‘I’ll grant that,’ said the outlaw known only as Wik, a thin, sour-faced man who looked puny alongside the hulking figure of Lorca, ‘but what would we do then? Leaving the farm as it is means we get a constant supply of food. Bane has been fair in all his dealings with us.’
‘Fair?’ sneered Lorca. ‘We supplied the men to work the cattle. We guaranteed him freedom from attack. And for what? One-tenth of his profits. Does that sound fair?’
The listening Grale wondered if any of the six men round the fire would state the obvious: that Lorca had broken the agreement by raiding the farm and killing one of Bane’s men. It did not surprise him when the subject was not raised. Lorca was a man of unpredictable mood, and given to sudden acts of random violence.
‘What about the men in Bane’s employ?’ asked Valian, a short stout man, with greasy blond hair and a drooping moustache.
‘They are our men, Val,’ Lorca told him. ‘But if any of them have lost sight of that they can become worm meat like Cascor.’
‘I think some of them will object,’ put in Wik. ‘I was talking to Gryffe the other day. He likes Bane. And he likes his new life as a herdsman. He’s even talking of marrying Iswain the next time a druid comes by.’
‘How sweet!’ sneered Lorca. ‘He plans, I suppose, to spend the rest of his life shovelling cow turds while his wife pops out more mouths to feed. Well, a pox upon Gryffe and any other fool who goes against us. We have seventy-three men here, and more joining us each month. More than enough to handle Bane and any who stand with him.’
Grale gazed around the huge clearing, with its forty crude roundhouses. Men and women in ragged clothes were everywhere, sitting – as was he – surrounded by squalor and stench. By the stream a woman was washing out several blankets, beating them with a rock, perhaps trying to kill the lice that infested them. At the far hut he could see Asha, on her knees, a large bearded man rutting with her in full view of everyone. No-one took any notice. Grale’s heart sank. He gazed down at his mutilated left hand, and remembered the days before a Stone gladius had slashed away three of his fingers. He had been a man then. A hero. Even through his pain he had joyed in the victory of Cogden Field. Had anyone predicted that years later he would be sitting in this foul place, listening to men talk of robbery and murder, he would have laughed aloud. He was not laughing now.
A man came running into the camp. ‘Riders coming!’ he shouted. Instantly every man within earshot ran into his roundhouse, emerging with a weapon. Some carried daggers, others swords or axes.
Lorca surged to his feet. ‘How many?’ he asked.
‘Two! Bane and Gryffe.’
‘Two, you miserable piece of goat shit? You alarmed the camp for two?’
At that moment Bane and Gryffe came riding through the trees. Grale smiled as he remembered the first time he had met Bane, several years ago, in the clearing where the mystic lad had reminded him of Cogden Field and days of glory.
The two riders drew up close to Lorca and dismounted. Bane was carrying a long hunting lance, and a short sword hung at his hip. He moved past Lorca without a word and walked to Lorca’s hut. Once there he reversed the lance and placed the haft on the frozen ground. Then he rammed it deep into the earth.
‘What are you doing?’ asked Lorca. ‘I have no need of a lance.’
What happened next was so sudden that all the men in the clearing just stood in shock. Bane swung towards Lorca, his short sword flashing into his hand. Before the outlaw leader could react, the blade slashed into his neck, crunching through the vertebrae and slicing clear. As Lorca’s body started to topple Bane struck again. This time the head rolled clear. Bane lifted it by the hair and carried it to the lance. Raising the head Bane rammed it down over the iron point and stepped back. The lance quivered from side to side, blood oozing from the severed head and spilling to the ground. Then he walked to the decapitated corpse, cleaned his sword on the dead man’s clothes, and sheathed it.