It was night again. Hellrien had lost count on how many times they had abused and defiled her during the day. She had stopped caring or reacting in any way long time ago.
Ernil had whipped her and beat her up some more, but she had not yet received any permanent physical damage. The rational part of her mind understood the reason why. Ernil had a big bunch of cutthroats under his command, and he had to throw them a bone every once in a while to keep them happy. There were a lot of them, and they all wanted to have a piece of her. And they wanted her whole. That had saved her from the fate of the poor Ranger next to her – so far.
She lied still, eyes closed, and felt a presence near her. Somebody touched her. Would it happen again? Reluctantly she opened her eyes and tried to focus her gaze on the figure crouched over her. It was the woman – Avice. The tomb-robbers took turns in rowing the boats and sometimes switched from boat to boat, and the boat Hellrien was in had been particularly popular. The other tomb-robber was sound asleep on the other side of the mid-thwart – Hellrien could hear his snoring.
Hellrien tried to raise her head. Suddenly she realized the peculiarity of the situation.
”What do you want?” she growled indifferently.
Avice closed her mouth by pressing a finger to her lips. ”I had to knock you out”, she whispered quickly. ”You didn’t see Rycroft. He’s an expert knife-thrower. He would have killed you. I can’t abide what they are doing to you… what they did to that poor bastard. It was never supposed to be like this… not like this! Maybe I did love him at first, but now… even his look makes my skin crawl! If you’d only know what I’d do to get out of… this!”
Hellrien draw in a deep breath.
”Avice”, she said quietly. ”Can you set me free?”
”Hush – not that loud! You can’t leave yet! There are too many boats, and we are too far from the shore. You could never make it. Listen… listen closely! Early in the morning we will be close to the shore. About a mile west of Men Erain. Ernil is going to kill you as soon as we’ve dropped the grapnel anchors – while the men are watching. I think he wants to… disembowel you… then tie you up with that poor man and drop you both off the boat, tied to a stone.” Her voice broke. Then she continued. ”But I don’t know what I can…”
Hellrien interrupted her suddenly.
”Avice, put your hand in my right bootleg – quickly!”
”What?”
”I have a knife hidden in there. Quickly!”
Avice did as he was told, found the knife and pulled it out.
”Try to roll me over. Cut the rope. But only halfway!”
She worked for a few moments in silence. Hellrien breathed heavily, trying to remain conscious. She felt ridiculously weak.
”Done it… it’s almost cut.”
”Good. Put the knife back where you found it. Push it all the way down. It doesn’t show, does it? Good.” Avice rolled her on her back again.
”I must go now”, Avice whispered. ”Tomorrow, Hellrien – when they drop the grapnels! Not earlier – do you hear me? You’re in too bad a shape to swim farther than that.”
Avice looked at Hellrien for a long time. ”You are not normal, you know that?” she said. ”There’s something wrong with you… like maybe missing? Or…”
”What?” Hellrien asked. Avice’s words wrenched her stomach. But Avice only shook her head.
”I don’t know. But if anyone can stop him, help me out of this mess, I would place my bets on you. You're my only chance. I can't stand another moment of this. I want out!”
Then she was away, sitting on the thwart and rowing as if nothing had happened. It was too dark for Hellrien to see anything but a dark silhouette against the starry sky. The Ranger next to her began to moan. Hellrien felt powerless, and hopelessness plagued her. Had the smell of Avice's perfume still not lingered in her nose, she would have thought she had dreamed the whole thing.
