‘Carefully done. When it is dry, we will put it some place safe.’ He bent low to blow softly on it. ‘The portal is on the beach itself?’

‘It’s in the sea, facing the beach, set in a big rock that stands on its own. I could show you if you want.’

‘No need. I know where you mean. There used to be an arch there, but it collapsed in a storm.’

‘Crows, will I ever get back home?’

He sat back on his haunches. ‘Why do you ask?’

‘The wolfman told us that going home was impossible. Was he lying?’

‘He was telling the truth, as far as he knows it.’

‘But does that mean he’s wrong?’ She held her map up to the reddening sun, watching how the light played through the thin sheet and emboldened the black lines she’d made.

‘That is a geomancer’s great dream, the grand project, to discover whether or not those in Down can pass through the portals to London.’

‘No one has, then.’ She didn’t know how to feel about that. She was trapped, but the prison was far bigger than the freedom she’d previously taken for granted.

‘Yet,’ said Crows. ‘Geomancers fight for control over land, over castles, over portals. Your friends have been taken in case they know something about how the portals work: even the smallest clue might help open the way.’

‘What’s going to happen to them?’

‘If I know her, she will never let them go: what they know will be useful to others and part of being a good geomancer is to deny knowledge to other geomancers. She will force them to work for her, like she did the villagers under my protection.’

‘Slave labour.’

‘Yes.’ Crows sagged at the thought. ‘I wish I could do more.’

‘Has she got a castle?’

‘Hers is large, with high walls and a commanding view over the land. She has soldiers at her beck and call, and workers in her fields. She does not have to worry about finding food, or keeping warm. She spends her whole day in study. I was no match for her, and I barely escaped her myself.’ He curled in on himself further, and worried at his thumb with his teeth. ‘She shamed me.’

‘We can get them back.’

‘We are not enough,’ said Crows. ‘We would need an army to take her castle, and we are not going to find one. This part of Down is empty.’

‘Maybe we should just go somewhere where there are more people and, I don’t know, hire an army. Can we do that?’

‘The only city I know of is hundreds of miles away. There are people here and there in the hills to the east, but they enjoy their peace, and it is not their quarrel. We cannot make them fight for us, and we will not be able to persuade them either.’