In Control Part 2
by Alpesco
Who can Take her Down?


If you haven't read Part One, you can find it HERE -

http://www.thevalkyrie.com/stories/alpesco/brionnz29.txt

It was an hour's climb through heavy pine woods before we reached our goal - a
timber cabin with a small barn on the edge of a grassy clearing. Brionn
dismounted to stand beside the horse. She turned, stretched one long arm round
my lower back, slid the other beneath my left leg, and lifted me right up off
the horse's back in her amazingly strong arms. I was four inches taller, three
times her age, and weighed half as much again as she did, but she was easily
strong enough to hold me, the older woman, securely in her arms. Bending, she
set me on my feet once more.

Seeing my surprise, the thirteen year-old stepped back and flexed her long
arms again. They looked thin and gangly at first glance, but their nearly six
foot wingspan concealed the considerable amount of muscle they contained,
until she flexed. Then, the long, lithe muscles that were always visible in
her upper arms, exploded into life, swelling and thickening shockingly. Her
biceps grew startlingly huge - like ripe melons beneath tanned skin.

What was most surprising was that her slender body just didn't look like it
could produce that much muscle. Through the white, sleeveless tank-top she
wore, I could see that there was not an ounce of spare flesh on her. Her body
looked like skin and bone until she flexed her muscles - and then these
monsters appeared from nowhere. I knew plenty of men who would love to have
biceps like that.

"Nearly fourteen inches," Brionn said matter-of-factly, as she pumped her
right arm up a little bit more. "And I've trained them till they're
rock-hard..."

A youth emerged from the barn. He was about the same height as me, at 5 foot
eight and must have weighed about 140 pounds.

"That's my cousin, Johnny," Brionn turned.

"Hi." The boy nodded. "What's this woman doing here? She looks real beat up."

"She wanted to drag me off to some rescue center because of the flooding," the
girl said. "Threatened to call the authorities. So I had to bring her up
here."

"She forced me up here!" I cried out to the older boy. He looked around
fifteen. "She'll get you both into trouble unless you let me go. She's hit me
- look at my face! And she brought me here by force."

"Looks like you tried to stop her," he nodded at my bruised cheeks. "But it's
real hard to stop Brionn once she's made her mind up. She's a martial Arts
champion, and real strong. She's beaten 18 year old guys in matches. She can
whip just about anyone within sixty pounds of her bodyweight."

Before he could say anything else, Brionn turned round, bent, and simply swept
him up into her long arms, which were astonishingly strong. John was only
fifteen, but must weigh nearly half again what she did. Yet her gangly arms
seemed to take his weight easily as she cradled him at chest height, his legs
and arms hanging loose. I gasped. This youth was two or three years older than
her, and outweighed her considerably, but her arms were so strong she had even
begun to bounce him up and down in them.

John was silent, clearly embarrassed to be carried about like this by his
slender young cousin, but seemingly unable to do anything about it. Brionn had
transformed him into a little child. And she showed no sign of setting him
down.

"Brionn's always been strong," the boy said, seeing me stare. "She could lift
me like this four years ago."

"He weighed a lot less then," Brionn added. "But I could cradle my uncle like
this by the time I was ten." She drew a breath.

He struggled to get down. Her right hand gripped his knee, and her left
clamped round his shoulder, then squeezed.

"OOooowwww!" the boy cried at once, his body writhing in her grasp. "Put me
down! You're hurting!"

"Oooooooooowwwww!" He cried louder, as the girl's hands tightened their steely
grip on his knee and shoulder. "Shiiiit! Brionn. Stop!"

I could see he was really hurting now as Brionn's hands engaged their powerful
grip. "I apologise! I'm sorry!" He cried immediately. "Just stop squeezing,
okay! And let me down! Please!"

"That's better," Brionn nodded. I could see her hands ease their fierce grip
as the boy's body relaxed. Her left arm lowered, letting him slide back to his
feet in front of her.

"Oowwww!" John's knee was clearly still hurting as he limped away. "Your hands
are so strong!"

I stared at her as she turned back to me. "So what are you going to do now?" I
asked.

"I don't know." The girl frowned. "But for now you can go in the cabin.
There's food in the kitchen. You can cook a meal for us."

"And if I don't want to do your cooking?"

The girl frowned, flattening her right hand into a blade, and starting to draw
it back. The implication was clear, she could deliver another of her fearsome
slaps in less than a heartbeat.

