Erlan had never much liked the sea but in spite of that, he felt calm. When he thought back over the vast distances they had journeyed, the endless forests and plains, the apparently never-ending rivers that had now ended, to be here on the open sea seemed nothing short of a marvel. The horizon whispered with promise. Miklagard – or Byzantium as he now thought of it – the king of kings, the unbinding of the Witch King’s curse. Disparate things perhaps, and yet they all seemed to weave together in his head into one desire. Into one destiny.

Yet even as his own spirit felt buoyed with these thoughts, he noticed something had set the crew on edge. He asked Ramedios about it. ‘It’s this coastline,’ the captain explained. ‘It is dangerous. Peiratés.’

Thieves of the sea.

The same unease settled on the slaves who, till then, had been docile as cattle. There were nearly three dozen of them, about half were women and children, and all cramped into a space that would not have served even half a dozen oxen. The men were chained neck and wrist to benches below the deck and when the wind slackened or took against them, they were forced to row. One night some of them wouldn’t settle and took to wailing, keeping the crew awake. Soon enough the slave-master had silenced them with his whip.

But maybe these poor souls possessed the far sight, because next break of dawn the lookout cried alarm.

The crew on duty rushed to the steer-board rail. Erlan prodded Leikr awake. Before the boy had rubbed his eyes, the hull was groaning as the helmsman swung the bows eastward away from shore. It was a few seconds before Erlan saw it, coming round astern now – a sail black as a raven’s wing on the distant rollers.

‘Well, Northman.’ Ramedios’s dry rasp sounded at his shoulder. ‘Time for you to pay your passage.’

The black sail drew closer all morning. Had the helmsman had the sea-craft of Thor himself, it would’ve made no difference; they were bound to be caught. At least the crew was ready, and Ramedios was ready, seeming all the calmer as he yelled orders up and down the ship.

‘Stay close to me,’ Erlan told Leikr. ‘Back to back if you can.’ The prospect of a fight had at least focused the boy’s attention. Some life had come back into his eyes, some fire in his blood.

‘Will there be many?’

‘I don’t know. But use those long arms of yours. None of ’em will be as tall as you.’

Erlan untied Aska. He had no idea how the dog would fare if it came to a fight but he figured he stood a better chance unleashed.