'Shit,' gasped the Dogman as his feet left the ground. He could feel his arse scraping the stone, but still he clung on, hands tight round the Thrall's neck, stopping him getting a good breath. He went up another inch, felt his head forced back, almost more weight on the wrong side of the parapet than the right.

'Over you go, you fucker!' croaked the Thrall, working his chin away from Dogman's hands and pushing him a touch further, 'over you—' His eyes went wide. He stumbled back, a shaft sticking out of his side. 'Oh, I don't—' Another thumped into his neck and he lurched a step, would've fallen off the back of the wall if the Dogman hadn't grabbed his arm and dragged him down onto the walkway, held him there while he slobbered his last breaths.

When he was finished, Dogman rolled up and stood bent over the corpse, breathing. Grim hurried over, taking a good look around to make sure no one else was likely to happen by. 'Alright?'

'Just once. Just once I'd like to get the help before I'm at the point o' getting killed.'

'Better'n after.' The Dogman had to admit there was some truth to that. He watched Dow pull himself over the battlements and roll down onto the walkway. The Thrall Dogman had stabbed was still breathing, just about, sat near the grapple. Dow chopped a piece out of his skull with his axe as he walked past, careless as if he was chopping logs.

He shook his head. 'I leave the two o' you alone for ten breaths together and look what happens. Two dead men, eh?' Dow leaned down, stuck two fingers in one of the holes Dogman's knife had made, pulled them out and smeared blood across one side of his face. He grinned up. 'What do you reckon we can do with two dead men?'

The Feared seemed to fill the circle, one half bare and blue, the other cased in black iron, a monster torn free from legends. There was nowhere to hide from his great fists, nowhere to hide from the fear of him. Shields rattled and clashed, men roared and bellowed, a sea of blurred faces twisted with mad fury.

Logen crept around the edge of the short grass, trying to keep light on his feet. He might've been smaller, but he was quicker, cleverer. At least he hoped he was. He had to be, or he was mud. Keep moving, rolling, ducking, stay out of the way and pick his moment. Above all, don't get hit. Not getting hit was the first thing.

The giant came at him out of nowhere, his great tattooed fist a blue blur. Logen threw himself out of the way but it still grazed his cheek and caught his shoulder, sent him stumbling. So much for not getting hit. A shield, and not a friendly one, shoved him in the back and he lurched the other way, head whipping forward. He pitched on his face, nearly cut himself on his own sword, rolled desperately to the side and saw the Feared's huge boot thud into the ground, soil flying where his skull had been a moment before.