‘Dalip,’ she said when she’d found him. ‘That thing that happens when the moon goes in front of the sun.’

‘Eclipse,’ he said. Perhaps some who were that smart would have judged her for not knowing the proper word, but she didn’t feel it.

‘That. It’s happening, now.’

They all walked with her back to the clearing, and peered up at the sky with their hands across their brows.

‘There,’ said Elena, pointing at the ghostly curve of a crater’s edge as it was illuminated briefly, bright enough to cut through the glare. ‘What will happen?’

‘It’ll go dark, and not for minutes, but for hours.’

‘Do we stop, or do we go on?’ Mary asked.

‘Of course we’ll have to stop.’ Mama had already sat down, facing the warmth of the sun while she still had it. ‘We can’t go chasing round in the dark. Besides, my feet are pretty sore, girl, and I could do with a rest.’

‘And there’s no sign of Crows?’ Dalip frowned, looking at the drift of insects turn about the clearing.

‘No. Not yet.’

‘You all right flying further?’

‘Why?’

‘Because Crows has been here a while. He’ll know when the eclipses are due. He might even be waiting for it to send his spies up.’

She was gone almost before he’d finished speaking, up into the air, gaining as much height as she could. As she climbed she could see the black shadow in the distance, its edge defined by a sharp line on the ground that seemed to be rushing towards her like a riot.

Above her, she could feel the weight of rock rolling above her, threatening to crush her. The sun was consumed, piece by piece, by flashes and haloes, until all that was left was a nail-clipping of light.

Gone.

The black disc was overhead, and she felt so light, so giddy, that she thought she could just keep rising until she joined it in its path around Down. In the distance, the western horizon dimmed as the shadow consumed more. Behind her, the east was aglimmer as day returned.

She could see it, the outline of the moon, pale and golden. And when she looked again, the forest had fallen silent. The wind held its breath.

There, in the next valley over, a sudden disturbance as bright-eyed black specks lifted themselves into the clear still air, and spread out like a fan to the north and west and south. She spotted the clearing again where the others rested, and flew low over it, once, twice, three times, reluctant to land even for a moment in case she lose sight of her quarry.

Someone got the idea, and the four of them started off in the direction of her flight.

She rose again and glided high and stealthily, watching the crows as they came and went, their paths seemingly random but always centred on one slowly moving point.