‘Not quite, my dear,’ Bauchelain said. ‘Firstly, the creature that attacked us was not a demon – you can take my word on such matters for demons are entities I happen to know very well indeed. We were most viciously set upon, however, as you surmise. Whilst we were preoccupied with this barrow. Had not Buke alerted us, we might well have sustained even further damage to our accoutrements, not to mention our less capable companions.’

‘So,’ Gruntle cut in, ‘if not a demon, then what was it?’

‘Ah, a question not easily answered, Captain. Undead, most certainly. Commanded by a distant master, and formidable in the extreme. Korbal and I were perforce required to unleash the full host of our servants to fend the apparition off, nor did the subsequent pursuit yield us any profit. Indeed, the loss of a good many of those servants was incurred, upon the appearance of two more of the undead hunters. And while the trio have been driven off, the relief is but temporary. They will attack again, and if they have gathered in greater numbers, we might well – all of us – be sorely tested.’

‘If I may,’ Gruntle said, ‘I would like to speak in private with my master, and with Hetan, here.’

Bauchelain tilted his head. ‘By all means. Come, Korbal and companions, let us survey the full damage to our hapless carriage.’

Taking Hetan’s arm, Gruntle led her to where Harllo and Stonny waited beside Keruli’s carriage. Cafal and Netok followed.

‘They have enslaved our soul-kin,’ Hetan hissed, her eyes like fanned coals. ‘I will kill them – kill them all!’

‘And die before you close a single step,’ Gruntle snapped. ‘These are sorcerers, Hetan. Worse, they’re necromancers. Korbal practises the art of the undead. Bauchelain’s is demonic summoning. The two sides of the skull-faced coin. Hood-cursed and foul ... and deadly. Do you understand me? Don’t even think of trying them.’

Keruli’s voice emerged from the carriage, ‘Even more poignantly, my friends, very soon, I fear, we will have need of those terrible men and their formidable powers.’

Gruntle turned with a scowl. The door’s window shutter had been opened to a thin slit. ‘What are these undead hunters, master? Do you know?’

There was a long pause before Keruli responded. ‘I have ... suspicions. In any case, they are spinning threads of power across this land, like a web, from which they can sense any tremor. We cannot pass undetected—’

‘Then let us turn round,’ Stonny snapped. ‘Now, before it’s too late.’

‘But it already is,’ Keruli replied. ‘These undead servants continue to cross the river from the southlands, all in service to the Pannion Seer. They range ever closer to Saltoan. Indeed, I believe there are now more of them behind us than between here and Capustan.’

Hood-damned convenient, Master Keruli.

‘We must,’ the man within the carriage continued, ‘fashion a temporary alliance with these necromancers – until we reach Capustan.’