Pliska, the capital of the Bulgar khan, was a ride of three hundred miles to the north and west, their escort leader told them in mangled Greek. Ten days in the saddle – which was enough to provoke groans of protest from at least one of the Byzantine party. But they were all resolved to go on.

They travelled fast and rested little. At first the weather was grim – wet skies, waterlogged ground – although they soon came onto a road, which was solid under hoof and well drained. Davit, who seemed to have developed a grudging respect for Erlan after their close shave with the Arab lancers, told him it had been an old military road of the empire. After four days on it, they crossed into Bulgar territory.

‘This was all part of the empire not forty years ago,’ Davit explained. ‘Then the Bulgars crossed the Danubius around the time the first Arab siege was ending. They won a quick victory against Constantine Augustus and instead of prolonging the fighting he cut his losses and made a treaty with them. And here they settled.’

Erlan was curious where they had come from. They certainly didn’t look like any folk he’d ever seen.

‘Best I know of it, they rode in from lands north-east of the Friendly Sea. Out of the steppes beyond the Khazar kingdom that roll on forever to the dawn-lands.’ Davit dropped his voice. ‘Anyhow – they’re as contrary a pack of mongrels as God, in his infinite mystery, saw fit to make. They’d sell their own mothers for a skin of wine.’

‘That sounds damn sensible if you ask me,’ observed Einar.

‘They’re nomads then?’ asked Erlan, still eager to know what kind of people they were dealing with.

‘Hard to say. They were – till they crossed the Danubius and liked what they saw. Since then they’ve been throwing down a few crops, staying put for a while. But I heard even their towns are more like big herding grounds.’

As they journeyed north, the rain relented and the sun broke through the dreary clouds and touched the land. It was quite serene. The hills were low and rolling, sometimes capped with limestone bluffs, and divided by wide, shallow valleys filled with green pasturelands or birch woods that snagged shards of sunlight making them glitter like silver. Easy country for herding, and coming into a thick crop of grass.