'You wait down here, and stay out of sight.' She jerked her head upwards. 'I'll watch them from up there.'

As a boy, Logen had never been out of the trees round the village. As a young man he'd spent days in the High Places, testing himself against the mountains. At Heonan in the winter, the hillmen had held the high pass. Even Bethod had thought that there was no way round, but Logen had found a way up the frozen cliff and settled that score. He could see no way up here, though. Not without an hour or two to spare. Cliffs of leaning blocks heavy with dead creeper, crags of tottering stonework slick with moss, seeming to lean and tip as the clouds moved fast above.

'How the hell you planning to get up…'

She was already halfway up one of the pillars. She didn't so much climb as swarm like an insect, hand over hand. She paused at the top for a moment, found a footing she liked, then sprang through the air, right over Logen's head, landed on the wall behind and scrambled up onto it, sending a shower of broken mortar down into his face. She squatted on the top and frowned down at him. 'Just try not to make too much noise!' she hissed, then was gone.

'Did you see…' muttered Logen, but the others had already moved further into the damp shadows, and he hurried after them, not wanting to be left alone in this overgrown graveyard. Quai had pulled his cart up further on, and was leaning against it beside the restless horses. The First of the Magi was kneeling near him in the weeds, rubbing at the lichen-crusted wall with his palms.

'Look at this,' snapped Bayaz as Logen tried to edge past. 'These carvings here. Masterpieces of the ancient world! Stories, and lessons, and warnings from history.' His thick fingers brushed gently at the scarred stone. 'We might be the first men to look upon these in centuries!'

'Mmm,' muttered Logen, puffing out his cheeks.

'Look here!' Bayaz gestured at the wall. 'Euz gives his gifts to his three oldest sons, while Glustrod looks on from the shadows. The birth of the three pure disciplines of magic. Some craftsmanship, eh?'

'Right.'

'And here,' grunted Bayaz, knocking some weeds away and shuffling along to the next mossy panel, 'Glustrod plans to destroy his brother's work.' He had to tear at a tangle of dead ivy to get at the one beyond. 'He breaks the First Law. He hears voices from the world below, you see? He summons devils and sends them against his enemies. And in this one,' he muttered, tugging at the weight of brown creeper, 'let me see now…'

'Glustrod digs,' muttered Quai. 'Who knows? In the next one he might even have found what he's looking for.'