She held his gaze a long moment, giving her words time to settle into him.

‘Then I shall go where you go. Fight or freedom, either way.’ he shrugged. ‘Though freedom is the logical choice.’

Sig smiled at him.

‘To ask you to walk back to that hell-hole, quite possibly to fight and die.’ She thought about that and shrugged. ‘Probably, not possibly. No, I will not ask you to do that. We came to help you, not march you to your grave.’

‘I could scout this mine out, with Fen,’ Keld said. ‘Don’t doubt Drem’s account, but some eyes on the place in daylight would give us a better idea, more solid ground for Byrne to make a decision on.’

Sig looked at him thoughtfully.

‘I could send Drem back with Cullen and Rab,’ Sig said, ‘and come with you.’

‘You’ll not get to have all the fun while I walk back to Dun Seren,’ Cullen muttered sullenly.

That mine is not what I call fun.

There was the sound of hooves in the yard, all of them standing, reaching for weapons, then a strangled cry, high-pitched, a woman.

Drem burst onto the porch behind Sig and Keld, saw a woman upon a dun horse. She was as pale as death, staring wide-eyed at the bear Hammer as it lumbered out of the trees to the north.

‘Dear Elyon above, it’s going to eat us!’ the woman shrieked.

‘Hold, Hammer,’ Sig shouted and the bear stopped.

Drem ran forwards, recognizing the woman as Tyna, Ulf the tanner’s wife. She looked as if she was going to faint at the sight of Sig.

‘What is it, Tyna?’ Drem asked. ‘What’s wrong?’ Why are you here?’

‘I’m worried about my Ulf,’ she said. ‘Listening to you and your talk of Kadoshim, I told him he should have a look at that mine, just for some piece of mind.’

‘He didn’t go, did he?’ Drem asked.

‘Of course he did, and he took my three boys with him, amongst a dozen others. Went off yesterday morning, and he’s still not back.’

Drem shared a look with Sig, Keld and Cullen.

More fodder for the Kadoshim to mutilate and transform. Not Ulf.

‘We’ll go and take a look.’ Sig nodded.

‘Well, it would have been a shame to come such a long way for just one little fight,’ Cullen said.

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE: RIV

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

RIV

‘Water,’ Riv whispered, breath like a rasp in her throat, scraping her flesh raw. It was dark, the sound of rain, pounding and hissing against stone, a torch flaring bright, though she could just about manage to keep her eyes open now without the sensation of sharp, sliver-thin knives stabbing into the back of her brain and scraping upon the inside of her skull.

That’s progress.