“What’s that?”
“One that means ‘I’ve got somebody dangerous with me, but I need you to come to me anyway.’”
“I would never give you a signal like that.”
“But you might. So whistle that one for me.”
“I’ll never need it.”
“Then you’ll never use it, but let’s have it anyway!”
Loaf glowered and whistled again, a very different sound. “I’m the experienced one, but you think you can give the orders.”
“You’re the big man, and I’m the little kid. I never have the option of fighting my way out of a situation. So I think of all the options I might need. That’s just how it is when you’re small.”
“I was a kid once, too,” said Loaf.
“And I bet you were bigger than kids two years older than you.”
Loaf said nothing.
“When you don’t answer, that means I’m right.”
“Shut up,” said Loaf. “I think I caught a glimpse of the tower.”
“What tower?” asked Umbo.
“The Tower of O,” growled Loaf. “Are you that stupid?”
“I was thinking of other things,” said Umbo. “I was thinking of how to go back in time.”
“You were thinking of how smart you are, telling me ‘I’m right,’ and then you proved you aren’t very smart after all, and don’t bother arguing because we both know I’m stuck with the dumb kid while the smart kid is a prisoner on that boat.”
That stung Umbo—worse than his father beating him. And even though Loaf cuffed him playfully and told him, “Come on, you know I was teasing you,” it didn’t change the fact that they both knew it was true. But it wasn’t about being smart. It was about the things Wandering Man had taught them. Umbo had gotten a little training and that was all. Just enough to help Rigg. But Rigg had been trained for anything. He had been trained to be a son of the royal house—because that was what he really was.
If Wandering Man had trained me the same way, I’d be smart, too.
Wouldn’t I?
Despite all the signals, Loaf ended up not using any of them. That’s because Umbo disobeyed him, didn’t stay where he was told, but instead followed him and, not far from the tower, climbed a tree. He could see now where Loaf dug to get the bag of jewels, and could see that nobody was following Loaf as he threaded his way back into the woods. So Umbo ran back toward their meeting place, climbed another tree, and dropped from a lower branch right in front of Loaf. He submitted cheerfully to the do-what-I-tell-you-or-you’ll-get-us-both-killed lecture.
When Loaf was finally through grumping at him, Umbo asked, “Did you get it? All of it?”
“Unless somebody found the bag, took out just one jewel, and put the rest back, yes, I found it all.”
“Well, let’s see it. Let’s count,” said Umbo. “Because now I think there really is one missing.”
They counted. And counted again.
“I can’t believe it,” said Loaf. “How could one be gone?”
“The biggest one, too,” said Umbo.
“How did you know?”
“I didn’t know,” said Umbo. “I just thought maybe.”
“It makes no sense at all,” said Loaf savagely. “Nobody would steal just one.”