Morning broke, bright and beautiful across the mountains, the sun’s light stealing through the crags in lancing rays. It was only then that we stopped riding. I practically fell from my horse when Rex came to help me down.

“Sorry.”

“Just watch yourself,” he replied gruffly, leading me by my tether to an alcove in the rocks. “Get some sleep. We’ll be moving on soon and we can’t be waiting on you.”

“You don’t have to take me with you. You could just let me go.” Luca clearly didn’t want me there and I was still a captive, in constant danger. Homesickness rolled through me in a soul-crushing wave and I blinked back hot tears. I had no idea where home was anymore or how to get there, but in that moment, I’d have risked anything to get there.

Away from rough-handed men who despised me.

Away from the misery of being tied and tossed around like a sack of parsnips.

Away from it all.

But Rex said nothing in reply as he tied my tether tightly around the branch of a scrubby bush.

I tried to sleep, but it was hard with the fear of what might happen to me next beating at the inside of my skull.

Who were these men? Worse than the ones I’d escaped? And what might they do with me next? Taka seemed to have a conscience, but the others…I wasn’t sure.

Though I tried to shut the sound out of my mind, I could hear them talking as they sat cross-legged in a circle, and could not help listening in.

“You really think they’ll still be following us?” asked Rex. “As far as they’re concerned, this was a jail break. A pair of thieves getting away from a chain gang.”

“A pair of thieves with friends who could fight off every guard in the camp,” pointed out Luca. “That’s suspicious.”

“Luca is right,” nodded Taka.

“And when they start wondering about that,” Kai went on, “then they’ll start wondering what was special about those two prisoners. If they’re smart, then it won’t take them long to find out that they had General Hob Soro on their chain gang, and didn’t even know it. As long as we’re still in their territory, then they’ll keep coming for us.”

“Which is what we want them to do,” added Taka.

“Why?” asked Rex, his voice a deep rumble.

“Because if they’re following us, then they’re not following the general,” explained Taka. “They don’t know we’ve split up. For the next few days, we’ll leave a nice clear path that a blind man could follow. We’ll lead them in circles and make sure the general has time to get back to Lord Krius.”

“Then we go to see his Lordship,” said Luca, pointedly.

“Oh yes,” smiled Taka. “He owes us a lot of money. And he’ll have more work for us.”

“Which means more money,” grinned Kai.

“We just need to stay out of their way for a few more days,” said Taka. “That should be more than long enough. Just hope the general hasn’t gotten himself captured again. And if he has, then one of you can be on the inside this time, I’m done with hard labor and prison rations.”

There was a smattering of laughter.

“What about her?” Of course, that was Luca. I shut my eyes tightly, pretending to be asleep.

“What about her?”

“She’s a liability.”

“Not if we keep an eye on her. It’s only for a few days.”

Luca scoffed. “Maybe these two buy that, but not me. You keep saying we only have to keep hold of her till we’re out of Lord Vulpus’s land but, then what? What’s to stop her going back and telling them who we are?”

“So what?” asked Rex. “They’re not going to risk going into enemy territory to pick up a few mercenaries.”

“They’re not going to hire them either, though,” said Kai, starting to see Luca’s point.

“Exactly,” snarled Luca. “See the big picture, Rex. We work for the highest bidder. Unless you want to join one of these damn armies – sign your name on the dotted line and swear allegiance to Lord Dead-In-A-Week. Lord Krius has work for us? Very nice, but what happens in a month when he’s killed in battle? What happens when Lord Vulpus has work and we can’t take it because we didn’t have the balls to do what’s necessary? She’s just some girl.”

“That’s the point.” It was always a relief to hear Taka’s level voice – he was my captor, but also my only advocate. “She’s just a girl. We don’t do that.”

“Well, we should damn well start.”

“I said it last night, Luca, and I’ll say it again; there was a time when you wouldn’t even dream of…”

“People change.”

“Not always for the better. And they change for a reason. When she was alive…”

“Well, she’s not!” Luca’s roar could have started avalanches. “Don’t you use that as a stick to beat me with – don’t you dare.”

There was a brief pause before Taka spoke again. “Her name is Keira, by the way.”

“Why does that matter?”

“I don’t suppose it does. I just thought you should know.” He sighed. “I understand your point, Luca. But she’s got no love for Lord Vulpus, she was as much a prisoner there as anyone else. I don’t see her going back.”

“What if Vulpus takes her village?” asked Kai, less vehement than Luca, but perhaps changing sides.

