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Show 31 you, Geist," they called out together. "Are you going to see the piper? Tell him we send our...our...." They were not very good with words. "Our f..fealty," Dietrich stammered, and Damien echoed, "Yes, our fealty. That means loyal service, doesn't it?" They waved to me as I hurried out of their sight. I was afraid that they were only pretending to be friendly, and would begin to pound on me if they caught me, the way they usually did. The church bell had already rung Tierce to announce midmorning prayers. Gast was supposed to meet with the council at ten o'clock, which was less than an hour away. He was standing under the bridge arch, so I couldn't see him until I had scrambled down the bank. Vfhen I caught sight of him, I gasped. The clothes he had worn when he arrived in Hamelin had been the color of earth - the cloak like fields after the first plowing, his coat hued like the trampled ground around the city walls, his hosen the color of baked clay. Now he was dressed in splendid color. He wasn't wearing his cloak, and the sleeves of his shirt showed gold as grain. His sleeveless coat was a deep, blood-like red, his hosen as green as the moss along the riverbank. His sooty hair was no longer tied with a thong, but spread out heavy and full around his shoulders. On his head was a round green cap. Where did he get such clothes, I wondered, but I was too bewildered to ask. He hadn't carried any bundle with him when he first came into the bakery, but maybe he had left it under the bridge. Then a suspicion |