A crowd had gathered along the edge of the salt pan, and the balloon Pilgrim had seen earlier was fully inflated now. The teardrop of its envelope, lit by burners flaring under the taper of its skirt, glowed bright red in the dusk. Small fires torn ragged by the hot wind outlined the shape of the flowersipper symbol, and the salt pan stretched away under the darkening sky, palely glimmering as if releasing some of the light it had absorbed during the day.

Orange fishtail flags raised on tall poles fluttered above the heads of the crowd in the hot wind. Most people wore something orange – a shirt, a scarf, a headband. Some were dancing in a ragged circle around a group of musicians playing fife and drums; the rest were quietly watching the balloon and the salt pan and the black sky. Waiting for Foeless Landwalker to appear. Pilgrim saw with a small shock the ghost-white figure of a visitor looming in the firelit dusk, then realised that it was a costume, the globe of its head some kind of lath-and-paper construction, its featureless black face no more than paint.

Intrepid took Pilgrim’s arm and led him slantwise through the press towards a roughly carpentered wooden platform. ‘We built it for distinguished guests,’ Intrepid said. ‘Councillors, business people, scholars and the like. Hardly any outsiders come here anymore – you and your friends are the only guests for tonight’s show.’

After Pilgrim had clambered up the steep steps to the platform, leaning hard on his thornbush stick, he saw with a glad rush Poppy and Fragrant on the far side, beyond a group of orange-shirts. A square orange cap was perched on top of Poppy’s head; Fragrant wore an orange scarf, and her camera was set on its tripod at the edge of the platform, aimed towards the balloon. The two women assured him that they had been treated well, said that Intrepid had asked them about the Invisible College’s interest in Foeless Landwalker’s prophesies and the gathering, and had answered a good number of their questions.

‘He asked us about you,’ Poppy said. ‘But we told him you could speak for yourself and he didn’t press the point.’

‘He wants us to spread the news about the gathering,’ Fragrant said.

‘And wants me to find the map and bring it to him,’ Pilgrim said, and explained the terms of Intrepid’s offer.

‘If you return to Stonehaven, the constable will arrest you again,’ Poppy said.

‘Not if I pay him not to. And if I don’t go, Intrepid will most likely send someone else.’

‘Have you forgotten your promise to us?’ Fragrant said.