All around now the Rigante were moving among the wounded Stone soldiers, hacking them to death where they lay. Bane saw Bendegit Bran making his way through the warriors. Bane took up the reins of a wandering chestnut horse. Stepping into the saddle he rode back across the battlefield. Far to the left he could see Connavar's gelding, Windsong. It was standing now, reins trailing. Bane was glad it had survived. He touched heels to the chestnut and rode past Bran.
'Wait!' called Bran, but Bane had kicked his horse into a run.
As he moved across the battlefield soldiers stood and cheered him, waving their swords in the air, and chanting his name. He rode to the top of the hill and swung his mount to stare back at the blood-covered field of the fallen.
'Proud of you, boy,' came the voice of Connavar in his mind.
Epilogue
Throughout the long afternoon brother solstice, Banouin and twenty other druids moved among the wounded men. They were aided by a hundred more warriors who had experience of battle injuries. Even so, many died before they could be reached and helped.
In all some seventeen thousand Rigante, Norvii and Pannone tribesmen had given their lives to protect the land, and more than twenty-five thousand soldiers of Stone had surrendered their souls to feed Jasaray's ambition.
The injured among the Rigante numbered in their thousands. Among the dead were the generals Govannan, Ostaran the Gath, and Fiallach. A little way from Fiallach lay the bodies of the former outlaws Wik and Valian, and Furse, the son of Osta. Finnigal survived, despite having his left hand cut from his body. Four thousand five hundred Iron Wolves and Horse Archers had died following the charge, with another thousand carrying wounds.
Bendegit Bran sent out scouts who returned to say that the surviving Panthers had fled the previous night's fortress and were heading south. He had no choice but to let them go.
With the afternoon sun dropping towards the mountains Bran and twenty Iron Wolves rode to the east and the golden Circle of Balg. A stoop-shouldered man and a young boy were sitting with the body of the king, who was once more wearing his armour of gold. Of Bane there was no sign.
Bran dismounted and spoke to the man. He was the father of the boy, and had come seeking him. Bran thanked them both for tending his brother.
'Where is the warrior who was with him?' he asked the man.
'I saw no-one, sir,' he said.
'What about you?' Bran asked the boy.
'Another man came, sir, just before my da found me. This man cast great magic. There was a bright light in the circle, and he walked into it, and was gone.'
'Gone?'
'Yes, sir.'
'And that was all you saw?'
'I saw mountains, sir, beyond the circle. White mountains.'
