“A toll!” one man shouted, and his cry was quickly repeated by the others.

“A toll! A toll!”

They jostled the naked girl this way and that, her slender frame lacking any strength to resist. Yet despite their cries and their looks, she did not appear afraid. Instead, she let out a tiny moan as she moved her hips back and forth.

Qurrah forced himself to open his eyes. He needed to know how many had attacked them. He counted only four, two holding Tessanna, another restraining him, and then the leader. Daggers were attached to their belts, but so far they remained undrawn.

“For what should we pay a toll?” Qurrah asked. His free hand crawled across the ground and tightened about the handle of his whip, which lay atop the fabric of his cloak, nearly invisible in the darkness.

“To cross the Gods’ Bridges, of course,” said the leader. “Tory’s boys own it now, own the whole bloody Delta. If you want to cross, you pay a toll.”

“We have no coin,” he said, glancing at Tessanna. He wondered if he should act or wait for her. The ruffians had no clue what they held in their arms. No clue at all.

“Well ain’t that a shame,” said the leader, standing up and walking to Tessanna. He cupped her face in his hand, turning her chin this way and that. “But I’d say this pretty girl does have something of value. Doesn’t she boys?”

All four cheered and whistled.

“Touch her and die,” Qurrah said.

“Shut up,” said the man towering above Qurrah, pressing harder against his neck with his foot. “Close your eyes and keep them shut. We gonna take our toll.”

The leader grabbed Tessanna’s hair and pulled her head back. She moaned, louder. A smile creased her face.

“You like that?” he asked her. “You want a real man, don’t you, not some bony little orc runt.”

“You couldn’t handle me,” she said. “You’d only end up hurt.”

He laughed. The others only smirked and chuckled. They knew what was coming. Tessanna wasn’t the only woman to sass off when they took their toll.