At last they sighted land again, Gentle and Poppy climbing the masts for a better look as a faint green line appeared under mountainous ranges of cloud at the horizon. Soon, other ships began to appear – traffic from the canal, completed only three years ago, which cut across the narrowest part of the Neck, so that ships no longer had to risk a long and dangerous passage through the stormy seas at the southern tip of the Union. Coral said that during the canal’s construction, traces had been found of an earlier channel built by ogres. It seemed that they had taken advantage of the same route.

Two nights later, the windjammer anchored outside the harbour of a small town surrounded by tropical jungle, and a skiff rowed out and delivered supplies of fresh and dry fish, starchy tubers and tropical fruit – cluster figs, mammy apples, agave and melons like the rough-shelled eggs of terror lizards. The young woman who delivered this bounty had more news of Foeless Landwalker and his circus. Although the visitors still had not appeared, lights had been seen moving across the night sky, and new followers were arriving every day. Lawkeepers sent by the authorities to observe the gathering had been attacked and three had been injured, one seriously. More were on their way, and it seemed that some kind of confrontation was inevitable, most likely turning on an attempt to arrest Foeless Landwalker, who had refused a request to appear before a special court to explain himself.

Pilgrim, recalling the nets of green lights Mercy Redvine claimed to have seen in the ruins of the new city, wanted to know more about the lights in the sky above the gathering and its landing field, but the young woman said that she knew only what had been passed on to her. Small fugitive lights appearing here and there in the night sky with no obvious pattern; according to Foeless Landwalker, they were delivering new messages from the visitors through his special psychic connection.

‘Sounds like he’s trying to stretch out his grift for as long as possible,’ Gentle said. ‘Taking as much from his followers as he can before it falls apart.’

‘We need to get there as quickly as we can,’ Pilgrim said. ‘I want to see those lights. And I won’t be able to talk to Foeless Landwalker if he has been arrested.’

‘If we don’t run into bad weather, we’ll be at Ogres Grave in twelve days,’ Coral said.

‘And it will take two more to reach Landwalker’s gathering,’ Poppy said. ‘We had better hope that the lawkeepers are not eager to press their case.’

27.