{Pelegatta}
They were marched out of the pen at first light.
The leader hadn't slept. Pelegatta noticed it immediately, along with the size of the new escort. And why would she? While she was using Pelegatta to get off, her captives escaped.
So now, there were twelve guards instead of two, all of them awake, weapons in their hands rather than at their belts. The tone of the camp had changed in the night. Pelegatta could feel it in how the bandits looked at the students, which was no longer bored.
The five empty spaces along the south wall of the pen hadn't gone unnoticed.
The leader walked at the front of the line. She didn't speak. She had asked Pelegatta one question shortly before the march and Pelegatta had answered it honestly. She had said she didn't know where they were going. The leader had accepted the answer, which was a small mercy.
The path wound up out of the camp and into the trees.
