‘It’ll mend,’ said the Highlander. ‘A shame he had no sons to speak his name on High Druin.’
I’ll do that,’ said Obrin.
‘Ah yes, the Cormaach. I had forgotten. Do you know the ritual?’
‘I can learn it.’
‘I would be proud to teach you,’ said Torgan. ‘And, if you choose, I will stand beside you on High Druin as Fell’s sword-bearer.’
The two men reached the crest of the western slope and looked down over the battlefield. The Outlanders lay dead in their thousands, but many also of the Highland were slain. Women were moving around the pass, tending to the wounded. Later they would strip the Outland dead of their weapons. To the South Obrin could see Grame’s warriors marching to capture the enemy’s supply wagons. ‘What now, do you think?” asked Torgan. ‘Will the Outlanders listen to reason?’
Obrin shook his head. ‘No, they’ll send Jastey and twenty thousand men. They’ll be here by summer’s end.’
‘Well,’ said Torgan grimly, ‘we’ll be here to meet them!’
It was dusk when Asmidir and Kollarin found Sigarni. She was sitting alone on a distant hill-top, her red cloak wrapped tight around her.
‘Thank you, my friend,’ said Asmidir. ‘I would be grateful if you would leave us alone now.’ Kollarin nodded and trudged away back to the encampment as Asmidir moved alongside Sigarni and sat down with his arm across her shoulder, drawing her in to him.
‘Dear God, I am so sorry,’ he said.
‘He was gone when I arrived,’ she told him. ‘Not even a farewell.’
Asmidir said nothing, but held her tightly. ‘One arrow,’ she continued. ‘A piece of wood and a chunk of iron. And Fell is no more. Why him? Why not me, or you, or a thousand others?’
‘In my land we believe in fate, Sigarni. It was his time … it was not yours, or mine.’
‘I can’t believe that he’s gone. I try to concentrate on it, but I see his face smiling at me. I find myself thinking that if I walk back to the encampment he will be waiting for me. It is so unreal.’
‘I never really spoke to Fell,’ said Asmidir. ‘I think he saw me as a rival, and he was jealous of our… friendship. But he was a man I was proud to fight alongside. I do not know whether there is a paradise, or a hall of heroes, or a field of glory. But I hope there is, for his sake.’
‘There is,’ she told him. ‘Fell will be there now, with Gwalchmai, and Fyon Sharp-axe, and Loran and Mereth, and hundreds of others who died today. But that is of little comfort to the widows they left behind, and the children who now sit crying. I never saw a battle before. It is the most evil sight. Why do men lust after it so?’
‘Few soldiers do,’ he told her. ‘They know the reality of it. But your warriors will grow old, and they will remember this day above all others. The sun shining, the enemy defeated. They will remember it as a golden day, and they will tell their children of it, and their children will long to know a day like it. That is the way of things, Sigarni. I wish Fell had lived, for I can feel your sorrow and it pains me. But he did not, and you must put off your tears for another day. Your men are waiting for you. They wish to cheer you, and to celebrate their victory.’
She pulled away from him. ‘It is not over, Asmidir; you know that. What is there to celebrate? We have won a reprieve until the summer. Before that we will have to take Citadel town, and establish strongholds in the Lowlands.’
‘But not tonight. Come, this is your moment, Sigarni. You are their queen, their promised one, their saviour. You must walk among them like a queen.’
Sigarni glanced up and saw the shimmering figure of Ironhand standing before her. Asmidir was oblivious to his presence.
‘The black man is right,’ said Ironhand.
Sigarni leaned in to Asmidir and kissed his cheek. ‘Go back and tell them I am coming,’ she said.