‘A thousand, roughly. Half of that White-Wings. Our plan was to meet with a force of the Bright Star, marching east from their fortress of Dun Seren, and assault the Kadoshim’s new lair together. We marched north-east, made slow progress the further we travelled. Forn can be a dark and dangerous place, well suited to the hiding of demons, which is why we have spent a hundred years building roads and thinning the trees. But this part of Forn, well, we hadn’t given it our attention at that time, so the trees were ancient, their canopy a lattice of limbs wide as my leg, and the paths thick with thorn and vine. And rivers were many, draining from Forn into the Grinding Sea. It was hard going. Until we came to a well-trod path – a road almost, the ground cleared and levelled, wide enough to march upon. We thought it the Kadoshim’s, cleared by them as they carried materials for the building of their lair. The Ben-Elim could not scout well, hindered by the dense canopy, but what they saw they deemed safe. We guessed the Kadoshim believed themselves secure that far north, hidden by the warp and weft of Forn.’

His mouth twisted in a snarl.

‘We guessed wrong. It was a salmon trap.’

‘A what?’ Bleda and Jin asked together.

‘When you fish for salmon, the easiest way to catch them is you build an easier path for them to follow, steering them into safe waters, or so they think. But it leads to nowhere, and when they are piled up in their road to nowhere like cattle in a pen . . .’ He snapped his fingers, a loud crack when it is made by giant fingers.

‘We were late to our meeting point, you understand. Which saved us, I don’t doubt. We heard the screams, the sound of battle, ringing out through the forest. I ran, because I knew it was the Order, and had both kin and friends amongst them. Balur ran with me, all the giants did, but the Ben-Elim and White-Wings, they were more cautious, fearing an ambush. Sensible, as that’s what happened, but sometimes you just listen to your heart. The Ben-Elim were none too happy about that, I heard afterwards.’

‘Did the Ben-Elim punish you for your disobedience?’ Bleda asked, knowing that Israfil came down like a hammer on the smallest transgressions at Drassil. Part of the Way of Elyon, as were all the imposed rules of the Ben-Elim.

‘Disobedience?’ Alcyon frowned.

‘The Ben-Elim are your masters, and you ran off and abandoned them, disobeyed their order to stay with them.’

‘The Ben-Elim are not master to us giants.’ Alcyon scowled. ‘We are allies. Drassil is our home, built by giants. We agreed for the Ben-Elim to reside here. They are our guests.’

‘Seems they are the ones giving all of the orders,’ Jin said.