Steora Sweofthand ... you'm a straw headed fool an' no mistake. Iffen Bawde finds out, you'm goin' ter get it hot.
I dursen't seem ter be able ter help myself. See, this Oldgrove up at the brigand's camp, he says ter me 'Come with me m'lass and yer shall have a good dinner, a soft bed an' some warm clothes'.
And so, I did. He has a fine enough mare and so we both rides her, as quick as quick, through the dead fields and down ter the Bridge-town. Now I gets him ter promise that he'll bring me back ter Gyth and Bawde ... an' ...
I bin so stupid. He buys me a good leather shirt, and a robe, and soft gloves. I sees the coin he has, a bag of silver - I aint seen so much in in months. He buys me a good dinner, an' I gets hot clean water to wash me hair and all. I tells him I aint -that- sort of a lass ... an' he dursent seem ter mind that I aint giving him nothing in return. Only room he can get has a couple o' beds in it an' he is a good lad an' keeps ter his own blankets.
Then there is this noise down in the common room, an' i wakes up, he wakes up. I watches him put on his boots and get his sword and away he goes down ter take a look. Noises, voices gets louder but suddenly I aint really hearing them. In the firelight I'm seeing summat twinkling over by his bed. Affore I knows it, I'm on my feet, quiet as a cat, padding over ter it, takin' a look.
His cloak is all messed up wi' his blankets, and there like its in big woolly clouds is this glitterin' silver star. Now... now I know it be wrong ter take from a gift-giver. I knows it - really I does. but it is like I got no control over m'fingers. It looks so beautiful, and I knows I has ter get it, everything about it seems ter shout out to me... iffen there is anythin' I ever seen thusfar ter keep the Burnt Man happy... this is it.
Eorl's arse but I'm a cursed lass, just as Gyth says. I watch m'self tug it offen his cloak, stuff its glittery shiney in my leggings ... and then, the noises downstairs come a rushing back and I'm out o' the window, swinging up onto the thatch and off over the roofs as quick as quick in the dark.
Once I get the ground beneath me, I'm running. I dont care which way, but I got a great fear on me. See, this Oldgrove, I seen his fancy sword, an' I knows the chetwood lads aint fer messin' with, and I knows that helm giffer got his grim-face from some brawlin'... and the thought of what I bin doin' runs down me back like ice-water.
I got ter get rid o' this star ... got ter get it hid somewhere. I got ter go back up ter Gyth an' Bawde, iffen I goes straight ter Bree and the Burnt Man I may lose Gyth forever an' never find her again. But iffen I goes back ter the dead-city I daren't take this star wi' me...
I tells yer, plain an' true. I aint happy, really. I aint. i aint happy that summat so strawheaded comes over me, like a big hot breath. I aint happy I got ter get through the dead-fields alone an' i aint happy I got ter go diggin' in the dead -fields ter hide this star. Taint fun, any more, foolin' the stupid wealas. Taint fun havin' bone-men clacking after yer for diggin' up their jools, or bein' cursed by aelfs. An' now... I dursent dare think what'll happen iffen Oldgrove or the chetwood lads come a huntin'. Its all gone wrong. I just wanted a horse,
Iffen I give the Burnt Man this silver star, he got ter leave me be - aint he? i dursent want any more o' this. Truly, but I dursnt know iffen he will ever let me stop.
