and spun to face Baldr.
He almost collided with the man, the icy blue of his eyes impossibly cold as they searched the shadows of his hood again.
Baldr put his hands up in a slightly defensive position as he said, "I only ask to see if there is space to take more with you. The people at the gates have been there for days, the soldiers there have undoubtedly marked their faces and will follow them home. It won't be safe for them here anymore."
Sigurd scrutinizedhim for a few more moments before turning and taking off at a brisk walk again. Baldr followed, but did not say more. Instead, he hugged the mans shadow in case he spoke again.
"No one is safe here anymore," Sigurd whispered, the words skating over Baldr's skin in an ominous wave of promise from the Norns.
"But we are making progress here," the tall blacksmith argued with Sigurd after the pit keeper pulled him into the alley where Baldr was waiting. "If we can just get through the gates—"
"You'll be killed on sight," Baldr said, cutting off the blacksmith.
His dark green eyes turned to face him, his fury already etched into his striking features as his hands flexed a few times. The blacksmith was tall and burly, the corded muscles of his arms typical for those in his line of work. His wide chest tapered into a narrow waist before his hips and thighs packed with the same steel muscles of his arms flared again. The light gold of his skin was stained black around his fingers, the tough callouses evident even from where Baldr stood a short distance from him.
Though this man complexion was the same as most of the Logi natives— light reddish/blonde hair, fair skin tinged gold from working in the sun, the freckles on his arm and bridge of his nose a smattering of color on an otherwise monochromatic canvas— he was an imposing figure in the cool alley as his emotion was flaring higher and higher.
"Finn, you have to understand that starting this fight right now will only end in failure," Sigurd said smoothly, drawing the blacksmiths attention away from Baldr.
He sunk back into the darkness of the alley they stood in and let the pit keeper soothe the man.
"Come with me to Nida, there is a lot you can do for us all in a place where the fight won't have to end in death," Sigurd continued. "The people trust you, they listen to you and we are going to need that leadership. But we have to leave now if this war is ever going to end up in our favor."
Finn hesitated, the uncertainty of his current situation finally seeming to make it through his thickskull.
"How many can you take?" he asked Sigurd.
The pit keeper glanced at Baldr before responding, "As many as we need."
The blacksmith nodded before motioning to Baldr with his thumb. "What about this one?"
"I need to stay here a while longer," he replied smoothly. "My job isn't quite finished."
Finn hesitated another moment before nodding at Sigurd. "Fine, we'll leave. I'll have one of my men pick a fight with a soldier so the rest can get away. He's slippery, it shouldn't take too long for him to get away after we've all cleared out."
