‘We are finally here, in fabled Drassil,’ Corban said. ‘It feels as if we have completed a quest, just getting here. We’ve encountered our enemy, fought battles, lost friends and family.’ He looked at Cywen and Gar as he said that. ‘But now we stop running, and we make a stand. The God-War is happening, now,’ Corban continued. ‘We have been fighting it. But now that we are here we must decide not only how to fight this war, but how to win it.’ He turned to Meical, who sat straight and tall, jet-black hair, silver scars down his face.

‘Meical, you are the author behind all of this, the force that has bound us together and guided us here. Now, more than ever, your wisdom would be welcome. How do we win this war?’

Is this really my baby brother? The same brother I kicked Rafe in the stones for, because he’d bloodied Corban’s lip? When did he get so eloquent?

‘The answer is simple,’ Meical said. ‘From the outset Calidus’ plan has been to use the cauldron to breach the wall between this world of flesh and the Otherworld, the world of spirit, where the Kadoshim and Ben-Elim dwell.’

‘Hasn’t he already done that?’ Dath said. ‘Those Kadoshim in Murias seemed pretty real to me.’

‘No,’ Meical shook his head. ‘With the Seven Treasures a doorway can be opened that allows Asroth and the Kadoshim to cross over from the Otherworld in their own forms, and in doing so their forms would become flesh. What happened in Murias was akin to a possession, where some of the Kadoshim’s spirits passed into host bodies. This was because there were only two of the Treasures present, and so only a crack in the doorway could be created. What happened in Murias, and those Kadoshim, is but a shadow of what Calidus hopes to achieve: Asroth and the host of the Kadoshim made flesh. And for Calidus to do that, he needs the Seven Treasures. He has the cauldron, and will be searching for the rest. But two of the Treasures are here.’ He looked to Balur, who had the starstone axe slung across his back.

‘The starstone axe and the spear of Skald are here.’

‘What of the other Treasures?’ Brina asked.

‘Two more are in the west,’ Meical said with a shrug. ‘The cup and necklace.’ He glanced at Balur and Ethlinn.

‘That is true,’ Ethlinn said. ‘Uthas lost the cup during the retreat from Dun Taras, and the necklace was kept in one of the southern fortresses.’ She looked at Balur. ‘We do not know which one.’

‘And the others?’ Corban asked.

‘The torc and the knife,’ Balur rumbled. ‘The torc was last recorded as being in the hands of the Jotun; the knife, with the Kurgan. But that was over a thousand years ago – what has happened to them . . .’ He shrugged.