“I don’t think, I know. I was only waiting for you. This man’s nothing but trouble. You must go straight back and tell your uncle. Engus must come in here and take the fellow away. The king won’t like walking into this place, he understands what’s right and what’s not. But we’ve no choice, and better him than anyone else. Tell him to bring the lad, Kinart. It’ll take two to shift the man. It’s the only way. Once the fellow’s gone from here, they can do what they like with him.”

Nessa could imagine. Her uncle might see the strategic advantage of a hostage, a bargaining tool for the new alliance. Kinart would be less magnanimous, with a captive Norseman lying helpless before him.

“They’ll kill him,” she said, her fingers stroking the dog’s rough coat.

“These folk are savages.” Rona spat on the earth. “Ignorant of the ways of the spirit, despoilers of land and people. They don’t deserve your kindness, Nessa. You heard what happened at Ramsbeck.”

There was a lengthy silence.

“Nessa?” asked the old woman after a while. “What is it?”

Nessa twisted her hands together. “What if you were really, really scared,” she said, “and you ran away somewhere hidden, somewhere you thought you would be safe, and then it turned out you weren’t safe at all, because someone gave you up, handed you over to your enemies? That would be a terrible betrayal.”

Rona looked at her. “Him, scared?” she queried. “Did you see the size of him? Of course, he does have such bonny yellow hair. That might make a difference to you, I suppose.”

“Of course it doesn’t! Such things mean nothing to me. But…but I don’t think I can do as you bid me.”

“Give him up, you said. He’s not yours to give, child. There’s no betrayal if the fellow’s your enemy. That axe still reeks with the blood of those lads who were butchered not eight nights since. A lost man’s not the same as a stray dog, Nessa. Now get your cloak on, and off home with you before the fellow decides to wake up and add the two of us to his tally. You know what you have to do. Trust an old woman, will you?”

Nessa unfastened her pack and rummaged for the scraps of bread. She put them on the ground by the dog. The creature sniffed them and wagged his tail. He looked at her. He looked across at the tower in the earth.

“I have to go back in there,” Nessa said, “just for a moment. I’ll take some water for the other dog. Rona?”

“What is it, child?”