Sent

In SENT, Guilda, a genetically engineered young woman, is sent two thousand years into the past to Iron Age Scotland in hopes of increasing the quality of the gene pool. Several others have been sent, but no one knows if they survived the journey. In order to function in the Celtic culture in which she finds herself, Guilda must rely on skills ranging from herbal medicine to martial arts. While planning how to avoid attacks of the Vikings, Guilda becomes suspicious that a Roman invasion may be imminent, indicating that she has been sent several hundred years farther back in time than had been planned.

To Guilda's dismay she discovers that Ceber, the Celtic chieftain with whom she is in love, is still claimed by the daughter of a neighboring chieftain. She and Ceber were together in a trial "marriage" or "handfest" that could be dissolved within a year by either party if the woman was not pregnant or if no child had been born. In order to heal her wounded pride, the almost savage Dilcheada challenges Guilda to a death match, confident that her expertise with a whip can cut the newcomer to ribbons.