So taking the village was our top priority.

Before our lads attacked, though, we needed intelligence: how many braves were defending it? How good was the stockade – any weak points? What about the gate – could a direct assault break through?

And guess who was selected to find out? Me. Seer. It’s always the shaman’s job to pull the chestnuts out of the fire.

I set my girls out to check the outer perimeter, trace paths and find useful viewpoints, while I slithered down through the bushes past the village and began to work my way back up along the river on the opposite bank to the village. The fact that I could do that showed how sloppy the defenders were; any cover in slingshot of the village should have been burnt off, and kept burnt; that was itself something worth reporting. The gate at the south end of the village looked even stronger than the one on our side, but again, it didn’t look in perfect repair. The river wasn’t more than waist deep, but the banks were very soft and slimy, and hard to cross without slipping or getting stuck in clagging mud – potentially a real barrier.

I worked further north, back towards us. Ah – now that’s interesting. I wriggled closer, as close as I dared to the river while staying in cover. A jetty had been built out across the stream, its tip dipping into the water almost at my nose; and at its root there was a break in the stockade. A gap three or four poles wide, completely unstrengthened or defended – it was just as if some poles had fallen out of the stockade and the gap just left! These folk knew nothing of war!

A group of women were standing chatting on the jetty carrying full waterbags and waterjars. I waited in cover, and soon they drifted into the village through the gap. I wondered what to do: this gap was obviously important, and the boys would need to know about it; but should I go on round the stockade, or try to slip into the village? There were a couple of spare waterjars lying around, and no one ever looks at a girl carrying water; almost certainly I could get away with it.

I worked closer, thinking it through, but then another woman came out to the tip of the jetty and began filling a jar. I thought I was hidden and silent – apparently not.

“Come out of there!” she exclaimed suddenly. “Patch – is it you? To your basket – bad dog!”

I’d got blotches of mud all over my skin from the mud alongside the river; she must have glimpsed a bit of me. No use just lying quiet – could I bluff my way? I wondered how far she’d bought into the local stories…

“I’m not a dog,” I crooned. “I like dogs, though. Delicious, dogs are.”

“So? So who are you, then? What’re you doing here?”

“I’m just here for a drink. It’s been months since I had a good drink of manblood, and Kilger says – you know Kilger, of course? Kilger said there’s likely to be a battle somewhere along here soon. I wouldn’t miss a chance like that.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Then come out where I can see you!”

“I’d love to,” I said, “but that’d mean shape changing, and I find shape changing so tiring. Do you find it tiring too?”

She laughed – in a way that was bad news. “Nice try, nice try,” she said through the laugh. Then she glanced sharply around. “Look,” she went on, her voice lower. “You’re a spy, aren’t you, from the enemy – what do you call yourselves – the Caswy, is that right? You’re a spy for them, aren’t you?”

I’d given it my best shot, and there really was no point in pretending – especially as her attitude suggested that all was not lost, yet. A good tribewoman would’ve run into the village and raised the alarm; she was crouching down to talk. So I compromised: I kept silent.

“Fine – that’s a yes.” She bent even lower. “How about – I live in the village; I know everything about it; if you agree to take me into your Tribe I’ll tell you everything you need to know.”

That was unexpected. I needed time to think it through, so I sidestepped.

“Take you into the Tribe? That’s asking a lot. Straight from enemy to Tentwoman!”

“No, no, I couldn’t expect that. Just as a servant – an outsider. I’m a good worker – my man says it’s the only reason he keeps me. I can do a lot around your camps. Just give me a bit of food, a dry corner to sleep, and safety from this lot.”

“And a man to hold you?”

“No. No man – not unless I choose. That’s why I hate this village – I told them I didn’t want a man, but they just picked one to give me to with no say from me, and I’ve hated him for ten years. That’s why I’ve made sure I never had a kid by him. No man.”

Did I trust her? No. Did I have the authority to agree to terms? No. Did I think the others would accept her terms? No – traitor to one, traitor to all, that’s what they’d think. On the other hand, this was too good an opportunity to pass up.

I needed time.

“There’s no way I can get you out of here in broad daylight in full view of the village,” I said.

She nodded. “I can get out late, though. Around midnight. The man’s still got half a skin from the party – he’ll be far too drunk to know I’m gone.”

“Ye-e-es. Yes, all right. Look, there’s a clearing about fifty paces north of the north gate, just past where the path bends to the ford – it’s got two ash trees from a single root growing right at the northern tip.”

“Masimlad. It’s where the village lads play their games. Yes, I can get there.”

“Good. About midnight. And tell no one about it – not a word – not a hint to anyone. Understand?”

“Can I bring – er – a few things out with me?”

“As long as they don’t involve explaining why! I mean it, not a word about this to anyone at all.”

“Yes. Not a word.”

“Promise? If you let this out you’ll be in big trouble.”

“Promise. Not a word about this to anyone. Midnight, about, in Masimlad. You’re wonderful!”

Well, I knew that already. And I’d got her to agree without actually promising her anything. A win, I reckoned.

I had ample time to get back to our camp, tell the lads what I’d seen, and tell them about our snitch. They were as dubious as me.

“Be careful,” they said. “There might be braves in the bushes ready to ambush you.”

“Oh I will,” I smiled. “I don’t want to be a hostage, and make you have to buy me back.”

“Pay them to keep you, you mean.”

Loftily ignoring that last remark, I got some things together and left for the clearing. I timed it exactly right; it was just full dark when I got there. I checked around and found no sign of anything suspicious, so I set things up, found a convenient tree and settled down for a three hour wait. I was undisturbed – no ambushing braves, no scared deer, not even a sniffing fox. Quite disappointing. As was the steady drizzle.