‘Been meaning to talk to you anyway,’ I say, thinking this is an opportunity. ‘I know Master Tóla doesn’t want the whole district knowing about this. But it doesn’t make sense to keep working with only Bardán and me and a bit of help here and there. We’ll be putting the crossbeams up soon. Can’t do it without a crew. I know you and Conn and the farm lads can’t leave your work for a longish stretch. We’ll need to get in some fellows from Winterfalls settlement. Give me a few days’ warning and I can get you six good workers.’

‘He didn’t agree to that when you suggested it before,’ says Gormán. ‘And he won’t now.’

‘No wonder it never got finished, first time around,’ I say.

‘First time around, we had a crew,’ Gormán says. ‘If Bardán here hadn’t run off in the middle of the job, the house would have been built years ago.’

‘Ran off. Fell down,’ murmurs Bardán. ‘Way down. Down into the dark. No way back . . .’

‘So, will you ask him?’ I keep an eye on the wild man. Hoping he won’t fall back into his nightmare. He was starting to come good when I was telling the story. ‘The master? Ask him if we can have a few fellows from the settlement to help. We can tell them not to talk about the job when they get back home.’ Soon as I’ve said this, I think it wouldn’t work, not with the hour’s ride each way. They’d have to come up to Wolf Glen and stay till the job’s done, and Master Tóla’s never going to agree to that.

‘I can ask,’ says Gormán.

I hear what he’s not saying. But it’s pointless. He doesn’t like strangers at Wolf Glen. Sounds like Master Tóla’s his own worst enemy. ‘Tell him it’s not safe to put the beams up without a proper crew. Doesn’t matter how much silver he’s offering. A good man doesn’t put his workers at risk.’ I think of an argument Master Tóla might listen to. ‘Heartwood house is supposed to be lucky, isn’t it? How lucky will it be if some poor sod’s died in the making of it, all because the master had his own way of doing things?’

Gormán nods. ‘He won’t have workers from Winterfalls here,’ he says. ‘But I’ll tell him what you said.’

‘Good. And now we’ll get back to work, Bardán and me.’ I take a breath, then I say, ‘You and Conn. Been working together a while?’

‘A while, yes.’

‘Don’t you tell tales and sing songs, help you through a job?’