I flinched, my face still swollen and stinging like crazy from its last
damaging encounter with the flat of her hand. I turned and made for the cabin.
I was not prepared to challenge Brionn directly yet.

The girl was right about the amount of food in the cabin. For a moment I
considered not obeying her order to do the cooking, but then I began to think
better of it. She could get pretty angry, and I knew from painful experience
just how hard she could hit. I had nothing better to do, so I busied myself
trying to fix some sort of meal for three while Brionn attended to the horse
and her cousin brought in wood to feed the stove. It was dark by the time we
ate, the only light from oil lanterns.

"Look," I said, as we ate. "This has gone on long enough. I'm a state
official, and you could be in serious trouble keeping me here. Now take me
back down to my car, and we can forget this ever happened."

"Perhaps we should?" John said.

Brionn shook her head. "She's a liar. She said she was afraid of horses, but
once she was on one, I could see she'd ridden before. So Miss Bitch here," she
nodded to me, "can just get her ass of the chair, and do the dishes."

She got up and sat down on the couch close-by.

"Are you going to let her do this?" I asked John, as hesat at the table. He
shrugged.

Annoyed, I walked over to a pile of dishes, picked them up and strode in front
of where Brionn was sat. "Here's what you can do with your dishes," I said,
and smashed all of them on the wooden floor in front of her. "Now I'm getting
out of here!"

I began to stride toward the door. But the girl just leaned forward on the
couch, her long right arm stretching out to catch me round the front of my
knees. Again I was astonished by just how strong her arm was. It just stopped
my legs dead, like an iron bar fixed across the floor, tipping me abruptly
forward. I lost my balance completely, falling heavily on to the couch, beside
her.

Catching hold of my shoulder, Brionn hauled my sprawling body across her legs,
so that I was held face-down, with my chest across her knees, her long left
arm clamped heavily across my shoulders. I tried to force myself up against
it, both my arms pushing my body upward, but the arm that held me down was
appallingly strong. I simply couldn't force my bodyweight up against it. In
fact my arms quickly weakened and gave up the struggle, as the girl's arm
continued to press down harder and harder, crushing my torso across her steely
legs. In moments I found that I couldn't move my upper body at all against its
growing weight. In fact I was finding it increasingly difficult to expand my
chest enough to draw a full breath.

"Let me go!" I coughed.

"Not before I've taught you a good lesson," Brionn said, her iron left arm
pressing down even harder across my back. I managed to twist my head round,
and out of the corner of my eye I saw her right arm ascending, her hand held
flat. Surely she couldn't be going to...

Crackkk! There was a whoosh of air as her hand whistled downward - then a
blazing explosion of pain from my backside as the flat of her hand drove into
it. The pain was so fierce, so searingly intense, that I hardly noticed as the
loud crack of the impact echoed round the room.

I cried out in shock and amazement at the severity of the pain, trying to tear
myself free. But the girl's long left arm, holding my body down was just too
powerful. Though both of my arms were again fighting against it, trying to
push my body upward, I just couldn't move! This thirteen year-old's arms were
incredibly strong!

CRACCKK!! Her flat right hand came searing down again. This time it struck
even harder. The pain was appalling, blazing across my backside and upper legs
as if they had been scalded with boiling water. I shrieked in agony. This girl
could hit so hard! It was unbelievable. It was as if my thick tweed skirt just
wasn't there. Again her heavy hand rose. I screamed as a third agonising blow
seared home. I was fighting to break free now. But her left arm's iron grip
across my back only grew tighter as her right continued to inflict its
punishment.

CRACCK, CRAACCK, CRRAACCKKK! Three more blistering blows seared in to my
backside one after the other. Each, incredibly, was harder and more agonizing
than the one before, each so loud that the sound of their impact filed the
cabin. I was screaming out loud now, my cries so loud I was sure they could
have been heard for miles. My senses were drowned in wave upon wave of pain
that seemed to burn through my entire body. Nothing, not even the slaps I had
had earlier, had prepared me for such an agonizing intensity of pain.

And still the girl did not weaken. A seventh and eighth blow powered down into
me. The pain was now beyond belief. It was as if square feet of my flesh was
on fire, the pain getting worse and worse and more widespread with each new
slap. And still my captor showed no sign of stopping. Her left arm was like
steel as it continued to crush my body down into her knees. I was completely
helpless.

