The person ahead of them was small, and as they neared Tony saw it was a child. A boy, he thought, because despite the light-brown hair that fell past his shoulders, he was wearing long, blue pants, tucked into calf-high leather boots.
::Not that a girl couldn’t dress like that, I suppose,:: he said to Daniel after explaining why he’d come to that conclusion.
::True, but the way he’s standing, as if he’s ready to defend himself against us…::
When they closed the distance between them, the boy didn’t relax, although he looked at them with the unapologetic interest of a ten-year-old. “Where have you come from?” he asked. “You are not one of us.”
“A storm destroyed our boat and cast us on shore somewhere over there.” Tony gestured in the direction they’d come from. “Beyond the lake, if th
