Arathan arrived. He slipped down from Hellar, intending to follow his father into the tower, but instead he hesitated, feeling a presence nearby. His warhorse’s ears flicked as she caught a sound off to the right – the splash of heavy feet thumping through the mud. Moments later, a huge form appeared: a woman, yet far more massive in girth and height than even Grizzin Farl. Her arms seemed over-long and the hands at the ends of them were huge and battered. Her long hair hung in thick braids, clotted with mud, as if she had fallen only moments earlier. She wore bedraggled furs black as pitch, also mud-stained. As she edged closer, seeming to squint at Arathan, he beheld a broad, flat face, the mouth wide and full-lipped, the eyes buried in puffy slits.

He saw no weapons on her. Nor was she wearing armour. She walked up and reached out, snaring thick fingers under the strap of his helm, and then dragged him close. He strained as she lifted him from the ground to peer into his face. Then, before he began choking, she lowered him down and released him. Saying nothing, she stepped past and made her way into the tower.

Arathan still felt her hard knuckles under his jaw. The muscles of his neck and back throbbed with pain. Fumbling, he unstrapped the helm and dragged it from his head, and then pulled off his leather cap. The rain pelting his head was like ice. He turned and looked out into the city, until Hellar nudged him.

Collecting up the reins, he led his mounts through the doorway.

Within was a single room, at least fifteen paces across. Calaras stood near the wall opposite, and his father had been emptying a bag of feed in front of him. Draconus had turned and straightened with the strange woman’s arrival.

She was divesting herself of her furs near the centre of the room, dropping them to the stone floor around her feet. Beneath them she was naked. ‘Of all your spawn, Suzerain,’ she said in a thin voice, ‘I sensed no madness in this one.’ She looked up with an almost shy glance and added, ‘I trust you killed all the others. A big stone to crush their skulls, and then you wrenched free their heads from their bodies. Dismembered and fed into the fires of the hottest forge. Until nothing but ashes remained.’

‘Kilmandaros,’ said Draconus. ‘You are far from your home.’

She grunted. ‘No one ever visits. For long.’ Her attention swung to Arathan as he edged his horses past her. ‘Is he awakened?’ she asked.

‘No,’ Draconus replied. ‘And yes.’

‘Then you did not save him for me.’

‘Kilmandaros, we met your husband upon the trail.’

‘And my son, too, I expect. With that wretched friend of his, who did what you asked of him.’

To that Draconus said nothing, turning instead to his son. ‘Arathan, ready us a small fire when you are done with your horses. There is fuel against the wall to your left.’