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he had cleaned it himself or if he had a maid, or even if he had more than one uniform. She stood in the doorway, staring at him.
    Finally he said, ‘Hwenfayre? Are you all right?’
    She nodded and stepped aside, motioning him to come inside. He did so, awkwardly.
    ‘You’re limping,’ she observed.
    ‘Yes, an arrow grazed me last night. It is a minor thing. Not worth concerning yourself over.’
    ‘I wasn’t concerned. I was just making an observation. Sit down, I imagine you have a great deal to tell me.’
    He sat on the only chair and she sat cross-legged on the floor, her back to the fire.
    ‘Hwenfayre,’ he began. ‘About last night.’ He paused, frowning. ‘It’s difficult to know where to start. The storm, I will start with that. I have never seen a storm come up so suddenly and with such little warning. It seemed that one moment it was clear and still, and the next we were facing a gale. Didn’t you think it was strange?’
    ‘No, I hardly noticed the storm, to be honest. I was…preoccupied.’
    ‘I always imagined there was a lot more going on behind those lavender eyes than you revealed, but I never imagined it would be so much as to distract you from the most violent storm in years. But I digress. That storm frightened the men. It came up just at the precise moment we needed it. The Raiders had established a set of ropes to the top of the wall and they were about to start climbing. Had they made it to the top of the wall, many of our soldiers would have perished and we may not have prevailed. It was the largest fleet of Raiders seen in ten years. The men who saw the storm last night are muttering about sorcery, and I have already heard your name mentioned more than once.’
    ‘I am no sorcerer,’ Hwenfayre sighed. ‘If I were, do you think I would have stayed here for so long?’ She stared off into a half-imagined distance. ‘It’s trueI have often longed for sorcerous powers, so that I could flee these wretched walls and fly on the wind or sail with the waves. But no, all that I can do is make brooches and play the harp. And neither of those can call up a storm.’ She looked intently at Niall. ‘Is that why you hurried me off the wall? Did you imagine the men would look to me?’
    Niall nodded gravely. ‘I felt that if it were known that you were there…well, it could have been awkward.’
    Hwenfayre felt a chill as the ramifications of what Niall had just told her sank in. For years the superstitious townsfolk had made veiled accusations, but to be accused on the wall, and after such a storm…
    ‘Weren’t the men grateful to have been spared from the battle?’ she asked.
    ‘A clean fight, even with the possibility of death, is something these men know. They face death bravely and fight hard. But sorcery. That is a very different thing. It is something they do not understand and they fear what they do not understand. They were badly frightened last night. Do not come up on the wall tomorrow morning. Not alone.’
    ‘Niall, you are frightening me. Do you really think anyone would accuse me of being able to do such a thing?’ Hwenfayre’s eyes were wide.
    He nodded.
    ‘But how could anyone do that? Raise a storm, I mean?
    ‘Hwenfayre, I am a simple soldier. I do not know of sorcery or witches. But I do know common soldiers. And you are in danger at the moment, so be very careful.’ He stood to leave.
    ‘It appears that I owe you not only an apology but also my thanks for rescuing me. Please accept them both, Niall,’ said Hwenfayre, still sitting on the floor.
    Niall smiled briefly and left.
    Hwenfayre stayed where she was, warming herself by the dying fire, until her legs ached. Then she went to bed, her meal, still on the table where she had left it, uneaten.
    The next few days passed as a dream, with little to remember them by. She woke in the mornings, went to the market, played her harp and ate a little. She did not go to the wall, she spoke to no one except the