"I understand now, you little sneak." Blake whispered as he crawled back to the group. They lied under the rubble, far enough away from the village to speak loudly.
      "What??" Prism raised a brow.
      "Not you!" Blake grabbed Leiko, "She must have known the whole time. The ladder is inside the city. They must have moved the town around it since I left."
      "Wait! What exactly does that mean?" Emeryl asked.
      "It means we have to get the town to evacuate to climb up safely." Blake snapped, yanking on the girl.
      "Don't be so hard on her!" Emeryl pulled Leiko away from Blake. She promptly raspberried Blake and let the elf defend her.
      "How do we get them to leave?" Eric stabbed his sword into the ground by the burnt out fire.
      "We have to convince them a neighboring village is open to loot." Blake thought quickly, "But if my parents are there they'll recognize me... I can't go alone..."
      "Bentora is out of the question, they'd be able to tell Eric was a human... same with me, I'm only half-elf, and Emeryl is far too pale..." Prism glanced around.
      Idly, Blake's hands fiddled with the leftover ash. He studied Emeryl as the elf sorted what was left of his possessions.
      Drawing a handful of ash, Blake leaned over the fire near Emeryl.
      "Emeryl!" he called.
      Emeryl twirled his head to get ash blown in his face.
      "Ow! My eyes!" Emeryl rubbed his eyes painfully.
      Everyone stared at them, Blake smirking at the dirtied elf. With ash rubbed all over his face Emeryl appeared a light grayish color, with specks of dirt.
      "Couldn't you have warned him?" Prism eyed Blake.
      "That wouldn't have been as much fun." Blake shrugged.
      "What'd you do that for?" Emeryl forced open his teary eyes.
      "You and Blake are going to go to the town and try to convince them to leave, it seems." Prism explained.
      "That won't work!" Leiko yelled.
      "Why not? He looks fine." Eric answered.
      "He's too scrawny! They'll want to know what's wrong with him!" Leiko put her fists to her hips.
      "She's right, he's scrawny." Blake sighed.
      "Hey..." he whimpered sensitively.
      "He'll have to pass off as a girl!" Blake declared matter-of-factly.
      "What?" Emeryl squealed as Blake stood him up.
      "Squeeze this tighter to make it look like you have hips." He yanked the rope belt around Emeryl's waist. From her seat Leiko pointed and laughed without shame.
      "Leiko! You'll have to tell your parents there's a hobbit village not far away." Blake scooped up a pack and put Leiko's book in it.
      "Fine with me." She smirked.
      "And if you try to say outsiders are in town remember you're carrying a book." He strapped the pack to her, "They'll kill you too."
      "That's cruel." Emeryl moaned.
      "It gives her incentive not to betray us." Blake quickly pulled a small dirk from his boot as she tried to unstrap the backpack, "And remember, I'm right behind you." Quickly, she strapped it back on.
      "Should we be letting him treat her like this?" Emeryl looked to the others.
      "I hate to say it, but he knows his people best." Prism replied.
      "They all act the same to me..." Bentora hissed.
      Before Blake had a chance to respond Prism glared at him warningly.
      "Come on, you remember you have that book with you." Blake shoved her along.