“Piss off.”

He stared at Nomi without smiling, and she suddenly felt uncomfortable. He's serious, she thought. And I just made fun.

“I bought this for you,” he said.

Nomi's shock was such that she could not speak.

“We're voyaging into darkness,” he said, voice dropping to a whisper. “I truly feel this. And though I know it's all about journeying into the unknown, I believe we're heading for the unknowable. And I'm scared, Nomi. More frightened than I ever have been before. And I . . .” He put his hand to his eyes, rubbing above them as if suffering a headache. “I wanted to give you a charm. You know I don't believe in shit like that, but it doesn't matter what I believe. If you believe, and it may help, then that's my aim fulfilled.”

“Ramus . . . I'm not sure what to say.”

“Well, take it, at the very least.”

She took the rope charm from him. It was much heavier than it looked, as though the knot contained more rope than was possible. “Thank you.”

“The idea is to—”

“I know. Untie the knot if I feel it's needed.”

Ramus smiled and turned away, heading off to talk to Beko.

Nomi turned her back on the rest of the team, blinking back tears that stung her eyes. What am I? she thought. And what have I done? Whatever sickens him should have been mine.

A tear ran down her cheek. She rubbed it away in case anyone saw its mark in the trail dust.

RAMUS WOKE, THE world crashing in around him in sound and smell, feel and taste. Grass and heather scratched at his hands and the exposed skin at the back of his neck, the smell of cooking meat assailed his nostrils and he could hear the genial banter of the Serians. He smelled hot horses and humans perspiring in early-afternoon sun.

He kept his eyes squeezed shut because the pain was so bad.

There are no children chasing us. He had dreamed of swarms of children pursuing them across the hillsides, picking off the Serians one by one and slaughtering them with hooked hands, and behind each child had fluttered a length of black cloth.

The nightmare was already fading, yet the pain still throbbed hard behind his eyes, as though the children really had caught him, pummeling down on his forehead with their tiny clenched fists.

He opened his eyes a crack and allowed in some light. It felt better than he had expected, and he slowly pushed himself into a sitting position, looking around at where they had stopped for lunch.