So I have the manpower to finish this. Lykos felt a worm of worry burrowing through his belly. He was overstretched and he knew it. He’d sent a fleet north-west at Calidus’ request: fifty ships, including a score of transporters for horses and wains, all under the command of Alazon. Calidus had not expressly ordered Lykos to sail with the fleet, although he knew it had been presumed. But for Lykos only one thing dominated his mind, filling it, which was why he was here now.

Fidele. He had never felt like this about a woman before, always took what he wanted, with rarely a second thought. No doubt he had enough bastards scattered about the Three Islands to one day crew a galley. But Fidele was different. She’s the only one who’s stabbed me, for a start. He chuckled to himself, Kolai glancing at him. I will have her back.

Besides, this rebellion needed to be crushed before it spread. Peritus is in Ripa and so he has Lamar’s backing, and Lamar commands the largest warband in Tenebral after my own.

And he did not want Calidus finding out what level this rebellion had escalated to, at least not until after Lykos had dealt with it.

The road steepened and he saw the tower looming above him, black gates closed before it. The walls bristled with men and iron. No matter. A fortress is only as strong as its weakest man. Bodies were thicker upon the ground now, and to his annoyance Lykos saw a number of Vin Thalun faces amongst the dead. He paused again, turning; his position gave a fine view of the surrounding countryside. To the north and west the forest of Sarva stretched, a green, undulating ocean of bough and leaf. In its fringes a hill reared, broken walls and towers jagged on the horizon. Balara, the giant ruin. He had been there only yester-eve, making sure that his secret was guarded and safe.

Not so secret now, since Fidele and Maquin saw them. He had considered sending his giants back to Pelset, but decided in the end that keeping them close was the safest answer. He faced the tower and gates, stepped over the last of the dead that clogged the road and walked on a dozen paces, stopping within hailing distance of the barred gates.

‘Close enough for a good spear throw from their wall,’ Kolai observed.

Lykos shrugged. He was more careful since his injury, but some things smacked of cowardice, and he had not become Lord of the Vin Thalun by being a coward. Or by being cautious.