The lion rider went to a natural hollow between two trees, and sat down, as if on a throne. Her blindness was no impediment to her movement, and she walked gracefully, sure-footedly. She didn’t look very old, but her skin was weather -beaten, and her golden-brown hair, he saw now, had streaks of grey. Her entirely white eyes moved around, as if seeing things that could not be seen by normal sight.

‘I give thanks to you,’ said Silvius. ‘But …’

‘You are wondering who I am?’ said the lion rider. ‘I often wonder that too. They call me the Sibyl. A blind woman, cursed with prophecy, given power over animals. Sometimes I remember what happened, but most of the time I do not look at the past; it is too full of horror. I look at what will come. I see the shapes of things, I see the way towards them, reaching out into places and things I do not understand …’ Sleepily, the lion swatted at a fly with its tail. ‘Would you believe me if I told you I have seen ships flying through the air? I have seen a world without gods …’

Silvius glanced at Elissa, whose brow was furrowed. She was listening, scratching circles in the dirt.

‘And you too, daughter of Anna,’ said the seer. ‘I know what you are both seeking. I saw it, around the neck of the centaur. I saw those people, lit from within with unholy fire. You have it now. I feel it burning through the air. I feel how it longs for the rest of the arrow. I have rarely felt such power.’ She clasped her hands together, her long fingers trembling. ‘I have seen you both,’ she continued, steadying her voice. ‘Both of you, and one other. Everything converges.’

One other. That must be Python, Silvius reasoned. Two children against an immortal. It felt pointless. ‘You know about him?’ he asked. ‘You know about Python?’

The Sibyl said, ‘Before the Olympians, when the world was young, he ruled in Delphi, over a race of monsters, and Apollo laid him low. But you cannot slay an immortal entirely. His essence remained, and now he has gathered himself once more.’

‘What does he want?’

‘He wants his rule back. He wants the Oracle. He wants to take the place of the gods. He will bring destruction.’

She stood up suddenly and disappeared inside the hut. The lion got to his feet and loped off into the forest.

‘The Sibyl!’ Silvius turned to Elissa. ‘I remember my father talking about the Sibyl – the priestess who took him through the Underworld. I didn’t think it was true! This must be her daughter.’

‘She’ll know where we need to go.’ Elissa hugged her knees.