They backed from the knoll and slipped northward as the sun slid down over the plain of Lodainn. Chilled by the sights they had seen, nobody spoke. Melcorka thought of the s*******r of the Alban royal army in three short hours by a smaller and far better-disciplined force of Norse.
"What now?" Melcorka asked, as the Firth of Forth gleamed silver in the distance.
"Now, we head to Castle Gloom and plan what to do." Bearnas said. "Did anybody see what happened to the Blue Boar?"
"I did," Melcorka said.
"Well?"
"It was at the forefront of the battle," Melcorka said, "and then it fell."
"There is no hope then," Baetan said, "if the boar has gone. The kinfolk of the king are all dead."
Granny Rowan gave a short cackle. "Why do you say that? There is no hope because a princeling is dead? M
