I’ll have to report to him about what happened, but I need to find Enkara before it’s dark.

She ignored him and jogged on. Soon she found Enkara, a darker shadow in the encroaching gloom.

‘I’ve found it,’ Enkara said, looking very pleased with herself.

‘What?’

‘Walk over here.’

Coralen did, past Enkara. For a moment she felt something, a kind of prickling against her skin, like the air before a storm breaks, but then something under her foot shifted and she looked down to pick her way. The ground was covered with deep forest litter, clusters of dark-vine here and there. She took some wide strides to avoid it. Then she stopped and looked back at Enkara, who was smiling at her.

‘What?’ Coralen asked.

‘You can’t see it?’

‘See what?’ She was getting annoyed now.

Corban was getting close now, Meical beside him, both of them leading their horses through thick undergrowth. Behind them the warband was a hulking shadow.

Enkara bent down and seemed to plunge her hands into the ground, then she saw the Jehar warrior lift up a thick knotted rope, leaning back and pulling on it. As she did, the ground shimmered and rippled, spreading out in circular waves from Enkara like a rock thrown into a pool. Coralen steadied herself, looked down to see that she was standing on some kind of wooden construct.

Enkara put her back into pulling. ‘Some help,’ she grunted, and Coralen hurried over. Together they tugged on the rope and with a creaking groan a wooden door rose up from the forest floor, a huge iron-banded and hinged semi-circle.

Coralen stood there with her mouth open, looking down at a wide stone slope that led down into darkness.

‘A glamour,’ Enkara said.

‘What is this?’ Corban asked.

‘A tunnel that will take us to Drassil,’ Meical said.

Balur smiled when he saw it.

‘Good. You have found one, then,’ the giant rumbled. ‘When Drassil was abandoned they were hidden so well that those that came after could not find the way back.’

Ethlinn was beside him. She took a deep breath, closing her eyes. ‘The glamour is strong upon these,’ she said, her voice like the creaking branches.

‘There’s more than one?’ Corban asked.

‘Yes,’ Enkara said. ‘We found six of them, all beginning at Drassil. Tukul set us to clearing them – some were blocked, others crumbled and collapsed. Some had things living in them . . .’ She shivered at a memory.

‘But, how will we hide them from our enemy?’ Corban said. ‘We will lead them straight to Drassil.’

‘No,’ Balur said. ‘The glamour is cunning. You cannot see them until they have been revealed by someone who has walked them. Once you have seen one, you can see them all.’

‘I don’t understand,’ Corban said.

Neither do I, thought Coralen.