A few hardy fellows clad in the heavy furs of mountain men looked at him with drink-fuddled eyes. The store owner, a tall, stooped man with lank hair, turned and began stacking bottles of preserves on the rough wooden shelving. There were no other customers.

One of the trappers, a huge man, loomed over him. Felix could see the particles of grease stuck in his beard. When he opened his mouth to speak, the smell of cheap brandy overwhelmed even the odour of the rancid bear fat which the trappers covered themselves with against the cold. Felix winced.

“Hey, Hef, I think we got a city boy here,” the trapper said. “He speaks right nice.”

The one called Hef looked up from the table against which he had pinned the struggling girl.

“Aye, Lars, right pretty he talks, and all that nice golden hair, like cornstalks. Could almost take him for a girl himself.”

“When I come off the mountains anything looks good. I tell you what: you take the girl. I’ll have this pretty boy.”

Felix felt his face flush. He was getting angry. He hid his anger with a smile. He wanted to avoid trouble if he could. “Come on, gentlemen, there’s no need for this. Let me buy you all a drink.”

Lars turned to Hef. The third mountain man guffawed. “He has money too. My luck’s in tonight!”

Hef smirked. Felix looked around desperately as the big man advanced on him. Damn, where was Gotrek? Why was the dwarf never around when a man needed him? He turned to face Lars. “All right, I’m sorry I interfered. I’ll just leave you gentlemen to it.”

He saw Lars relax somewhat, letting down his guard as he advanced. Felix let him come closer. He watched the trapper spread his arms as if he were about to hug him. Felix suddenly jabbed his knee hard into Lars’s groin. With a whoosh like a blacksmith’s bellows, all of the air ran out of the big man. He doubled over with a whimper. Felix grabbed his beard and pulled the man’s head down to meet his knee.

He heard teeth break, and the trapper’s head snapped backwards. Lars fell on the floor gasping for breath and clutching at his groin.

“What in the name of Taal?” Hef said. The big trapper lashed out at Felix and the force of the blow sent him reeling across the room into a table.