After what seemed like an eternity, the rapids had finally stopped and the river had calmed down dramatically, with the girls now in a hilly part of the river. Remarkably the container that held their weapons had made it through all that unscathed, floating right in the middle of the barrel formation.

"Anybody see the goblins?" Traude demanded.

"No!" Barbara called out "Just more pine forest!"

"I think we've outrun them!" Bertha laughed.

"If so, then not for long!" Traude replied back "We've lost the current!"

Brianna suddenly coughed up some water and groaned a sickly groan, much to everyone's concern.

"Oh dear!" Dorothea barked "It seems our poor burglar is half-drowned!"

"Alright, sound-off!" Danielle ordered.

Everyone promptly sounded off and sure enough all the girls were accounted for. Traude then noticed the rocky shoreline just ahead, took hold of Brianna's barrel and began paddling.

"Make for the shore!" she ordered "Hurry now!"

The girls did as commanded and resumed paddling. Pretty soon, Traude made it to shore along with poor Brianna and the barrel clunked against the rocks. She crawled out of her barrel and then proceeded with a recently landed Barbara's help to drag Brianna out of her barrel and flopped her onto shore like a fish. Barbara then leaned down and sat next to Brianna who was on her side, facing away from her and Traude who was observing the others.

"Well, are you alive or are you dead?" Traude asked.

Brianna finally coughed up the last of the water in her chest, then groaned and rolled onto her back, looking up at the two dwarves.

"I feel dead." she moaned "Does that count?"

"No, it doesn't." Traude laughed "Now, if you wish to continue on this adventure, then slap your arms and rub your legs and try and help us get the others out."

Brianna just did a weird hand gesture, which caused Barbara to chuckle and Traude to roll her eyes before they went to help Daniela with the others. Pretty soon, all the girls were out and they all flopped onto the shore.

"Oh crap, the box!" Nadja barked "It's got all our stuff!"

Indeed the crate appeared to be heading in the wrong direction with the shore rocks potentially nudging it off course. Gerlinde, Daniela and Bridget quickly sprang into action, treading out and grasping onto the massive crate. However, the current started to drag them.

"A little help would be nice!" Bridget yelped.

Beate and Ophelia scrambled to aid the other three. Kamilla tried standing up to go help but suddenly felt a burst of pain shot up her right leg and she winced in pain, sat down and looked at her injury. It didn't look good, with a bit of the second arrowhead poking out and the rest of the wound looking like a small chunk of flesh had been ripped off. And unfortunately, Frieda and Bertha took notice.

"I'm fine." Kamilla lied "It's nothing."

"That's not nothing." Frieda pointed out as she saw the wound "We need to tend to that."

"Right then, I'll get Dorothea and Ophelia." Bertha said as she ran to go get them.

Meanwhile, the five women had successfully gotten a hold of the crate by the ropes and pulled it to sure, though Gerlinde yelped a little when they dropped it onto the shore.

"Damn it, I think I pulled a hernia." she complained.

"By pulling a box?" Dorothea said perplexed "Seriously?"

"Pulling a fern-ia?" Ophelia asked while trying to find her ear-trumpet.

"Hernia, you dip-ass!" Nadja snarled "Eru as my witness you're deaf as a post!"

Ophelia responded via a rude gesture with her fingers.

"What about the stuff in the box?" Frieda inquired.

Daniela found a large stick and did her best to wedge it against the boxes top, whereupon she began bending it to try and get the box open. Brianna thought for a second and drew out Sting, approaching Daniela as she did so.

"Good idea, hobbit!" Daniela strained.

The box suddenly opened slightly, giving Brianna the chance to cut the ropes. Nadja helped a little with her knife and soon the box was open. Everyone except Frieda, Kamilla, Barbara and Traude ran to the box and drew out the bags and knapsacks.

"How are our belongings?" Traude asked.

"Nothing seeks to be have been soaked!" Dorothea replied "A bloody relief if you ask me!"

"Can't say the same for our gowns." Ottilie whined "Our clothes are ruined."

Indeed, they were all soaking wet only clothed in nightgowns which were sticking to their bodies which made them feel rather uncomfortable. Everyone groaned once it finally dawned on them.

"My mother bought me this!" Ottilie said.

"That's the least of our worries." Traude said "We must keep moving."

"We can't!" Dorothea replied "Kamilla's been hurt. Her leg needs binding."

"Damn it, we can't give up now!" Traude said.

"Yes!" Brianna said "We're so close to the mountain!"

"You both have forgotten that a lake lies between us and that mountain." Barbara pointed out "We have no way to cross it and while we've got weapons, it's still a long way and who knows if the goblins are still after us."

"B-But I have my sword!" Brianna insisted "And my ring."

"I'm afraid Barbara has a point, Brianna." Traude sighed "We can't cross the lake, it'd take too long to go around and I doubt your sword and magic ring will be of any use."

"So what now?" Daniela asked.