"Please! Please stop!" I was crying like a baby now.

Brionn's right hand drew to a halt at the top of its swing. "So?" her young
voice came down to me, not even breathless. "I'm just getting started. Why
should I stop?"

"Because... Because.. I'm sorry!" I cried "I'm sorry for disobeying you. I
really, truly am! I won't ever do it again."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

There was a moment's pause, and then her powerful left arm slackened its grip
across my back a little. "I'll let you up," said Brionn. "But be warned, I can
give you another spanking, worse than that, anytime I want to." At last her
arm released me, and I tried to rise.

It was surprisingly difficult. Stiff and half-numbed with pain, I staggered
back to my feet. I could hardly walk for the intense pain across my butt and
the back of my legs. I could feel the raw skin thickening into welts and
bruises that would last for up to ten days. I looked down at the seated Brionn
and backed away, crying out again in pain as the raw skin of my backside made
contact with my skirt. Tears were streaming down my face. I backed further
away as the girl rose.

She was completely unhurt, She hadn't even broken sweat, but I began to shake
with fear. The strong arms that had just dealt out such shattering punishment
still hung at her sides, the muscles pumped and visible.

"There's no need to be jumpy," she said. "I'll only punish you again if you
disobey or cause more trouble. Do you understand?" I nodded. "Now clean up the
mess you made, finish the dishes. Then you can go to bed. I want you up by six
in the morning."

I obeyed silently.

You can't beat her," John said to me a little later. "She's all muscle. Her
arms are incredible," John said. "She can hit so hard it's unbelievable. She
can hit a lot harder than I can."

I found it hard to sleep. I could not sit or lie on my back or side, only on
my stomach, and even then it took hours for the pain from the bruises on my
backside to subside to a tolerable level. I had to face it. This girl was the
boss here. She was just too powerful for me. She had demonstrated that amply.
Those long arms with their fourteen inch biceps gave her the power to punish
me this severely whenever she wanted. And I knew that I hadn't even taken the
maximum she could hand out.

I woke at sunrise, covered in bruises. The thick welts across my backside and
the back of my legs had grown worse during the night, and I could hardly walk.
Brionn ordered me out of bed and to make the breakfast. I did not dare disobey
or even murmur a word of dissent. The girl had got me perfectly trained. I
found myself afraid to do anything that might displease her, and I obeyed all
her orders to the letter. She sent me to the pump for water and to talk to no
one, and I went, not attempting to look in the barn. And even though I was out
of her sight I refused to answer John when he spoke to me. I was too afraid of
Brionn now to disobey her in any way. I shuddered at the thought that she
might use her powerful arms to punish me again.

The girl made me work for most of the morning, ordering me to clean the
dishes, then the cabin, and make the beds. I was allowed to step onto the
porch, but not to step off it without her permission. Despite the galling
feeling of having to kow-tow to this arrogant 13 year-old, I did not even
consider disobeying her.

Two more days passed in this manner, with me doing the chores as Brionn
instructed. She would sometimes chop wood outside for the winter store, which
she did very well. And each day she would spend a couple of hours exercising
and practising her punches and kicks. She loved doing one-arm chins to
demonstrate her strength, and sometimes would just reach up and clamp her hand
on a beam, tree-branch or even the eaves of the roof, and rip off between
twenty and a dozen clean reps. Once she got her cousin to climb on her back,
and did fifteen two-arm chins with both their weights as resistance.

It was around four o'clock on the third day when John rushed in. "There's two
men coming this way." he pointed.

I looked out the window to see two men crossing the clearing toward us through
the drizzle. They wore dark green clothing that looked vaguely official.
Brionn got up and went to the door to meet them.

"We're special wardens," the taller of the two announced. "My name's Richter.
My colleague here" he nodded to the five foot ten man beside him, "is Greg
Brown. We're checking out all the dwellings upcountry. If you haven't enough
food or clean water, we can have supplies dropped - or get you evacuated."

"Excuse me." I pushed to the door, seeing the prospect of rescue. "I work for
the County. We need to get down to the city as soon as possible. Can you get
us lifted out of here?"

"NO!" Brionn glared at me. "John and I stay here."

"Are there any other adults here?" Richter asked her.

"Our uncle will be here soon."

"That's not good enough," Brown said, taking a walkie-talkie from his belt.
"I'll call up HQ."

