Something blocked her way. A hand as hard as stone pushed her back. ‘It doesn’t do to stare quite so closely,’ said a breathless voice.

It was the being from the bridge, Edgewalker. Dazed, Kiska blinked, rubbed her eyes with the heels of her palms. What had happened? Hadn’t something . . .? She could have sworn something odd had occurred. She shrugged but kept her face averted from the crystal outcropping.

Beyond, the sands gave way to bare mounded granite which descended to a lake of smooth water that reflected the dull sky like a mirror. An immense wall of ice reared on the opposite shore; the glacier that earlier had been nothing more than a distant line on the horizon. Now the ice stretched like a vast plain. Lights played over it such as she had seen in the southern night skies: rainbow banners and curtains that flickered, dancing.

Had she moved, or had the ice? ‘This is Shadow,’ she told the being. It inclined its desiccated head in agreement. ‘I shouldn’t be here.’

‘Yet you do seem most persistent.’

She studied the empty dark sockets where its eyes should have been; had that been a joke? ‘And you can send me back again?’

‘You may say that is my duty.’

‘Before you do – what is it? That thing?’ Kiska gestured to the quartz-like heap of crystals.

‘That is Shadow House. The heart of Shadow, so to speak.’

‘Really? That?’ But it’s—’

‘Alive. Quite so. And very dangerous.’

‘Dangerous? But what of – of those who would claim it?’

It shrugged its thin shoulders. ‘Occupants of the throne come and go.’ It raised a clawed hand to point to the glacier across the lake of melt-water. ‘But that. That is the true danger.’

‘What is it?’

‘It is alien to this realm. It reminds me of the Jaghut, but profoundly alien from them. They, at least, were not so different from you. It is said that long ago the Jaghut inadvertently allowed it into this world when they wrought their ice-magic too strongly’

‘But there is a madman, a murderer, who may be taking the throne. Won’t you do something? He doesn’t belong here either!’

The creature did not turn away from the glacial cliff. ‘True. But this is the more deadly threat. I must remain ready should this break through and reach the House.’

‘Break through?’

‘It is being resisted. But that could change at any moment. Those facing it weaken even as we speak.’

Kiska fairly wailed: ‘But what of Kell – the throne?’

‘I am sorry. That is a minor concern given everything at stake this Conjunction.’

‘Minor! ’

Kiska believed she could hear the dried flesh at its neck creak as the head turned to her. ‘Yes. In the larger picture. I am sorry. Now, you must go.’

‘But wait! I have so many questions. I—’

Opalescent grey closed about Kiska obscuring her vision as surely as smoke. From close by came cries, screams, the clash of arms. She heard a woman shout something – her name?