Abercrombie, Joe - The Heroes

– his chief of staff.

Lieutenant Dimbik

– an unconfident young officer on Mitterick’s staff.

Meed’s Division

Lord Governor Meed

– an amateur soldier with a neck like a turtle, in peacetime the governor of Angland, described as hating Northmen like a pig hates butchers.

Colonel Harod dan Brock

– an honest and hard-working member of Meed’s staff, the son of a notorious traitor.

Finree dan Brock

– Colonel Brock’s venomously ambitious wife, the daughter of Lord Marshal Kroy.

Colonel Brint

– senior on Meed’s staff, an old friend of the king.

Aliz dan Brint

– Colonel Brint’s naive young wife.

Captain Hardrick

– an officer on Meed’s staff, affecting tight trousers.

The Dogman’s Loyalists

The Dogman

– Chief of those Northmen fighting with the Union. An old companion of the Bloody-Nine, once a close friend of Black Dow, now his bitter enemy.

Red-Hat

– the Dogman’s Second, who wears a red hood.

Hardbread

– a Named Man of long experience, leading a dozen for the Dogman.

Redcrow

– one of Hardbread’s Carls.

THE NORTH

In and Around Skarling’s Chair

Black Dow

– the Protector of the North, or stealer of it, depending on who you ask.

Splitfoot

– his Second, meaning chief bodyguard and arse-licker.

Ishri

– his advisor, a sorceress from the desert South, and sworn enemy of Bayaz.

Caul Shivers

– a scarred Named Man with a metal eye, who some call Black Dow’s dog.

Curnden Craw

– a Named Man thought of as a straight edge, once Second to Rudd Threetrees, then close to Bethod, now leading a dozen for Black Dow.

Wonderful

– his long-suffering Second.

Whirrun of Bligh

– a famous hero from the utmost North, who wields the Father of Swords. Also called Cracknut, on account of his nut being cracked.

Jolly Yon Cumber, Brack-i-Dayn, Scorry Tiptoe, Agrick, Athroc

and

Drofd

– other members of Craw’s dozen.

Scale’s Men

Scale

– Bethod’s eldest son, now the least powerful of Dow’s five War Chiefs, strong as a bull, brave as a bull, and with a bull’s brain too.

Pale-as-Snow

– once one of Bethod’s War Chiefs, now Scale’s Second.

White-Eye Hansul

– a Named Man with a blind eye, once Bethod’s herald.

‘Prince’ Calder

– Bethod’s younger son, an infamous coward and schemer, temporarily exiled for suggesting peace.

Seff

– his pregnant wife, the daughter of Caul Reachey.

Deep

and

Shallow

– a pair of killers, watching over Calder in the hope of riches.

Caul Reachey’s Men

Caul Reachey

– one of Dow’s five War Chiefs, an elderly warrior, famously honourable, father to Seff, father-in-law to Calder.

Brydian Flood

– a Named Man formerly a member of Craw’s dozen.

Beck

– a young farmer craving glory on the battlefield, the son of Shama Heartless.

Reft, Colving, Stodder

and

Brait

– other young lads pressed into service with Beck.

Glama Golden’s Men

Glama Golden

– one of Dow’s five War Chiefs, intolerably vain, locked in a feud with Cairm Ironhead.

Sutt Brittle

– a famously greedy Named Man.

Lightsleep

– a Carl in Golden’s employ.

Cairm Ironhead’s Men

Cairm Ironhead

– one of Dow’s five War Chiefs, notoriously stubborn, locked in a feud with Glama Golden.

Curly

– a stout-hearted scout.

Irig

– an ill-tempered axeman.

Temper

– a foul-mouthed bowman.

Others

Brodd Tenways

– the most loyal of Dow’s five War Chiefs, ugly as incest.

Stranger-Come-Knocking

– a giant savage obsessed with civilisation, Chief of all the lands east of the Crinna.

Back to the Mud (dead, thought dead, or long dead)

Bethod

– the first King of the Northmen, father to Scale and Calder.

Skarling Hoodless

– a legendary hero who once united the North against the Union.

The Bloody-Nine

– once Bethod’s champion, the most feared man in the North, and briefly King of the Northmen before being killed by Black Dow (supposedly).

Rudd Threetrees

– a famously honourable Chief of Uffrith, who fought against Bethod and was beaten in a duel by the Bloody-Nine.

Forley the Weakest

– a notoriously weak fighter, companion to Black Dow and the Dogman, ordered killed by Calder.

Shama Heartless

– a famous champion killed by the Bloody-Nine. Beck’s father.

‘Unhappy the land that

is in need of heroes’

Bertolt Brecht

The Times

‘Too old for this shit,’ muttered Craw, wincing at the pain in his dodgy knee with every other step. High time he retired. Long past high time. Sat on the porch behind his house with a pipe, smiling at the water as the sun sank down, a day’s honest work behind him. Not that he had a house. But when he got one, it’d be a good one.

He found his way through a gap in the tumble-down wall, heart banging like a joiner’s mallet. From the long climb up the steep slope, and the wild grass clutching at his boots, and the bullying wind trying to bundle him over. But mostly, if he was honest, from the fear he’d end up getting killed at the top. He’d never laid claim to being a brave man and he’d only got more cowardly with age. Strange thing, that – the fewer years you have to lose the more you fear the losing of ’em. Maybe a man just gets a stock of courage when he’s born, and wears it down with each scrape he gets into.

Craw had been through a lot of scrapes. And it looked like he was about to snag himself on another.

He snatched a breather as he finally got to level ground, bent over, rubbing the wind-stung tears from his eyes. Trying to muffle his coughing which only made it louder. The Heroes loomed from the dark ahead, great holes in the night sky where no stars shone, four times man-height or more. Forgotten giants, marooned on their hilltop in the scouring wind. Standing stubborn guard over nothing.

Craw found himself wondering how much each of those great slabs of rock weighed. Only the dead knew how they’d dragged the bastard things up here. Or who had. Or why. The dead weren’t telling, though, and Craw had no plans on joining ’em just to find out.