It looked like a slab of rock, black and pitted. It was roughly the length of his forearm, loosely shaped like a teardrop, cold to the touch. As Drem tried to pull it free of the soil around it, he realized it was heavy, much heavier than he would have expected of a slab of granite, or iron ore of a similar size.

Feet thumped to the ground beside him as Olin joined him.

‘What is it?’ his da asked again.

‘You remember I hit something hard when I was digging the pit – you called it the mountain’s roots,’ Drem said.

‘Aye. It was a joke,’ Olin muttered.

‘I think this is what I hit. The bear’s claws have raked around it, dug it free.’ Drem shuffled aside to show his da, who crouched down and reached out to touch the rock. He pulled his hand away, hissing as if he’d been burned or bitten.

‘What’s wrong?’ Drem asked.

Olin looked pale. ‘Get me my shovel,’ he said.

CHAPTER FIVE: SIG

CHAPTER FIVE

SIG

Sig sat in her saddle, hunched over from the rain, and stared into the darkness. Beneath her, Hammer shifted her huge paws and gave a low, grumbling growl, more a vibration in the great bear’s belly that shivered up through Sig’s bones than an audible sound. Horses whinnied and stamped, no doubt unsettled by the great mass of muscle and teeth that they were standing with, too close for their liking.

It is not so easy for a giant such as I to stay hidden, but silence is at the heart of it, and I am making a better job of it than they are!

Sig frowned admonishingly down at the men gathered about her, even if the closest rider to her was Elgin, Battlechief of Ardain. He looked old to her in the darkness, deep lines in his face, though his straight back and the strength of his grip when she had arrived had told her all she needed to know.

It is not the first time we have hunted and fought together. Not many that I’d trust at my side beyond my sword-kin, but he is one of them.

Once this would have been unthinkable to her: a giant of the Jotun Clan, standing amongst the race of men in companionable silence. But now the giant Clans were reunited, and peace had been made with mankind.

Although the Banished Lands are not yet at peace.

‘How much longer,’ Sig heard someone whisper, a bodiless voice in the gloom.

‘Whisht,’ Elgin silenced the voice.

Sig sniffed the air and looked up at the sky, though there was naught to see except darkness and the sensation of rainpatter upon her face.

It is always darkest before the dawn.