“How did he get it?” Angela asked.

“He made a Kin bite its own tongue off for him.”

“How the hell are we going to find them here?” Angela asked, and Vince realised that she was right. Even though he knew this landscape well, and had only escaped from here maybe an hour ago, something about it had changed.

Mallian and Grace aren’t here anymore, he thought. Maybe that’s it. But it was more than that, something deeper and more profound than an absence. The Fold had always been wild, and its air of wildness had always encouraged him to keep his head down and take care over every movement and encounter. Now, that wildness had come to the fore. Storm clouds played over the opposite hillsides, lightning arcing down. The river roared along the valley floor, apparently in flood and carrying clumps of dead trees and undergrowth with it. Rain was sheeting down at one end, its line visible as the clouds progressed across the whole terrain.

“It knows she’s gone,” he said. “The Fold’s already starting to fall out of balance.”

As if to illustrate his point a subtle vibration shook beneath their feet.

“Earthquake?” Sammi asked.

“There’s a dwarf tunnelling in these hills. But that might have been anything. This is Grace’s place, and it could be more an integral part of her than we can ever understand. Without her here, the edges might not hold.”

“Maybe it’ll fall apart if Mallian keeps control over her,” Sammi said. “It takes fairy magic to make this place hold together. It takes effort. She’s not directing her own efforts anymore.”

“We might not have very long,” Angela said. “Where the hell do we look, Vince?”

“Maybe where I saw him last.” He pointed. “Down that way, I think. If not there, perhaps down by the river where Grace held him.”

“You mean that river?” Angela nodded downhill, through the misting rain that was now falling around them. The river roared and surged, white water dancing in places, and it had already broken its banks in several areas. Where once it had provided the Fold with a gentle, timely flow, now it was a raging beast.

“One step at a time,” Vince said. “Come on.” He led them away from the portal and down the lush hillside, skirting a copse of trees and heading for the small clearing where Mallian had held him down, crushing him into the ground. His burning arm reminded him of how recently that had occurred.

So much had happened since then.