Scores of the mounted warriors filed out of the trees, and the Knight of Alcea knew that his call to surrender without a fight had been wise, but the leader's statement about spies troubled him. Alcea executed spies, and he presumed the same would be true for the horse countries. Karl figured he would at least get a chance to speak to someone in authority before they were hung, and he started going over in his mind the statements that he would make. "This doesn't look good to me," Clint whispered as the wagon started moving. "If they think we are spies, we will be killed." "I know," Karl whispered back. "The trick will be convincing them that we are not spies. Not only will the truth be unbelievable to them, but I am not sure that they will buy the idea that we are merchant warriors from Tyronia. We don't know enough about Tyronia to fake it very well." "The name of Sidney Mercado might be well known enough to cause them some hesitation," suggested Shawn. "I doubt that Sidney Mercado has been in the horse countries in over twenty years," Karl replied.
