‘Your friend, then,’ said Mogget, as they turned left and followed the path towards the western gate. ‘Particular friend.’

‘He’s not a particular … Oh, never mind,’ retorted Clariel. She looked down at the cat. He blinked his eyes at her, pretending total innocence. ‘You just like to stir up trouble, don’t you?’

‘Not as much when it is so remarkably easy,’ said Mogget. ‘Though you do offer slightly more of a challenge than Belatiel.’

Clariel hoped the visitor was Bel, because he would be vastly more preferable than Tyriel, or, Charter forbid, Yannael.

The sending with the two-handed sword opened the gate as they walked up, and it was Bel. He looked pale and drawn, but better than he had when they’d landed the day before, not least because he was wearing fine clothes, similar to the outfit Clariel had seen him in when they first met at the Academy. He smiled as he saw Clariel, a full-hearted smile, which retreated somewhat when Mogget slunk out from behind her legs.

‘Clariel! And Mogget …’

‘Hello, Bel,’ said Clariel. Mogget merely winked and tilted his head to look at the fish Clariel held by a string through their open mouths. His pink tongue protruded just a fraction as if he couldn’t quite hold it back.

‘I see you have met Mogget,’ said Bel. ‘And he’s talked you into fishing for him already.’

‘She volunteered,’ said Mogget. ‘You look sick.’

‘I was wounded,’ said Bel. ‘Clariel saved my life.’

Mogget looked up at Clariel, emerald eyes inscrutable.

‘You didn’t tell me that.’

‘Twice, really,’ said Bel eagerly. ‘First from the crossbow bolt, then she stopped a Free Magic creature that was about to kill me.’

‘Stopped a Free Magic creature?’ asked Mogget. His eyes gleamed in sudden interest. ‘Fascinating. I wondered how you came to be … That is, I understood you are not much of a Charter Mage, as such …’

‘I held its feet,’ said Clariel, uncomfortably. ‘They were like blades … Anyway, what am I supposed to do with this fish? And what are you doing here, Bel?’

She did not notice Mogget’s eyes widen as she spoke, or the calculating glint that came into the cat’s eyes.

‘I came to see you, of course,’ said Bel, as if there could be no question that he would do so at the first opportunity. ‘I would have come earlier this morning, but, ah, I didn’t think the Abhorsen would … um … make you stay here and no one would tell me where you were. I had to go and ask Tyriel himself, which let me tell you wasn’t easy. I had to submit to a lecture about flying low over horses and dogs.’

‘Well, here I am,’ said Clariel. ‘A prisoner again, as I foretold.’

‘He told me it’s for your safety,’ said Bel awkwardly. ‘But it shouldn’t be for very long, only until Kilp is dealt with –’