Piak

Piak is Tiuri’s friend and determined companion on the dangerous delivery mission to King Unauwen. He is not merely a follower: his quick reading of danger in Dangria, his willingness to put himself in the mayor’s hands, and his continued loyalty after their temporary separation make him an active partner in Tiuri’s task.

Identity and Commitment

When Tiuri tries to refuse Piak’s offer to accompany him, Piak recognizes the unspoken concern: the journey is dangerous. He knows about the Red Riders and Slupor, the spy, but argues that danger is no reason to leave Tiuri alone. Two travelers can watch out for one another, he reasons, and he promises to keep pace. His offer is specific: he will serve as Tiuri’s squire and obey him. Tiuri still considers the danger a sufficient reason to refuse, but Piak’s insistence establishes the terms of their partnership—service freely chosen, not imposed.

Piak’s loyalty is practical as well as affectionate. He does not claim that the road is safe or that he can remove its risks; instead, he accepts that Tiuri must travel quickly and offers to do the same. His readiness to follow persists even when the mission brings them into immediate danger. The repeated question between them is not whether Piak cares about Tiuri, but whether Tiuri will let that care expose his friend to peril.

Reading the Trap in Dangria

At the mayor’s town hall, Piak notices clues before he understands their meaning. A shield at the back of the hall is as red as blood. He remembers Tiuri telling him that the knights of Eviellan carry red shields, but initially allows that the resemblance may be coincidence. Near an open door, however, he overhears men discussing the need to surround the town hall. He catches only part of their conversation: they are looking for a young man between fourteen and eighteen, from the east and over the mountains, who must not be allowed to escape. The description makes the danger personal and immediate.

Piak acts without waiting to learn the whole plan. As armed men gather around Tiuri and the mayor’s welcoming expression gives way to hostility, Piak calls out that he has Tiuri and will deliver him. He then throws open the outside door and runs. His claim makes him appear to be cooperating with the mayor, while his sudden flight turns the moment into an opportunity to get out of the hall. Later he explains that he did not know from the beginning that the mayor’s hospitality was a trap: he pieced together the warning from the red shield and the overheard conversation, then decided not to trust what he had seen.

Afterward, Piak is modest about his judgment, brushing off Tiuri’s question about how he recognized the danger. He also has little sympathy for the mayor once Doalwen reports that the mayor tried to flee and was caught. Piak remarks that the man deserved a worse confinement than his own fine house on the square. The response shows his blunt humor, but also his clear sense that the mayor’s courteous manner concealed a threat.

A Shared Mission Under Pressure

The danger continues beyond the escape from Dangria. When Tiuri and Piak learn that the mayor’s clerk—the messenger sent from Dangria to King Unauwen—has been murdered, Piak quietly recognizes what the news means. He wonders whether the killer might still be nearby. The discovery gives their journey a sharper urgency: the message’s route has already cost a life, and the person responsible may remain close.

At another point, Tiuri asks whether Piak can remember something important and lowers his voice before whispering a few words in his ear. The exchange places Piak inside the careful handling of the mission’s information. When the two later face the question of how to proceed, Piak offers his view without taking the decision away from Tiuri: paying with the ring seems safer to him than swimming, but Tiuri must decide. His counsel is cautious and concrete, shaped by the immediate choice before them.

The possibility of separating brings their differing instincts into focus. When Tiuri says he will ride on alone, Piak immediately objects and offers to go with him. Tiuri insists that they must not remain together because they need to divide their chances. The separation is therefore a tactical decision made against Piak’s preference, not a loss of loyalty or a quarrel between them. Piak’s willingness to continue beside Tiuri remains clear even as Tiuri chooses the riskier arrangement for each of them.

The Mission’s Cost and Piak’s Contribution

After the Dangria escape, Doalwen tells them that Iruwen had helped by telling Lord Dirwin they had already gone to the town hall. Iruwen later spoke at length with Lord Dirwin to persuade him that the boys were in the right. By the time their flight was discovered, the morning was already half over. The mayor himself tried to escape but was caught and placed under guard in his own house. Piak and Tiuri decline Doalwen’s invitation to return to Dangria, choosing instead to continue on their own way.

The murdered clerk’s horse becomes part of the pursuit that follows. Warmin reports that a shepherd took the murderer’s horse, slowing him and limiting how far he could flee; four armed men have gone with the shepherd to pursue him. Tiuri recognizes the fugitive as Slupor and concludes that, with Slupor on foot and pursued from several directions, he and Piak may no longer need an escort. Piak is among the friends who agree with that assessment. The episode does not erase the danger they have faced; it changes their immediate calculation, as Slupor’s lost horse gives them a lead they must preserve.

When Tiuri reaches King Unauwen and completes the delivery, he asks the king to thank Piak too, insisting that his friend has done as much as he has and that the king would never have heard the message without him. The recognition matters because it names Piak’s contribution as part of the mission’s success, rather than treating him as a passenger in Tiuri’s story. The king responds by calling for the other boy to be brought in.

Separation, Return, and Narrative Role

Before their final parting, Tiuri is saddened by the thought of missing Piak and wonders whether Menaures was right that people must keep saying goodbye. He pretends to sleep when Piak returns and lies down, but stays awake, already resolved about what to say the next morning. The scene makes separation an emotional as well as practical question: Tiuri is prepared to let his friend choose where he belongs, even while anticipating the loss of their companionship.

Piak later changes his mind. Finding Tiuri again, he admits that he would rather be his squire after all. Tiuri answers by naming more than one role for him: friend, traveling companion, guide, and perhaps one day a knight of the king. Piak rejects the larger possibility as too much and narrows his wish to friendship and service as a squire. The exchange preserves his modesty without diminishing his importance. His value to the journey does not depend on a title or prediction of future knighthood.

The story closes this part of Piak’s relationship with Tiuri in motion rather than at a ceremony or permanent settlement. Piak walks beside Tiuri, while Tiuri leads Ardanwen by the reins, and the two head east toward the City of Dagonaut, leaving open what work lies ahead. Piak’s arc is defined by that renewed choice to accompany Tiuri: he begins by asking to share the danger, acts independently when their lives are threatened, accepts a temporary separation, and then returns to the road as Tiuri’s friend and squire.