“What if we all get killed tomorrow?” Taka shook his head. “You can’t live your life on ‘what ifs’. There’s money waiting for us with Lord Krius. A damn fortune. And work, too. Enough to make us another fortune. What’s the old saying? All you need to be happy in this life is money and a good fight – everything else you can fight for or pay for. Now, get an hour’s rest. I’ll keep watch.”

As the men lay down, rolling their cloaks about them to sleep, my own exhaustion finally caught up with me and I slipped into a dreamless slumber.

It seemed like only a moment later that I was shaken awake by Rex.

“Time to go.”

I was put back on my horse, my hands tied to the saddle once more, and on we rode. We travelled at a more steady pace now, as we went higher into the mountains, which was just as well as, with only an hour’s sleep to my name, I was starting to sway in the saddle. The route we took seemed designed to lose ourselves, and hopefully those following us, as well. I assumed that we were going in the opposite direction to that which Hob – the general – had taken last night, drawing the guards of Lord Vulpus – whoever that was – in the wrong direction. Seemed like a risky strategy to me but my companions clearly knew what they were doing.

As morning ticked over into afternoon, we stopped again for food and Rex made a fire.

“Is that safe?” I dared to ask. “Won’t someone see it?”

“That’s the hope,” said Kai. “Keep them coming after us, ever upward.”

“What if they catch us?”

“Then they’ll be sorry.”

We ate, but what we had apparently represented the last of our supplies. I could almost feel Luca’s angry gaze on me when he talked of ‘rations not going as far as they should’. After lunch, I was once again tied up and told to get some sleep while they discussed the food situation.

“There were rabbits further down,” commented Rex. “Think I saw a goat, too.”

Taka nodded. “We’ll go hunting.”

“We’ll go hunting,” corrected Luca. “You still haven’t slept.”

Taka shrugged his acknowledgement.

“What about her?” I heard Kai ask.

“She’s asleep. She’s tied up. She’ll be fine,” replied Taka. “The girl’s not going to run off in the middle of the mountains – we’re miles from anywhere and the Vulpus troops will be out looking for us. Besides, I think she trusts us. Or, at least, trusts us enough not to do something stupid. And I’ll be here.”

I squeezed my eyes tightly shut and listened as Luca, Kai and Rex got their things together and set off, back the way we had come, towards the greener slopes where they could hunt for food. Once I was sure they had gone, I opened my eyes a crack, peering through my eyelashes. There was Taka, just a lump under a dark cloak that rose and fell with his steady breathing. Was he asleep? He sounded asleep. I waited what felt like a very long time, listening to his rhythmic breathing and watching for any sign that he might still be awake. Cautiously, I reached out for a small stone lying near me and threw it so it rattled against the rocks. No reaction from Taka.

Now, I moved fast. Rex had tied me tightly to a nearby rock, but I had little fingers and had always been good with knots. It only took a minute or so for me to free myself. Of course, my hands were still bound together and I had no way of undoing that knot, but that was a problem that could wait until I had put some distance between me and my captors.

With frequent glances back at Taka as I went, I ran on uphill, making for the rockier areas – impassable by horse and filled with good places to hide. Everything Taka had said had been true, of course; I was in the middle of nowhere with no friends and no idea where home lay, with dangers surrounding me.

On the other hand, I was free. I might never get another chance to get away from these men and back home, and getting back home was all that mattered to me. Where was the use in being alive if I couldn’t hug my parents and tell them I was safe? If I never saw Bren and my friends again?

I clambered further into the crags, struggling to keep my balance as my bound hands made my escape a rather ungainly one. As the route became steeper, my inability to use my hands became a more serious issue and I stopped on a little plateau of bare rock to fix the problem before it became a fatal one. I had come a reasonable way now, and gone deep into the maze of gullies, boulder fields and cliffs – the men weren’t finding me any time soon.

Skirting around the cliff wall, I soon found what I was looking for; a ridge of sharp rock, worn to an edge by wind and rain. I began to work my leather bonds against it and was delighted to see the leather start to fray almost immediately.

The bonds broke and I unwound the length of leather from around my wrists, rubbing at the raw skin where they had dug in. Now, I could be on my way. I turned around and gave a startled cry at what I saw behind me.

The cave bear had probably been there awhile, snuffling around for something to eat. But my cry clearly startled it as much as it had startled me, now it reared up onto its hind legs, towering at least eight feet. Its eyes narrowed as it looked at me and it let loose a bloodcurdling roar.

I couldn’t help myself; I screamed back.

