Right now, I believe you. But words are easier spoken than deeds are done. How would you feel if you stood before Evnis? Could see him, look him in the eye, hear his words?

‘Is that really Ardan?’ a voice said behind them. Camlin turned to see Edana. Her hand rested on a sword at her hip. Our warrior Queen. Baird stood beside her. The one-eyed warrior had become her shadow, rarely leaving her side.

‘Aye, it is,’ Camlin said.

‘There were times when I thought I’d never return.’ Edana took a deep breath. ‘Time to roll the dice.’

Why does she look at me whenever dice are mentioned?

They stood together and watched the coast grow closer, their ship angling towards a cove with steep-sided cliffs. The sail was furled and two rowing boats were lowered from the deck to the slate-grey sea. Roisin and Edana spoke to the captain, thanked him, and then the group of them were rowing towards the coast. They scraped onto a thin strip of shingle and clambered onto solid ground, Camlin grinning for the joy of it. I hate the sea. It felt strange, the ground steady beneath his feet, and he stumbled as his body still compensated for the eternal pitch and roll of a ship’s deck.

Roisin stood with Lorcan, her warriors spread protectively about them, a score of men. Most of them gazed up at the cliffs. Seamen from the rowing boats deposited a barrel onto the shingle, then with a last goodbye and a wave they rowed back to their ship.

‘Smoked herring,’ Baird pronounced as he sniffed the barrel. ‘Draw lots for who’s carrying it?’

‘I’ll carry it,’ a tall and solid warrior said. He didn’t seem to have a neck. Brogan, one of Roisin’s. Camlin had won a fine deerskin belt from him.

‘No complaints from me,’ Baird grinned.

‘Vonn, with me,’ Camlin said, and without a look back he was climbing the slope, following a narrow goat track into the cove’s cliffs, twisting its way upwards. He used his unstrung bow as a staff. The calling of gulls in the air was loud, the cliffs of the cove clustered with nests; here and there were stunted bushes bent by the wind.

Camlin emerged onto a landscape of rolling moorland and hidden gullies. He could see for leagues and took a few moments to check for company, then he turned and waved to those gathered below, all looking up at him. They started their climb.