Injured people were strewn across the front deck of the ferry; their groans drowning out the flapping of the sails. In the dim moonlight, their faces looked deathly pale. Anira and Dunkan were helping the Watchers apply bandages and make splints. As Anira was dressing a villager’s head wound, she cast a sideways glance at Captain Yelgar, who was sitting on his knees beside his son, softly singing to him. Anira saw that Diyur’s mouth hung open and that his chest wasn’t rising and falling anymore. As a lump grew in her throat, she averted her eyes.

Dunkan walked up to her and put his arm around her shoulders. ‘Follow me,’ he said. ‘You’ve been on your feet for hours. Most wounds have been dressed.’ He motioned to one of the other volunteers to take over Anira’s tasks.

Together they walked to the rail and stared at the wash the boat created. ‘I’d like it very much if you’d come with me to my father’s estate.’ Anira blushed and looked at Dunkan. ‘There’s enough room for both you and your brother.’

He didn’t respond.

‘There are a few empty rooms in the south wing. They look out onto the courtyard, where we eat in the summer. Tiyodor would have no qualms with you and your brother moving in.’

‘I hope you know that I care about you very much, Anira.’ Dunkan took her hand and continued hesitantly. ‘I’m honored that you want to offer me and my little brother a home–and it might even be the best thing for us–but Ervingal’s death has given me new purpose.’ He looked away. ‘I want to go back to the capital and see his reputation restored.’ He gave a wry smile. ‘I’m sorry. You probably think I’ve lost my mind.’

Anira shook her head. ‘I think I know why you raised your sword at the God of War a second time.’

Dunkan clenched his teeth. ‘Do you?’

She nodded. ‘You think Merg might have killed your mother,’ she whispered. ‘And that he was responsible for Ervingal losing his grip on his life, making him vulnerable to deceit.’ Anira closed her eyes for a few seconds. ‘And I think you’re right.’

Dunkan heaved a sigh. ‘I believe that Ervingal fell victim to Merg’s desire to own a supreme weapon.’

Anira averted her gaze. ‘I also care about you very much, Dunkan. It hurts to think of the terrible things you’ve had to go through this past year, and even though it deeply saddens me, I understand that you have to go.’

‘Ervingal didn’t deserve this.’ He sighed. ‘Maybe I do love him more than I’ve been willing to admit in the past, even though he was not much of a father to me.’

‘He loved you too, Dunkan. I saw it when the God of War threatened to kill you. It wasn’t a coincidence that Ervingal chose exactly that moment to agree to Merg’s wishes.’

‘Maybe you’re right. That gives me all the more reason for me to clear his name.’ Dunkan smiled. ‘But I think it would be better for Little Gavin to go and live with you. And, of course, I’ll pay you all numerous visits.’ He looked at her. ‘I won’t forget you, Anira.’ He leaned forwards and kissed her. ‘I promise…’

‘He’s awake!’ a voice behind them called out. Little Gavin was standing in the doorway of one of the cabins.

Anira pulled Dunkan with her to the cabin where her father was lying flat on his back on a narrow bed. The bandages around Tiyodor’s shoulder covered most of his upper body. In some places blood still seeped through the cloth. He turned his head and smiled when Anira entered the cabin, but she saw that he was shaking slightly. She walked towards him and kneeled beside the bed.

‘There’s no need to look so worried, sweetheart,’ Tiyodor said softly. ‘I’m going to be alright. Your mother has taken excellent care of me.’

With tears in her eyes, Anira looked up at Irma.

‘Don’t be scared,’ she said soothingly. ‘He’ll lose movement in his arm and shoulder, but as long as the wound doesn’t become infected, he’s out of danger.’

‘See,’ Tiyodor said. ‘But now that I might not be able to perform my duties anymore, the time has come to talk.’

‘Tiyodor,’ Irma said, ‘now is not the time.’

‘We’ve postponed this conversation long enough, as far as I’m concerned.’ Irma helped him to sit up straight. ‘Listen, Anira. One day someone will have to take over my title and the responsibility for our estate. Now that I’m injured, this day might not be all that far off.’ He cast a glance at Dunkan. Despite his fever, his eyes were sparkling mischievously. ‘I’m not blind. I’ve seen how you and Dunkan have grown close.’ He smiled. ‘You probably think that Irma and I don’t know that you’ve been keeping up correspondence with one another for months.’

Anira was shocked and looked over her shoulder at Dunkan. She saw that he was blushing. ‘Maybe I should give you some space,’ Dunkan said.

