‘We’re … um … good friends,’ said Bel. He tried to sit up even more but grimaced, pain evident on his face, and settled back. ‘What I really wanted to talk about was simply to say thank you. For saving my life. Twice. If you hadn’t dragged me down, the quarrel would have got me in the head, and Kargrin told me … he told me that you held the Free Magic creature and stopped it from finishing me off.’

‘I should have been quicker to spot the crossbow,’ said Clariel. She hesitated for a second, then added, ‘I think it was Aronzo.’

Bel was silent for a moment, a frown passing across his face.

‘That makes sense. Unfortunately. I know Gullaine doesn’t believe it, but Kargrin is certain the creature was working with Kilp, even if for its own ends, whatever they may be. Aronzo hates me and … he kills for fun.’

‘Kills for fun?’ asked Clariel. ‘What, animals?’

‘People,’ said Bel. ‘I know he’s killed several day labourers, supposedly in self-defence. But the way he talked about it … it was clear he enjoyed the killing.’

‘Great,’ muttered Clariel. She remembered Sergeant Penreth of the Borderers, telling her about tracking a wolf that had started to kill for pleasure, a rogue that had been banished from its own pack. Penreth had said such rogues were among the greatest dangers in the Forest, for their unpredictability and bloodlust. ‘We’re having dinner with them tonight, and I’m fairly certain my parents really do want me to marry Aronzo.’

‘But you won’t!’ exclaimed Bel. ‘Will you?’

‘No,’ said Clariel. ‘I’m getting out of here. Soon. Going back to Estwael and the Great Forest.’

‘What? Why would you want to do that?’

‘Because that’s where I’m supposed to be!’ said Clariel. ‘That’s where my proper life is!’

‘Oh,’ said Bel. ‘Sorry.’

‘Don’t worry,’ said Clariel. She sat down on the end of his divan with a long sigh. ‘Nobody else understands it either.’

‘No, I think I do understand,’ said Bel. ‘I’m just a bit slow … It’s like me wanting to be an Abhorsen, a real Abhorsen. Everyone at home thinks it’s a bit of a joke. That’s why I got sent here.’

‘Why?’

‘My great-uncle … your grandfather … the Abhorsen, he got tired of me asking about things he couldn’t or didn’t want to answer, and then when I started asking Cousin Yannael, the Abhorsen-in-Waiting, she got really cross. All that lot care about is Grand Hunts, you know, the full thing with horses and dogs and a hundred beaters that go on for days on end … so Great-Uncle Tyriel got rid of me.’

‘What about your parents? Surely they –’

‘They’re dead,’ said Bel. ‘An accident, when I was very little. Drowned.’

‘I’m sorry,’ said Clariel. ‘My parents annoy me, but it would be terrible …’