She was pleased to see Black Dow look quite surprised. ‘Won’t it, now?’

‘No.’ It was difficult to appear authoritative while bruised, beaten, dirt-spattered and surrounded by the most daunting enemies, but Finree did her very best. She would not get through this with meekness. Black Dow wished to deal with someone powerful. That would make him feel powerful. The more powerful she made herself, the safer she was. So she raised her chin and looked him full in the eye. ‘You need to make a gesture of goodwill. Something to let my father know you are serious. That you are willing to negotiate. Proof you are a reasonable man.’

Black Dow snorted. ‘You hear that, Craw? Goodwill. Me.’

The older man shrugged. ‘Proof you’re reasonable.’

‘More proof than sending back his daughter without a hole in her head?’ grated Dow, looking her up and down. ‘Or her head in her hole, for that matter.’

She floated over it. ‘After the battle yesterday, you must have prisoners.’ Unless they had all been murdered. Looking into Black Dow’s eyes, it did not seem unlikely.

‘’Course we’ve got prisoners.’ Dow cocked his head on one side, drifting closer. ‘You think I’m some kind of an animal?’

Finree did, in fact. ‘I want them released.’

‘Do you, now? All of ’em?’

‘Yes.’

‘For nothing?’

‘A gesture of—’

He jerked forwards, nose almost touching hers, thick veins bulging from the side of his thick neck. ‘You’re in no place to negotiate, you fucking little—’

‘You aren’t negotiating with me!’ Finree barked back at him, showing her teeth. ‘You’re negotiating with my father, and he is in every position! Otherwise you wouldn’t be fucking asking!’

A ripple of twitches went through Dow’s cheek, and for an instant she was sure he was going to beat her to a pulp. Or give the smallest signal to his metal-eyed henchman and she would be slit from her arse to the back of her head. Dow’s arm jerked up, and for an instant she was sure her death was a breath away. But all he did was grin, and gently wag his finger in her face. ‘Oh, you’re a sharp one. You didn’t tell me she was so sharp.’

‘I am shocked to my very roots,’ intoned the black-skinned woman, looking about as shocked as the wall behind her.

‘All right.’ Dow puffed out his scarred cheeks. ‘I’ll let some of the wounded ones go. Don’t need their sobbing keeping me awake tonight anyway. Let’s say five dozen men.’

‘You have more?’

‘A lot more, but my goodwill’s a brittle little thing. Five dozen is all it’ll stretch around.’

An hour ago she had not seen any way to save herself. Her knees were almost buckling at the thought of coming out of this alive and saving sixty men besides. But she had to try one more thing. ‘There was another woman taken with me—’

‘Can’t do it.’

‘You don’t know what I’m going to ask—’

‘Yes I do, and I can’t do it. Stranger-Come-Knocking, that big bastard who took you prisoner? Man’s mad as a grass helmet. He don’t answer to me. Don’t answer to nothing. You’ve no idea what it’s cost me getting you. I can’t afford to buy anyone else.’