Time mattered, but so did getting some nourishment into the starving soldiers before they started dropping dead on the spot. A large portion of the remaining food and water supplies was urgently dished out to the Pathfinders, who ate and drank ravenously, gathered in a circle to sit or squat among the rocks. Those who had mess tins set about doggedly emptying them, others having to content themselves with eating out of a can, using a knife or their fingers. Little was said in between bites, partly because they were too intent on replenishing their depleted systems as quickly as they could gulp it down, and partly because they were all too morose about their dead comrades left behind at the temple ruin.

The first rays of dawn were slowly creeping up behind the craggy peaks in the east, but it was still dark and still nobody in Ben’s group had twigged the identity of their unusual new guest. In any case ‘Captain Warner’ tended to keep his face averted, like someone bashful about their appearance. He sat with his fellow Pathfinders, keeping themselves to themselves, bent over their food under the disapproving eye of Holt and a couple of the others, who were visibly annoyed about having to share their dwindling rations with these newcomers.

‘Look on the bright side,’ Wolf said to Holt. ‘A few more guys might come in handy, where we’re going.’

‘Sure would,’ Holt replied laconically, ‘if the raggedy-ass suckers didn’t look like a bunch of extras from a goddamn zombie movie.’

‘You wouldn’t look so hot yourself, if you hadn’t eaten for weeks,’ Wolf said.

‘Tell you what, though,’ Holt said, jerking his chin in the direction of the Pathfinders’ commander. ‘That captain of theirs sure looks familiar.’

‘You think?’ Wolf said nonchalantly.

‘Yeah, pretty sure I’ve seen him before. Damned if I know where, though.’

‘Not me,’ Wolf said. To change the subject he nodded up at the high ground behind the camp where they were taking turns as lookout. ‘I’ll post watch.’

Holt nodded anxiously. ‘Out of here in thirty, max. Be ready. And keep your eyes peeled in case they’ve already found us.’

‘Copy that, chief.’ Wolf snatched up his M4 and went bounding up the rocks, vanishing in the darkness.

So far the prince’s secret was safe, but as the red dawn began to lighten the darkness, it wouldn’t remain so for long. Nobby Scraggs, overseeing the feeding of the newcomers, had already noticed the strange, self-conscious glances that were passing between the Pathfinders when he found out the reason for them. Doing a startled double-take at their commander Nobby suddenly went rigid with shock and amazement. He clamped his jaws shut to stifle the expletive that almost burst out of them, and too stunned to think what else to do he ran over to tell Baldacci and Nielsen, who happened to be close by.