With a swift movement, Brionn snatched it out of his hand and ran out across
the clearing.

"Stop her!" I shouted. But Greg was already running after her.

But the girl could run surprisingly fast, and Brown was making no headway on
her as she raced out into the middle of the clearing. Only when she was about
a hundred yards out did she slow and draw to a halt.

"Give that back to me, kid!" The larger man yelled out, gasping for breath.

"No." Brionn sounded unnervingly confident. Surely she knew it was all over
for her and her defiance of authority? She couldn't defy these two.

Brown reached for her. "Don't touch me!" She backed away. "Or you'll be
sorry!" She looked so small and slender her threat was laughable. She was
eight inches shorter than him and half his weight.

"Don't mess with me, girl." Brown shouted, his patience clearly snapped. "Now
give me that radio, or..." He lunged towards her, and suddenly, to my complete
astonishment, the thirteen-year-old launched a sudden, swinging karate kick
into his chest. her whole body seemed to launch itself through the air at him,
her right heel crashing noisily into his breastbone. Even as he grunted in
astonishment, her left foot hit the ground and she used it to pivot a heavy
spinning heel kick into his body.. then another.. then another. She was so
angry, she just kept on kicking and all her pent-up fury was thrown into her
surprisingly forceful kicks.

They came so fast and continuously that Brown had no time at all to recover or
regain his balance. He just kept on being driven back by kick after powerful
kick from the girl's long legs. I was astonished at just how powerful each of
this 100 pound girl's kicks were. They staggered the larger man visibly, and
they came so fast. Even so, it would only be a matter of moments before the
big warden got her under control, once she had vented her fury.

But to my surprise the warden seemed to be taking a long time to control her,
or even counter her attacks. She moved so fast and was getting so many blows
in. A series of three heavy kicks drove him staggering backward. He had hardly
time to regain his balance when the girl came for him again, unleashing more
heavy kicks to his stomach and torso. They were not just straight-legged
kicks, they were side blows and spinning kicks that flew into him with all her
body weight behind them. I expected her to tire, to have to rest, after using
such intense energy, but she did not let up at all.

I could hear the heavy crump of her blows landing from where I stood, beside
his partner, a hundred yards away. What was more worrying was that the
thickset warden did not seem able or fast enough to avoid any of the girl's
kicks. I could hear loud groans from him now, as her fierce kicks continued to
crash in. He never seemed to have a second to recover or counter-attack.

Richter and I stared, open-mouthed, as the girl landed another heavy side-kick
to Brown's ribs that made him groan with pain. She spun round, and her left
foot cannoned deep into his stomach. Brown was completely inert now, just
standing there trying to shield himself with his arms as the fierce blows
rained in. As I watched, the girl drew back two paces, to send an arcing kick
straight up into the side of his head.

"Don't you think you should help him?" I asked his partner.

Richter looked somewhat amused. "He should be able to handle a
thirteen-year-old girl," he said.

"I don't know.." I was getting worried. "He looks in a bad way..."

As I spoke, Brionn shot a huge straight-legged kick high into the front of
Brown's face. A roar of pain echoed back to us across he clearing. The ranger
staggered backward, his face streaming blood, his nose clearly shattered. His
footing seemed less certain now. I heard him curse as he tried to regain his
footing and lunge toward the now-back-tracking Brionn, only to be stopped by
two more kicks from her long, sveltely-muscled legs. To my horror, Brionn was
looking more and more in control.

"Shit!" Richter gasped beside me. "That kid can land some hits!"

"I really think you ought to help your friend." I repeated.

This time he nodded, stepping off the porch to walk toward the two
combattants.

But even as he stepped out onto the clearing, I heard the heavy crump of two
more of Brionn's long-legged kicks driving deep into Brown's midriff. Brown's
groans were louder and harsher now. He really looked to be in trouble. The
five foot three inch tall girl stood directly in front of the five ten man,
and she was clearly in the better shape. Over a dozen powerful kicks had left
Brown bloody and swaying. His movements were slow, his voice slurred. I saw
the girl's fists clench, as at last she halted her rain of kicks.

I sighed with relief. A mistake! Surely the warden would come back now and
punish her. But as I watched, the girl sent five big haymaker punches swinging
in to both sides of his head.

