He had just crossed another shallow steam of frigid glacial runoff when a crossbow bolt slammed into a tree on the shore next to him. He froze and turned.

Two men and one woman came pushing into the water from upstream. Two covered him while the third reloaded.

‘This is our claim!’ one fellow shouted.

The accent was unfamiliar to Kyle. He kept his arms wide. ‘It is none of my business,’ he said, ‘but I do not think this land belongs to you.’

‘You’re right,’ the woman answered as she drew near. ‘It is none of your business.’

The three were armoured alike in plain soft leathers sewn with bronze rings and lozenges. The swords and crossbows they carried appeared rather shabby and mass-produced.

‘What are you doing here?’ the first fellow asked.

Kyle motioned up to the distant ridgeline. ‘Just passing through.’

The three eyed one another, uneasy. The woman looked him up and down in obvious disapproval. ‘You don’t look like you’re too well equipped to take on the ice giants, stranger.’

‘Ice giants?’

The three laughed. ‘Just arrived, hey?’ the woman said. ‘Yeah. The locals call them the Icebloods.’

‘Ah. I see.’

‘You see what?’ the woman snapped, annoyed. ‘Anyway, you’re right about that moving on.’

The other two laughed again.

Hands up, Kyle dared a small gesture to the woman. ‘If you’ll forgive me … you don’t look much like prospectors yourselves.’

She glanced to her two partners – no more than hangers on, Kyle thought them. ‘That’s right. We’re no dirt-grubbers or sifters. The plan is to guard this stretch of creek. Then, when everything else has been tapped out …’ she shrugged, ‘we offer this virgin patch on auction to the highest bidder.’ The two men nodded, grinning. ‘We should make a dock each, hey boys?’

‘That’s right, Gleeda,’ one answered.

‘And what will you do with it?’ Kyle asked.

The woman screwed up her face. ‘Do with what?’

‘This … dock. All the money.’

‘Who the fuck cares? I’ll buy a house so big there’ll be rooms I never use. I’ll eat quail eggs and fucking bird liver all day.’

‘A life of luxury. Doing nothing.’

‘That’s right.’

‘So your goal is to do nothing with your life,’ Kyle affirmed. ‘I don’t know. Sounds … pathetic to me.’

The woman’s mouth turned down and she raised her crossbow. ‘For someone on the sharp end of three bolts, you’ve got a big mouth on you, fellow. Now, you can throw your life away, but it would be a shame to waste a fine-looking ivory-handled sword like you got there.’

Kyle glanced to the weapon at his side. ‘I wouldn’t touch this, if I were you.’

‘Shut up. Cover him, boys.’ Gleeda carefully reached in to pull the weapon from its sheath. ‘Damn, that looks sharp,’ she said, and, cradling her crossbow in her arm, she moved to touch her thumb to it.

Kyle tensed, readying himself.

The woman goggled at the naked slit where her thumb had been. She screamed.