"Help me get this woman's clothes off," said Daphnis, undoing the buttons of her tunic.

  She watched her brother carefully as he did so. Geirrod might have been two years older than her, but Daphnis had taken over the role of 'older sibling' before she'd began shedding her first woman's blood. She knew she was considered bossy by the other members of her tribe, but Geirrod needed someone to look out for him. He was far too friendly and easygoing, and now she was seeing how soft it had made him. It spoke well of him that he'd found the nerve to enter the bandit camp to rescue her, but he needed a little push to make him go the rest of the way.

  The woman, Phoebe, was a little larger than her, but her clothes were still a better fit than the man's clothes that Skoll has given her to wear. Also, they were in the Bandit style, which would serve as a disguise in the gloomy lamplight of the night. Phoebe, an older woman, had shorter hair than Daphnis, so Daphnis tucked her long, sandy locks inside Phoebe's tunic as she put it on. "How do I look?" she asked as she adjusted her new clothing and did up the last straps and buckles.

  "Like my sister with her hair tucked away," said Geirrod, examining her critically. "But out there you might get away with it."

  She nodded. "Let's get her tied up and gagged in case she wakes up early," she said, taking the belt from her old clothes and pulling Phoebe's hands behind her back.

  They worked quickly in case someone came to the tent and disturbed them. Daphnis felt a twinge of guilt as she pulled the leather strap tight, remembering what it felt like to be restrained in this way, but then she remembered that this woman was an accomplice in her imprisonment and the planned murder of Tarvos and Fornjot, and she pulled the straps tighter with savage delight. See how you like it, she thought. But then, Phoebe already knew what it was like, she remembered, having been stolen from her tribe when she'd been far younger than Daphnis was now. She began to feel a twinge of sympathy, but pushed it away angrily.

  When they'd finished she looked down at Phoebe with satisfaction. "You ready," she asked.

  Geirrod swallowed nervously, but then he nodded.

  "Okay," said Daphnis. "They're being held by the side of the river, so we'll go back to the water and swim there. Cut them free without waking up the guards. Then we slip back into the river and swim away. We'll be gone before the guards wake up."

  "There's river beasts in the water," Geirrod reminded her.

  "You got past them once. We'll do it again. You ready?"

  "As I'll ever be."

  "Then let's go."

  They went to the tent flap and peeped out, but saw nothing. Daphnis then strode out confidently, trying to give the appearance of a woman of the tribe who belonged there and had every right to go for a walk if she wanted. Geirrod followed, radiating fear that she could feel even without looking back at him. She led him around the back of the tent, where they would be out if sight of any bandit that might venture out wanting to answer a call of nature, and made their way to the water's edge.

  There was a line of razortooths lazing at the edge of the water, their hind legs under the gently rippling surface and their heads resting on the damp mud. They weren't much of a danger to anyone on land, she knew, or the bandits would never rave made their camp so close to them, but once they were in the water it would be another matter. A moment of doubt came over her. The creatures were huge, twice the length of a man, and had long teeth that glinted a dirty white in the light of the oil lamps. Geirrod had made it past them, though. Besides, what was the alternative? Even if they gave up on rescuing Tarvos and Fornjot, the only way out of the camp was in the water. Gathering her courage, therefore, she stepped carefully into the river.

  Her moccasined foot sank deep into the soft mud. She stepped out further and further until the water was deep enough for her to lie down in it. Beside her, Geirrod did the same. The razortooths ignored them. With slow motions of their arms and legs the two humans swam out away from the shore and then downriver, towards where the captives were being held. As they drew close, she raised her head a little and saw the three captives sitting with their backs to her, Skoll a short distance away from the other two. Beside them, the four guards were silhouetted against the light from the oil lamps. She looked back, checking that Geirrod was still close behind her, and swam carefully towards the shore.

