‘Where do you want them?’ I ask, loading the first sack onto my back. ‘Up there?’ I hope the answer’s no, though if it was me, I’d be storing my flour upstairs out of the damp.

‘I will carry them up later,’ Branoc says, surprising me – who’d want to be clambering up and down that flimsy ladder with a weight over his shoulder, if he had someone to do the job for him? ‘Place them by the wall, there, and be sure to stack them neatly.’ He takes the ladder down and carries it outside. Helpful, since that’ll make it easier for me to get the full bags over to the spot where he wants them.

I’m used to being treated like I’m nothing, so I keep my mouth shut and get on with the job. Branoc – a foreigner, I’m guessing, not only from his name but from the way he talks – watches me for a while, not offering to help. After a bit he wanders off to do something across the yard, and I keep carrying one sack after another into the barn. It’s a lot of flour. With luck it’ll be a while before I need to come back.

I finish off, making sure the sacks are lined up straight, grabbing a broom to tidy up after myself. Don’t want any fuss about the payment, which I’m supposed to collect for Scannal. While I’m doing this I hear a few noises from upstairs, clunks and scrapes, and when Branoc comes back over I say, trying to be friendly, ‘Should bring you a cat next time.’

He gives me a narrow-eyed look. ‘A cat? Why would you do this?’

‘You got rats up there. Heard them running around. Big store of flour, you wouldn’t want it spoiled.’

‘Your work is finished, yes?’

‘Mm-hm.’ I get myself out of the barn. I’ve annoyed him, not sure why. But some men don’t need a reason to get angry. I know that better than most. ‘I’ll be on my way, then.’ I fiddle with the horses’ harness, waiting for him to give me the money. All he does is shut the barn door and shove the bolts across. ‘Scannal asked me to collect his payment,’ I say when he’s done it.

He stomps off to the house. I hope he’s fetching what’s due. While he’s away I get the horses and cart all ready to go. Hoping I won’t have to hammer on the fellow’s door and demand the money. Hoping I won’t get into a fight. Thinking about Blackthorn and the cottage and the garden, and knowing I can’t get angry or I might lose everything.