It must have been her expression that made him tremble so. Given her reaction when I'd explained how he'd come to be throwing money around in Muena Palaiya, I was sure it wasn't all feigned.

'No? Really? All right then. If we're talking actual armies, if it's really going to take an army to get you to face up to your responsibilities… well, maybe you should take a glance through that window behind you.'

I could see how badly he didn't want to look. It was as if invisible hands were winding his head.

'Remember Saltlick? Of course you do.'

Saltlick had actually volunteered for this one. Given how seriously his people took the binds of duty, I hadn't been altogether surprised.

Neither, apparently, was the Patriarch. Petrified certainly, about to make an unpleasant mess of an expensive couch possibly, but not actually surprised. He barely had time to register the huge and hugely ugly countenance scowling in at him before his eyes strayed on, to the next pane of glass and the next — as I'd known they must.

'Well, Saltlick has a few friends.'

He was on his feet before the last syllable left my mouth. His eyes were huge with terror. His long moustaches quivered with the wordless twitching of his lips. He lurched past me, almost tripped over Alvantes and staggered onward. I doubted even he knew where he was going.

He wouldn't get far; not with Huero and a half-dozen more giants waiting in the street outside.

'When I next pass through Reb Panza,' I called after him, 'I expect to be able to see my face in it.'

I suspected Huero was secretly glad of the responsibility for getting Reb Panza's wayward elders home. Now that the giants were recovering from their funk, they no longer needed to be looked after, and journeying on to Altapasaeda with us would take him and his family very far from home.

'I'm not sure what Estrada said,' I told him, 'but the inn's proprietor has agreed to pay back most of what they spent. Do you think you could check in on them from time to time? Make sure the money goes where it's supposed to?'

'It would be a pleasure,' he said — and his expression told me it genuinely would. I'd noticed something in Huero since my return from Ans Pasaeda, a quality I suspected he was only just starting to recognise in himself. He really did enjoy making things better. Maybe my coin alone hadn't done much for Reb Panza, but coin and a man like Huero should make a real difference.

I pointed to the Patriarch. 'Just make sure he walks every step of the way.'

Huero grinned. 'It's going to be a long journey.'

'Make sure of it.'

He offered his hand and I clasped it. 'Thank you. For everything. Really, Huero.'

'No, thank you, Damasco.' He glanced to Dura, busy marshalling Reb Panza's dazed, hung-over runaways. 'After everything that happened… well, I think we needed a little diversion in our lives.'

I watched them leave, Huero driving their own wagon and Dura another loaned by Estrada, with the old folks of Reb Panza sat sulkily in the back or trailing after like a depressed dog's tail. Last of all went the Patriarch, an expression of sheerest terror hovering above his grand moustaches. How was he to know the giants were out in force to see off the family who'd cared for them for so long, and not to devour him if he should miss a step?

With the secret of the giants' presence out, Estrada had chosen to abandon subterfuge altogether. We travelled in single file from the north gate towards the south, and it was hard to believe that one man, woman or child in the entire town hadn't turned out to watch. Since morning, the general mood had turned to one of amicable curiosity. A few people even clapped and cheered, as though it were all a pageant put on for their entertainment.

Halfway down Dancer's Way, Estrada drew her mount up abruptly. The column of giants shuffled to a halt behind us.

As soon as the riot of pounding feet had died, Estrada cried at the top of her voice, 'People of Muena Palaiya!' She waited again, this time for her audience to quieten itself. 'You'll all know by now that our town has been under the forced rule of a man named Guiso Lupa. Most of you will know too that Lupa was an agent of the criminal Castilio Mounteban, who has set himself up in tyranny over Altapasaeda. With the aid of my friends here, Lupa has been driven out, and Muena Palaiya belongs to its people once more.'

Those who'd been celebrating the giants' parade took this as an excuse for another round of applause.

'However, for Muena Palaiya to stay free, Altapasaeda must be free also. Or else sooner or later Mounteban will make our town, and eventually all of the Castoval, his own. Therefore, I find myself with no choice but to leave you in the hands of your town council, along with the task of repairing the damage Lupa has wrought. I hope you'll pull together, now more than ever, and that I'll see you again soon — safe in the knowledge that we have no more to fear from the ambitions of evil men.'

This time, the reaction was more widespread, though perhaps not quite so enthusiastic. After so much unrest, no doubt the people of Muena Palaiya had been hoping for a return to something like normality. Nevertheless, the cheering went on for what seemed an age.

When Estrada rejoined Alvantes and me, her face was set with fierce resolve.

It was matched by the determination in Alvantes's voice as he said, 'Marina, absolutely not.'

'You'd have me go back on my word?'

'You'll be safe here.'

'Only if you win — in which case, I'll be just as safe with you. If you don't…' A little of the bravado went out of Estrada as she finished, 'You know fear of you was the only thing that kept him away from me, Lunto.'

'Marina…'

'Anyway, Castilio might listen to me. There could be a chance of avoiding bloodshed.'

'There'll be no avoiding bloodshed.'

'In which case, you know I can handle myself. You came here to protect me and you helped free my home. Now I'll do the same for you. Damn it, I'm not waiting like some hand-wringing soldier's wife. If it all goes wrong, if you're hurt…' Estrada clutched his one hand in hers, gripped it tight. 'I want to be there.'

Alvantes stared at their locked hands for the longest time, as though he were the only witness to some unimaginable prodigy. Then, as if shaking himself from a dream, he said, 'Once we're inside, you do what I tell you. That's my condition.'

'Agreed.'

'You take no chances.'

'Absolutely not, Guard-Captain.'

He sighed, a sound of utter, wearied defeat. 'Then thank you, Marina. It will be a pleasure to travel with you again.'

Maybe the man was learning after all.

Over the next four days, we retraced the route through the Castoval we'd taken so recently — and what seemed a lifetime ago. In one great, snaking column, we trekked down the mountainside road to the valley floor, swung west into Paen Acha, forded the river at Casta Canto — a slow and immensely tiresome process with a hundred giants in tow — and continued through the further depths of the forest towards the main southward highway.

All the while, Alvantes, Estrada and I discussed our strategy, with occasional, brief contributions from Saltlick.

In private, I'd already raised with him the possibility of the giants aiding us one last time. 'Saltlick, what they did back there. Do you think you could persuade your people to help Altapasaeda the same way?'

'No fight,' he said. 'No hurt.'

'Let's take that as a given. But if there was some way you could help without causing any harm… without putting yourselves in real risk?'

I was being disingenuous, and surely we both knew it. The giants had already been in real risk. The morning after the decapitation of Lupa's headquarters, I'd discovered that half a dozen of them had suffered wounds enough to fell a man twice over. They'd all shown Saltlick's remarkable capacity for healing, and a couple of days later the signs of damage were more or less gone. However, Altapasaeda wasn't Muena Palaiya. Where Lupa had had a few ignorant toughs, Mounteban had an army.

So what I was really asking was, Will you lead the giants into a battle where they can't fight back, but where their enemies will kill you all given the slightest chance?

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