She had dark skin and black, glinting eyes framed by a tangle of thick hair. He was about to say something when she put a finger to his lips and scowled at him with the fierce, intent look of an animal.

He kept quiet.

She held a jackknife in her brown hand. It had a 5-inch blade shaped like a long narrow leaf that tapered to a vicious point. Mauro had shown him a knife like this before; it was a resolza, a shepherd’s knife, and it was deadly.

Quickly and expertly, she cut the thongs and helped him up. It was agony but he managed not to cry out. He was stiff all over and his skin hurt dreadfully when he moved.

She again signalled for him to be quiet, then beckoned him to follow her. She was small and wiry and moved like a cat, looking around her all the time, her whole body tensed and alert. She hurried away across the island and into the water on sure, bare, feet, making no sound.

James suddenly froze. He had seen the shadowy bulk of the young guard waiting for them in the swamp, sitting utterly still. He wanted to call to the girl, but she hurried straight past the man, ignoring him completely, and James now realised why he wasn’t moving.

The guard was sitting in the water, slumped against a slimy rock, his head tipped backwards, his eyes staring and white-rimmed, his mouth open in a silent scream of terror.

Below his chin was what looked like a second mouth cut into his throat.

The girl had sliced clean across it with her knife.

James retched and shrank back, horrified.

He looked around for the girl and could just see her on the far side of the bog disappearing into the gully, crouched low and hurrying forward.

James stumbled after her and caught up. She looked back at him and smiled, showing two rows of gleaming white teeth that flashed in the dark.

Then she was off again, with James close behind her, not caring about the branches that lashed at his bare chest and face. Any sensation was better than the feeling of the mosquitoes on him.

The girl led him out of the marshy area, down to the river and across it, using slippery stepping-stones. On the other side they climbed a narrow stone track that cut into the mountainside. James struggled to keep up. He could barely see 3 feet in front of him, and if he didn’t keep right behind the girl he didn’t know where to safely tread, but she was dressed all in black and was very hard to see.

James was sweating uncontrollably and shivering at the same time. His vision was swimming and filming over. He wanted to tell the girl to stop or at least slow down, but he was scared of what might happen if they did.