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Somehow she would persuade him. For a brief moment she wondered at the price he might demand for helping them. Her body was the only thing she had to barter with. She forced her mind away from such thoughts. First, they must get free of this place.
    Ailinn put on her warm cloak and grabbed the bag containing the few possessions left to her, then looked around to see if the other women were ready. Brina, Ullach and Gormlaith had collected their things and were huddled together, looking terrified. Cailin stood nearby, gazing at Ailinn with a sullen expression. “Your plan is witless,” she said. “We’ll never make it.”
    “We have to try,” Ailinn responded in a taut whisper. “I’m not going to stay here and do nothing when we have this chance.”
    “If you weren’t always insulting Croa and the other men, they might treat us better.”
    Fury leapt through Ailinn. She wanted to slap Cailin. Glaring at Cailin, she said, “Perhaps you don’t care if you end up as a bedslave to one of these foul beasts, but the rest of us have no desire for such a life.”
    Jerking around, Ailinn picked up the smoking candle in its pottery holder and headed for the door. The other women followed.
    Outside, Ailinn turned to see Cailin in the doorway, a defiant expression on her pretty face. The guard continued to snore, but he might wake at any moment. Ailinn stared hard at Cailin, willing her to come to her senses and not ruin all their chances. Beside Ailinn, Brina mouthed pleading words, begging their companion to join them.
    Time seemed to crawl by. Ailinn felt herself sweating. Who did Cailin think she was? She might be the daughter of one of Ailinn’s father’s wealthiest client farmers, but she had no right to endanger the rest of them with her obstinacy.
    Ailinn held the other woman’s gaze, and Cailin finally slipped through the doorway and joined them.
    They hurried away from the sleeping guard and assembled in the narrow passageway behind the storehouse. “We’ll have to keep to the rear of the buildings,” Ailinn whispered. “It’s the only way to avoid being seen.”
    Except for Cailin, the women nodded, their eyes wide with fear and dread. Ailinn drew a sharp breath as she contemplated what was ahead. They would have to make their way through the settlement and find the quay. Although she had a general sense of where the river lay, between it and them was a daunting maze of buildings and walkways. And if anyone saw them... Her stomach lurched at the thought. Unprotected in this savage settlement, they might well end up raped and brutalized.
    But this was their one chance to get away and she intended to seize it. For the sake of the other women, she must be strong. They were depending on her, believing she could save them. Somehow, she must do so.
    “This way,” Ailinn whispered as she moved forward. A disgusting odor assaulted her nose, near gagging her, and she used her free hand to lift her skirts from the muck around her feet. The reek of garbage and dung was strong and she shuddered as she spied the rotting corpse of a dog lying among the debris. Dark shapes swarmed around it. Rats. Behind her, she heard one of the women gagging. “Come on,” she whispered sharply. “The faster we move, the sooner we’ll be away from here.”
    The buildings didn’t seem to be laid out in any particular order. Sometimes there was a large area behind a dwelling, with room for a garden or storage shed. Other houses were built so close together the women could barely squeeze past. In some places planks or wattles had been laid over the mud. In others, their leather shoes sank into the ooze.
    What time was it? Well past midnight, Ailinn felt certain. She glanced anxiously at the sky, hoping morning wouldn’t come too soon.
    “Ailinn, lady, do you know where we’re going?” Brina whispered.
    “Aye. We’re going to the docks,” Ailinn answered.
Please, God, let it be this way
, she breathed silently to herself.
    “But