"Two-Sun," says the boy soberly, stepping over a crudely rigged tripwire and indicating to the others that they should do the same. "We came from south of there, though. People said it was safer up north because Caesar killed anybody who tried to rob travelers in his territory. Dad saved up a whole bunch of money to pay the taxes, because people said there were a lot of those, too."

"So what happened?" asks Josepha.

"One of the Legion guys told us that we had to have twice as much money for the taxes. Then he said we didn't have to give him that much if we gave him my sister instead."