She broke out of the low bushes that surrounded the summit, and stood on the highest point of the ridge, staring around, frantic. Nothing. Then she felt it. A malevolence that chilled her, and she turned. A large male hyena stood in the rocks, staring at her. It was close, crouching low. She could see its massive jaws and the fetid stench of its breath stung her nostrils, making her gag. She stepped back, slowly, wondering if there would be time for Anthony or Hannah to reach her before it sprang. There was no use running from it, over this ground. She stood still, mesmerised by the muscles bunching in the powerful shoulders, muzzle stripped back to show the teeth that could tear her apart. Then she heard a whirring sound and saw the flash that was a spear. The animal spun into the air and hurtled past her, knocking her to the ground as it fell, so that she found herself rolling down and across the rocks towards the dense scrub on the other side of the ridge. As she tumbled, she saw the man for a split second. A Kikuyu warrior was standing on the edge of a gully, his arm still drawn back from hurling his spear, naked except for his leg and arm ornaments, a leather loincloth and a ceremonial feathered headdress and collar. She landed with a sickening thud at the base of the rocks and heard the crunch of bone. There was an excruciating pain in her shoulder that shot down her arm, but in the seconds that followed it was forgotten.

In front of her, the ground had been cleared and a shallow pit dug. Lying in it, spreadeagled, was a man. His body had been slit open from the neck down, the contents of his stomach and his manhood cut away, so that the sweetish smell of blood and organs lingered on the wind. With terrible, rasping sobs, Sarah crawled towards the apparition. His hands, tethered to the ground with wooden stakes and creepers, were outspread as though in supplication. His blood had seeped on to the soil in grisly sacrifice, and was sticky and dull. His face was turned up to the moon, and the light shone on his empty eye sockets. Piet van der Beer was dead.