“So I hid. The face was there, the eyes searching for a moment more, and then both were gone. A second later, the flames were gone, too, collapsed into a black smear of ash burned into the stone of the pit. The heat died with the flames, and the night turned still and empty again.

“I stayed where I was for a few minutes more, then came out to look around. In the starlight, I could see what was left. Nothing. Nothing at all.”

His voice trailed off and his gaze dropped to where his big hands knotted in his lap. In the silence, Pen could hear himself breathe.

“It was a trap,” Kermadec said quietly. “It was a trap set to snare anyone who dared to search for the Ard Rhys. It got the old man. It could have gotten me just as easily. I came back to Taupo Rough alone. I will never go back to that place again.”

“Does this mean you won’t help us?” Pen asked him, impatient to know where Kermadec stood on the matter.

“Did I say that?” the Rock Troll exclaimed. “Did I say I wouldn’t help you find this tree so that you can fashion your darkwand? Did I say I wouldn’t help you reach the Ard Rhys and bring her out of the Forbidding? Shades, young Penderrin! Of course, I will help you! If I have to carry you to Stridegate and back again on my own shoulders, I will do so! All the Rock Trolls of Taupo Rough will carry you, if that’s what’s needed. We owe more than a little to your aunt for bringing us back into the mainstream of the Four Lands. She gave us trust and recognition when no other would, and we won’t let that gift be for nothing. Whatever those black hearts at Paranor might pretend, we are still the Ard Rhys’ protectors, and we will see her safe again or know the reason why!”

He stood up suddenly. “But I need to think on this a bit. The country into which you must go is dangerous—not that the rest of the Four Lands isn’t, so long as Shadea a’Ru is acting Ard Rhys. But it’s treacherous country all on its own, made more so by the presence of Urdas and some other things that have no name. We must make certain we keep you safe in your travels, those of you who decide to go.”