She looked up at the rocks above, more ledges interspersed between high crags, and wondered where the ancient cache of weapons Baazalanan had mentioned might be. There were no obvious caves, nor was this the kind of rock that lent itself to the formation of such things.

‘I should have stayed in the House,’ said Mogget sourly from behind her. ‘Not even a field mouse to eat up here.’

‘It’s wonderful,’ said Clariel, stretching out her arms. ‘No people, the forest just below, the sun on my face …’

She faltered and stopped, and lifted her hand to touch the mask. She’d forgotten she was wearing it, and for a moment could have sworn she had felt the sun on her face, without the barrier of the mask at all.

‘Mistress, the cache is still here.’

Baazalanan’s whisper, close behind her, made Clariel turn swiftly on the spot. The creature was back in its regular form, looming above her, its blue skin bright in the sunlight, though its eyes remained pools of darkness. Aziminil squatted nearby, legs folded twice.

‘Where?’ asked Clariel.

Baazalanan stamped the ground with one of his clublike feet. An echo came back, indicating a hollow space beneath the apparently solid slab of stone.

‘Under this ledge. There is a tunnel below.’

It walked along the ledge towards a large outcrop of granite and down a narrow gully between the two. Clariel followed, with Aziminil behind and Mogget bringing up the rear with an air of someone who wishes they had something better to do.

The gully led down to another ledge of folded stone below the one they’d landed on. Baazalanan walked to the interior edge of it, where it ran into the hillside. It looked no different than the stone anywhere else, but the creature reached out with one of its stick-thin fingers and traced a doorway in the stone, sharp nail screeching on the rock.

‘You must make the door,’ said Baazalanan. It gestured at the outline it had made. ‘Here.’

‘How?’ asked Clariel, even though she already knew. She touched the mask on her face as she spoke.

‘Free Magic,’ said Mogget. ‘Draw on your minion’s powers, cut through the stone. It will only take a moment and use only a fraction of the power you now have.’

‘But I … I don’t want to use any more … I don’t want to make it more difficult to regain the Charter,’ said Clariel.

Baazalanan and Aziminil squirmed as she mentioned the Charter, and she felt their unease, their mental shying away from the very notion.

‘It won’t make it –’ Mogget started to say, before the marks on his collar started to glow. ‘That is, it will make it only slightly worse, I’m sure. You will need all the help you can get if you still plan to go to Belisaere. It won’t be easy.’