Tabor gasped, the swung his knife downward to stab the girl.

Crack! Questa smashed the man's hand with her weighted sock. "Get oray from 'er! Sileas, right, wot'd 'e do ter yer?"

"He manhandled me and brought back some very unpleasant memories," Sileas stated, reaching for her own knife while Questa had him distracted. "Then he was going to kill me and there was also a threat to cut out my tongue."

She waved the knife menacingly at Tabor. "I nearly killed before, I'm not afraid to succeed this time."

Tabor clutched his injured hand, his iron knife lost. "Damned landwomen. You'll both regret this."

Questa pulled her own shiv. "Let's cut 'im up. I don't like bad pigs attackin' me muckers."

"He's certainly a danger. He asked if I was related to the Buckleys. Aye, let's finish him off."

Tabor turned and fled. He had to get back to the sea and determine what to do next.

Questa whooped and proceeded to give chase. It was like the old days when they had fought a rival gang and routed them out of their territory.

Sileas hurried after her. She wasn't about to let Questa have all of the fun. She was tired of being a victim.

Tabor reached a river. All rivers reach the sea eventually. Tabor stripped off his clothes to his loincloth and dove in.

"Damn it. I'm not that good of a swimmer," Sileas growled.

"Maybe 'e'll drown, the water's pretty deep and movin' fast." Questa said hopefully. She could swim, but did not think she could swim and cut that guy up at the same time.

"One can hope. Not only was he dangerous, he was very strange."

"Probably some rich toff, right, used ter gettin' 'is own way wiv us poor girls." Questa said, still looking at the river. "He 'asn't come up for air."

Sileas shook her head. "No, he didn't act like a rich toff. He acted like women should just throw themselves at him. And not speak unless spoken to. What an arsehole."

"He smelled like low tide at the docks." Questa noted. "Want ter go back to the Keep now?"

Sileas sighed softly. "I suppose so." The encounter had shaken Sileas more than she cared to admit and she was realizing running off on her own might not be a really good idea. She started walking back the way they came. "Do you think he and his people may have been the ones behind the attack on the village?"

"I don't know. Maybe. He were a bad enough man to." Questa said as they walked back towards the keep.

"Hold up," Wulfsen called out. "Your surprise is almost here," he said to Sileas.

As far as Questa was concerned, there was no such thing as a good surprise. "She already got 'er surprise."

Wulfsen looked confused. "What are you talking about? What happened?" he asked. His brow furrowed as his gaze filled with concern.

"We beat the kegs off 'im so don't yer worry." Questa said coolly.

Wulfsen glanced at Sileas. "Sileas?"

Sileas let out a small puff. "Some strange man. He grabbed me from behind. He asked a lot of questions about Aislyn and which one I was. When I said I wasn't kin to the Buckleys, he was going to kill me. Questa's right, we fought him off, he jumped in the river."

"Stark bloody naked." Questa added, exaggerating slightly.