"... I swear to the gods if you pull that rope one more time-"

"Then what? As far as I remember you're the hostage here, not me!" Finn jerked the leash a few more times with a devilish smile.

"Well, at least I'm not a backstabbing traitor like you! Ouch-" Lìfa yelled back, angrily rubbing her neck where the rope had scratched her skin.

"Look," Finn turned to her letting out a big sigh and pinching the bridge of his nose. "We've been walking for hours now, and in the meantime, I told you at least a hundred times. Maybe this time you'll understand. I wasn't there when your home got attacked. I didn't know that you were after this stuff too, and no, I did not lie to you," he continued with mild annoyance pouring from his tone.

"Oh, yes? Then why am I kept on a leash like a dog? Why am I a hostage if you didn't betray me? How could I believe anything you said?" Lìfa tried to put her tied up hands on her hips, piercing the boy through with a demanding look.

"Can you repeat it a bit louder? I think there may be some trees in the forest that haven't heard it yet!" the boy yelled back with his face turning into red from anger. He was about to say something else too when he heard his name from the front, cutting their never-ending argument in half.

"Oh, I'm so sorry but as you could hear, I'm needed elsewhere," Finn turned to Lìfa with mimicked pain and sorrow on his face. "Sadly, I can't let you run around by your own, so if you'll let me-" his voice was dripping with sarcasm as he uttered these words.

He quickly tied Lìfa's legs together and her leash to a tree, ignoring her constantly cussing and struggling against her restrains. After that, he rushed ahead to his friends, leaving the girl behind.

As Lìfa could see, they stopped and prepared a camp for the night. They were marching in a killer pace all day in the deep forest, following the river up to the mountains. As she had heard earlier, the road was around two or three days long on foot. The thought of spending any more time with these men filled her soul with fear. The poisonous feelings of being alone and defenseless crept into her heart like a spider and wrapped its ugly, sticky web around it. She just got her friends back from the dead and now she felt like she lost them again.

All day, aside from blaming and annoying Finn on purpose, she kept her eyes open for her friends. She hoped that Ingolf just lied about their death and that they were somewhere out in the forest, coming for her rescue.

So far, for Lìfa's disappointment they didn't see any sign of the Thirteens, so Ingolf was in a rush to ensure that he would reach the cave first and place his hands on the hidden prize...

As Lìfa was sitting under the tree Finn tied her to, she watched the boy interacting with his crew. While one of the warriors started a fire to cook dinner, Finn helped a short, fat man gathering more firewood and chopping it. For the task, he tied his long hair up in a ponytail to keep it away from his face and pulled back his sleeves. Lìfa watched him striking down with his axe on the pieces of wood again and again. During the hard work, Finn's muscles tensed under the thin fabric of his tunic, showing off his well-sculpted body. A stray lock of hair constantly kept falling in his eyes which he occasionally tucked behind his ear, just to make it fall in his face again. His little frowns of annoyance made Lìfa's lips curve into an involuntary smile.

When she caught herself staring, Lìfa felt her cheeks turning into a slight shade of pink and quickly tore her gaze away from the boy. She wanted to hate Finn, to keep her anger alive but as she looked at him smiling and laughing among the other men, he was like back in Heilaholm. She didn't see the traitor and the enemy in him, but the honest and kind boy she spent a night with.

However, Lìfa still wasn't sure if she could trust Finn or not. He was one of Ingolf's troops. He worked for the man who destroyed her home and whom she wanted to kill so badly. With all these thoughts on her mind, she decided not to give in to her feelings and to keep her distance and wait for Finn to show who he really was.

When the boy returned to Lìfa, he had two bowls of steaming soup in his hands. He plopped down beside her to the ground and offered her one bowl with a small smile.

"Here, I brought you food too, I thought you might need it. I think Ingolf wouldn't want you to eat from it, but I can't let you starve."

Lìfa took it from his hand with a growl and without even looking at him.

"How generous! Now I think a little bit less that you're a lying asshole," she said while slurping up the soup quick. Like she was afraid that the boy might take it back.

