‘Aye, Chief.’ The old warrior stepped into the firelight, mouth pressed into a hard line.

‘I want your boys to hold Osrung. They’ll come at you hard tomorrow, I reckon.’

Reachey shrugged. ‘Only fair. We came at ’em pretty damn hard today.’

‘Don’t let ’em get across that bridge, Reachey. Ironhead?’

‘Aye, Chief.’

‘I’m giving you the shallows to mind. I want men in the orchard, I want men holding the Children, I want men ready to die but happier to kill. It’s the one place they could come across in numbers, so if they try it we got to step on ’em hard.’

‘That’s what I do.’ Ironhead sent a mocking look across the fire. ‘Won’t nobody be turning me back.’

‘Whassat mean?’ snarled Golden.

‘You’ll all get a stab at glory,’ said Dow, bringing the pair of ’em to heel. ‘Golden, you fought hard today so you’ll be hanging back. Cover the ground between Ironhead and Reachey, ready to lend help to either one if they get pressed more’n they’re comfortable with.’

‘Aye.’ Licking at his bloated lip with the point of his bloated tongue.

‘Scale?’

‘Chief.’

‘You took the Old Bridge. Hold the Old Bridge.’

‘Done.’

‘If you have to fall back—’

‘I won’t,’ said Scale, with all the confidence of youth and limited brains.

‘—it’d be worth having a second line at that old wall. What do they call it?’

‘Clail’s Wall,’ said Splitfoot. ‘Some mad farmer built it.’

‘Might be a good thing for us he did,’ said Dow. ‘You won’t be able to use all you’ve got in the space behind that bridge anyway, so plant some further back.’

‘I will,’ said Scale.

‘Tenways?’

‘Made for glory, Chief!’

‘You’ve got the slope o’ the Heroes and Skarling’s Finger to look to, which means you shouldn’t get into any scrapes right off. Scale or Ironhead need your help, maybe you can find ’em some.’

Tenways sneered across the fire at Scale and Calder and, hopefully just ’cause he was standing with ’em, Craw. ‘I’ll see what I can root out.’

Dow leaned forward. ‘Splitfoot and me will be up here at the top, behind the drystone wall. Reckon I’ll lead from the back tomorrow, like our friends in the Union do.’ Another round of harsh laughter. ‘So there it is. Anyone got any better ideas?’ Dow slowly worked the gathering over with his grin. Craw had never felt less like speaking in his life, and it didn’t seem likely anyone else would want to make a spectacle of themselves—

‘I have.’ Calder held up a finger, always wanting to make a spectacle of himself.

Dow’s eyes narrowed. ‘What a surprise. And what’s your strategy, Prince Calder?’

‘Put our backs to the Union and run?’ asked Ironhead, a wave of chuckling following after.

‘Put our backs to the Union and bend over?’ asked Tenways, followed by another. Calder only smiled through it, and waited for the laughter to fade, and leave things silent.

‘Peace,’ he said.