‘West, then,’ Brina said.

‘West is Cambren and Domhain. What is there for us?’

‘Nothing,’ said Brina, ‘but I’m going through the options.’

‘So what does that leave?’

‘East,’ Brina said.

‘And what is east? The Darkwood, then marshlands.’

‘Drassil is east,’ Meical said.

Corban looked at him.

‘He’s right,’ Brina added. ‘Much further east, granted. But you’ve just said we can’t go south, north or west.’

‘And what of Edana?’

‘Even if we could break through those ahead of us,’ Gar said, ‘and I for one am happy to try, and avoid those behind, they would be on our trail, would follow us straight to Edana.’

‘Would Nathair and Calidus not follow us to Drassil?’

‘Perhaps,’ Meical said. ‘Though somehow I doubt it. I suspect that Calidus’ focus is elsewhere.’

‘What do you mean?’ Corban asked.

‘If he wanted to bring us to battle, he could have. They are not so far behind us, could have caught us with a handful of forced marches.’

‘Then why hasn’t he?’

‘I cannot say, for sure, but I suspect he is fixated upon the cauldron. To catch us he would have to leave it behind, under a smaller guard.’ Meical shrugged. ‘I am guessing, but I do not think they would be as quick to follow us all the way to Drassil. The journey is many leagues longer, and takes us far from the relative safety of Rhin’s realms.’

Corban stood and paced for a while. He eventually stopped before Balur and Ethlinn.

‘What would you do,’ he asked them both.

Balur shrugged his massive shoulders. ‘My heart says fight, my mind says run, live, fight another day. When there’s a chance of winning. Here, there is no chance.’

‘ To fight now is to die, to run aimlessly is a longer death,’ Ethlinn said, her voice a rustle, autumn leaves on the air. ‘But to run somewhere that has meaning, hope. Drassil is the wisest choice.’

Corban bowed his head for long moments, then sucked in a long breath and looked around at them all, his gaze coming to rest on Meical.

‘We will try for Drassil,’ he said quietly.

He was silent a while, eyes staring into the south. Eventually his eyes dropped back to the fortress in the distance, a dark shadow now before the glitter of the river Afren in the twilight.

‘They know we’re here. Come sunrise there’ll be a warband after our blood, whatever direction we decide to move in,’ Corban murmured.

‘We should leave before sunrise, then. Steal a march on them,’ Coralen said. She’d been standing silently in the shadows until now.

‘Marching in the dark is no easy task,’ Gar said. ‘There’s a risk of getting lost. We could end up in more trouble than we started in.’

‘We’d not get lost with Storm. She’s better than the north star,’ Coralen replied.