She left Isaac on the little hillock, beside the spring, while she climbed down to the base of their prepared section of the rock-pile. A touch of the Swarm thread kept her from skinning knees or elbows on the stone, but did nothing for the chill, which pebbled her skin to goosebumps. Waves of cold washed over her whenever the wind gusted from the direction of all the ice Isaac had laid down.

The Dragon had quieted down some. The huge cloud of dust had dispersed, and she could see the enormous thing pawing methodically through the rocks, occasionally lifting a boulder out of the way with its tail.

Wouldn’t it be a laugh, she thought, if we went to all this trouble and the thing decided it was bored with us?

She could feel a touch of hysteria, bubbling under the surface of her determination, and she forced it down ruthlessly. Reaching the rock she wanted, she looked over her shoulder towards the hillock. It was invisible behind a small mountain of boulders. From here, they looked just like any of the other small rises in the rock-field, but Alice couldn’t help imagining what would happen when the mass of stone got loose.

I wouldn’t even be a smear on the rocks, she thought, before forcibly derailing that train of thought. She turned round, facing the Dragon, and cupped her hands to her mouth.

‘HEY!’ Alice screamed. ‘YOU WANT TO FIGHT? I’M ABOUT READY!’

Her voice carried and echoed oddly across the field of stones. The Dragon looked up, head cocked, like a dog hearing a rustling in the bushes.

‘Impudent wizard,’ the Dragon rumbled. ‘Stop your scurrying about.’

‘Come on, you ugly thing!’ Alice shouted. ‘What are you waiting for?’

The enormous tail lashed back and forth. Slow at first, but accelerating quickly, the Dragon headed in her direction. Eight multi-jointed legs carried it smoothly across the broken, irregular surface of the rocks.

Alice backed up, first to the edge of her rock and then, climbing slowly, onto a large boulder that leaned against it. She could feel the cold of the ice all around her, and she had to clench her fists to keep from shivering.

‘That’s right,’ she went on, throat already raw. ‘Come and get me. Dinner is served . . .’

It had got sight of her now, and its legs were a blur, moving faster than a charging horse. Alice hoisted herself up onto a ledge and scrambled backwards, tightening her grip on the Swarm thread. She would have only a few seconds, at best, before everything came crashing down.