'Walking across country,' whispered Brint, shaking his head as he poured, 'with five Northmen. A girl, you say?'

'That's right.' West frowned, wondering what Cathil was doing right now. Wondering whether she needed help… foolishness, she could look after herself. 'You made it with my letter, then, Lieutenant?' he asked Jalenhorm.

'Some cold and nervous nights on the road,' grinned the big man, 'but I did.'

'Except that it's Captain now,' said Kaspa, sitting back on his stool.

'Is it indeed?'

Jalenhorm shrugged modestly. 'Thanks to you, really. The Lord Marshal put me on his staff when I got back.'

'Though Captain Jalenhorm still finds time to spend with us little people, bless him.' Brint licked his fingertips and started dealing four hands.

'I've no stake, I'm afraid,' muttered West.

Kaspa grinned. 'Don't worry, Colonel, we don't play for money any more. Without Luthar to make poor men of us all, it hardly seemed worth it.'

'He never turned up?'

'They just came and pulled him off the boat. Hoff sent for him. We've heard nothing since.'

'Friends in high places,' said Brint sourly. 'Probably swanning about in Adua on some easy detail, making free with the women while the rest of us are freezing our arses off.'

'Though let's be honest,' threw in Jalenhorm, 'he made free enough with the women even when we were there.'

West frowned. That was all too unfortunately true.

Kaspa scraped his hand up off the table. 'So anyway, we're just playing for honour.'

'Though you'll not find much of that here,' quipped Brint. The other two burst out laughing and Kaspa dribbled booze into his beard. West raised his eyebrows. Clearly they were drunk, and the sooner he joined them the better. He swilled down the next glass and reached for the bottle.

'Well, I'll tell you one thing,' Jalenhorm was saying, sorting his cards with fumbling fingers, 'I'm glad as all hell that I won't have to tell your sister anything for you. I've scarcely slept in weeks for thinking through how I'd go about it, and I still haven't got a thought in my head.'

'You've never yet had a thought in your head,' said Brint, and the other two chortled away again. Even West managed a smile this time, but it didn't last long.

'How was the battle?' asked Jalenhorm.