The Slave stood naked in the crowded throne room. Where the Garanellian captain was bronzed with golden hair and clean chiselled features, the northern barbarian chieftain was snow pale, with a smooth bald head and a bushy beard speckled brown, red and a dusting of blond around the upper lip.

His bared chest was similarly covered in hair, and his powerful arms were bound before him. He tested the metal shackles around his wrists. They were solidly built, but there was a little give in the chain links. He thought he could probably pull them apart, but in this immense crowded hall it would mean nothing but a swift death.