Anira nodded and watched Dunkan and Little Gavin leave the cabin and close the door behind them. She grabbed a chair and sat next to the bed. ‘I don’t know what to say,’ she said.

‘I’ll go first,’ Tiyodor said. ‘I owe you an apology. You were right all along, about Ervingal and Merg, and about the Guyins. I didn’t believe you and I’m truly sorry about that. I promise to trust you from now on.’ He smiled. ‘Dunkan has grown up to be an honorable man and if you choose him to be your husband, I’ll support you. He bears our name, and our estate will be in good hands with him, which is all I would have wanted from a son.’

Anira remained silent.

‘Have your mother and I interpreted things wrongly?’ Tiyodor asked after a little while.

‘No,’ Anira finally said. ‘Because even though Dunkan and I don’t know each other all that well yet, I’d love for him to be my husband.’

‘Then, what’s the problem?’ Tiyodor asked.

‘Dunkan is going back to the capital to restore Ervingal’s reputation.’ Tiyodor and Irma looked at each other questioningly. ‘What do you mean?’

‘Merg revealed much to us when he transferred Ervingal’s spirit into his sword. Dunkan and I believe he’s responsible for Ervingal’s suffering, beginning with his wife’s death, but there’s more.’ She paused for a moment.

‘What, Anira?’

‘The head foreman,’ Anira said. ‘What happened to him? I haven’t seen him since we returned from the forest.’

‘I don’t know,’ Tiyodor said. ‘Some of the villagers said they saw him at the harbor a few days ago, joining some of the King’s men on a small boat. I didn’t give it much thought until now, but nobody has heard from him since.’

Anira remembered what the Watcher Yarnus had asked her back in Lavinyord. ‘Why would he send the palace master swordsmith to govern such a remote settlement?’ she said softly, repeating the Watcher’s words. Anira pulled her chair closer to Tiyodor’s bed. ‘Could the head foreman be a spy for the King who has fled Varna with the secrets of forging iron.’

‘It was also the King who forbade the Grey Order to cross the river Dayno,’ Tiyodor said. ‘We should count ourselves lucky that we made it out of there alive. If the Watcher Yarnus hadn’t ignored the commands of the Grey Order, the Guyins would have driven us past the White Cliffs, into the water.’

The room fell silent.

‘I’m sorry that Dunkan is choosing another path,’ Irma told Anira after a while. ‘How could he turn down a beautiful lady like you?’

‘I’d do the same,’ Anira said quietly. She got ready to get up.

Tiyodor grabbed her arm. ‘What do you mean by that?’

Anira looked at him. ‘I mean that it’s important to clear your father’s name when it’s been tarnished unfairly. Family, blood relatives or not, should always be the most important thing to us.’

Tiyodor stared at her in amazement.

Anira straightened her back. ‘You said that you’d trust me from now on, didn’t you, Father?’

He nodded.

‘I know how badly you wanted a son who could take over your estate, but you’ve got me. You think finding me a good husband is the solution, but I’ll never marry a man I don’t love.’ She straightened her shoulders. ‘I do, however, promise you that, if I haven’t found a husband by the time you relinquish your title, I won’t hesitate to follow in your footsteps myself, even though I’m a woman.’ She was silent for a moment. ‘That is, if you would accept me as your successor.’

Tiyodor held her gaze for a long time, but finally started to laugh. ‘There’s a woman standing in front of me who’s quite unlike my little girl,’ he said. ‘What a pleasant surprise.’ Tiyodor smiled. ‘Anira, when the time comes, it would be my pleasure to discuss this matter in all seriousness.’ He exchanged a proud gaze with his wife and carefully lay back down again.

Feeling relieved, Anira got up off her chair and kissed her father on his brow. ‘Thank you, Father.’ She hugged her mother and left the cabin. She had a strange feeling in her stomach when she walked across the front deck to the bow of the ship, where her cousins were talking with Watcher Yarnus, just as the first rays of sunlight were starting to hit them.

‘One way or the other, we’ll find out,’ Yarnus said to Dunkan. ‘If it turns out that the King has formed a pact with Merg, the Grey Order will turn against him.’

Dunkan nodded.

The Watcher turned around when Anira reached them. ‘How’s your father, Anira?’

‘He’s going to be alright,’ she answered. She stood on tiptoes and kissed him. As the sun was slowly rising above the horizon, making the white-crested waves in front of the bow glitter, Anira spotted dark shapes below the surface of the water. Dunkan lifted Little Gavin up, so he could also see the Narwhals with their protruding tusks swimming ahead of the ferry. Anira smiled and looked into the distance where the harbor of Lavinyord was looming up ahead.