The bear snarled, dropped back onto all fours, and lumbered towards me. I had seen cave bears before in the crags near my home, but usually from a distance – they had never looked this big. The only one I had seen close up was a big male that had wandered down to take a closer look at our village. The men had gone out to drive it off and Bren and I – though we had been strictly forbidden from going out – sneaked out to watch. It had been huge, but nothing like this. It was not just tall, it was broad – heavy-set – its paws seeming to pound the ground as it came at me. Its jaws were parted and I saw jagged yellow teeth framing a red maw, its slathering tongue trailing drool as it ran. An ugly scar cut across its snout, below the small black eyes, rimmed in red that stared at me with hatred.

I knew I had to run, but I just stood there, frozen to the spot. I’d never been so afraid in all my life.

“Get back!”

As the bear seemed almost on me, a rock hit it, bouncing off its thick skull and clattering on the ground. The bear swung its massive head about and I looked in the same direction to see Taka scrambling down from the rocks. He hurled another stone, this one landing at the bear’s feet but with force enough to make it shuffle back, grunting in angered bemusement. Taka ran across the plateau towards the bear, brandishing his spear and yelling, urging the beast back, drawing its attention away from me.

Now that I was no longer in immediate danger, I found my legs were working again and started to edge back away from the animal, which showed no sign of going anywhere.

Banging the hard ground with the butt end of his spear, Taka put himself between me and the bear. “Go on. Get out of here.”

The bear growled and swatted at the spear with a paw bigger than my head. With lightning fast movements, Taka twitched his spear out of the bear’s reach and brought the wooden shaft down sharply on the back of the paw. This seemed to infuriate the bear and it swiped again, only to get the same treatment. Again it tried, and again Taka was too fast, this time following up the blow to the paw with a sharp rap on the animal’s snout. That was enough for the bear, it growled fiercely and reared up on its hind legs once more, seeming even bigger to me now as it managed to dwarf Taka. Yet, he still did not take even half a step back, determined not to show any fear. The bear roared down into Taka’s face, and received another rap on its snout in reply. The startled animal took a step back and then, seeming to decide that it was done taking shit from some insignificant human, lashed out at Taka, first one paw, then the other, claws bared.

The shaft of his spear spun in Taka’s skilled hands, blocking first one paw then the other. He dropped to one knee to avoid another slash and planted the butt of his weapon into the bear’s belly, pushing the big animal backwards. The bear roared again, in frustration as much as anything, as if Taka was a mosquito buzzing about its head. It lunged at Taka, jaws wide, but the staff of the spear caught it under the chin, shutting its mouth before shoving it back again, this time with a blow to the chest.

“Go on.” Taka urged the animal back, taking a step forward each time the bear lost ground, the spear spinning in his hands, a blur of wood and metal before the bear’s eyes, confusing it.

Without warning, the spear suddenly came out of its spin, the butt landing in quick succession on the bear’s snout, chest and hind paw, coming down hard and forcing the animal back onto all fours. It swung its head a moment, shifting weight from side to side, torn between anger and bewilderment, the latter finally winning out. With an irritated grunt, the bear wheeled about and lumbered off, glancing back at Taka with an expression on its face that seemed to say ‘what just happened?’.

Taka took another step forwards, making sure that the bear did not slow down in its tactical retreat, then, as the creature vanished off into the rocks, he stepped back again, relaxing and letting the spear rest on the ground.

“Poor thing,” he murmured.

“Poor thing?” I could barely believe what I was hearing. “How about poor me?”

“She was…”

“That was a she?”

“A female defending her cubs,” Taka clarified, taking the bear’s part the same way he had taken mine against Luca. Sucker for an underdog.

But I was in no mood. “I was just minding my own business and the damn thing attacked me. I don’t care who she’s defending. Aren’t you going to go after her?”

“Why?” When you were on the other side of this argument, then Taka’s easy responses could be quite infuriating.

“Next time it attacks someone, they might not be lucky enough to have a man with a spear come to their rescue.” I didn’t really want him to kill the poor animal, I knew that wasn’t right, I was just so angry with how casual Taka was being about the whole thing. But even when he was irritating me, I couldn’t help noticing how very handsome he was. He had turned up to save me like a white knight, and had insisted on doing so without hurting a dumb animal. How could anyone fail to be attracted to a man like that?

Taka shook his head. “Everyone wants me to kill something today. I’m not punishing the bear for protecting its young. It’s done nothing wrong. You, on the other hand.”

As he spoke, Taka’s hand snaked out to grab my wrist, holding me fast. He set his spear to one side and sat down on a convenient boulder, dragging me with him, twisting me as he did so and pulling me to lie face down across his lap.