“I’m going to rescue Elsebeth.” Nedric stated in such a way as to brook no doubt.

“I’ll help.” Bethan immediately responded.

“You two will do no such thing.” Bethel ordered.

“Aren’t they sweet.” Rhianna added scathingly.

Before continuing, Bethel called for a guard to take Rhianna away.

“She’s a confessed spy. I want to know exactly what details she has passed to Nothering, anyone she knows and anything she might be able to guess. If she holds back on anything then use the traditional methods.”

Nedric waited until she was out of the room before asking about the traditional methods.

“Standard torture techniques but also female spies are traditionally given to the death guard, they have one order, don’t kill the spy. I doubt she has the courage to endure that for long.”

Quickly changing the subject Nedric continued. “I meant what I said, I’m going to find a way to rescue Elsebeth.”

“You are needed at the boardways, you don’t know Nothering and just in case you’ve forgotten, we are going to be at war with the country just as soon as they invade. Forget the idea.”

“Anyone at the boardways knows as much as I do now. I can get someone to lead me through Nothering and I can pretend I’m from Esteril who will keep out of the war. What’s more there is no way to ensure that Elsebeth will survive the war unless I bring her back.” Nedric wasn’t going to let rational objections get in his way.

Bethel started to say something and then stopped again. It was clear that he no more liked his daughter held captive than Nedric did. Eventually he sighed and said, “If you can come up with a half-decent plan to rescue her I’ll agree but I want to know the details first. If it looks like it’s a suicide mission then I’d rather imprison you.”

Shortly after that Nedric took his leave of Bethel and Bethan walked with him. “Don’t worry about father, he’s as worried about Elsebeth as the rest of us. I’ll get him to agree to us going after her. It would help if we had some idea of where we are going. Do you know anyone who knows Nothering?”

“Well one of my friends is a merchant. If he doesn’t know his way around then he will know someone who can help.”

“You contact him then and I’ll work on father.” With a shake of hands they parted.

* * *

Until Rialto was able to get to Elseth, Nedric could do nothing other than work and plan. He could see part of an answer but he needed more information and more help. If he was going to rescue Elsebeth he needed some people who knew what they were doing, people who would be useful if it came to a fight. Bethan would be helpful but there was only one of him. He decided to contact the rangers Daiga and Scabad.

He had no idea whether the rangers had meant what they said. It was risky for them to help him in more than one way. If they were found to be rangers then it would be assumed that Esteril was getting involved with the upcoming war between two of its neighbours. Esteril relied on its neutrality to survive.

Whilst he was waiting for replies, Nedric took to practicing his juggling. He worked on producing an hour show, longer than any show he had ever seen. He wanted to be able to do two different half hour shows and spent some time at the Black Lion watching other performers and borrowing parts of their acts when they seemed suitable.

He was particularly keen to learn little bits of humour. It was clear after a while that it wasn’t the difficult tricks that crowds appreciated but rather the ones that were easy to understand and were presented with humour. Nedric saw one performer who was technically brilliant have most of the crowd walk away, whilst another who did very little kept a crowd happy for forty minutes.

After a while Nedric realised that the only way to know if he was able to do a show was to actually try. He went into one of the small local taverns and talked to the landlord. He agreed straight away when he learnt that Nedric wasn’t asking a fee.

On the evening of his first performance Nedric found that he was much more nervous than when he had shown off in front of the other students. He didn’t have Rialto to support him with music and he didn’t know what an adult audience would think of his humour. When he practiced in the tavern before the show he couldn’t get anything right. He was particularly worried by his finale piece, if that went wrong he could injure somebody.

At last he was told that the crowd in the tavern were ready for him and he went forth to face them. He was wearing some extremely bright clothing that was meant to help but he was more than a little worried that it wouldn’t. A space had been made at one end of the room and he made his way towards it. He realised as he did so that the ceiling was only a foot or so higher than his head and had to rethink his tricks to account for this.

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Before he had started some wit from the crowd was making comments. Nedric was expecting this. For some reason there was always one person in a crowd who thought his remarks were more entertaining than whatever was going on before them. He had several comments ready and waiting but in the end the reply was a simple retort making mock of the speaker.

After the put down comment he found that his nerves had disappeared. He started with some complicated looking tricks which were actually not too difficult and then progressed into tricks that went with humour. He managed to fit a few of the jokes that he had seen performed into the first part of the show.

He continued with the diabolo. It had a much greater impact than he had expected. Presumably nobody had thought to perform it in Elseth as none of the audience showed any recognition. He had a number of easy tricks that looked good and some difficult tricks that looked complicated. He would have liked to have thrown it high in the air to finish but the ceiling was too low. Instead he made a big thing about the height of the ceiling and when he threw the diabolo it hit the ceiling and then ricocheted back to collide with his head. He immediately fell to the floor amidst loud laughter.

For the final section of his show he asked for a volunteer from the audience. He asked them to lie on the floor and then informed the audience that he was going to walk over the man whilst juggling. When he brought out the wooden clubs none of the audience looked particularly impressed and Nedric made a point about this. Whilst talking he brought from his pack a set of three long knives that he had had made especially for him. The audience were suitably impressed and when he had performed the trick he received warm applause. Nedric packed his props and after a quick finishing statement left the room.

