Meical shrugged. ‘Perhaps. Politics is an unstable affair. Those who are sympathetic to our cause would certainly try – but who is to say whether they are in power, or even still alive with Calidus’ scheming?’

‘And there is one other ally who has not been mentioned,’ Corban said.

‘Who is that?’ Brina asked him.

‘The Ben-Elim,’ Corban said. ‘Meical, you read from the prophecy, a line about them gathering beneath the great tree.’ Corban gestured to the trunk that the chamber they were sitting in was built around. ‘That is why you counselled me to come here, because of the prophecy.’

‘Aye,’ Meical said. ‘Because of the prophecy.’

‘So, where are they? When will they arrive?’

Meical gave Corban a sad look. ‘I do not know, Corban. The prophecy is not clear.’

‘But you are Ben-Elim, one of them. More than that – their captain. Surely you must know.’

‘I do not. Neither do they. All that we know is that the prophecy says it will happen. So we must believe, we must trust. And remember, we accomplish much by our very presence here.’ He glanced behind him at the spear embedded in the tree. ‘With the spear and axe in our possession we know that Calidus cannot fulfil his aim, cannot breach the wall between this world and the Otherworld, cannot bring Asroth’s destruction upon the Banished Lands.’

‘That’s all well and good,’ Brina snapped, ‘but what do we all do now?’

‘We ready ourselves for the battle to come,’ Meical said. ‘A battle that will spill a river of blood, that will see us live or die, win or lose. And it is coming, of that there is no doubt.’

A silence fell upon them all.

‘So we prepare,’ Corban said. ‘We train, we build, we organize, we use our surroundings. And we scout.’ He looked at Coralen. ‘We don’t want to be surprised by a warband appearing at our walls.’

‘We can use the tunnels,’ Coralen said. ‘There are six of them – Hamil has mapped them, and they run for leagues upon leagues, many with smaller exits along the way. If we man them, have fresh horses at each waypoint, I would be very surprised if any warband could come within fifty leagues of Drassil without us spotting them . . .’

‘A fine idea.’ Corban smiled at her. ‘I would suggest that you and Dath take responsibility for that – recruit who you need for the task.’

‘There is much to do,’ Brina said, brusque and businesslike. ‘We will need healers and a hospice ready for the wounded.’ She looked at Cywen.

Ah, that is why I am here. Wonderful.

‘We have a great store of supplies, linen for bandages, herbs and medicines; we cultivated a large garden for just such an end,’ Hamil said.

Brina nodded grimly.