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listen to the flames crackle in the night.
    Then Ulfrik pointed the pitchfork at the son on the ground. "And you can take us to Thorgest."

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER SEVEN
     
    Ulfrik picked a gray day of drab light and woolly clouds to enact his plans for Thorgest's bandit camp. He and Finn studied the camp from the edge of the clearing, and Finn pointed at a flight of geese flying over the crude hall at the center of the field.
    "That's a good sign," he said. "They're headed for us and are high in the sky."
    Spitting on the ground, Ulfrik reached for the hammer amulet that was no longer at his neck but given to Thorgest as booty. He shook his head. "Forget the gods and their signs. It wasn't the gods that made the plans and laid the traps. That was us, so trust yourself most."
    Finn's boyish smile remained undiminished. In the flat light of the afternoon his freckled face still seemed to shine with hope. "I do. This is going to make an amazing tale when it's done. Two against nine!"
    "Gods, now that's a way to curse us. Don't say anything until this is done. You're ready to carry out what we've planned?"
    "Been ready for days now." Finn rubbed his hands, and Ulfrik could not help but smile at the enthusiasm.
    The wind had been still since morning but then started gusting after midday. Ulfrik worried it would ruin their bow shots, and seeing how Gils had only six serviceable arrows for his hunting bow, they could not afford missed shots. Finn had a long knife and the bow. He had the keener vision and as a hunter was a deadlier shot. Ulfrik hefted an ax, a favored weapon of his giant friend Einar, but an unwieldy tool in his own hands. Choices were limited to whatever they scavenged from Gils's farm.
    "Let's get the girl and begin," Ulfrik said.
    He shouldered the ax and led Finn back toward their small camp. For days they had hid on the outskirts of Thorgest's base, watching the bandits' activities. He had feared Gils's barn fire would have drawn their attention, but like all bandits after an easy haul, they spent most of their days celebrating. They shared a few women for entertainment, at least by what he could see from outside the hall. They raised pigs and a goat, but otherwise did little else. These were opportunists and lay-abouts Ulfrik understood all too well. His only frustration was his lack of numbers; otherwise, he would have had Thorgest's head by now. Thorgest, the bandit leader, made one obvious appearance to witness a brawl that had spilled out of his hall. He had a whore under one arm, Ulfrik's sword at his side, and Ulfrik's gold chain about his neck. That had been his sole showing, and while he was strong and scarred, he was also bleary-eyed and careless.
    He would soon be dead.
    At camp, Gils's youngest daughter sat tied to a tree, gag still filling her mouth. Calling her the prettiest daughter stretched the compliment, for Ulfrik considered her only marginally better than ugly with thin brown hair and a protruding forehead. He assumed the bandits would covet her young flesh. He had not learned the girl's name, not wanting to put a real person to the tool he used her as. With luck she would survive, and he certainly planned on it. He had taken her hostage from Gils to ensure the farmer stayed quiet and did not betray them, and he had kept his word. The girl, too, remained docile when her gag was removed to eat and drink. He stood before her now, hands on his hips.
    "Are you ready to earn back your freedom and return to your family?"
    Her dark eyes were wide and she nodded furiously. Ulfrik smiled, and gestured to Finn who pulled out her gag and cut her free from the tree. He helped her stand and steadied her as she adjusted.
    Ulfrik cupped her jaw and forced her to look at him.
    "Here's what you'll do. Take this knife and hide it on your body. Go to Thorgest's camp and tell them you've escaped us. He'll press you about how you did it, so tell him you slipped us in the