"Brother Schreiber cared for you a lot," Ludo said, a little awkwardly. "He would have thought it an impossible risk to drag you into that kind of situation. Before he met you, he nearly died on the road fighting goblins. His, uh, a woman he cared about a lot called Aisha was nearly killed. One of the soldiers we took into Kheneb died. He... look, I know you'd hate to be treated like a child, but can you imagine how he'd feel if that had happened to you and he'd had to go back to Caerfort and tell them there? Or Bertelis?"

"The world's a plenty dangerous enough place without being dragged further into that. It's fun stories afterwards but..."

Ludo sighed. "I'm sorry. I know what you mean. I was in your position once, and now I've met demons and vampires. I was there when Rorik died, I got the count killed, I watched so many people die... I'm glad it's over now, but I can't say I regret getting up and leaving with the dog two years ago."