To her immeasurable relief, they actually obeyed. Almost lazily, they flew over and unleashed white columns of fire onto the dagger, their hands vanishing in the flames, their wings shooting sparks into the ice around them. The blade of the dagger glowed red-hot and the handle crumbled to ash.

The ringleader smirked at her and she released a breath that she hadn’t even realized she was holding.

“Good,” she said. “Thank you. Could you do that again if we need you in there?” Twelve pointed to the darkness before them.

“The shadows with teeth,” he said, his voice like glass breaking. “They fear us like that boy does.” He gestured dismissively at Five. “We can destroy them.”

Twelve frowned. “I’m sure you can, but will you?”

The sprite eyed her with interest. “Clever girl,” he said slyly. There was something wolflike in his smile. “Sharpspark, Brightfire, and Burnfoot at your service. We will defend you when you ask it of us.” He swept her a low, mocking bow. Warm air rolled off him, smelling of hunger and destruction.

Twelve nodded, not trusting herself to speak. To her discomfort, the sprites settled on her shoulders again, looking vastly pleased with themselves.

Widge popped his head out of her collar, saw they were still there, and disappeared again with an alarmed squeal.

“Sorry, Widge,” Twelve whispered. She jumped back onto Dog and cleared her throat, trying to look nonchalant. “Happy?” she asked, turning to the others.

Five scowled at her. “Emphatically not.”

Six grinned and rolled his eyes. “Come on, Five, this is brilliant. Three firesprites have just agreed to protect us! Look at what they did to my favorite knife. . . .” He trailed off, gazing at it sadly for a moment before brightening. “Well, at least they’re up to the task. And they can talk! Who knew that?”

“I have heard of rare instances,” Dog said, twisting to give Twelve an odd look. “There are specific—”

“Look, can we just crack on?” Five snapped, his voice tense. “We’re either going to be torn to shreds by cliffcrawlers or incinerated by firesprites. I can’t wait to find out which.”

“Oh, I disagree,” said Twelve.

“Well, I’m glad someone’s confident,” said Five, a bit less sarcastically.

“No, it’s just that there are loads more ways we could die,” said Twelve. “We might be caught by whatever’s behind us, for example.”

“Or murdered by goblins,” Six grinned.

Five sighed. “Right, whatever. Can we just go?” His manner was annoyed, but Twelve could see his hands were shaking harder now, one on Charger’s reins and the other on the pommel of his sword.

“Let’s go,” Twelve agreed.

Together, they moved forward, into the narrowing canyon.

Chapter

Eighteen

“Be careful, everyone,” Six said, serious again as they stepped slowly forward. “In the words of our weaponsmaster: constant vigilance.”