  She was just a couple of lengths away from the edge of the water when Skoll stirred, stretching his neck and twisting his bound wrists. Daphnis froze in terror. He was awake! He would be sure to raise the alarm the moment she left the water. What was she going to do now?

  She waited, to see if he would go to sleep. She turned half-upright so that her feet touched the river bed, to keep the current from pushing her away, and beside her Geirrod did the same. She felt his hand on her shoulder.

  "I could creep up," he whispered in her ear. "Knock him out."

  "The guards would hear you," she whispered back. "Wait. We've got hours until dawn. He'll go back to sleep."

  Would he, though? What if he didn't? And even if he did, how could they tell? How could they tell that the bandits guarding them were really asleep? The Six Tribes had serious punishments for men who fell asleep on guard duty. Why should bandits be any different? If even one of them was still awake, they would be captured the moment they stepped ashore. Geirrod was right, she knew. It was easy for her to take the risk because they wouldn't kill her, but her brother would be tortured to death, maybe over several days. What right did she have to risk his life like that? Maybe he was right. Maybe they should just slip out of the camp and escape while they had the chance...

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  A disturbance from back the way they'd come snapped her out of her thoughts. There were noises coming from the tent in which they'd left Phoebe. She must have woken up and was struggling against her bonds. As she watched in dismay, one of the perimeter guards ran over to investigate. In mere moments the whole camp would be awake and all hope would be lost. They would be caught even if they struck out towards the other side of the river right away.

  With nothing to lose, therefore, she gave Geirrod a slap on the shoulder to get his attention and pointed to the prisoners. "No," he mouthed back at her. She ignored him and used her feet on the river bed to push herself towards the river bank. Her sudden movement alarmed a razortooth, which opened its jaws wide to hiss at her. She pushed past it and ran up onto dry land.

  The four guards watching the prisoners had been woken up by the disturbance, but their attention was on the tent the perimeter guard was running towards. The three prisoners were also staring in that direction. Daphnis and Geirrod were able to reach Tarvos and Fornjot without being noticed. Geirrod drew his knife, grabbed Tarvos's arm with one hand and with the other he pushed the blade between Tarvos's wrists and began sawing back and forth. Tarvos gave a start of surprise, but he clearly knew immediately what was happening and froze as Geirrod continued to cut.

  Daphnis didn't have a knife, and so she tried to undo the knot in the cord tying Fornjot's wrists. She and her brother kept their bodies low as they worked, trying to hide behind the bodies of the prisoners. From Phoebe's tent they heard the perimeter guard shouting. "The girl has escaped! The girl has escaped!"

  Daphnis saw two of the bandits guarding the prisoners glance at each other in amusement. "Phoebe was always too easy on them," one of them said. "I always said they should be whipped the moment they get here. Beat the defiance out of them."

  "We want them to want to stay," the other bandit replied.

  "If they're too scared to run away it amounts to the same thing."

  Beside her she heard Tarvos's bonds giving way, and then Tarvos gasped in relief as he pulled the cords out of the deep grooves they'd left in his skin. Skoll saw and yelled a warning, but Tarvos was already jumping to his feet and launching himself at the guard closest to him. The guard reached for his spear, but Tarvos was already on him, pulling the knife from the guard's belt and plunging it into his chest.

  Geirrod threw himself at another guard, but the guard caught his wrist as he brought the knife down towards his body. He gave Geirrod's wrist a savage twist, making him drop the knife, and then he threw Geirrod aside, making him fall heavily to the ground. The guard pulled his own knife and threw himself at Geirrod, and then it was Geirrod desperately grabbing the man's wrist to keep the blade away from his throat. Tarvos managed to spare him a glance, but there was nothing he could do as the other two guards came at him together.

  .Daphnis snatched up the knife Geirrod had dropped and used it to cut Fornjot free. He jumped up, pulled the guard away from Geirrod and punched him hard in the face. The guard dropped senseless and Fornjot took the knife from his fingers. Geirrod grabbed his knife back from Daphnis and the three of them ran to help Tarvos fight the remaining two guards.

