"I'm Cath'rinne. And you are, young one?"
Finn continues to work the crowd to understand what the soldiers are doing and why everyone is so afraid.
«My name ... is Mordred,» he answers, uncertain and stuttering.
You hear many different stories. A middle-aged man says that he saw the same thing happen in a town three days to the West. Armed men arrested a witch. This is what they do. «Justly so,» chips in another. «Do you remember how it was before Eadric's time? Warlocks ruled the land, and many villages were pillaged, and sorcerers and druids could curse you in your sleep. Nobody was safe.» A woman disagrees. «Oh maybe, they have arrested one or two evil men, but I know for sure that they have taken dozens of innocent people. Nobody dares tend the sick and wounded any more. If death cannot be avoided, the carer is arrested. Remember old Melissa.» And thus it continues. Whatever you think of Eadric's Law, you can find a dozen anecdotes to support it. Only one thing seems to be beyond doubt, that such arrests are commonplace. Nobody knows anything about this arrestee, even age and gender vary as the story is recounted, but everybody knows that the allegation was witchcraft.
Actually, it just occured to me that, if he speaks Anglo-Saxon, they wouldn't understand each other. Cath'rinne would try Norman and Latin, to see if he speaks either.
The boy keeps eye contact as Cath'rinne speaks, and she has the feeling that he understand a lot more than she does. Yet, all he speaks is the local gibberish, and she keeps feeling someone knocking on the Parma.
Benedict realizes that he doesn't have the leisure to move slowly. He heads back to the wagon directly, the magi need to know of the imminent danger. He does keep an eye on the patrol, trying to keep them from seeing him move away with such purpose.
He escapes the first patrol alright, and then finds himself tailing the other one as it goes marching into the square between the wheelwright and Obstetrix's soap supplier.
Obstetrix will try to keep the guards taking their prisoner within her eyesight, with her head held slightly down. She wanted to see what they did, but knew that keeping clear eye contact might draw unwanted attention.
She will make sure to pay the merchant, and move slightly away.
The guards do not have a prisoner at the moment. The man who was arrested were taken into the town by the knights.
The vendor receives the payment with thanks and hands you the wares. He looks warily at you and the guards. It looks as if he is about to say something but hesitates, several times, but he does not say more.
The guards start peering into the different stalls and searching cart loads. They are still a couple of stalls away from the magi, though.
The two grogs come rushing back too. They nod to Betula, and knock on the wagon door. «Are you alright, ma'am?» they ask, «and where is Obstetrix?» They look genuinely concerned.
Obstetrix will begin making her way towards the wagon, slowly, and will try to get eye contact with any of the entourage, but if she sees the guards are heading there, she will try to find a quiet alley or empty stall to duck into.
It is possible to cross the square when the guards are busy searching inside or behind a stall, and using other people as cover, but it is non-trivial, and it takes Dex+Stealth 6+ to go unseen.
Interrupted by the knock on the door, Cath'rinne will answer the grog. "I'm allright. Is there a problem out there?"
The grog whispers, «guards in the street. People say they arrested a sorcerer, and they are searching for his accomplices.»
"In that case... let's get out of here before they get the idea of searching us." Cath'rinne will gesture to Betula and Obstetrix to get on board.
Obstetrix will observe the guards, waiting for them to enter a stall and then stealthily make her way to the wagon, with her goods on hand.
Ruedi will be keeping a lookout for the guards, intending to forestall them from the Magi, and especially from Betula. He feared that her aura might provoke negative reaction from them.
In Latin, “Leaving right this moment may attract the attention we desire to avoid. Perhaps if one of us could hide the boy in some manner, turn him into a dog or a girl… I could not manage either though, especially with attempting to avoid notice.” In Anglo-Saxon in a not very convincing attempt to seem stern, “I ask again, boy, who is your father and why did you choose to approach us for help?”
[side note: have we gotten what we came for? The fixed wheels and all that?]
One of the grogs asks if he should ask the wheelwright to hurry and settle the bills. He seems to have started preparing the wheels, but he has not yet mended the wheels on the wagon. The two specialists and Finn have also not returned, yet. They are not as attentive to the needs of the magis as the grogs are.
The boy answers, «you have magic, have you not? You will be hiding like we are. My father is a healer; he helps people.»
Betula says in Latin, “He seems to be aware of our gift. I am not sure how he managed that though I have heard some can innately sense these things. If I were to guess I would say he is unaware of The Order. He refers to his father merely as ‘a healer’ and uses none of the terms I would expect from even the apprentice of the least Romanized member ex Miscellanea.”