"Lìfa. We've talked this through before. I'm not the bad guy here." Finn sighed with a pained look on his face. Anger faded away from his gaze hours ago, now only annoyance and fatigue dwelled in his green eyes. "I'm tired of this, my patience is running low and you're really getting on my nerves. I'm just trying to help you, but you're really not making this easy for me. "

"Don't worry, I'm not planning to!" Lìfa dramatically turned her head away, still avoiding Finn's gaze. She was still angry because of the ropes not letting her move freely, and she knew it would melt away at the very moment she looked into those green eyes.

"Fine! I tried to be nice, but if you can't stop bitching around I'm not dealing with you anymore!" Finn stood up with a sudden move.

From the tone of his voice and the frown on his pale face, Lìfa felt that he was really done. This time she went too far with annoying him and she was afraid of what would come next.

"Finn, I-" she wanted to say something, but he dismissed her with a fling of his hand.

"Hey, Rufus!" he shouted to someone in the camp. "Rockhead! Hey, can you come here a little?"

Answering Finn's call, a man emerged from the crowd around the fire. He was short and very skinny compared to the other warriors. One of his legs was crippled and he pulled it after himself in a strange way. His clothes were tore at several places and it was stained by dirt, grease, beer and blood. As he got closer, Lìfa got a better sight of his face too. His ungroomed hair and beard were flame-red, and a huge scar ran across his face from his forehead down to his cheeks. As he looked at Lìfa, pure madness shined behind his green eyes.

Lìfa's gaze was frantically jumping between the two men. What did Finn want from this strange man? Even looking at him sent goosebumps up her arms. Her instincts told her that something was definitely wrong with him.

"Rufus, I'm tired and want to sleep a little. Would you mind watching our guest here, while I'm resting?" Finn turned to him.

"Yes! Rufus watches girl!" he answered with a deep groan which Lìfa could barely understand. He eyed Lìfa like a hungry wolf and she instinctively moved away from him, keeping her distance.

Finn noticed her fear and his lips pulled into an arrogant smile.

"Lìfa, this is Rockhead Rufus. As you can tell by his name, he's a little slow but I'm sure you'll get along well! Please, be nice to him while I'm away!" with this he shot a final smile towards Lìfa then joined his friends around the fire, leaving the girl alone with Rufus.

As Finn got out if earshot, Rufus' lips curved into a nasty smile, showing his yellowed teeth.

"Rockhead's gonna have fun with girl!"

With his slow, clumsy steps he headed towards Lìfa, with the insane shine never fading from his eyes. Being afraid of what might come next, Lìfa crawled as far from him as her leash reached. She desperately searched for a shelter, but with her leash tied up to a tree, she was perfectly exposed and unable to hide.

"Where are ya' going, little girl?" she heard the deep growl coming from right behind her. As she turned around, she found herself eye to eye with Rufus. As the man reached down to grab her ankle, with a quick move she kicked his shin and scrambled away.

"Finn! Hey, Finn, I'm sorry! Finn!" with her voice shaking she called out to the boy, but he had disappeared among the crew, not paying attention to her anymore.

This was the very moment when Lìfa realised how big a mistake she had made. Finn was her only chance to survive and to maybe get away from Ingolf, and now, he probably hated her. She went too far, and now she ended up with this brainless troll, who probably wasn't afraid to hurt her.

"You don't want Rufus! Rufus is now angry!" the man yelled at her, pulling her closer by the rope on her neck. Lìfa tried to fight back and free her legs and hands from her restrains, but Finn tied them up too well.

When Rufus finally got her, he grabbed the fabric of Lìfa's tunic and blew a well-aimed punch in her face, sending her back to the ground. For a while, he just stood above her while maniacally laughing.

When he finally ran out of breath, the strange man sat down on a log with his mad eyes pinned on Lìfa and pulled out a knife from his belt. With his eyes still piercing through Lìfa, Rufus just pulled a small stone from his pocket and began sharpening his dagger. He did it without a word, but with a huge smile on his face. Around them, the only noises to be heard were the creaking of his tools and the laughter of the crew around the fire.

