“I wouldn’t trust them anyway,” Kosar said. “It’s unnatural. They might just lead us into a Red Monk’s trap.”

“Why would they do that?”

“Why wouldn’t they?” Kosar dabbed at A’Meer’s chin, washing away dried blood to reveal the pale skin beneath.

“There could be dozens of them out there,” Hope said, “and they might be anywhere.” She sat on one of the saddles they had brought in out of the rain, trying to see through the curtain of dirty water that marked the cave entrance. If only she was the rain, all-seeing and innocent.

“I could see,” Trey Barossa said from across the cave. The downpour suddenly seemed to increase in ferocity, and a flash of lightning lit the plains for the briefest instant.

“I’ve heard about you fledgers,” Hope said. “I’ve met a few, and all of them addicts. All of them lost. They claim second sight, but all they see when they’re on their trips are their own deaths coming two steps closer.”

“I’m an addict of fledge as much as you are of false magic,” Trey said. Alishia stirred and moaned. Hope glanced at the girl and looked away quickly: her eyes were wide-open, staring across at the cave wall as if seeing something too terrible to bear.

“Careful what you say, boy,” the witch said. But there was no threat in her voice, not really, and the comment faded away. Circumstances had brought them together, and they had all witnessed something remarkable, something that still echoed in their thoughts. Hope was certain that they had observed the end of the old world and the beginning of the new.

“I can see,” Trey said again. “I have fresh fledge. The drug people take topside is old, traveled, stored. It’s tainted by exposure to the air. Taking old fledge is like eating rotten meat instead of fresh, and about as good for you. That’s why topsiders look down on fledgers; the ones you see up here are slowly poisoning themselves.”

“How far could you see?” Kosar asked.

Trey looked uncomfortable at this, so much so that Hope wondered just what he had seen on his last trip. He shrugged. “I’m not sure. And I’m not sure whether I could see something specific, or just anything that’s there. If the Monks are still out there I might miss them entirely and see a sheebok in the Widow’s Peaks.”

“If it’s that unreliable, it’s likely to mislead as much as help,” Hope said.

“It sounds more reliable than the skull ravens,” Kosar said. “And the night will be past soon. We’re still within shouting distance of Pavisse. The Monks have certainly fled the town to search for us, and we need to set off again. A’Meer will have to be tied in her saddle, and if Trey and Alishia are coming with us—”

“Why should they?” Hope asked.