Dath raised an eyebrow and Coralen scowled. ‘I can look after myself,’ she snapped.

‘I know that.’ Dath shrugged. ‘But I’m still coming.’

‘We,’ Kulla amended.

‘Suit yourself.’

They rode into the village. Dogs barked, children shouted and people gathered about them, more filtering from the surrounding fields. Coralen saw many making the ward against evil as they saw her, causing her to scowl. Strangers obviously weren’t welcome and in these troubled times she could understand why. But if they fear me, wait until they see Corban with a warband of giants and wolven. She pulled on her reins, saw the gauntlet of wolven claws she wore on her left arm and realized she was also wearing her wolven fur, the head draped across her shoulders, jaws gaping and teeth bared.

Perhaps they have good reason to fear me.

A man stepped out of the crowd surrounding them. Dath and Kulla looked around warily, prepared for trouble.

‘Greetings,’ he said. ‘Excuse the poor welcome – strangers are rare this far north.’ Despite his polite tone he clutched a thick-hafted boar spear in his hands. With disapproval Coralen noted the blade was rusted. Other men were moving forward, most hefting woodcutters’ axes. One had a battered sword sheathed at his side. She saw the mother and child that she’d watched in the river huddled together and remembered her purpose.

‘You’re about to see a whole lot more,’ Coralen said. ‘I’ve come to warn you that a warband is approaching from the north. They’ll be here soon.’

Gasps rippled around the crowd, a hint of panic, some faces sceptical. Questions flew at her, raised voices.

‘There is nothing to fear, they are peaceful and just travelling south. They will not stop, they will not attack. They want nothing from you. You’d be best going to your homes and closing your doors.’

Coralen saw expressions of doubt, disbelief, fear spreading through the crowd.

‘Peaceful! When is a warband peaceful?’ someone yelled.

‘They mean you no harm is what I mean.’ Coralen felt her temper fraying.

‘Who are you?’ the man who had greeted her shouted. People filtered away from the crowd’s edges. A group began to hurry to the east, towards the wooded valley slopes. Some made to pass her, heading south, and she turned her horse, blocking the road.

‘This isn’t going well,’ Dath whispered to Kulla, which didn’t make Coralen any calmer.

‘Go where you wish, except south,’ Coralen said, then stood in her saddle. ‘No one heads south.’

‘They mean to slaughter us all,’ a cry rose up, and hands grabbed at her bridle. She slapped them away, clenched her fist, causing her wolven claws to chime, and gripped her sword hilt. More people surged towards her.

Dath shot an arrow into the ground at the spokesman’s feet and Kulla drew her sword.

‘Stay back, or die,’ Kulla said, her voice flat and cold.