‘Well done, Drem, my lad. We have a fast learner, here,’ Cullen called up the steps, slapping him on the back. ‘But you are my cousin, after all, so I’m not surprised.’

Cousin? I’ve never been spoken of as kin to anyone before, except my da.

‘Cousin,’ Drem repeated, liking the sound of it.

‘Blood doesn’t help in the sword dance,’ Sig said, ‘there are no short cuts; it’s dedication, day in, day out. That’s all.’

Drem had snatched memories of Cullen riding into the yard with a spear in his fist, the clash of steel as he fought. He was shorter than Drem, slimmer-framed, though Drem recognized the whip-cord strength in him that he often saw in trappers.

Living in the Wild hones a man, his da had often said to him. Body and mind.

Living at Dun Seren must do something similar, then.

‘Ignore her,’ Cullen whispered, ‘she’s too serious by far. You are Byrne’s sister son, descended from Cywen, sister to Corban, so you have royal blood in your veins.’

Drem paused on the step at that. His da had never told him of his lineage past his mam, only that he was blood-related to Byrne.

‘Royal?’

‘Well, as good as, if you’re a resident of Dun Seren.’

‘And who are you descended from, to be my cousin?’

Cullen’s chest swelled a little. ‘Corban and Coralen are my great-grandparents,’ he said.

Drem blinked at that.

Corban. He looked at Cullen with fresh eyes.

‘Enough of that,’ Sig said from Drem’s smashed doorway. ‘We need to talk.’

They all settled onto stools or chairs around Drem’s hearth. Sig sat on the floor, her legs taking up half the room.

‘We came because of your message,’ Sig said to him once Cullen had put hot bowls of porridge and steaming tea in all their hands.

‘You asked me to come, if my friendship with Olin meant anything to me after so many years. A fair question. And here is your answer,’ she said, spreading her hands, as if to say: We came.

‘First I must tell you that Byrne wishes she were here. She very nearly came, it was I and her captains who dissuaded her of it. Strange things are happening in the Banished Lands, the scent of war with the Kadoshim in the air and Byrne is the high captain of the Order of the Bright Star. She could not abandon her post at such a dangerous time. But she asked me to tell you that she has thought of you every single day, from the moment that Olin took you from Dun Seren until now, that she searched for you and would have fought the Ben-Elim to keep you free.’

‘My da knew that,’ Drem said, ‘which is why he took me. To avert a war.’