Anthē looked up as someone opened her cell door. It was the same bald, ugly man with missing teeth who had shoved her inside it the night before. She despised him. He reminded her of the sort of men with which she had had to deal when working for Keleb.

“Time to go,” he said. Even these three words came out soaked in bile. He was not all that big a man, in fact he had a fairly pronounced stoop, but Anthē had discovered that he was not afraid to use force. She already had a bruise on her cheek she had received after trying to resist incarceration the previous night. She stood up, which was a difficult thing to do with her hands tied behind her back, not wanting to receive another beating. She stepped out of her cell into an earthen corridor.

She had no idea where she was. After subduing her, her captors had blindfolded her and taken her somewhere on horseback before removing the blindfold and throwing her into the cell. At a guess she would say it was late afternoon, but she could not really tell. She had not slept properly, having spent her time lying in the darkness hoping that Zantheus and Tromo and Leukos were alright, locked in mental torture. She was very hungry, but she did not show this.

“Here you go.” The bald man wrapped her head in a blindfold again, tying a piece of material extremely tightly over her eyes. It pressed up hard against her face, absorbing her tears. She could not even find the breath to moan with discomfort. “We wouldn’t want you to know where you’re going now, would we?” A hand shoved her in the back. Then it guided her, occasionally taking her by the arm, forwards and up a flight of steps. Anthē heard the sound of a door creaking open. Then for a wonderful moment she felt the coolness of the outdoors on her skin. Then another door. Then down another set of steps and forwards a good number of paces (she counted twenty-two in all). Voices. A large crowd of men chattering with one another, getting louder. Now she was among them. She caught a snippet of conversation.

“—who is that?”

“Kleptes’ latest catch.”

“And what a catch!”

“Well, Karios’ll probably have her for himself, won’t he?”

The voices quietened as Anthē was brought to a halt. She felt a little shiver at her side. Tromo! It must be him. Thank goodness he was still alive.

“Remove their blindfolds!” said an authoritative, though at the same time slimy, voice.

The material was tugged off of her head. She immediately looked down to her right, and rejoiced in silence. There was Tromo having his own blindfold removed. She looked around her. No sign of Zantheus. They were in a large round room with no windows, filled with men sitting at tables or milling around, some eating, some drinking, some playing dice on the floor. It was lit by two torches that stood either side of a chair at one end, draped in animal furs, before which she and Tromo had been presented. In it sat a man with long, dark, curly hair and an equally long, dark, curly beard, which he was twisting with one hand. His eyes were wide and red and seemed to bulge out of their sockets at her, feeding on her with their stare. Now he touched his fingers together in an arch, as if he was unable to keep his hands still.

“What do you have for me here then, Kleptes?” he said while he stared at Anthē.

It was not the bald man that spoke in response but a man who stood on Anthē’s right. He was younger, more muscular, more attractive even. She recognised him as the man who had attacked her last night. He had a scar on his cheek and his hair came down at the back of his head in a ponytail. “Two penniless wastrels, Karios. We found them encamped in Sadeh last night on our way back from Ubal. The fools were stupid enough to light a cooking fire in plain sight of the road.”

The assembly sniggered as a group. Road? Anthē hadn’t realised they had been near a road. She wondered if Leukos had known. Maybe he had, but he had deliberately kept off of it. But then why hadn’t he told them?

“How fortunate for us,” said the man in the chair, ‘Karios’. He was still staring at Anthē. She despised him. She knew this type of man. They were entirely obedient to their most basic desires, mastered by the passing entertainment provided by violence, lust, cheap jokes at the expense of others. She was used to them. “Were there any others?”

“A knight,” said the man called Kleptes. Hope stirred in Anthē’s breast. “If they possess any money, he must be carrying it. Unfortunately, he was able to kill Lestes and Psutes. We did not bring him back.” There was no hint of regret in his voice.

Zantheus was alive!

“He will not come looking for these two?”

“He has no way of finding us. We took only two horses, and left with both of them, in the dark.”

“Well, either way, he will die if he sets one foot in here, right boys?”

A cheer went up from the rabble of bandits.

Now Karios spoke to his captives. “Well, what do you two have to say for yourselves? What is your business in Sadeh?”

Anthē decided to tell the truth, to get this over with as quickly as possible. Happy as she was to know Zantheus was alive, he couldn’t do much good for her in here. She felt sick. She would prefer her cell to this –anything to get her away from those bulging, lecherous eyes.

“We are travelling to Qereth.” She used the present tense on purpose.

