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I ht, perhaps early ony and exhaustion, I had fallen again I had only intended to take a minute to collect myself But when my eyes finally peeled back open it was because a strea them to

I blinked, confused Where was I?

"Finally, ye be wakin’"

The night back at the sound of the Mountain Man’s voice I closed hly turned around, the taste of dark soil on my lips

"Open yer eyes!" he bellowed inbackto, but so e hands gripping ettin’ it bad, wife, for runnin’ off"

I was dragged up into his arms It took ling I was in so iving hi lurches back to his shack

The ain, as he pulled ling, slu his long strides

It had taken ave a roar of rage and clobbered ainst his head in i me a wounded look as if he were the victiedwith someone like him

I was thron on the pallet, as he slammed the shack door shut The stench of dead ed at the carcass of an animal in the other corner of the small room But the carcass was the least of an undressing I struggled away froainst the wall of the shack,for a weapon as the Mountain Man loo! I pulled my wrists back and forth frantically, desperate to be free I could hear hiround, but still I kept rubbing ony as I rippedSaliva and tears dripped offto give in

I slaainst the wall, wide-eyed as he crawled overme I looked into his face with so much hatred I hoped it incinerated him His stench overwhelmed me as it had the last time, and my stomach lurched in response His stale sweat and bad breath would have been enough to make me sick, but the odour of blood and old meat swam out of him as well He smelled like death

I closed my eyes and pushed away froing and twitching like the taut strings of a lute

"Ye better start playin’, wife, or I’etfrom his touch; I couldn’t have even ifto do Instead I incurred his anger over and over again, pushing and struggling and jerking to get hie hands slid down overmy head off the wall The minutes after that were distant and unclear My head lolled on es I swore I heard Wolfe’s voice, saw Haydyn’s face

But they weren’t here

As the present came back to me, my situation had worsened I was flat onme My shirt had been ripped completely open by the knife in his hands I was covered in little shallow cuts

I gave a garbled cry and swung at his head with iveto throw hi me the momentum I needed to shake hi it to draw my adrenaline into usefulness

The Mountain Man roared back atdown and connecting with , and I fought down more vomit He used my disorientation to unbuttonthe bitter copper of an to hyperventilate as his body drew flush withabove ain