The dazed Brown seemed unable to block them, and he could not get out of their
way in time. I was appalled by how loud the blows sounded as they smashed into
him. Each heavy blow cracked into his skull like a rock hitting a coconut. How
could a girl her size hit so hard? I knew her arms were really strong, but
this was amazing. The big man was rocked visibly, staggering awkwardly
backward. Brionn followed through, continuing to land more of those big,
roundhouse punches.

One.. two.. three.. four.. five.. six. Brown was staggering drunkenly backward
now. Her long arms were striking even harder than they had with the first five
blows, her fists homing into their target like heavy flails, without fear of
any response from her dazed and confused victim. Richter began running towards
his partner, but too late. Brionn stood back a pace to watch her swaying
victim for a second, then a single massive roundhouse punch sent him spinning,
unconscious, to the ground.

I couldn't believe she'd done it. Neither could Richter who just stood and
stared. This barely thirteen year old kid had just beaten a full grown 180
pound ranger unconscious, one-on-one! Richter ran towards her, but she took
off at speed, running wide to the right to avoid him, before doubling back to
the cabin.

"Go inside," she ordered as she approached. Astonished I obeyed.

"How..?" I asked as we entered.

"Brionn knows how to fight, " John said. "I told you she's a state champion at
kickboxing. And that was under-eighteens!"

The next moment a gasping Richter burst in. "Where is that kid?" he said.
"She's knocked Brown clean out cold! I can't bring him round! And the hits
he's taken! His face is a mess!"

"I'm right here," Brionn said facing him from he far corner of the room. "And
he got just what he deserved."

"Is that so?" Richter said dangerously. "Well, you may know some martial arts
skills, young lady, but you're going to pay for that. You won't land your
kicks on me so easy."

He strode toward her.

The girl watched him for a moment, then threw herself suddenly past him to the
right. In a second she was slightly behind him, to one side, launching a
lightning-fast heel-kick to the base of his spine.

He groaned in pain, stumbling forward. That was when Brionn leapt on his back,
wrapping her long legs around his chest, and linking her ankles in front of
him.

The warden staggered forward with a gasp of surprise, but remained on his
feet. Abruptly, she leaned back and clamped both her hands tightly around one
of the wooden ceiling beams, her legs still clasped around Richter's chest. As
her captive moved forward, her body was stretched out virtually horizontal as
it drew him to a halt. She had made herself into a human chain holding the 200
pound man back.

The muscles on the girl's long legs swelled and rippled as she began to
increase the pressure on her unwilling captive's chest. I still couldn't see
what she intended to achieve by this. I could see him trying to tear himself
free of her constricting legs, which held his arms tightly at his sides. He
tried to turn around to see his attacker, but Brionn's grip was already too
tight. And now she purposefully made her body rigid, the discipline of her
strong muscles preventing him from turning at all, as her long legs continued
to pour on the pressure.

I kept expecting Richter to break free. He was a strong man, six foot tall,
and weighed 200 pounds. How could this girl, half his weight, hold him? But
her legs, though slender, were steely strong, and there was real strain and
effort on his face as he tried to twist his body free.

He was making an immense effort to free himself, but Brionn's smoothly
muscular legs didn't give a fraction of an inch. I looked across at the girl's
face as her hands clung tight to the wooden roof beam. I was chilled to see
that it was set firm. Not strained with desperation or effort, but
concentrated and resolved, as if she knew exactly what she was doing. She
showed no sign at all of distress. She was simply concentrating on applying
the pressure she needed to through her long, strong legs.

She frowned for an instant, and simultaneously Richter gave out a first deep
groan as a surge of crushing power passed down her legs into his body. I was
astonished. Richter was actually hurting! He really seemed to be in pain now
as Brionn's powerful legs tightened remorselessly around his chest. I could
see him fighting against those long pale legs that held his body prisoner. But
the girl's legs were like twin pythons linked about his chest. There was no
give in them whatsoever.

The large man's face reddened, breaking out in beads of sweat. He began to
gasp audibly for breath. Again he tried to twist his body round to face the
girl who held him captive. But her legs were irresistable, and he could not
move.

"Let me go you little b.." he began, but his words were cut off in a roar of
pain as her powerful legs constricted yet again.

And this time the effect was devastating. His knees seemed to buckle, and his
face creased with pain. A few moments before, he had been a strong, healthy
man capable of facing anything. Now he was purple-faced, wet with
perspiration, gasping for each breath, and clearly in considerable pain. His
whole body was shaking now as the girl's long legs continued to pour on the
power. She was so strong! Her face was still resolute as her legs continued to
increase their incredible crushing pressure. They were biting so deeply into
his body now that they were visibly compressing his midsection into an almost
hourglass shape.