"Bind Kamilla's leg, quickly." Traude replied "You have five minutes."

Everyone got to work trying to wring out the water in their clothes. They had to be extra careful though as not to tear the gowns.

"I cannot believe this." Ottilie whined "Here I am soaking wet and I don't have a towel to dry off with."

"Little sis, quit whining." Nadja said "We gotta have something to dry off with somewhere in these bags."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Ottilie said "Beside's I doubt that the goblins will find us anyway. It's daytime."

Nadja chuckled softly and then turned around and gasped.

"I-I think something else found us." she stammered.

Everyone, including Ottilie, turned around and were shocked to see a man armed with a bow and arrow staring right them, perched on a rock. He had a short-cut hair and beard which was smeared with dirt in some places. He also wore a worn-out brown coat and some boots made from cow skin.

Daniela quickly grabbed a nearby rock and prepared to throw it at him, only for the man to fire his arrow and knock the rock out of her hand, much to Daniela's shock. He then loaded another arrow into her bow and cautiously aimed it at the girls.

"Do that again and you're dead." he said grimly.

Everyone froze and stared at the man in silence, except Nadja who suddenly got a mischievous smirk.

"Well, hello." she said in a failed attempt at being seductive "Nice to float down our river."

Everyone looked at her in a mixture of annoyance and discomfort, even the man pointing an arrow at them. But something just behind him caught Barbara's attention. It could just be seen peeking from behind some bushes, but Barbara could see the end of a boat.

"You must be of Lake-town." she said calmly.

"Yes." the man replied never once lowering his guard "How did you know?"

"Well, it's just that I saw your barge over there." Barbara replied "And we were all just wondering…is it available for hire?"

Bard thought long and hard about the offer he'd been presented as he loaded the empty barrels into his boat, which amazingly was big enough to contain all the barrels.

"Why would I help women like you?" he asked.

"Those clothes have seen better days." Barbara replied "No doubt you've got some hungry mouths to feed."

"Well, you're right about that." Bard said.

"We don't normally see people working these boats round these parts." Beate piped up "That's unusual to me."

"I take work wherever I can." Bard replied as he rolled the last barrel onto his boat.

"Oh, I bet you do." Nadja said with that smirk never leaving her face.

"Geez, sis." Dorothea and Ottilie said together in irritation.

"Wait, so it's okay for you to act all flirty with that fuzzy bear weirdo yet not me?" Nadja demanded.

"Yes. You're too obvious." Dorothea replied with pride "Me at least can do it with a sense of respect."

"Do you though?" Nadja said with a look of doubt on her face "At least I could get laid if I put my mind to it."

"Girls! We're in public and people can hear you!" Brianna moaned.

"Ignore them, they're busy-body's." Bridget said "Mr. bargeman, how many children do you have?"

"A girl and two boys." Bard replied as he stood the barrel up.

"Oh that's lovely." Bridget said "I have 13. Your wife must be so lucky."

Bard set the barrel down and hesitated for a moment. They quickly began worrying they'd unknowingly struck a nerve.

"Yeah she was." he replied back.

That confirmed it for the girls and Bridget felt very ashamed of herself.

"I'm sorry." she said "I didn't know."

"It's alright. Now you do." Bard sighed as he turned back to the girls "But why are you even here in these lands? Dwarf women aren't known to be the kind of travel long distances without things to trade."

"That's none of your business." Daniela barked.

"Sister!" Barbara exclaimed before looking back to Bard "Forgive my sister, she's very high-strung."

"I can see that." Bard replied calmly "So…who are you all?"

"We're merchants." Bertha said "Trying to make our way to see our kin in the Iron Hills. We encountered some…well…problems on the way."

"You mean the elves?" Bard inquired.

"Who told you that?!" Traude demanded.

"I know where these barrels come from. I pick them up from here every other month and bring them to Lake-town." Bard replied pointing to the holes in barrels from the arrows "And I don't know what business you had with the elves but it didn't end well." he then looked back to the girls "The master of Lake-town depends on the elves for his wealth. He wouldn't risk the wrath of Queen Talia."

"Well, is there any way to get into Lake-town without being seen?" Brianna piped up.

"Yeah." Bard replied as he leaned on one of the barrels "I'd imagine you'd need a smuggler."

"We'll pay you with all we got." Traude said.

Bard suddenly looked at Traude with a perplexed look on his face.

"Everything?" he asked.

"Everything." Nadja said "Including my vir-"

"Zip it, slut." Kamilla of all people protested, cutting her off.

"Every last coin we got." Traude responded "So what'll it be?"

Bard thought about this for a few moments. These women sounded crazy and were apparently now bribing him with one outright flirting. It seemed trusting them would get him into more trouble then he wanted, especially after seeing the arrow dents in the barrels. But on the one hand, he needed the money. He needed it to feed his children and himself, especially with winter drawing ever closer. And he knew the master would probably reject him before he even asked for money. He sighed and folded his arms.

"I'll do it." he finally said.