‘Heb died,’ she said.

‘Aye, he did,’ Corban replied, his features twisting. ‘Brina took that badly.’

‘Looks like you did, too.’

‘I liked him,’ Corban said. ‘We became close. All of us did, on the road together. How did you know?’

‘Veradis told me – he was my guard, for a while. Along with Alcyon; they treated me fair,’ she said.

‘Veradis and Alcyon?’

‘Nathair’s first-sword, and his giant companion.’ I hope Alcyon is all right. She frowned at her own thoughts. He was my captor. But he did free me, cut my bonds at the end and hid me from Calidus. Alcyon and Balur had fought, Balur sending Alcyon crashing to the ground and taking the black axe from him.

Corban raised an eyebrow. ‘I think I met this Veradis too. In Domhain. He wanted to fight me.’

Cywen felt a stab of . . . something . . . at that thought. Worry? For Corban, of course. But there was more than that. She chose not to think about it.

‘We’re starting in the middle,’ she said. ‘Tell me from the beginning. From Dun Carreg. Were you with Da, when . . . ?’ Even now, after witnessing so much of war, pain and death and worse, she could not bring herself to say the words.

‘I was with him. Rafe and Helfach stopped me from helping him,’ Corban said, his expression grim. ‘Nathair killed our da.’

Nathair. And Calidus slew Mam. ‘One day,’ she said to Corban, a hand going to her knives. He nodded, understanding her meaning.

Corban spoke for a long while after that, of his flight through the tunnels beneath Dun Carreg, sailing away to Cambren and all that befell him and his companions. He told of seeing Rafe amongst the prisoners in Domhain, how Rafe had told them that Cywen was alive. How he and a few others had set out to rescue her. When Corban spoke of his capture by Braith and how he was taken to Queen Rhin at Dun Vaner he hesitated.

‘What happened there?’ Cywen prompted.

‘I was rescued,’ he shrugged. ‘Meical and Tukul were tracking me, came to Dun Vaner, although Farrell was the one who knocked my gaol door down with Da’s hammer.’ He grinned at that.

‘And Tukul is Gar’s da,’ Cywen said. She was still getting used to that.

‘Aye. Can you believe it – Gar, one of the Jehar?’ Tukul and Gar were riding a little further ahead, with a score of the Jehar spread either side of them.

‘The Jehar. They’re wonderful with horses. Akar helped me, healed Shield – he was shot with an arrow during the battle where Rhin defeated Owain.’

‘I don’t think he and Gar get along too well,’ Corban said as he leaned forward in his saddle, running a hand across the scar on Shield’s shoulder.

‘The Jehar – they look at you, a lot.’ Cywen had noticed many of the Jehar with their eyes on Corban, something like awe on their faces. She had discovered that Corban was the reason Nathair and Calidus had dragged her halfway across the Banished Lands; she was Corban’s sister and they suspected that she could be used as bait. They were right, come to think of it. But why? Why did they want Corban so badly? ‘Who do they all think you are, Ban? And who is Meical? They all act like you’re their leader.’