Thaaat is definitely what you'd ask if you were trying to figure out what to jettison so you could fight invisibly without being detectable. Also she's not sure how she'd tell; he continues being faintly Evil. "I not know. And not want help you with that. I want leave America, no hurt anyone. I send Robert and Jenny money when I have it."

That is not... helpful, and his brain isn't working fast enough to generate ideas for what on Earth to say. 

Haley has absolutely no idea why they are talking instead of running but since they are, and she's feeling really quite upset and falling on her ass didn't help at all: "All this time I thought you were a kindly old grandpa and you're in an evil conspiracy and have an evil magic object and you can turn invisible?" 

"I wouldn't call them evil, though I can see Iomedae's point. This isn't how we'd have preferred to tell you, honestly, but - oh please don't -" 

Raoulin very rapidly opens the door and takes five steps backwards into the field. 

If she stabs all of the places he isn't then eventually she will stab the place he is!! And she is really quite angry! 

"Haley, in America they put a man to death, for lying?"

"What? No!" 

"Then why you try stab man for lying? It is not right. Angry not good reason kill a man. And the other reasons not say to kill him - If it works, and he is dead, then we have more time, but they send more men after us. A running away foster child, not send too many men if they are in the lotstrees and maybe dead anyway. A running away foster child killed a knight, they send as many men as need to have a dead girl to carry on ground back."

BUT SHE IS FULL OF THE STABBY RAGE. 

Haley collapses on the ground and bursts into tears. 

Why is there always someone else who is in charge and why can't she be a hero and why did she run all day and not bring snacks and why has everyone lied to her for years and why is Raoulin invisible and why does her tailbone still hurt from falling on her butt in humiliating fashion and why why why why why

- Iomedae's immediate assumption is that Raoulin has invisibly shot her.

She was trying to talk to him and she knew he might just be stalling until his friends arrived but - but she didn't imagine Haley dying, when his friends arrived or he decided it wasn't worth stalling longer -

"Haley!" she screams, and then it is her turn to fling herself furiously at the knight who shot a girl who was obviously no threat to him and not even an escaped slave -

Raoulin is on the verge of breaking invisibility to offer Haley an apple or maybe a cat picture when suddenly Iomedae is attacking him with a knife.

He doesn't have his sword on him, and wouldn't want to use it if he did. He briefly considers his lasso, knotted around his waist underneath his tunic, but there's no time to get that out. He tries to duck away from Iomedae and put out a foot to trip her - 

Haley looks up at the mention of her name, sees that Iomedae is providing a very useful guide to the part of the empty air that might be good to stab, leaps to her feet and lunges. 

There's a part of his brain calculating, instantly, how he wants to approach beating the two of them solo and unarmed. He can try to trip Iomedae and if that doesn't work and she goes for the stab then he can probably grab Iomedae's hand and take the knife away, he can definitely just kick Haley in the knee and that will keep her down for a while, he can try to move around them to isolate a series of one-on-one duels instead of fighting both at once -

- but that's pride talking.

There's no actual reason he needs to win this fight at all. He just automatically, unthinkingly wants to win for the sake of winning. He gains nothing from beating up two teenage girls. He only loses honour.

Sir Raoulin turns tail and flees as fast as he can. 

Iomedae is blinking in confusion and wonder at Haley. "You not - sworded. Bow sworded."

"Where did he go? Are we winning?" 

"He is out of my evil seeing. Maybe to shoot us from far, maybe to get help. We need to run. I thinked - I thinked he shooted you. Why did you -" She imitates falling over.

"Oh - I can't do absolutely anything right and all the people I most loved and respected might be evil and I can't even sacrifice myself properly and I haven't eaten and you want to go to Mexico and I would miss my cats so much and, and, and," she collapses into more sniffles.

She is fiercely ashamed to be crying. As if it weren't bad enough to be totally helpless against the magic conspiracy, and only holding Iomedae back, she also has to make Iomedae deal with her pathetic emotions. Determinedly, Haley wipes her nose five times on her sleeve, squares her shoulders, and instructs her eyes to stop leaking. (They don't listen.) 

"Haley. You are very good. You not know me, but you try keep me safe. I am glad of you. We need keep going. We can be angry, we can be sad, we need keep going. Maybe to the road, ask a car driving by to take us far from here. He will be back, with others. I need you. Now we go."

"Yes," Haley agrees fiercely. "We go now, we chase him down, we take his magic objects! Which way did he go?" 

" - no! We run away! We no can win a fight with him, we have no right to fight him! It make things worse if we do kill him! We run!"

To Ludmila:

> They both attacked me with knives

> I think it is time for the cavalry

To Nicole:

> You're going to want to find a way to keep Jenny distracted for a while. If you can hand her off to someone else, do so, I need you.

To Elynor:

> Excellency, do you have a minute to call me?