Horns sounded at some distance, and the noise of cheering rolled towards them like a gathering wind. Then there was a loud trumpetblast, and all about them people were shouting, cheering the company as they departed from the first gate of the citadel in the early hours of the next morning. Leading the line came, walking on a thick-limbed horse, Torstein, broad of shoulders and heavy of girth, but old and grey-bearded, yet mail-clad and bearing a long heavy axe. Behind him marched proudly a line of riding men, well-armored and bearing swords, bows and spears; grim-faced they were, specially chosen by the king to aid the rest of the group in their journey north. Behind them, Varonno, Nicholas and the knights of Redcliff came, equally grim and armed.
And so the new company came and were ha
