The ground beneath him was clay, damp and clammy, the cold reaching through the wizard’s moccasins. Faint, colourless light bled down from a formless sky that seemed no higher than a ceiling. The haze filling the air felt oily, thick enough on either side to make the path seem like a tunnel.

Quick Ben’s steps slowed. The clay ground was no longer smooth. Deep incisions crossed it, glyphs in columns and panels. Primitive writing, the wizard suspected, yet... He crouched and reached down. ‘Freshly cut ... or timeless.’ At a faint tingle from the contact he withdrew his hand. ‘Wards, maybe. Bindings.’

Stepping carefully to avoid the glyphs, Quick Ben padded forward.

He skirted a broad sinkhole filled with painted pebbles – offerings to Hood from some holy temple, no doubt – benedictions and prayers in a thousand languages from countless supplicants. And there they lie. Unnoticed, ignored or forgotten. Even clerks die, Hood – why not put them to good use cleaning all this up? Of all our traits to survive the passage of death, surely obsessiveness must be counted high among them.

The incisions grew thicker, more crowded, forcing the wizard to slow his pace yet further. It was becoming difficult to find a clear space on the clay for his feet. Binding sorceries – the whispered skeins of power made manifest, here on the floor of Hood’s realm.

A dozen paces ahead was a small, bedraggled object, surrounded in glyphs. Quick Ben’s frown deepened as he edged closer. Like the makings of fire . . . sticks and twisted grasses on a round, pale hearthstone.

Then he saw it tremble.

Ah, these binding spells belong to you, little one. Your soul, trapped. As I once did to that mage, Hairlock, someone’s done to you. Curious indeed. He moved as close as he could, then slowly crouched.

‘You’re looking a little worse for wear, friend,’ the wizard said.

The minuscule acorn head swivelled slightly, then flinched back. ‘Mortal!’ the creature hissed in the language of the Barghast. ‘The clans must be told! I can go no further – look, the wards pursued, the wards closed the web – I am trapped!’

‘So I see. You were of the White Faces, shaman?’

‘And so I remain!’

‘Yet you escaped your barrow – you eluded the binding spells of your kin, for a while at least, in any case. Do you truly believe they will welcome your return, Old One?’

‘I was dragged from my barrow, fool! You are journeying to the clans – I see the truth of that in your eyes. I shall tell you my tale, mortal, and so they know the truth of all that you tell them, I shall give you my true name—’

‘A bold offer, Old One. What’s to prevent me from twisting you to my will?’