A small voice carried into the wind. "Mr. Benjin!" It called out. Louder now. The voice was drawing nearer, and with a desperation.
"Mr. Benjin!" The carriage slowed but did not stop, braking as Mr. Benjin listened for the source of the sound. He searched behind him, turning away from his task.
The early dusk came with a fog that evening, and an ever-rising glow peered over into his line of vision. That and a young boy. "Mr. Benjin, please wait for me! I have passage! I have passage!" The driver, having begun to slow, now halted to a stop. It was one of his regulars. He had expected the boy to be there at his usual hour, except he hadn't been given notice to stall the carriage for his arrival, so Mr. Benjin had carried on, pushing the carriage at departure.
The boy surfaced into the dark of those woods with a bag in tow and a little light in his right hand. "I have passage, Mr. Benjin, he said while huffing, I was delayed with a prior engagement. I am here now. I thank you for stopping, my mother asked that I bring her a trinket she had left behind and I had to abide by the county and their sorting of the matter."
"Come, Come, I will not be late now even if you are, tell me of this when we arrive at our destination. Enter." said Mr. Benjin, lowering from his seat and opening the carriage. The boy entered the carriage and was greeted by the faces of the other passengers. There were three other young boys with whom he was familiar, another whom he did not know. There was a elderly woman, whose wrinkled face smiled over him and a younger lady whose face turned in a sort of half smile, wary. They were new.
"Are you moving to the city, ma'am? asked the young boy. "No, we are from there, I could not return in three seasons because the guards had been moved from our usual entry point." Ah, so this was a gambit. They would have to plan an exit to get back into town. This, thought the young boy, is my specialty. "Hark! shouted Mr. Benjin from outside. Rest now, we should meet with the doors men before sunrise."
"The city has been made into a fortress, said the unfamiliar boy as a matter of fact, I've only entered and gone out from it twice in my entire life. We have to square away a property that was left behind to us by our grandfather. I'm not sure how much longer we will stay after the deed has been signed away to our tenants." "I've gone out several times in one season, said the young boy. I have plans for building a new entrance with my father. He sent for me and no doubt we will be going in his way.
It isn't easy with these last few barricades. The roads men have been replacing the streets with buildings, and walking down a well worn road sounds like a peddler's side show trick. Do not worry. I know a way. I know a many way." The unfamiliar boy and his grandmother smiled at one another and the young boy could sense their nerves were being swayed to calm.
"What of you, ma'am? the young boy said glancing over at the younger lady. Have you been to the city by way of carriage?
"No. Whispered the young woman. "I've only crossed over on foot, by way of the bridge." The bridge? The bridge is being built? He had heard it only as a rumor, she must mean the ramp they had laid out in it's place, thought the young boy, "Ma'am that bridge is only for merchant's, school children, newly weds, people of the city. How is it that you have found yourself here if you have only ever crossed that bridge?"
"The bridge fell down while they were building it. My mother forbade that I cross it and I was trapped on the shore. The countrymen of the county would not let me on a ship to return to my home. I only had my registration papers, and so I have been living and working as a assistant to a governess."
This the boy understood quite well, "They would not give you passage because you had been separated from your mother, and she could not cross over to retrieve you. We'll get you home to your mother, I won't be the one seeing you off, but I will do my best to get you to your chaperone, so that you can reunite with your family once again. Do not worry. Don't fret. The young lady did not seem persuaded by the young boys' enthusiasms, and held herself tightly, looking down. She was lost in thought.
"My mother risks me being caught by the authorities every time I make this trip, said the young boy to no one in particular, she had to come get me once, and she lost some of her health for sometime after. It is not right that the countrymen have decided who can enter and who can leave. I was told it was because they were taking bribes from the city tax accountants, that they are the reason passage is decided on a whim. Some of them are sending only the most important cargo over and leaving the town in shambles.
The roads men have become unpopular, he said to the three familiar boys, they have stipends as the guards do for passage and they sell them at the highest price. If I had not become a laborer myself, I could not afford the trip, he complained.
"This one has her ticket", replied one of the other boys dryly. "She's a native. What she did not have was the registration. Her governess hid them from her and would only pay her in clothes and food", he said, more irately. That kind of abuse is unthinkable to me, knowing they could take advantage of a young girl and steal away her time from her. That is, to me, unforgivable."
The young boy froze. He did not realize how important this trip was to her. At least, after having been a road escort for some time, he had never had a case where he could not deliver one of the passengers directly to their destination. "I'll see to this myself", he said, resigned to be the one to help her make her journey. This would have been his first. For some reason, that mattered very gravely to him. Very gravely, indeed.
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