Lìfa tried to position herself to be out of Rufus' reach. The insanity radiating from his eyes and that knife in his hands gave her the chills. She wasn't sure if she would be able to sleep with him around. Rufus seemed to be the guy who would cut her throat in her sleep, just for fun.

She leaned against a tree, hugged her legs to herself and buried her face into her knees. She tried to focus on the campfire to keep herself awake, but the all day long journey and the argument with Finn just consumed all her energy. Soon, her eyelids became too heavy to keep them open and her mind drifted away into an uneasy, dreamless sleep.

In the morning as Lìfa woke up, she found Rufus squatting beside her. When this information reached her still sleepy mind, she instinctively tried to get away from him. Seeing her struggling against her restrains made a maniac smile spread across Rufus's face. Something shiny flashed in his hand, and a heartbeat later sharp pain spread across Lìfa's hand. She looked down at her hand, searching for the source of this sudden pain. With eyes wide open she realised that a dagger was pierced through her palm, pinning it to the ground.

"Good morning! Rufus said we gonna have fun!" she heard the man's deep voice, but the pain radiating from her hand consumed all her attention.

Tears dwelled in her eyes and she wanted to let out a loud scream, but her voice got stuck in her throat and only a piping screech left her mouth. With her limbs still tied up, she helplessly watched blood surrounding the blade and slowly streaming down her palm.

Lìfa looked up, desperately scanning her surroundings for any help. That was when she saw Finn heading towards them with two bowls of food in his hands, happily whistling to himself. He probably had a better sleep than Lìfa did. His face was smooth and his green eyes shined bright with last day's misery nowhere to be seen.

When Finn got sight of what was happening he immediately dropped the bowls, spilling their content on the ground. He knelt beside Lìfa and with a quick, strong move he pulled the knife from her hand. Without paying her any more attention, he stood up and turned to Rufus. As he faced the man, the tranquility had completely disappeared from his face. His lips were pressed together into a thin line, his jaw clenched and his eyes were shooting lightnings.

Like a wolf jumping at the throat of its prey, he pinned Rufus against a tree with a rough move and grabbed his neck.

"Rockhead! What the hell were you doing?" he hissed from behind his gritted teeth.

"We had fun! I made her fun!" he choked out the words with his face turning into red.

"I told you to watch her, not to play your disgusting games! She's my hostage, my responsibility! How dare you lay your dirty fingers on her?" Finn growled again, tightening his grip.

As Lìfa watched the scene, she noticed the dagger still lying on the ground, next to her. She used the two men's distraction to slowly cut her restrains with it.

"Rufus is sorry! Very sorry! Please lemme go, good boy!" the crippled man squealed again, struggling against the fingers around his neck.

"Just get out of my sight! I don't want to see you around us again! Understood?" with this Finn tosses him away with great force.

Lìfa only heard the last bits of the argument from behind, as she was running fast among the trees. She freed herself from all the ropes and now forced her numb limbs to come back to life and work again. She didn't even look back just ran, following the river up to the mountain.

She didn't get far away when she heard footsteps from behind. Someone was chasing after her. Lìfa's lungs were burning from forcing herself to keep up the pace, and her blood was ringing in her ears. The thick bushes scratched her skin and tore her clothes and hair and a sharp pain struck in her side again. Her injury wasn't completely healed yet, and now the pulsating pain slowed her down. Lìfa didn't dare to look back, she was too afraid to find that animal Rufus behind her.

Just when she reached a small clearing and wanted to speed up, something heavy pushed her to the ground. She landed face down with a big thud. The weight pinning her down squeezed the air out of her lungs. She instinctively shut her eyes close and waited for the worst thing to happen.

Instead, her chaser just rolled off her and laid beside her in the grass, still panting from the rush:

"What the... hell were you... thinking?"

Hearing the familiar voice, she opened her eyes and found Finn laying beside her. His face was red and covered in sweat, soaking in his black hair too.

"I just... wanted to... help you..." he waited for his breathing to slow down then continued, "If Ingolf finds out that you escaped and that we are missing, he's gonna kill both of us."