The remaining hours before they reached Stais passed unbearably.

With the appearance of an uninvited guest, a calm river journey turned into a holy mess.

Camil was able to annoy and make everyone around him frantic once again. Voluntarily or not, but he brought chaos to any place where he went.

He ran from side to side, simply because something attracted his sight. When he nearly fell overboard, Raden hesitated for half a second before rushing to stop him.

When the boy was tired of running, he began to scrutinize everything around.

Zira didn't want him to find a bag with shining ancient beads, so she always made him turn around and play somewhere else. In an attempt to distract him, Nialeeka gave him her grandmother's pie.

"Eat it."

Camil sat down by her side, smiled broadly and looked closely at it.

"What's the filling?"

"Potatoes and mushrooms. It's one of the tastiest grandmother's pies."

Ever since Camil woke up, Nialeeka wished for this journey to quickly end. She began to look forward impatiently if Stais had appeared on the horizon.

When she turned around, she did not see the pie she gave to Camil. Thinking that Camil ate it, she calmed down. The boy is full and safe under her gaze.

Meanwhile, Attyon was talking to Raden.

"And just when did he manage to get on our boat?"

"Who cares! We'll throw him ashore in Stais and let him return whatever way he wants!"

"You understand that a boy of eight years can't find his way home, don't you? We are talking about the River Valley, our home. Instead of the roads here are only countless rivers and marshes. Moreover, we are talking about Camil."

“Yes, yes, you're right.”

"Leave the rascal in Stais, and you will be sent to look for him, remember this."

“Who are you, my mother?”

"I'm your brother, jackass. Why don't we think about who whispered him to get on our boat? Moreover, on the very same boat we are going to sail on. How could he have guessed that it was precisely today that we would sail to Stais with a message for that man, and even on this very boat?"

"We should have taken Silben's old bark. Nialeeka wouldn't mind."

“Speaking of her,” Attyon looked at Nialeeka, who was sitting near Camil and was talking to him about something. "Scord turned out to be right. Our eldest has a genuinely great instinct. He suggested that there could be trouble along the way. He said it's his intuition."

"Silben's warriors would have laughed his ass off. Intuition, ha-ha!"

Raden felt a disdain for the warnings of Scord. He doesn't believe in what he cannot see with his own eyes.

"Our girls will look after that boy..." said Attyon confidently.

“The river is narrowing,” Raden announced.

"...because if you were in their place, you would have thrown Camil overboard as soon as you saw him."

Raden chuckled, agreeing with his brother.

He glanced at Nialeeka with their unwanted guest.

Without ceasing to monitor the stream course, Raden chuckled and continued to trim sails to avoid shoals.

'It seems that he decided to make a fool of her', he thought, 'poor thing'.

"How's the pie? Did you like it?"

“You didn't give it to me.”

"Didn't give it? Where did you put it?"

Camil smiled with a childishly sly face. Nialeeka knew that he was again doing his favourite thing - pushing people in every way to get an overwhelming reaction from them and to observe the development.

But Nialeeka couldn't get mad at the boy.

Maybe he is genuinely out of his mind, as they say in the village. After the incident when he made his way into the courtyard of Phelan's house, Nialeeka asked people about the boy. After listening to them, she realized that the brothers, as always, modestly belittled Camil's situation.

Village fool in spring, disaster in summer and rogue in autumn.

It's not that Camil, leaving home, decided to destroy people's daily lives on the spot. First, Camil began to do his tricks, and later the villagers themselves began to make fun of him. Their jokes weren't evil, but they wanted to repay a worthless boy their suffering.

"And what about in the winter?"

"In winter his father looks after him."

In winter there is not much work in the village. The rest of the year Camil's father is usually not at home. He often sets sail with Phelan and other warriors.

But while he is at home, his father keeps Camil on a short leash, knowing perfectly well about the condition of his son.

Nialeeka stood up, and the missing pie fell from the folds of her cloak.

It is not clear how Camil managed to put it there.

Casting a look at the boy, who giggled childishly, pleased with the prank, she brushed the dirt off the cake and again gave it to Camil.

It wasn't difficult for Nialeeka to keep an eye on Camil. She has many cousins, most of whom are younger than her. It can be challenging to take care of all of them, but we are talking about one boy - Camil. He is eight years old, but he behaves like a younger child.

Nialeeka could not remember his mother. Nobody talked about her in the city. Why isn't she following her son? Yes, Camil is neatly dressed, knows how to conduct a conversation with people, but he is careless to the fullest and more on his mind.

The sunset was approaching.

It would be great for them to reach Stais before dark. Otherwise, they would have to spend the night on the shore. There are spare blankets on the boat, but without an emergency, she wouldn't want to spend the night in a boat in a swamp.

Let's not forget that only the north of the River Valley is solid land without swamps. Everything else is impenetrable marshes, and it is tough to find the way there.

Nialeeka did not want to go into these swamps once again.

But the forest, encircling the territory of Odiern from the southeast, to her great regret, gradually gave way to a smaller shrub, and the hard shore disappeared from view.

Their boat went to the most dangerous part of the journey from Odiern to Stais. The path was devoid of all sorts of landmarks, and they passed a chaotically overgrown shrub.

Such a path is considered quite common in the rest of the Valley.

Here and there, there were shallows, but the boats built in the river valley had a little draft so that they could pass the most challenging part without incident.

The sun was setting, and young travellers were surrounded by the sounds of water and the oars of the boat, the quiet snoring of Gershy and the diverse inhabitants of the swamps.

In the distance, they saw lights spaced at regular intervals. It was done to make guests and tenants conjecture that they are sailing correctly. Only after hearing the welcoming voices did they realize that they had arrived at Stais.