Dion examined it with both hands. It was sleek, made of alternating pieces of wood and horn, expertly spliced with the connections so tight they felt completely smooth when he ran his fingers along the bow’s length. It curved back on itself at both ends and was as long as a tall man’s stride.

‘It’s beautiful,’ Dion said, testing the draw. He had never owned anything so costly, nor held a bow so well made.

‘I told the bowyer you spend a lot of time at sea and he took that into account in the construction. The string is silk – he said sinew or hide wouldn’t deal well with the moisture. The different pieces are glued with gelatin from Sarsica and bound with deer gut.’

‘Nikolas . . . How can I thank—?’

‘I hope it serves you well,’ Markos said. The old king had been frowning as he watched the exchange, and now he spoke for the first time. ‘You’re fortunate your brother is persuasive, Dion, for it cost as much as a set of armor.’ He harrumphed. ‘You have the offering for the Oracle at Athos?’

‘Yes, Father.’

‘If you end up crossing the sea, whatever you do,’ Thea said, ‘don’t go near Cinder Fen. And remember, we want peace with the sun king.’

‘Peace isn’t always possible,’ King Markos said.

Casting his eyes back down to the shore, Dion saw that his crew was inside the large sailing vessel and waiting, with the youth Riko waist deep in water as he held the bobbing ship, fighting the tossing back and forth of the waves.

‘I’d best go,’ Dion said to them all.

His mother embraced him again, and then, unstringing the bow and sheathing the weapon in its leather cover, he said goodbye to the assembled group.

He sensed their eyes on his back as he walked to the water and waded in, handing the packet up to Cob and then throwing his body over the gunwale to jump inside. The sail went up and the oars started moving in their slots.

Finally looking back at the bank, he saw that his father, brother, and Helena had left, with his mother the only one still waiting to see him go. He waved at her one last time, and wondered when he would next see her again.

Then Cob asked Dion if he wanted to take a turn at the tiller, and he forgot all about his family as the fresh wind sent a mist of spray against his cheeks.