Suttungr stared around at the chaos that his camp had become. "What in the name of the First Fathers..."

  "The new girl escaped," one of the braver bandits told him. "She freed the prisoners."

  "They went into the river," another man added. "Most of our men swam across. They're searching for their trail on the other side." He nodded towards the other side of the river where the glow of oil lamps could be seen bobbing around in the darkness.

  "You said the river couldn't be crossed," said the Chief furiously. "You said the river beasts would kill anyone who tried."

  "It seems we were wrong," the bandit replied, facing up to him. "The beasts will not bother someone who creeps past slowly, it seems."

  "And why didn't we know this before?"

  "This is the first time we've camped here since the long summer started," the man replied, still refusing to be cowed by the Chief's fury. "It seems the heat has made them change their habits."

  "Our ancestors who lived here at the beginning of the last long summer, more than a hundred years ago, failed to pass on this knowledge to their descendants," another man added. "It was their fault, not ours."

  "I don't care whose fault it was," said Suttungr furiously. "Our whole tribe was shamed by this. If they make it back to their tribe, they will tell the story and they will laugh at us. The Hammerhorn tribe will be a laughing stock to everyone between the mountains and the sea. I want them caught!"

  "I will help you," said Skoll. He was still tied up, but he struggled to his knees to speak. "I also have a score to settle with them."

  "Kill him," said Suttungr impatiently. A bandit drew his knife and walked towards him.

  "Look what she did to me," said Skoll. He turned his head to show them his blistered face and the shrivelled remains of his hair across half his scalp. "I want her! I want to get her back for this!"

  The bandit with the knife paused and looked back at the Chief. "The others left him behind," another man pointed out. "And the girl tried to kill him. You can't think he's still secretly loyal to them."

  "I think he's a groth who's eaten locoweed," the Chief replied. "Who knows what he'll do in his madness."

  "Free me and I swear that I will not stop until I've killed all four of them," Skoll told him. "Even if I have to follow them all the way to Zol."

  Suttungr examined him thoughtfully. "Maybe I can use you," he said. "If only I could trust you. Tell me, do you of the Six Tribes hold an oath made to the First Fathers to be sacred?"

  "We do," Skoll replied. "And if you free me and set me to hunt them down, then I swear in the name of the First Fathers that I will be true and loyal to your tribe."

  The Chief frowned, though. "New warriors do not normally set conditions on their oath," he said.

  "Will you have me or not? If not, kill me now."

  Suttungr glared at him, but then he nodded. "Very well," he said. "I accept your oath." He turned to the bandit with the knife. "Free him."

  The bandit with the knife went behind Skoll and cut his hands and feet free. Skoll rose to his feet, fingering the burns to his face. "Someone give me a knife, a sling and a spear," he said. "Then get out of my way."

  "My men haven't found their trail yet," Suttungr nodded to the men standing beside him to get him the things he'd asked for.

  "They're looking on the wrong side of the river," Skoll told him. "They want to go back to Gunnlod village. They'll be on this side, heading back to the Spine. And since we know where they're going, we don't need to find their trail. All we need is to get there first and wait to ambush them. I'm not waiting for dawn, I'm going now. Anyone want to come with me?"

  "It is you who will be coming with me," said Suttungr, though. "I will lead the hunt. You will use your knowledge of those lands to advise me, and if you do anything I don't like I will kill you."

  Skoll bowed his head. "You are the Chief," he said.

  Suttungr nodded with satisfaction. "You four come with us," he said. "The rest of you, stay and guard the camp. The First Fathers forbid that our enemies choose tonight to attack."

  Skoll wasn't waiting, though, and as soon as he had the equipment he'd asked for he set off towards the trees at a brisk trot. Suttungr and the other bandits hurried to catch up with him.

  ☆☆☆

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  As the Six-Tribesmen swam further from the bandit camp, the razortooths grew scarcer but other river beasts took their place. Spearfish and venom worms whose poisonous bites could kill a man in minutes. Tarvos gave a start when he felt something brushing against his leg and, since the lights of the bandit camp were out of sight behind them, he decided they'd pushed their luck far enough. He swam for the riverbank, therefore, and crawled out into the thick reeds that scratched at his hands and face as he rose carefully to his feet.

  "Where are you?" he asked into the darkness. "Are you there?"

  "I'm here," said Geirrod. "That you, Daff?"

  "I'm here," Daphnis confirmed. "Me too," said Fornjot.

  "Geirrod, come here," said Tarvos, reaching out with his hands.

  "I can't see you."

  "Follow my voice."

  Geirrod did so, reaching out with his hands until his questing fingers met those of Tarvos. Tarvos grabbed his hand and pulled him in for a tight hug. "Gyre! You glorious wonder! You saved us!"

  "Well it was mainly..."

  "You sneaked into a bandit camp," Tarvos added. "All alone, and you freed your sister and two prisoners. What you did was legendary! They'll be telling the tale for generations to come." He tightened the hug and kissed the side of his head. "Gyre the Great!"

  "Gyre the Great," Fornjot agreed. "Who else would have dared do such a thing? Even the First Fathers themselves would be amazed by what you did."

