The Heroes

naught.’ Silence again. ‘Women, eh?’
    Craw shrugged. ‘Don’t reckon I’ll be lending you any insights on that score.’
    ‘You had one for a Second, didn’t you? How did you make that work?’
    ‘She made it work. Couldn’t ask for a better Second than Wonderful. The dead know I made some shitty choices but that’s one I’ve never regretted. Not ever. She’s tough as a thistle, tough as any man I know. Got more bones than me and sharper wits too. Always the first to see to the bottom o’ things. And she’s a straight edge. I’d trust her with anything. No one I’d trust more.’
    Dow raised his brows. ‘Toll the fucking bells. Maybe I should’ve picked her for your job.’
    ‘Probably,’ muttered Craw.
    ‘Got to have someone you can trust for a Second.’ Dow crossed to the window, peering out into the windy night. ‘Got to have trust.’
    Craw snatched at another subject. ‘We waiting for your black-skinned friend?’
    ‘Not sure I’d call her a friend. But yes.’
    ‘Who is she?’
    ‘One o’ those desert-dwellers. Don’t the black give it away?’
    ‘What’s her interest in the North, is my question?’
    ‘Couldn’t tell you that for sure, but from what I’ve gathered she’s got a war of her own to fight. An old war, and for now we’ve a battlefield in common.’
    Craw frowned. ‘A war between sorcerers? That something we want a part of?’
    ‘We’ve a part of it already.’
    ‘Where did you find her?’
    ‘She found me.’
    That was a long way from putting his fears to rest. ‘Magic. I don’t know—’
    ‘You were up on the Heroes yesterday, no? You saw Splitfoot.’
    Hardly a memory to lift the mood. ‘I did.’
    ‘The Union have magic, that’s a fact, and they’re happy to use it. We need to match fire with fire.’
    ‘What if we all get burned?’
    ‘I daresay we will.’ Dow shrugged. ‘That’s war.’
    ‘Can you trust her, though?’
    ‘No.’ Ishri was leaning against the wall by the door, one foot crossed over the other and a look like she knew what Craw was thinking and wasn’t much impressed. He wondered if she knew he’d been thinking about Calder and tried not to, which only brought him more to mind.
    Dow, meanwhile, didn’t even turn around. Just slid his torch into a rusted bracket on the wall, watching the flames crackle.
    ‘Seems our little gesture of peace fell on stony ground,’ he tossed over his shoulder.
    Ishri nodded.
    Dow stuck his bottom lip out. ‘Nobody wants to be my friend.’
    Ishri made one thin eyebrow arch impossibly high.
    ‘Well, who wants to shake hands with a man whose hands are bloody as mine?’
    Ishri shrugged.
    Dow looked down at his hand, made a fist of it and sighed. ‘Reckon I’ll just have to get ’em bloodier. Any idea where they’re coming from today?’
    ‘Everywhere.’
    ‘Knew you’d say that.’
    ‘Why ask, then?’
    ‘Least I got you to speak.’ There was a long silence, then Dow finally turned around, settling back with elbows on the narrow windowsill. ‘Go on, go for some more.’
    Ishri stepped away from the wall, letting her head drop back and roll in a slow circle. For some reason every movement of hers made Craw feel a little disgusted, like watching a snake slither. ‘In the east, a man called Brock has taken charge, and prepares to attack the bridge in Osrung.’
    ‘And what kind of man is he? Like Meed?’
    ‘The opposite. He is young, pretty and brave.’
    ‘I love those young brave pretty men!’ Dow glanced over at Craw. ‘It’s why I picked one out for my Second.’
    ‘None out of three ain’t bad.’ Craw realised he was chewing at his nail yet again, and whipped his hand away.
    ‘In the centre,’ said Ishri, ‘Jalenhorm has a great number of foot ready to cross the shallows.’
    Dow gave his hungry grin. ‘Gives me something to look forward to today. I quite enjoy watching men try to climb hills I’m sat on top of.’ Craw couldn’t say he was looking forward to it, however much the ground might have taken their side.
    ‘In the west Mitterick strains at the leash, keen to make use of his prettyhorses. He has men across the little river too, in the woods on your western flank.’
    Dow raised his brows. ‘Huh. Calder was right.’
    ‘Calder has been hard at work all night.’
    ‘Damned if it ain’t the first hard work that bastard’s ever done.’
    ‘He stole two standards from the Union in the darkness. Now he taunts them.’
    Black Dow chuckled to