Free The End of Time by Avi Page B

east and south.”
    “What he means,” Elena said to me more kindly, “is that these soldiers are blocking this road to keep anyone from passing into Calais.”
    “Is there war here?” I asked.
    Woodeth pushed her hair away from her face as if to see better. “The French and the English are always at war.”
    “Let’s pray,” said Rauf, “there aren’t more about. But may the devil take these.” He spat on the ground.
    Remembering what the French had done in Rye as wellas the awful consequences of our dealings with English soldiers, I asked, “Will they do us any harm?”
    “Only if they catch us,” said Gerard. “God’s wounds, they have no love for the English.”
    As we stood there watching, Rauf kept glancing at me, enough to make me uncomfortable. Then, abruptly, he pointed some short distance away. “Crispin! Stand back there. Owen! You too!”
    I looked to Elena.
    “Do as you’re told,” she said.
    Given no choice, Owen and I moved where we’d been told to go. The monkey, perched upon the boy’s shoulder, chattered softly.
    While Woodeth stayed near us, Gerard, Rauf, and Elena drew close and began to confer amongst themselves in low voices. I could not hear what they said. But more than once Rauf glanced in my direction. It made me uneasy.
    After a while Elena turned. “Crispin!” she called. “Come here!”
    Apprehensive, I went to them. As I approached, Rauf put a heavy arm around my shoulder and gathered me in while the others drew close. I felt small and trapped.
    Rauf cupped my face in his rough hand and stared down at me. “We have a vital task for you,” he said.
    “What you’re going to do,” said Elena, “will be of great importance.”
    “And when you do it,” said Gerard, “as you surely will, we shall feel very grateful toward you.”
    The mock camaraderie of their voices rankled in my ears.
    Rauf—still holding me hard—glanced toward the French, then turned back to me. “There’s no saying what those soldiers might do if we try to cross right before their eyes. Poor minstrels that we are, they might let us through.”
    “In God’s world miracles do happen,” said Gerard, “but then again, it might not come to pass.”
    “More than likely they would search us,” said Rauf, offering me a knowing look.
    My mind went to his money bag.
    “So you must see, Crispin,” Elena said to me, “it’s not a chance we should take, is it?”
    “I suppose not,” I murmured, guessing that was what they wished me to say.
    “You suppose correctly,” said Rauf, grinning while giving me a rough shake. “You’ll be pleased to know that when you first stepped out of the woods, I had the thought that you might be useful at such a place as this.”
    I could not tell if he was mocking me or not.
    “What we need of you, Crispin,” said Elena, “is to coax those Frenchmen away from where they are—away from us—so we can reach the city safely.”
    “Me? ” I cried.
    “Here’s what you will do,” Rauf said as if it were all decided. “We shall retreat back among the trees and then proceed that way.” He gestured in an eastward direction. “As we do, you will go forth and attract the attention of those soldiers.”
    “But…how could I?” I said, shocked by what they were telling me to do.
    “By walking that way,” said Rauf, pointing in a westerly direction, toward some hills, “you’ll attract them.”
    “Enough to bring them after you,” said Gerard.
    “And when you do lead them there ,” Rauf went on, “we, having gone east, shall cross northward over the plain. Of course, when you escape these Frenchmen, you can rejoin us.”
    “Together,” continued Elena, “we shall make our way to the city.”
    “But…but,” I said, finding it hard to breathe, “what if they catch me?”
    “You’ll need to make sure you don’t let them,” said Rauf with a false smile. “Because if they do—and Crispin,I am nothing if not honest to you—they will most