“Then . . .” Erasmus grabbed his teacher by the flap of his jerkin. “Then leave me. I remember what you taught me, I’ll do everything—and I’ll speak out the prophecy!”

“You won’t manage it,” replied the teacher. “You’re not fully prepared yet. You need a listener. You’re too inexperienced to prophesy into empty space . . . I didn’t prepare you in time . . .”

He groaned suddenly and grabbed hold of his head.

“What’s happened?” Erasmus exclaimed.

“I’m a fool, boy. I should have defended the house . . . and you could have spoken the prophecy to your stupid girl . . . The Executioner would have left.”

“And the prophecy would have come true?”

“Yes. That is bad, all prophecies are bad . . . but you would have remained alive.”

The teacher suddenly laughed bitterly. “It seems that I have become attached to you, boy . . .”

“And Betty . . . Will he kill her?”

“The Executioner does not kill people. He will drink her soul,” the teacher replied. “She will become indifferent to everything, like a straw doll.”

“She’s not so very passionate as it is . . .” the boy muttered.

They had run almost a mile away from the manor house when they were overtaken by the sound of a woman’s piercing scream that broke off almost immediately.

“We didn’t know that the prophecy had to be heard by a human, not an Other,” I said. “Gesar tried to persuade Kesha to prophesy in his presence . . .”

“Kesha?” Erasmus asked, baffled.

“Yes, a boy-Prophet—he was discovered in Moscow just recently. Actually, that’s what prompted us to disturb you . . .”

Erasmus shook his head. “Your Great One is taking a great risk. If only he hears the prophecy, then the Tiger will switch from the boy to him . . . and the Tiger is more powerful than any of us. What is the situation now? Is the Tiger on the trail?”

“No, we’ve already dealt with the situation.”

“And what was the prophecy?”

“We don’t know. Nobody heard it. The boy was alone in a room in our offices. We managed to delay the Tiger, and the boy spoke his prophecy.”

“When he was entirely alone in a room?” said Erasmus, shaking his head incredulously. “That’s strange. Very strange. It is very rare indeed for a Prophet to be so well prepared that he can prophesy into empty space. It’s difficult—usually the Tiger gets there first, or the prophecy reaches human ears . . .”

“But you managed it!”

“I’m a special case. For me there has never been any great difference between a man, a dog, and . . . an oak, for instance,” Erasmus said, with a smile.

The Executioner overtook them at the edge of the forest. He seemed to be walking at an unhurried pace, but the distance between his dark silhouette and the Others who were running as fast as their legs could carry them narrowed with every second.