Jacob’s itinerary consisted of one thing; get out of the
city and into the countryside. He couldn’t fathom what would happen to him if
he failed his mission to escape the city. With a little guile, Jacob knew that he
could sneak past the Emperor’s obnoxious troops that guarded all the entrances and exits
to the city. It helped that he had learned how to read and write as one of his
former duties as a servant and now could easily plagiarize Imperial documents
and orders. It also helped that most of the guards couldn’t read, so there was
no way for them to prove his papers disreputable. Jacob knew that a little
pretext and a little placation of the guards would be a potent combination and
he knew that he could pull his mission off. Jacob would have to remain placid and put on the façade of a simple farmer, endemic to the countryside. He decided that the following morning
he would put his plan into action and stake his very freedom on escaping the
city.
