‘There he is.’ Dag pointed, and Ulfilas saw Jael standing before his tent, watching it being raised for another night in the forest. Winter was breaking now, the cold air fresh rather than bitter, the ground softer underfoot. All about them branches were flourishing with the green of new leaves. Days were lasting longer, allowing them to work later each day. Ulfilas jerked his reins and guided his horse down the embankment the road was being built upon, great lengths of timber laid over the crumbling stone of this ancient giants’ road. Jael was surrounded by his usual guards, Fram and a dozen men, they in turn circled by a score of the Jehar warriors, Sumur close to Jael.

He is always close to Jael. A permanent reminder of Nathair and his threat, or promise, no doubt.

Jael looked up as Ulfilas and Dag approached.

‘You have news?’ he asked.

‘We do, my King,’ Ulfilas said.

‘Come, then, tell me over a cup of wine,’ Jael said and marched into his tent; servants inside were lighting torches, laying out furniture, food and drink.

Within short moments Ulfilas was handed a cup of wine that had been warmed over a fire. He drank, allowing Jael to settle himself into his fur-draped chair.

‘Well?’ Jael asked when he was comfortable, a jewelled cup in his hand.

‘We’ve found Drassil,’ Ulfilas said.

Jael blinked at that, the words seeping in.

‘You’re sure?’ was the first thing he said.

‘Aye,’ Dag said. ‘Seen it with my own eyes.’

‘What’s it like, man?’ Jael asked, leaning forward. That had been the first question Ulfilas had asked of the huntsman.

‘It’s big,’ Dag said. ‘Like nothing you’ve ever seen.’

‘How long?’ asked Jael, looking both excited and scared.

‘Half a day,’ Dag replied. ‘We can stop building the road now, make a base camp here, use the old road to get there on the morrow.’

‘The old road? Is it fit for purpose?’

‘Good enough. We’ll have to walk, not ride. But clearing the way and laying the new road would cost another half a ten-night.’ He shrugged. ‘Depends how desperate you are to get there.’

‘We are the first, then,’ Jael said.

‘Oh aye, there were no other warbands camped outside the walls.’

‘So I shall be ruler of Carnutan and Helveth. Gundul and Lothar will be my vassals.’ He smiled viciously.

‘Do you think they’ll just allow that to happen?’ Ulfilas said, not able to keep the scepticism from his voice.

‘Do you think Nathair lacks the ability to enforce it?’ Jael replied.

Ulfilas remembered the display of Sumur against Fram, thought of a hundred like him. A thousand.

‘No, I don’t, now that you mention it.’

‘Neither do I,’ Jael said. ‘So we shall march with dawn and attack on the morrow.’