They formed up on the meadow beyond the woods, gathering up any who had survived the Kadoshim attack in the woods, of which there were at least a score. Corban searched out Brina. She and Cywen were tending the wounded. Three Jehar and a young giant had died and were laid out on the grass, having cairns piled around them. Brina was applying a salve to the shoulder of the woman whom Coralen had saved. She was grimacing with pain; her child, a girl of seven or eight summers sat silently in the grass beside her. She was plucking meadow flowers, twirling them between dirty fingers.

Corban knelt beside the woman.

‘What is your name?’

‘Teca,’ the woman said.

‘Where are you from, Teca?’ Corban asked her.

She stared at him. ‘You helped me. You and the girl, red hair.’

‘You had a lot more help than just us two,’ he said. ‘I need to know, where are you from?’

She told him of her village, of a host of the Kadoshim arriving, led by a warrior riding upon a great draig.

‘Some stayed and fought. I ran,’ she said. Tears welled in her eyes.

‘You were wise to.’ Corban gripped her hand. ‘There is no standing against them yet. Did they all chase after you, are they close behind?’

‘I don’t know,’ she breathed through clenched lips as Brina bound a strip of linen about her shoulder.

‘Would you come with me, please?’ Corban asked Brina when she was done.

‘What for?’

‘I wanted to talk to you about something. And I’m about to make a decision: I’d value your advice.’

She blinked at him. ‘Do you have a fever?’ she asked him.

‘Sarcasm isn’t an attractive quality, and it’s also not very helpful.’

She shrugged and followed him, the sound of flapping wings accompanying them.

Corban gathered up what was becoming his war council: Meical, Balur and Ethlinn, Tukul, Gar and Brina. He noticed Cywen had also joined them. Craf and Fech were nearby.

He felt the familiar tingle of fear. I am making plans, changing plans, and people’s lives will depend on my choices. The weight of that was huge. He closed his eyes and gathered his thoughts.

‘The plan has to change,’ he said to them. ‘Calidus, Nathair and a host of the Kadoshim are behind us, to the north. At best they are a day’s ride away, at worst . . .’ He shrugged, looking at the dark wall of trees behind them.

‘And what about Rhin’s warband?’ Meical asked him.

He paused. When I speak it, there’s no going back. Took a deep breath. ‘Can’t go around, so we’ll have to go through them.’

‘Is that wise?’ Brina said. ‘You risk being ensnared with one foe while another gets to stab you in the back.’

I asked her for advice, not criticism. Though the two are often entwined where Brina is concerned.