In the room behind the bar he sat down and caught his breath. His clothing was soaked with sweat. Although he had only performed for thirty minutes it felt like he had used more energy than he would have done on a five-mile run. He felt exhausted but exhilarated, it was nerve-wracking but tremendous fun. He wanted to do it again but next time he wanted to be paid.

Whilst he was changing, the landlord came into the room.

“That was pretty good, especially for a first time. I’ve seen people who do it for a living do worse shows. Have a meal on the house and I’ll talk to you later when you’re refreshed.”

“Thank you.”

When Nedric had eaten and when the landlord was able to stop serving they had a quiet chat.

“If you want to practice anywhere else I can let the other landlords know that you are good enough that they should pay you at least half the going rate.”

“What should I be asking?”

“Most people ask a gold a show. If they are good enough then they will be worth it. A happy crowd will drink more and remember the tavern as the place to return. The landlord makes more money and everyone’s happy.”

“So you think I’m worth five silvers?”

“Yes.” He proceeded to hand over the money.

Nedric found it hard to believe. Half an hour’s work paid better than most people earned in a day. It made all the practice seem worthwhile. It also made him want to do a lot more. Not that he could stay around here if he wanted to rescue Elsebeth.

* * *

Nedric had agreed to meet Rialto during the following week but his friend sent a letter stating that he had been delayed and that he would catch up with him later. It was something to do with a business deal.

After three weeks, Nedric was beginning to despair of Rialto. When he eventually appeared it was unexpected. Waiting outside the gates of the site and looking somewhat happier with himself than he had on their previous meeting.

“Why you grinning so much.”

“We, my friend, are going to be very wealthy after this war ends.”

“How comes.”

“I’ve arranged for us to supply the army with clothing. My father is producing it in limited sizes, so he sells it to me cheap and I sell it on still cheaply. That’s only part of the deal. I’ve agreed to be paid only enough to cover my costs whilst the war is in progress, when it ends we get the rest of the money and it is all profit.”

“Of course if the war lasts our lifetimes then we don’t collect.”

“Be positive. We could be rich beyond our wildest dreams.”

“I don’t dream that wildly. Enough money to live by and I’m fairly happy.”

“Well I’ll dream for both of us then. What’s been happening since I saw you last?”

“I need you to meet someone, come with me.”

Nedric took Rialto to meet with Bethan. They had been spending some time in discussion of options and met in a small and fairly quiet inn close to the Black Lion. When they entered the inn, Bethan was waiting for them.

Nedric performed the appropriate introductions and then explained to Rialto their requirements.

“We need to travel through Nothering, without being stopped. We need someone who knows their way around the country and when we get to Fusdown we need to be able to get Elsebeth out of the building any ideas?”

Rialto had travelled through most of the surrounding countries and knew them well. He also knew the dangers of his friend’s idea. That didn’t stop him.

“I’ll go with you. I can guide you as much as anyone not from Nothering can and I can pass for a Nothering citizen. I have the accent virtually perfect and I have fooled citizens of the country before.”

“Well that helps, so how do we travel through the country?”

“That’s a different matter. It is an extremely suspicious place; every foreign merchant who enters the country is accompanied by a soldier. The only people who get to travel the place at will are soldiers.”

“What about messengers for merchants?”

“They use soldiers for that.”

“Transporters of food?”

“Farmers only travel as far as the nearest town, then if food needs to travel further the army takes over.”

“Can we pose as soldiers?”

“Only if you have all the appropriate papers and even then they are liable to ask questions that only a soldier would know. Who is the commander of a particular battalion? That sort of thing.”

Just then Rialto spotted Nedric’s juggling equipment in his pack and it sparked off an idea. “The other people I saw travelling were musicians and other entertainers. There’s a great demand because there is pretty little other joy in their lives.”

Nedric, of course, leapt at the idea. He could use his skills, rescue Elsebeth and have fun, all at the same time. Bethan was a little less easy to convince. He couldn’t see his role in such a group, until Nedric suggested that he could tell tales. One of the best things that could be said for the idea was that they could do unusual things without anyone being too suspicious. Everyone knew that entertainers were a little strange.

After they had talked through the idea they began to like it. Bethan could do a good impression of a citizen from Sahran, the country to the south. He even had some of their typical clothing, as he had purchased it as a memento of his time on the southern border.

They also realised that they would be able to carry weapons with them. The worst aspect of being a travelling entertainer was that bandits thought of them as easy targets. This meant that entertainers tended to band together or to join merchant caravans. With no caravans in Nothering there was no option but to have a group of people travelling together.

With the idea of how to get through Nothering decided, the question of how to get Elsebeth free was debated. They concluded eventually that until they knew her exact situation there was little point in making plans. Nedric had already decided that his specialist knowledge might be useful but didn’t think it was necessary to mention this at this point.

With a clear argument and a certain amount of drink inside them they went to visit Bethel. Bethan did most of the talking, with Nedric and Rialto nodding or adding comments. The older man listened seriously and took his time trying to see the potential pitfalls. Eventually a smile broke across his face.

“By the gods! I think you might be on to something.”

The three young men clapped each other on the backs and shook hands with Bethel. Before he had agreed there was still the doubt that anything would happen. With his backing the rescue attempt was on. It would be an adventure.