‘The horses,’ Wulf said. ‘My da spent a lifetime breeding them, I cannot just abandon them.’

‘Bring them,’ Meical said. ‘Drassil is colossal. There are no stables, but there are bear pens the size of this hold that could be easily converted. And meadows have been cleared for a league all about the fortress – your da did not rest idle at Drassil for sixteen years,’ Meical said to Gar.

Coralen approached them, the first that Cywen had seen of her. She’d been sent to oversee the sinking of their ships, Corban determined that nothing be left for their enemy’s use. Her red hair was dark with sweat, her face was soot stained and tight with grief. She was carrying an axe in her hands that she offered to Gar.

‘It is your da’s. I found it in the skull of a dead bear, beyond the wall,’ Coralen said.

Gar took it. ‘His sword I leave with him,’ he said, voice hoarse. ‘But I would be glad to carry one of his weapons. It feels . . . right. Especially one that he was so fond of.’ He frowned, looking down at it. ‘But I have never used an axe before . . .’

‘I will teach you,’ Wulf said, then his mouth twisted as he looked at his bandaged hands. ‘If I can.’

‘He spoke highly of you,’ Gar said. ‘And of your da.’

Grief swept Wulf’s face. ‘He tried to save my da – pulled him down from . . .’ His eyes flickered to the column, to his bandaged hands. ‘He stood over us, before that bear . . .’

A warrior ran up, one from Gramm’s hold.

‘Has the half-breed been found?’ Wulf said to the man, a cold rage in his voice.

‘She is not amongst the dead,’ the warrior replied.

‘Fled, then,’ Wulf snarled.

‘Who?’ Meical asked him.

‘A half-breed traitor. We gave her a home, raised her, yet she chose to betray Haelan to the enemy. It was only thanks to the boy’s quick wits that he’d fled his hiding place before Trigg revealed it to our enemies.’

‘Sometimes it feels that this world is full of traitors,‘ Meical said.

‘Aye.’ Wulf nodded. ‘But I vow, if I ever see this one again, it will be one less amongst the living.’

‘We should raise cairns—’ Corban said, looking at the blood-stained hold.

‘Too long,’ Meical said. ‘We would still be here when Jael came riding up with a thousand men.’

‘Burn them,’ Wulf said grimly, ‘burn the entire hold, leave nothing for our enemy.’

Cywen stood beside her brother, facing the feast-hall, a host gathered behind them. Beyond the gates a long column of wains and horses loaded with provisions was waiting for them.