Balder took the moral high ground and said that folk should give me a chance, whilst assuming that hurt-puppy look of his and asking me if I didn’t feel just a little bit responsible?

Others were less delicate in pointing out my guilt. No one used actual violence – Odin had made his orders plain – but there was a good deal of sneering and spitting whenever I happened to be around, and even the General, whose people were giving him serious aggravation about his new brother-in-blood and his reasons for adopting me, started to look at me differently, the light of calculation in his one blue eye.

Well, I wasn’t completely naïve. I knew the Old Man needed to show his authority. There was no point in having an impregnable wall around the Sky Citadel if there was rebellion within. Heimdall was especially combative (besides which, he hated me), and I knew that if Odin showed weakness, then Goldie would be there to take his place as fast as thrice-greased lightning.

‘You’re going to have to make a stand,’ I told him, as the deadline approached. ‘Call a meeting of the gods. You have to assert some discipline. If you show weakness now, you’ll never get your people back again.’

To do him justice, the Old Man knew exactly where I was coming from. Which made me suspect that perhaps he’d been having exactly the same unquiet thoughts. What made mine less so was the fact that I already had a plan, which I’d been keeping under wraps for maximum dramatic effect. I prepared for a killer performance.

So, on the eve of winter’s last day, the Old Man called his people to an emergency council meeting. The outer wall was almost complete – only the giant gateway remained half built, a massive arch of raw grey stone. One more trip to the quarry would be enough to finish the job, after which the mason could claim the reward I’d promised him.

That evening, the gods and goddesses all assembled in Odin’s hall. No one wanted to sit near me (except for Balder, whose sympathy was almost as bad as their mistrust), and I felt a little hurt that their faith in me had been so easily lost.

I don’t wish to brag, but really, folks, the day that I don’t have a plan is the day Hel freezes over. Still, it had to be done in a way that gave Odin back his authority. I knew I was never going to be anything but an outsider in this camp, but as long as Odin was on my side, I was safe. I knew where I stood.