“It seems I fell asleep at my post.” He flashed a wry smile. “But if you don’t tell Gavril, I won’t tell Moria that you got lost relieving yourself.”

“Got lost?” She gave him a hard look. “Is that truly what you thought?”

Tova harrumphed, equally offended.

“You were knocked unconscious with a dart,” she said. “I was kidnapped.”

“Kidnapped?”

“How long was I gone?” Ashyn shook her head and waved for him to follow Tova, who’d started back toward camp. “I’ll explain to everyone at—” She stopped and spun on him. “You did not realize I was taken?”

“I didn’t, and I apologize—”

“No, I mean—Moria and Gavril. You didn’t wake them?”

“I wanted to find you before they realized I’d—” He swore.

Ashyn was already running.

The slave trader’s men were at the camp. Ashyn could hear the commotion before they were close enough to see anything. When she tried to race ahead, Ronan caught her cloak.

“We’d do better to surprise them,” he said. “Come this way, along the stream.”

They ran down into the shallow gully. Ronan told her to follow in his footsteps, on the hard ground, so their boots wouldn’t squelch. The gully was neck high, meaning Ashyn could still see over the edge. It seemed forever before she spotted the horses, looking about as if startled. When she gazed over the field, she saw figures at the camp.

Those figures had gone silent now. Their early oaths and curses seemed to have been Moria and Gavril as they were woken from sleep. And perhaps the raiders as they realized they’d lost the element of surprise.

Ashyn and Ronan continued running silently until the figures became clear—Moria, Daigo, and Gavril, surrounded by armed men. Ashyn tried to dart past Ronan, but again, he held her back.

“Race in there, and you’ll distract Moria and Gavril as much as those mercenaries.”

Causing a distraction hadn’t actually been her plan. She’d had no plan at all but to run in, armed with Ronan’s dagger. Even that would be pointless—they were still several hundred paces off.

Ronan resumed moving, quickly. Ashyn followed, her gaze fixed on her sister. Four men surrounded them. Daigo was at Moria’s side, while Gavril stood with his back to her, their blades raised as they faced off against the raiders.

“Give us the girl,” a man said. “And we’ll let you live.”

The words came from a fifth man, one Ashyn saw only now. He stood off to the side, well out of the fight. The slave trader.

Gavril didn’t even acknowledge the offer. Moria did, saying, “I’ll let you all live, if you return my sister.”

“Take them!” the slave trader shouted, and the raiders surged forward.