Here it is! Finally!

It felt like hours passed until Gilan finally showed up to cut Blake free.

"Where are the others?" Blake asked as he rubbed his rope-chafed wrists.

"They're nearby," Gilan replied. "Here, I brought your weapons."

Blake grinned as his mentor handed him his knives and bow.

"So which one is their leader?"

Blake nodded his head towards where the leader was standing. "That's him."

Gilan looked at the leader, memorizing him. "Okay. I'll go tell the others."

"What abut me?" Blake asked.

"Cut the other prisoners free. But try not to be obvious about it."

Blake paused for a moment.

Ann-Marie looked at Blake after ten seconds had passed in silence. "And then...?"

"And then we defeated them. The end."

Ann-Marie frowned. "Okay, but what happened before that?"

Blake shrugged. "Gilan left to get the others. I started cutting loose the rest of the prisoners, telling each one to stay still and act like they were still tied up."

"Why are you cutting us loose if we just have to keep sitting here anyway?"

Blake finished cutting the ropes that bound the old woman's hands together. "Because help is coming, and pretty soon we'll be able to escape."

"You do realize that if they catch you, they'll kill you?"

"Obviously. But I don't think they'll get that chance." Blake said, moving on to the next prisoner, a young man with a strong build.

The old woman laughed. "Of course you don't. No one roots against themself."

"That sentence didn't even make sense," the young man said. To Blake, he said, "Don't listen to her. She's just upset because her farm was destroyed by these raiders."

"No thanks to you." The woman muttered.

As Blake moved on to the next person, the man explained, "I was a hired hand on her farm, and she blames me for not trying to defend it. Maybe I should've, but three of my brothers were killed by raiders, maybe this very same group. I wasn't taking chances with my life."

Blake wasn't entirely sure how to respond to that. Luckily, he didn't have to, because Will appeared. "Okay, Gilan and Horace are waiting over there to attack," Will pointed to the other side of the camp. "I'm going to help you defend these people and get them to safety." Will took out his knife and cut through the last few prisoners' ropes. "Now we just have to wait for Halt to kill the leader."

"Wait," Ann-Marie said. "Halt was there?"

"Yes."

Ann-Marie sighed. "The story has no continuity."

By the way, this is the first thing published so far from my new computer. So exciting. Like always, review and try not to get eaten by an alligator before the next update.