Pieter's mind raced as he tried to understand the situation. Dr Reifennen, looking nervous but not panicky... Talberg's horse, ready to be ridden, but Talberg himself nowhere in sight... so who was it for?

If they wanted to kill him, they'd have done so already...

But the point of freeing him would be to let him heal the sick... Why free him and then give him a horse to flee?

Hopefully things would be made clear soon enough, but one way or another, Pieter could not allow it. He planted his feet in front of the men and spoke in a slow, quiet tone: "We know this man to be in cahoots with the knight. He's the only one who could have told him to destroy the letter. We need him alive and where he can't do any harm."

He watched Reifennen's face, trying to determine if the doctor saw him, right now, as a threat or a savior.