“You and this knight?”

“Yes, we are.”

“Well, you can consider your travels delayed...for the foreseeable future. There was no-one else with you?”

Anthē thought for a moment. Did they know about Leukos? He hadn’t been mentioned in Kleptes’ report. They hadn’t paraded him out here like her and Tromo. But maybe they killed men and only captured women and children? Or maybe Leukos had got away? Maybe he was with Zantheus now? She risked a lie.

“No-one else.”

Karios picked up on Anthē’s hesitancy. He was used to people lying to him, and could recognise it with ease. He turned to Tromo and asked “Is she telling the truth?”

“He doesn’t talk,” said Anthē.

“That’s true,” Kleptes said. “He hasn’t said a word since he’s been with us, he didn’t even cry out when we caught them. And they were alone, apart from the knight. We didn’t see anyone else.”

Leukos was still alive too then! Anthē fought to hide her relief. At least they were all still alive. That was a bonus, right? Maybe Zantheus would come and rescue her? He’d do that, wouldn’t he?

“He will make a good servant boy –he won’t be able to answer back.” Karios snickered. “Put the boy back in his cell for now. Untie the girl. She can stay here. I will enjoy her in a moment.”

Anthē watched as one of the thieves carried off Tromo. He remained silent as ever, and his expression didn’t alter either. How was he handling this all so calmly? He was a resilient child, she concluded. Kleptes cut her ropes and pushed her forward.

“You may sit by my side,” said Karios.

Anthē sat down in despair next to the chair, facing the same way as Karios. Terror and sickness were rising in her stomach. Zantheus would rescue her. He must. Zantheus would come for her. Wouldn’t he?

Anthē surveyed the scene again. She counted exactly twenty-eight men. They varied in age and stature, but they all had a hardened, bored look in common. Almost all of them carried weapons.

“Anything else to report, Kleptes?” said Karios.

“No, that was all.”

The business of the day seemed to have concluded.

“We’re done here,” said Karios to the crowd of men.

The men started to filter out. Karios turned to Anthē. His eyes seemed to grow even more, frog-like in their sockets. “Well, my darling,” he said, “shall we retire for the evening?”

“Wait,” said a voice.

Anthē looked up.

The hope that had been wavering in Anthē found new strength. She knew he would come. Zantheus was standing in one of the entrances to the room. He had his hands behind his back, and looked exhausted. He was still wearing his cloak. She was so happy to see him, even if it was to be for the last time, She knew he would come.

But it wasn’t Zantheus that had spoken. In front and just to the side of him was another skinny thief. All eyes now fell on him.

“Lestes!” said Karios. “What a pleasant surprise! We’ve just been told that you were dead. Is this the ‘knight’ I’ve been hearing all about?”

“That’s him,” said Kleptes.

“I was able to subdue him and bring him here,” said Lestes.

Anthē sensed there was something wrong. There was no confidence in the man’s voice. But perhaps that was normal.

“Excellent!” said Karios. “Bring him to me.”

As Lestes marched Zantheus over Anthē noticed something else. She could not see Zantheus’s sword anywhere. It wasn’t hanging where it belonged at his side, nor was it in the hand of his captor. Had he lost it? Had it been left in the fields? And why was Lestes standing in front of Zantheus?

As the two men took up their position before Karios, Zantheus stole a glance at Anthē. There was no fear in it.

“I take it Psutes is dead?”

“Yes,” said Lestes. Anthē noticed he was sweating.

Zantheus made his move. His arms whirled around as the short length of rope around his hands fell to the ground –they had not been bound at all. A knife was in his hand and in a moment he was behind Karios’s chair, holding it to the man’s throat.

Immediately all the bandits that were in the room stood up and drew their weapons.

“Do not move an inch closer, or I will cut your leader’s throat!” shouted Zantheus.

There was a pause. A forest of scimitars, broadswords, knives, maces, clubs and spears bristled before him. Then one of the robbers began to chuckle. One by one, the others joined in. Soon they were all laughing.

“What is so funny?” said Zantheus.

The reply came from Lestes, who had fled to the other side of the room. From behind the wall of murderers he said “You fool! Did you actually think that plan would work? Look around you! You’re in a den of thieves! Did you really think we’d care if you took our ‘leader’ hostage? How do you think he got to the top? Haven’t you ever heard the expression ‘there’s no honour among thieves’?”

It had been a trick. The thief had tricked him. He should have known.

The wall moved forward, towards him.