My mouth fell wide open as I heard the rising volume of his groans and saw his
struggles grow steadily weaker. I couldn't believe it. This 13 year old was
beating him! It was as if she were drawing all the strength out of his body
through her powerful legs.

"Fight!" I shouted to Richter. "Don't be beaten by a kid!"

But there was nothing he was able to do. Brionn's legs were just too strong.
Our only hope was that she would tire, that the effort of beating one large
man and pouring on so much power in her attempt to weaken the other would be
too much for her. But I saw no sign of that in her face. Richter begun to
grunt and moan in pain as the girl's rock-hard legs still continued to tighten
their pressure.

"Aaaauuuuuuuughhhhhh!" Each time she squeezed now, he let out a long cry of
pain. I saw that he could hardly stand. His legs shaking, his knees beginning
to go. I could hear him gasping harshly for breath.

"Plee..." I thought I heard him moan. But his voice was inaudible as Brionn's
muscular legs tightened again. I heard two dull cracks from his chest,
followed by a shriller cry of pain. She was actually breaking his ribs! I
still couldn't take in what this kid was doing to this grown man. She was
literally crushing him into submission!

His face looked terrible now, beginning to loll back on his shoulders.
"Aaaauuuuugghhhhh! He groaned long and deep. The long, sinuous muscles
hardened in Brionn's legs as with a final squeeze, she sent him into
unconsciousness. Richter's legs gave way beneath him and his body crashed to
the floor.

Unwrapping her legs as he fell, Brionn dropped to her feet beside him. She
turned to face me, breathing deeply. I could not take it in. This five foot
three, hundred pound girl had gone head-on against two adult men and defeated
them both!

The girl stared at me hard. "No one tells me what to do here. Now you and John
drag the other guy's body in here." She turned back to Richter and felt
through his pockets producing a pair of handcuffs. Seizing his arms and
pulling them behind his back, she began to fasten his wrists together. He
struggled, managing to regain his feet.

She frowned, took a single step back, then delivered four big punches to his
face and jaw that sent him crashing back to the ground. Once again I was
astounded at how hard her long, angular arms could hit. I could see that she
relished the power as her arms tore into him. She looked down at the six foot
200 pund man. Her fists clenchd, her strong arms poised to deal out still more
punishment should it be necessary. But it wasn't. She seemed almost
disappointed that he had gone down so quickly, bending to apply the handcuffs.

Obeying the girl, John and I went out onto the clearing to tend to the body of
the other warden. He was still lying where Brionn had left him in the long
grass. He was semi-conscious now, but still incapable of standing. Close-up
his face was a complete mess. It took a lot of effort to shift him, but
somehow John and I hauled him back to the cabin.

Both men had their hands tied and were roped together in the side bedroom.
Then Brionn searched through their clothing.

You can't do that!" I said,

Brionn ignored me, producing two bundles of papers. The men struggled against
their bonds as she went through their papers. "Their IDs seem okay," she
said..

"So you're in more trouble." I said.

"No." said she. "I don't think so. Now go make some food up for our guests."

Again I did as I was told, even more in awe of this girl's power than I had
been before.

When I took in their meals, the two men were both fully conscious and sitting
up back to back on the narrow bed. "Aren't you going to help us?" Brown asked.

"How can I?" I said. "You've seen what she can do. She beat up on me too. I
don't dare disobey her. If she can do all that to two big men like you, what
can I do?"

It was a day later that Brionn came up with her solution to the problem of
letting us go.

"It's simple really," she said. "You've now assisted me in holding these two
men prisoner. So you'd share in any guilt. As for these two," she nodded
toward the wardens. "I don't think they'll want to admit being overpowered by
one mere girl. So just leave us here quietly, say nothing, and I'll let you
go."

In the end we agreed. She was right. We would only make ourselves look
hopeless and incompetent if we told the true story of what had happened here.
Brionn gave me the key to the cuffs. I untied the two wardens, and all three
of us walked quietly away back down the mountain.

The two men claimed to have had an accident to account for their injuries. I
just told everyone I'd been trapped by the rising water, and couldn't call in.
The last of my bruises didn't go till four weeks later.