Albert turned, making his way back through the crowd, out towards the valley. He found it much easier going this time—perhaps it was better when one was moving in the opposite direction, or maybe the people behind him were just happy to be rid of yet another body preventing them from getting in closer.

Slowly, he walked out, his head still reeling, his heart filled with dread. He had just witnessed the power of Vail firsthand, and he had more than a fair idea of what he intended to do with that power. Castor had been right.

His head still heavy with thoughts, his brow still flush with emotion not yet died down, Albert stepped into the main body of the valley, looking down at the ground, lost in thought, until a voice hailed him, and he turned to see a serious-faced young man walking quickly up to him.

Almost immediately, he knew something was wrong. ‘What is it?’ he asked.

‘Come with me,’ said the man, as if he hadn’t heard the question, and turned around. After a few attempts at queries that were met with stony silence, Albert gave up and just followed him. Perhaps the man was deaf. Or maybe he just took time to open up to strangers. They walked for a few minutes, in the direction of Father’s tent until they came to the long, low-slung tent that Theo had pointed out to him earlier as the place where the ‘soldiers hung out’.

The inside of the tent was bare, completely empty except for a man standing at the far end, guarding a cloth partition that cut off the rest of the place from view. As Albert watched, a stream of men ran out through the partition and past him out of the tent, while an unseen, vaguely familiar voice boomed orders and expletives in equal quantities from behind the partition.

Albert and his escort walked up to the man guarding the partition. He was a big, burly individual, with a flamboyant moustache, wearing his arms folded across his chest, and a sour expression.

‘Pass?’ he asked, looking at Albert sharply.

Albert looked helplessly at the man with him, who shook his head. The guard’s expression immediately brightened. ‘No entry for non-authorized personnel,’ he said happily. This was probably the high point of his day.

‘He’s with me,’ said Albert’s guide. So he wasn’t deaf. Maybe it had been the shyness, then. The guard looked at them and a look of understanding crossed his face.

‘Well?’ asked Albert’s guide impatiently.

‘No entry for non-authorized personnel.’

‘I said, he’s with me.’

‘Yes, but he can’t go in.’

‘Why not?’

‘No entry for non-authorized personnel.’

Albert’s guide rolled his eyes. ‘Well, he’s going in with me. Commander’s orders.’

The guard didn’t move.

‘Look, do you want me find the commander and tell him you’re holding everything up?’