What are we going to do about our Guest?

"Mary, come here! I need you." shouted Benjamin.

Benjamin's wife entered the room quickly. "What happened?"

"I was looking through the pouch of the critter that we have penned up - - don't give me that look, you don't know what she is, and she could get us all in trouble -- and found this." He pointed to the map.

Mary examined the map. "It is wrong in many places. The geography is not too far off - there are a couple of lakes that I know don't exist - those are swamps. There are not a lot of big towns, but how could they miss Nightengale? Especially if they include Morton's Manor, which is little more than a wide spot in the road, now. Fort Estill was abandoned years ago - I doubt that one can even find the foundation. And I have never heard the Four Buroughs referred to as Burgerland."

"My thoughts exactly. If she is actually using this, no wonder she got lost. I noticed Blacksand and Archangel, placenames in the old songs, but I doubt that they exist. This map could be just old. But could the harpies be up to something?"

Mary looked thoughtful. Then she said, "We should confront her with this. If she cannot explain, we will of course need to kill her and bury the evidence. If she can explain, though - and she really is trying to kill the dragon - God help her. She has to go, but we can set her in the right direction, as far as the lake."

"I wonder if it would not be more merciful just to kill her anyway? If she gets caught by the wild men in the badlands, they may torture her."

Mary sighed. "No. If she can explain this map, and she appears to be what she claims she is, she needs to go out. She has run great risks already. She obviously fears men, and rightly so, although she tries not to show it. So I do not think that the threat of torture at the hands of the wild men will deter her. If she really is a renegade, or the harpies have fallen out with the dragon, then anything that will set the dragon and the harpies at odds is a good thing for us. It is worth the risk."

"Fair enough. And how are we going to tell whether she is telling the truth or not?"

"I will leave that up to your judgment. We will probe her over dinner, and after dinner I shall occupy her by having her work on that penny shawl that I just started on while we continue to talk. You can surprise her from behind and overwhelm her easily if that is needed. I hope that we do not have to do that, but whatever you decide, I shall go along. I know that harboring her is dangerous, and we cannot take chances."

Benjamin laughed despite the seriousness of dealing with their dangerous guest. "Good old Mary! I could count on you to put her to work in some way." Mary smiled and chuckled to herself. It was true, that a lifetime of managing the farm and the mill had gotten her into the habit of looking out for idleness and finding things for people to do. Benjamin continued to banter, "Could we maybe have her knit the map out for us? Although it is wrong in a lot of details, it is fascinating reading."

Mary smiled, and then shook her head ruefully. "It's a nice thought, but too risky. If Jeremiah came back, it might be too much to explain."

"Yes. We cannot accept anything that would link us to the critter. Ian was the one that tipped off Jeremiah, by the way. Good old Jeremiah is going to escort him on a one-way ride to the western reaches of the Four Boroughs, and he will become one of those wild men of the badlands. At least he is out of lives."

"I hope," replied Mary. "All the more reason that Checkers has to go, one way or the other. I wish that we could have taken her into Jeremiah. If we let her leave, we must warn her about Ian, if only to protect ourselves."

"I hope that harpies have a sense of gratitude."

"We shall see. As long as this one does, we should be fine. She seems like a good egg, or at least she is a very good spy. I smell the yeast from the loaves of bread; I need to get dinner ready. I have a beef stew simmering. Checkers is probably scared half to death with those riders. Bennie, could you fetch her from the barn and escort her in for dinner?"

Benjamin nodded his head, and grunted. "It doesn't pay to look idle around Mary, she will find something for you to do", he thought. Of course, that was one of the reasons that the farm was as successful as it was.

1. Benjamin goes to the cattle pen fetch Checkers.

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