  "It was Daffy," said Geirrod, sounding ashamed and embarrassed. "She..."

  "Shut up and accept your due praise," said Daphnis, interrupting him. "You saved me. You saved all of us." She reached out towards his voice and grabbed his arm. Tarvos let him go and Daphnis hugged him instead. "Thank you for saving us."

  "You know that I..."

  Tarvos heard the unmistakable sound of a man being kissed on the mouth and he smiled, guessing the reason for it. "You're the hero of the day, brother-of-mine," he heard Daphnis saying. "Just accept it, okay?"

  Geirrod nodded reluctantly. "Okay," he said. "If you say so."

  "I do say so. But now we'd better get a move on unless we want them to catch us again."

  "She's right," said Tarvos. "It won't be easy in the darkness. Just take it easy and don't trip over anything. If you do trip, do so silently."

  "We mustn't get separated," said Fornjot. "Everyone hold the hand of the person beside you. And try to walk silently. I think they're all on the other side of the river, but we can't be sure. Assume they're close by in the darkness, able to hear everything we say."

  Tarvos sensed the others nodding around him even though he couldn't see them. He felt Fornjot taking his hand, and he reached his other out towards the others. He felt a masculine hand taking it. Geirrod. Then Geirrod began walking, away from the river. Being led by Daphnis, of course. The dominant one. The elder sibling in temperament if not in strict chronological order.

  Tarvos smiled to himself as they walked, but then he grew serious as he remembered the danger they were all still in. There were just the four of them, out in the wilderness with only their knives and slings to defend themselves with. A single rex could gobble them up with scarcely any effort if they were unlucky enough to run into one.

  Spirits protect us, he prayed silently as they picked their slow and careful way across the floodplain. Spirits watch over us and keep us safe. And Caelus, if you do ever do favours for people, we could really do with one now.

  The star was just appearing above the Eastern horizon, bright enough to allow their night-adapted eyes to see their way towards the trees. Once they were there they would be hidden from distant eyes and relatively safe from the bandits hunting them. They hurried, therefore, and only allowed themselves to relax when the wilting, dying trees closed around them and they were brushing their way through the rapidly growing spring vegetation.

  ☆☆☆

  They decided not to go back through the Spine. They'd been ambushed there once and didn't fancy suffering the experience again. Instead they turned south to go around the highland area and return to the grasslands by way of the marshlands through which lay well mapped passages of higher, dry land.

  As they drew close, though, they found that the vast, swampy area waa hidden beneath a wide expanse of clear, blue water. "The ice on the mountains is melting," said Tarvos. "We should have expected this."

  They spent the long, hot day traversing the narrow strip of land between the floodplain and the highlands, and spent the night in a humper burrow they found in the side of a low hill. They knew it was empty because of the weeds that grew in the entrance, but they still approached warily in case something else had moved in. The interior was clean and dry, although the ceiling was too low for them to stand up inside, and they settled down to rest for a few minutes.

  "We should go get something to eat," said Fornjot. "We passed some tanglebushes a while back. There was still plenty of fruit on them, and maybe we can get a rabbuck or two."

  "I could eat a whole one all by myself," said Geirrod. He stood and bumped his head on the earthen ceiling with its tangle of roots. He cursed at it under his breath.

  As Tarvos went to follow them, though, Daphnis grabbed his arm to stop him. "Wait," she said. "Let the others hunt. I need you here."

  "You'll be safe here for the hour or so we'll be away," said Tarvos. "Start a fire for us to cook the meat on."

  "I need you here," said Daphnis, though. "Please."

  "It's okay," said Fornjot. "We'll be okay, the two of us. Come on, Gyre."

  Geirrod looked confused for a moment, but then he saw the intense look his sister was giving him and nodded. "Yeah," he said with a slight smile. "We'll be at least an hour. Maybe more."

  The two men left, untying the slings from around their necks as they went. Tarvos exited the burrow with them and climbed up onto the pile of earth the humper had dug out by the entrance. He scanned the horizon with his eyes, then scrambled down and went back inside.

  "No sign of trouble," he said. "No bandits, no wild animals. Nothing to be scared of."

  "I'm not scared," she replied, but she did look scared. She looked terrified. She turned her back on him as she struggled to find the right words. "He... Every morning and every evening, he..."

  Tarvos took her by the shoulders and gently turned her around. "He'll never touch you again so long as I live," he said. "And if we should ever come face to face again, I'll kill him."

  "We were betrothed before he took me."

  "And we still are."

  She stared up into his eyes with desperate hope. "Then you still want to..."

  "Of course I do, if you'll still have me. I want to marry you the moment we get back home."

  Tears leaked from her eyes, and her body shook as she gave a broken laugh of relief. "I don't want to wait," she said. "I want to marry you now. Right now. Right here."

  "When you've seen your twenty fifth warm season."

  "No, now. I... I can still feel him inside me. I thought it would go away but it hasn't. I want to feel you inside me, to wipe away the memory of him inside me." She stared up into his eyes. "Please. I'm begging you.'

  Tarvos took her by the shoulders again. "You don't ever have to beg me for anything," he said.