Eglantine returned to chaos that even she doubted could be made aright.
She could not believe that her camp could be cast in such disarray, but her eyes did not deceive. The entire household scurried like frenzied ants, tents lay collapsed and wagons were spilled. Palfreys and goats wandered untethered through the melée, even the hens had been loosed from their temporary pen. She strode through the disorder, quickly determined that no one was injured, and noted the tent pegs pulled from the ground.
Then she was shown not one, not two, but a dozen guy lines cleanly cut almost through. The last cord in each had snapped, no doubt by the weight of the tents in question shifting, but would never have broken without the initial cut.
And Eglantine knew instinctively who was responsible. Her ga
