Thinking of the Oracle made Chloe consider the future, and she pondered her own fate as the day passed. The sun reached the low horizon, sending angular rays across the ocean in long shimmering tapers, and still they had yet to sight land. She thought about Lamara, a city she knew almost nothing about, only that it was the capital of Ilea and home of the sun king. From this city he ruled his empire, which now encompassed most of the Salesian continent. The names of these lands were all strange to her: Shadria, Ilea, Sarina, Haria . . .

Despite Kargan saying that Solon would want to know about Chloe’s home, it was obvious that he had taken her on his own initiative.

What if Solon had no use for her? What if he tortured her in order to glean information? Chloe swallowed. She could be married off, beheaded, imprisoned, or given as a gift to the sun king’s soldiers.

She fought down panic. She couldn’t think like this. She had to escape.

As if on cue, Kargan came to stand beside her at the rail. ‘We will stop tonight to make an offering to the Oracle at Athos and rest. Tomorrow night we will beach at Koulis, and we will have crossed the Maltherean Sea.’

‘You worship the Oracle also?’

‘Of course. The sun king honors the Seer. She is the most powerful of all the magi. For what is more powerful than foretelling the future?’

The sun had now completely set, leaving an afterglow that would soon give way to starlight. Kargan’s voice was calm, but his ceaseless scan of the horizon as he searched for Athos betrayed his anxiety.

He suddenly breathed softly, a nearly inaudible sigh of relief. Peering ahead, Chloe saw a dark island rising out of the open sea as Kargan went to give further orders to the helmsmen.

‘Land!’ a sailor cried.

Athos was one of the most isolated islands in the Maltherean Sea, but it was also large and self-sufficient, beholden to no other nation. As the ship approached Chloe saw a dim blanket of pine trees covering the low ground – it wasn’t a mountainous place – interspersed with the occasional patch of oak or cedar. Given the island’s reputation as home to the Oracle, she was almost surprised to see that it was so wild; in her mind the isle and the temple were one and the same. Instead it was the sort of environment where one would expect to find deer.