He nodded. ‘I have checked. Our only reliable source of grain the last few years has been Egypt, ever since the Turks occupied so much of Anatolia. But the route is precarious. If I had a map—’

‘Just tell us, man,’ Arnuwanda said.

‘Once the grain was brought across the sea to Ura, which is a port on the south coast of Anatolia, and then overland to New Hattusa and elsewhere. The pirates’ activities and the Turks’ raids made that too hazardous. Even the Carthaginians have been roaming our waters. So now it is brought overland to Ugarit, which is to the north of Judea, and then by sea the short crossing to Ura. It is a tenuous chain—’

‘And too easily broken,’ Hastayar said.

‘Yes, majesty. Also – the Carthaginians, again. They’re outbidding us for the Egyptian grain. Of course it’s safer for the Egyptian merchants to ship it overland through Africa to Carthage, than over the sea to us.’

‘The Carthaginians!’ Arnuwanda snapped. ‘To think it’s not long since we fought alongside those scum and the Muslims to keep the Mongols out of Egypt. Curse them to the Dark Earth!’

Himuili said frankly, ‘My feeling is that they seek to use the opportunity of these bleak winters to bring us down.’

‘Starving us out!’ Arnuwanda made an involuntary crossed-wrists sign, the sign of Jesus’ palm leaves. ‘What a foul way to wage war.’

The Tawananna said coldly, ‘The point is, gentlemen, we must look beyond these emergency measures and decide what to do next. By we I mean the Hatti as a people. And by next I mean in the coming year, or two years or five years. The Father of the Churches is begging Judas Telipinu to be more forgiving with the sun and the rain,’ and Angulli suppressed a belch in response, ‘but with all due respect we cannot rely on that happening. Must we sit here and freeze and starve, while fending off the Rus and the Scand and the Pechenegs and whoever next comes walking down from the north?’ She counted the points on her hand. ‘Rationing wasn’t enough. Kicking people out wasn’t enough. We can’t rely on the Egyptian grain, our last staple. What then?’

Arnuwanda studied her warily. ‘I know you, Aunt. When I was a boy you played tougher games with me than my father did, and he was a seasoned soldier. I still have the scars . . . You have a plan, don’t you? Something bold, something outrageous—’

‘Something you would never have thought of, that’s for sure. Or my much-lamented husband. But it’s actually a plan brought to me by another. General?’

Himuili looked embarrassed for once, as the eyes of the elevated company turned to him, and Kassu understood for the first time why he had been summoned back from the Simoeis. ‘It’s my plan, of sorts. It’s this. New Hattusa is becoming increasingly unviable.’

‘Yes, yes,’ Arnuwanda said. ‘So?’