AS SOON AS THE HATED BAILIFF was out of sight, panic spread through town. I marched back out of the woods, grateful that no one had spoken against me. But I saw the mood had changed.

What do we do now? A frightened Martin the tailor shook his head. You heard him; the prick suspects. How long can we keep up this ruse?

Jean Dueux, a farmer, looked ashen. The land we work returned to the demesne? We'd be ruined. Our entire lives lie in this land.

People crowded around me, shouting and afraid. I was the cause of their misery. If you want me to leave, I will. I bowed my head.

It's not you, the tailor said, looking around for support. Everyone's afraid. We've finally picked ourselves up from the ruins. If Baldwin's men come back...

Theywill come back, Martin, I said to his worried face. They will come back again and again. Whether I stay or go.

We took you in, the baker's wife shouted. What is it you expect us to do now?

I went over to the inn, and I felt my wife's soul stirring in the rubble. Do you think I drag these rocks every day and sweat building these walls so that this inn I promised my dead wife I would rebuild can be brought down once again?

We all feel that way, Hugh, the tailor said. We've all rebuilt. But what can we do to stop it?

We can defend ourselves, I shouted.

Defend?The word was whispered through the crowd.

Yes,defend. Draw the line. Fight them. Show them they can never take away our lives again.

Fight? Our liege? People looked stunned. But we are all pledged to him, Hugh.

I told you before....Break the pledge.

The gravity of these words silenced the buzzing crowd. Break it, I said again.

If we did, that would betreason , the tailor objected.

I turned to the miller. Any moretreason , Georges, than the murder of your son? Or you, Marte-your husband lies not far from my son. Was it any less treason when he was struck down defending your home? Or my own boy, who did not even know the word when he was tossed into the flames.

Baldwin's a ruddy prick, the miller replied. But these obligations you want to throw down, they are the law. Baldwin would come at us with everything he has. He would crush us like moths.

It can be done, Georges. I've seen how a small, able detachment can defend themselves for m............