Sephrenia smiled. ‘You will try, Mother Superior. I think you will find that she’s not amenable to conversion, however. Coming, Sparhawk?’

They rejoined the column and rode south under clearing skies, moving first at a rolling trot and then at a thunderous gallop. They crossed a knoll, and Sparhawk reined Faran in sharply, staring in astonishment at Flute, who sat cross-legged on a large white rock playing her pipes. ‘How did you – ‘ he began, then broke off. ‘Sephrenia,’ he called, but the white-robed woman had already dismounted. She approached the child, speaking gently to her in that strange Styric dialect.

Flute lowered her pipes and gave Sparhawk an impish little grin. Sephrenia laughed and took the child in her arms.

‘How did she get ahead of us?’ Kalten asked, his face baffled.

‘Who knows?’ Sparhawk replied. ‘I guess I’d better take her back.’

‘No, Sparhawk,’ Sephrenia said firmly. ‘She wants to go with us.’

‘That’s too bad,’ he said bluntly ‘I’m not going to take a little girl into battle.’

‘Don’t concern yourself with her, Sparhawk. I’ll care for her.’ She smiled at the child nestled in her arms. ‘I’ll care for her as if she were my own.’ She laid her cheek against Flute’s glossy black hair. ‘In a way, she is.’

He gave up. ‘Have it your own way,’ he said. Just as he began to wheel Faran around, he felt a sudden chill accompanied by the sense of an implacable hatred. ‘Sephrenia!’ he said sharply.

‘I felt it, too!’ she cried, drawing the little girl closer to her. ‘It’s directed at the child!’

Flute struggled briefly, and Sephrenia, looking surprised, set her down. The little girl’s face was set, looking more annoyed than angered or frightened. She set her pipes to her lips and began to play. The melody this time was not that light air in a minor key which she had played before. It was sterner and peculiarly ominous.

Then from some distance away they heard a sudden howl of pain and surprise. The howl immediately began to fade, as if whoever or whatever had made it were fleeing at an unimaginable rate.

‘What was that?’ Kalten exclaimed.

‘An unfriendly spirit,’ Sephrenia replied calmly.

‘What drove it away?’

‘The child’s song. It seems that she has learned to protect herself.’

‘Do you understand any of what’s going on here?’ Kalten asked Sparhawk.

‘No more than you do. Let’s keep moving. We’ve still got a couple of days of hard riding ahead of us.’