  The sounds of the fighting had woken the whole camp, though, and bandits came running out of their tents with spears in their hands. The two guards grinned and drew back, waiting for reinforcements before continuing the fight. Daphnis looked around and saw twenty bandits closing on them from every direction, all armed with spears against the three knives held by the Six-Tribesmen. It would be a short battle.

  "They're dead already," said Skoll, still tied up beside them. "And then you'll be my wife again. I'll make sure I get you. No matter what I have to do, no matter who I have to fight..."

  Daphnis grabbed an oil lamp, hanging from a pole beside her, and threw it at him. It shattered, spilling burning oil over him. He screamed and rolled over and over until he reached the water, into which he threw himself to put out the fire. "I'll teach you!" he screamed. "I'll get you for that! You'll see! I'll teach you!"

  "Into the river!" Daphnis screamed. "Quick!"

  "I ain't getting eaten by no beast," said Tarvos, though. "I'd rather die fighting, like a man."

  "Into the river!" Daphnis screamed at him. She grabbed Geirrod and pulled her with him, towards the water. Her brother stared at the razortooths, but then he snapped his head around to stare at the approaching bandits. He hesitated for a moment, then turned and followed her. Tarvos and Fornjot watched in amazement as they ran into the water. Then they followed in turn.

  Daphnis kicked a razortooth in the head as she passed it. It lunged at her and she dodged nimbly out of the way of its whipping head. Then she was in the water. She dove in and swam furiously, not bothering to check to see if the men were with her. She heard the razortooth slithering into the water behind her and knew she was dead. The creature was twice her size and much faster and more agile in the water. It would seize her in its jaws and drag her down to the bottom of the water, where it would wait for her to drown.

  Except that the bandits were following them into the water, enraged by the violation of their camp. The water was frothed up by their stampeding feet and the razortooth spun around in confusion. Its eyes were small, Daphnis noticed. Maybe it hunted by homing in on disturbances in the water rather than with vision. That would explain how she and Geirrod had gotten by them twice without being atracked.

  Now, though, there was more disturbance in the water behind it than ahead and the creature turned to attack the bandits. More razortooths did the same, sliding into the water to join the feast. Bandits screamed as jaws closed on their legs, and voices were shouting for them to get out of the water. "Let the river beasts have them," someone said. "No sense getting eaten ourselves."

  Tarvos and Fornjot were swimming as fast as they could, desperate to get to the other side of the river, and razortooths were turning towards them, their huge, leathery bodies slipping gracefully through the water with scarcely a ripple. "Swim slowly," said Daphnis. "Stay calm and don't disturb the water."

  "Swim slow and easy," added Geirrod, having also guessed what his sister had seen. "They might not attack if we stay calm."

  "Might not?" said Tarvos.

  "Not if there's a greater disturbance in the water somewhere else," Daphnis said. "So swim slow. Slow and easy."

  They did so, but the bandits were out of the river now and the water was settling again. Rocks began to fly as bandits used their slings, but the Six-Tribesmen were hidden in the darkness and they flew wide. Daphnis heard one hitting the water a few inches from her head. The splash made a razortooth turn its head towards her. She froze until it lost interest and turned away.

  "The beasts won't attack if you don't disturb the water," she heard a bandit saying. "Go in slowly. Follow them to the far bank."

  Daphnis reached out to grab Tarvos's foot, yanking on it to get his attention. "Let yourself float," she said. "Let the river carry us downstream. They won't know where we got out."

  "There's more than just razortooths in this water," Tarvos pointed out. "Creatures that hunt by scent."

  "It's the bandits we need to worry about right now," she reminded him.

  "Right," He reached out to Fornjot, who was forging ahead across the water, and repeated the advice to him, and then the four of them were floating, still and silent, as the river carried them further from the bandit camp.