‘Why?’ asked Clariel. Her voice still sounded raspy, strange to her ears.

‘Because I’m helping you escape,’ said Bel. ‘I’ve bespelled the guards below with a misdirection, like the one Kargrin used on us when we went to the Islet.’

‘Why?’ asked Clariel again. She let herself fall back on her pillow. ‘I know what I’ve done. I should pay the price.’

‘I owe you my life,’ said Bel simply. ‘Twice. Perhaps I’ve repaid part of that, and now I would repay all. Also … I feel responsible. I should have realised Mogget was wriggling free of his bonds, that three generations of Abhorsens had ignored him to everyone’s cost. I should have warned you that he was not to be trusted. And I should have made sure the lower depths of the House were forbidden to you.’

‘You weren’t to know,’ said Clariel wearily. ‘Not your responsibility.’

‘But it was,’ said Bel anxiously. ‘I’ve been the Abhorsen-in-Waiting for years, only I didn’t know it. I had only to claim my bells … and …’

He hesitated, then pressed on. ‘Tyriel was thrown from his horse the evening you escaped. He was very badly injured – he died later that night – and everyone was milling around in a great panic, with Yannael not doing anything useful. In the midst of it, a message-hawk came to me, to me personally. The most curious message-hawk ever because it didn’t say anything, it just drew a picture of the Abhorsen’s House in the dirt and a bell with legs on a horse riding to the house. So I went, and … it turned out I was the new Abhorsen.’

‘As you always wanted,’ said Clariel. She tried to smile, but there seemed to be a problem with the corner of her mouth. ‘Speaking of aunts, is my aunt Lemmin … is she still … Did they –’

‘She’s fine, she was treated well,’ said Bel. He frowned and hesitated again. ‘They told her you were dead. They’ve told everyone. Killed with the King, trying to save him.’

‘I did try to save the King,’ said Clariel. ‘I suppose the rest will soon be true.’

‘No,’ said Bel, shaking his head. He went to the chest at the foot of the bed and took out a plain woollen cloak. ‘It is true Queen Tathiel thinks you should be executed, but that’s not going to happen. I told you I’d help you escape. Get up and get this cloak over your nightgown. Not the best for travelling, but I couldn’t risk bringing anything up. There’s some other clothing, and money and food and suchlike in the boat –’