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held no personal grudge against them. They all seemed woefully young and inexperienced to him. The oldest of them could not have been more than twenty. He prayed fervently that R’shiel didn’t expect him to slaughter these children in cold blood.
    “What are we waiting for?”
    Adrina rode up beside him with her slave close behind. She was wrapped in a warm cloak against the cold and looked anxious to get moving. She had been remarkably quiet since their conversation on the edge of the camp this morning. That worried Damin a little. She was undoubtedly plotting something and it probably involved him and a lot of blood. He should have kept his big mouth shut.
    “We’re waiting for R’shiel, I think. And for the Defenders to move out.”
    “Where is the demon child, anyway?”
    Damin shrugged. “Nobody’s seen her for hours.”
    Adrina looked at the nervous Kariens. They had been pushed into a tight cluster, ringed by the Raiders and to a man they wore expressions of uncertainty. Damin could imagine what was going through their minds.
    “What’s going to happen to them?”
    “I don’t know.”
    “You’re not going to…”
    “Kill them? I wish I knew.” He turned in the saddle at the sound of hoofs and found Denjon and Linst riding towards them at a canter. The red-coated Defenders reined in when they reached them.
    “We’re ready to move out,” Denjon informed them.
    “How’s Tarja?”
    “Much the same. He’s in one of the wagons with a medic. We’ll be setting a hard pace, I’m afraid, but it can’t be avoided.”
    “How long will it take you to reach the border?”
    “About six weeks,” the captain replied. “We could get there sooner if we dumped the supply wagons, but I’m loath to do that, for obvious reasons. We’ll only resort to that if we’re being pursued.” The captain glanced meaningfully at the Karien prisoners. “I hope this works.”
    “You hope what works?” Adrina asked.
    “R’shiel’s grandiose plan for turning the Kariens back,” he said.
    “And what is that, exactly?”
    “We don’t know and I’m not sure we want to,” Linst remarked. “She asked that we be gone before she does it, so we can only assume it’s some heathen ritual that she’d rather we didn’t witness.”
    “Heathen ritual or not, I can’t say I’ll mind missing it,” Denjon said. Then he reached forward and offered Damin his hand. “I wish you luck, Lord Wolfblade.”
    “You’ll need it more than I,” Damin said, accepting the handshake. “With all your troops and the Kariens concentrated in the north, weather permitting I’ll have a clear run down to Hythria. You’re the ones taking the long road.”
    “I was thinking more of what happens when you get to Hythria,” Denjon said with a grin.
    “I’ll worry about that when I get there.”
    “Then I’ll look forward to meeting you again on your side of the border. For all our sakes I hope it goes well for you, my Lord. And for you too, Your Highness.”
    “Thank you, Captain.”
    Damin glanced at Adrina curiously. Her thanks sounded genuine. There was no hint of her usual sarcastic tone. Something was seriously wrong with her.
    Denjon and Linst wheeled their mounts around and cantered back towards the long line of red-coated Defenders. They watched them leave in silence, watched Denjon ride to the head of the column, and heard the faint sound of the trumpet signalling their advance as it was whipped away on the icy wind.
    “So what happens now?” Adrina asked after a while.
    Damin shrugged. “We wait for the demon child.”
    When R’shiel arrived more than an hour later, she was on foot and the two Karien boys were with her. Damin and Adrina both dismounted when they caught sight of her. She was chatting to Mikel and Jaymes as they walked across the trampled grass towards them, the three of them apparently in a fine mood and the best of friends. When she reached them, she was smiling broadly.
    “The Defenders got away all