“What’s the alternative, though? One to one combat? Trying to kill each guard with a knife, with as little noise as possible? Do we have the right people to do that?” Caroni said.

“We need to find their leaders,” Rapt said. “Kill or capture them and we have a chance.”

“How will we do that in the dark in the middle of a dust storm?” Arc said.

“Torture somebody,” Rapt said.

Sorrel looked around. Few were paying attention to what was being said. The atmosphere in the cave felt resigned, even hopeless. Rashelope and Emrallie had fallen silent.

The odds were long whatever they did. As the discussion went on, the idea of a diversion was rejected. They would pour over the wall from the gully, kill the nearby guards, and spread out in fan formation, trying to find Colonel Drax and other leaders. Torture was not mentioned again. Talk wound down, and slowly the males and females drifted away from the council circle.

After everyone was asleep, Sorrel took her machete and knife, her algaskin and a few pieces of dried fruit she had saved from her ration but left her backpack behind. Let everyone think she had wandered off for a few minutes. As she passed the lean-tos she saw a torn camouflage shirt and she put it on. Maybe it would fool the Toplanders for a moment.

The moon was a faint glimmer in the grey sky, veiled by the dust haze. Broken branches marked the way the recce group had taken, and she fell into her stride. She needed to get to the camp’s wall in less than three hours. She started to taste the dust in the back of her throat.

She had never been so alone in the bush and the silence was unnerving. She startled at her own sounds, listening for ferals. To distract herself, she went through what she might find in the camp: would she have to kill one of the guards to get in? What was the best way to do that? What if she got caught? What would they do to her if she was captured? What would Caroni and the others think when they found she was not there? Was Bibi still alive? And if she wasn’t, why would any of the Lowlander females listen to her?

She almost bumped into the dead tree ahead. This was where she had to climb. She untied her scarf, wet it with water from the algaskin and tied it over her nose and mouth. She used her gloved hands on the steeper slope to scramble upwards.

She climbed until she came across the gully that Kes and the others had described and slid down a steep, sandy slope. Her thighs and calves were burning, and her head swam with the exertion.