the flesh of those heavy arms, then continued. “So, my wee king Grummog, Eroo will do the fighting and so will the Murkans, but you’ll keep out of our way and we’ll keep out of yours. Once one of us joins battle, the other will take Maidun’s rear. With Maidun rolled over and dead, Eroo will take her land, and you will have two allies to your south.”
Grummog’s small eyes shone: “I’m not convinced. Give me the Maidun territory as far south as Forkton and you might change my mind.”
Bruxon looked at Manfrax. Manfrax shrugged assent.
“You may have the land as far south as Forkton, but not Forkton itself,” said Bruxon.
“All right,” said Grummog, “but how do I know I can trust you?”
Manfrax laughed. “It’s time for a blood shake! Now, did you bring anybody with you that you don’t like? We’ll need three of them.”
They selected one unlucky person from each delegation to die with kings’ hands shaking in their guts. Bruxon thought of choosing Maggot, but he knew that the druid would wriggle out of it somehow, so he selected a serving girl whom he suspected of having an impertinent attitude. She’d thought she’d been chosen to do something useful because she was pretty, so he enjoyed watching her expression change as he stabbed her and thrust a hand into her stomach.
Shakes made and hands wiped, the three kings agreed that Manfrax’s army would sail from Eroo as soon as it was able. The Murkans would head south at the same time. Soon, thought Bruxon, Maidun and Lowa would exist no more.
Chapter 3
“Dug?”
“Uh … Aye?”
“What do you think?”
Dug had been admiring the pulley and rope system that opened and closed his newly installed roof vents on Maidun’s longhouse. They were open only a little as the day was cold, but luckily the beeswax candles from his farm and his rearrangement of their sconces provided strong, even light and his repositioning of the hearth kept the cavernous room warm but relatively smoke-free. He’d been sort of listening, so he could sort of rerun the last bit of conversation through his mind. Had Bruxon been saying that he’d send a shout the moment the Eroo ships were spotted?
“I think it’s a great plan,” he hazarded.
Everyone nodded sagely apart from Lowa, who shot a “don’t think you fooled me” look at him, and Spring, who was staring intently at Maggot, which was fair enough. Maggot was an odd-looking fellow. Dug hadn’t seen him since Mearhold, when the druid had saved his life by cleaning his Monster bites with maggots. He was pleased to see him again, even if it reminded him of thousands of little beasts writhing around in his chest.
There was possibly a flash of annoyance in Lowa’s glance, and that was fair enough, too. This was important stuff, and if he was going to sit on her council along with Spring, Mal, Nita and Queen Ula of the now itinerant Kanawan tribe, he should have been listening more attentively. He’d caught most of it, though. Bruxon’s informants from Eroo had confirmed Ula’s report and Grummog’s claim that Eroo was planning an invasion of Britain. The spies had added that the invasion was all but certain to come in the summer.
“And the Dumnonians have in no way colluded with Eroo?” asked Lowa.
Bruxon smiled. “No. As I said, Grummog lied to you, in an attempt to divide us, then conquer. Both you and Ula know and trust Maggot, I believe?” They nodded. “He’s been with us at Dumnonia for several years now, almost always at my side. If I can’t convince you of Dumnonia’s fidelity, then perhaps he can.”
Maggot stood and bowed to all of them, flapping his wrists and jangling his bangles. “Your Dumnonian,” he said, “is like everyone else. He or she is not good, and he or she not bad. He or she is both. But he or she, he, in Bruxon’s case, has no plans to attack Maidun. He, as in me, Maggot, has seen Bruxon every day since shortly after you took Dumnonia’s arse on the battlefield, slapped it about a bit and handed it back all black and blue.” Dug looked at Bruxon. That was a forced smile on his face if ever Dug had seen one. Maggot continued: “And Eroo has not come to Dumnonia. I can’t say for sure, because anyone who’s sure about anything is a fool, but I’m sure as I could possibly be that Dumnonia is no friend of Eroo