The two women fell silent. The duels down by the fire were coming fast and with a ferocity that had begun drawing more and more Barghast onlookers. Picker grunted, watching another warrior go down with a rival’s knife in his throat. If this keeps up, they’ll have to start building a new barrow tomorrow. Then again, they might do that anyway – a barrow for the Bridgeburners. She looked around, picking out solitary Bridgeburners among the crowds of natives. Discipline had crumbled. That fast surge of hope at the news that Trotts would live had sunk just as fast with the rumour that the Barghast might kill them all anyway – out of spite.

‘The air feels ... strange,’ Blend said.

Aye . . . as if the night itself was aflame . . . as if we’re in the heart of an unseen firestorm. The tores on Picker’s arms were hot and slowly getting hotter. I’m about due for another dousing in that water barrel – shortlived relief, but at least it’s something.

‘Remember that night in Blackdog?’ Blend continued in a low voice. ‘That retreat...”

Stumbling onto a Rhivi Burn Ground . . . malign spirits rising up out of the ashes . . . ‘Aye, Blend, I remember well enough.’ And if that wing of Black Moranth hadn’t spied us and come down to pull us up . . .

‘Feels the same, Picker. We’ve got spirits loosed.’

‘Not the big ones – these are ancestors we’ve got gathering. If it was the big ones our hair’d be standing on end.’

‘True. So where are they? Where are the nastiest of the Barghast spirits?’

‘Somewhere else, obviously. With Oponn’s luck, they won’t show up tomorrow.’

‘You’d think they would. You’d think they’d not want to miss something like this.’

‘Try thinking pleasant thoughts for a change, Blend. Hood’s breath!’

‘I was just wondering,’ the woman shrugged. ‘Anyway,’ she continued, rising, ‘I think I’m going to wander for a while. See what I can pick up.’

‘You understand Barghast?’

‘No, but sometimes the most telling communication doesn’t use words.’

‘You’re as bad as the rest, Blend. Likely our last night among the living, and off you go.’

‘But that’s the whole point, isn’t it?’

Picker watched her friend slip away into the shadows. Damned woman ... got me sitting here more miserable than before. How do I know where the serious Barghast spirits are? Maybe they’re just waiting behind some hill. Ready to jump out tomorrow morning and scare us all shitless. And how do I know what that Barghast warchief’s going to decide tomorrow? A pat on the head or a knife across the throat?

Spindle pushed through the crowd and approached. The stench of burned hair hung around him like a second cloak and his expression was grim. He crouched down before her. ‘It’s going bad, Corporal.’

‘That’s a change,’ she snapped. ‘What is?’