Minnow looks away, down at the ground. His jaw clenches and I wonder if he will attempt to strike me. One scream though, and Karl will be at my side.

He runs a hand over his shaven head and fixes his eyes on me. He turns his face, just slightly, towards the door and I think he will try to run. But instead he calls out, “OK.”

The handle moves, and I ready myself to see Karl, but my eyes play tricks.

I blink and shake my head; but they’re still there. At the door is Verity and she is not alone.

Gull follows her – tall, graceful, for once owning her height.

I rush towards them. I reach out my hands.

“Verity! Gull!” I cry out.

But they do not open their arms to receive me. They step back. Gull moves her hand and clasps Verity’s. And Verity smiles. It is not the smile of a friend or the smile of a sister but the smile of an archer who knows that they can shoot true.

For, now that I am close, I can see.

Here is Gull, but she is not the Gull I know. She wears our traditional dress, which is designed to look like a scanty imitation of a warrior’s uniform. A leather breastplate, a soft leather skirt. But more than that – she wears our ink. Gull is marked.

When I left her, the only marks Gull had were the ones she made herself, the clumsy lye marks that burned her skin. But now she is a new person. A person made of ink.

Verity has let the arrow fly; watches as the tip pierces my heart. And still she smiles.

Of all the fears I had for Gull – beatings, torture, even death – none come close to this.

“Gull … what have you done?” Words pour out before I can stop them, each one dipped in horror.

“See?” She turns to Verity. “So quick to shift the blame, always ready to lay the guilt at someone else’s feet.”

“Wh… I don’t know what you mean?” I implore. I will her to see that it’s me; it’s her friend – the one who saved her from the water, the one who took her away from the danger in Featherstone. “It’s me, Gull. Look at me.”

Her ice-blue eyes turn on me then and there is nothing but frost in her gaze.

“I’m looking,” she says slowly. “Did you look, Leora?” She cocks her head. “Did you look for me – did you even care? Was it your plan all along to leave me to the dogs?”

“What are you saying?” I whisper. “Gull, they caught me – they took me away. I begged them to tell me where you were.”

Gull just stares.