"Maybe it's a comfort thing: look at our jail, the worst thing in it is an unruly sheep." Records can be altered or inconsistently kept, but nothing he's read mentions ruling on crimes among the villagers, and nature is the leading cause of death.

Crouching down with him, he edges back toward the animal's leg, refusing to hide behind the boy--even if he can speak to them. "Can you ask the one to let us untangle the wire? I'm sure it hurts, but it won't do any good trailing like that."

It seems a recent enough problem, if the stakes were neglected or the ground wet enough to pull free, and at his vantage he can see blood sticking to the dense fur.