‘No. Only the crossbow,’ said Gullaine, placing it down on the stone. ‘It may tell us something. The shooter swam ashore, made a diagonal to the wall, and then was away along the rocks under the wall. An excellent swimmer, and I would say a young man, but I couldn’t see who it was. How are our younglings?’

‘Bel took a spelled quarrel under the collarbone,’ said Kargrin. ‘A few weeks’ rest, he’ll be fine. Clariel has some deep cuts to the hands, where she held the creature’s bladed feet.’

‘Really?’ asked Gullaine. She walked carefully to the hut as she spoke, and parted the shark-tooth curtain with her sword. ‘She held the creature?’

‘She stopped it from killing Belatiel,’ confirmed Kargrin. ‘Aided by the fury, which shielded her from the thing’s corrosive essence. She is a true berserk, Gully. She’ll need help with that. And quickly, for I want to get her away from the city before a week is out.’

‘Why so fast?’ asked Gullaine, who was now inside the hut, poking about with sword and boot, not touching anything even with her armoured, gloved hands. ‘We might need to hold on to her; as a potential heir she could be useful –’

‘She held the creature,’ said Kargrin. ‘That is something beyond the physical strength of any mortal. It was her will that held it, and that is how Free Magic sorcerers are made. If she should meet the creature again, and dominate it, find how … simple it would be to wield the powers the creature would give her … It is a great risk as long as that creature is free.’

‘She is the Abhorsen’s granddaughter,’ said Roban doubtfully.

‘The Abhorsens bind Free Magic creatures,’ said Kargrin. ‘They do not dominate them and take them into service.’

‘True,’ came Gullaine’s voice from inside the hut. ‘But she strove against it to save another, not herself. Surely that is not the way of a sorcerer?’

‘Few begin truly selfish,’ said Kargrin. ‘But all Free Magic sorcerers end up that way, suffering no check upon their actions. None, of any kind.’

‘Ah,’ said Gullaine, but it did not seem to be in response to Kargrin’s words. She came out of the hut, carrying a brass-bound wooden bucket in her hand, and set it down by Roban’s feet, some water slopping over the side. The guard and the huge Charter Mage looked down curiously.

‘What in the Charter’s name?’ asked Kargrin. ‘Why bring that out?’

‘Bright fish,’ said Gullaine, tapping the bucket with her sword, making the two brightly striped orange and red fish inside circle nervously. ‘For Clariel to give to the King. So at least we achieved something.’

chapter twelve

the education of a berserk