Amber thought about what Beatta had told her about Ness, and prayed that her sacrifice wouldn't be in vain. Ness was a distant relative of Beatta's, and she had the plague. The spots had appeared in a ring around her neck the day before. No woman over forty had survived the camp plague, and Ness was closer to sixty. But Beatta said Ness was strong, and would rather give her life to help them escape than watch as her body wasted away.

With a knife in her hand, Ness would make a definite diversion, but she wouldn't take long to subdue. Amber and Beatta needed to move quickly.

The two women reached the fence, and for a moment the storage hut screened them from the other guards.

"Hurry, hurry," Beatta said, jumping from one foot to the next.

Amber knelt at the foot of the fence and reached into her tattered tunic. She withdrew the nightlamp she had stolen and modified, and checked again where she'd scratched out some of the runes, creating new shapes out of the old.

"I hope this works," Amber said.

"Lord of the Earth, they've seen us, hurry!" Beatta whispered.

Amber could hear the shouts of the guards and involuntarily turned to check how far they were away. Ness had been dealt with — the old woman's crumpled body was already being dragged away — and now six guards were running towards them, already at the storage hut.

"Look away," Amber said. "Tish-tassine." She activated the nightlamp.

It flared up, bright as a thousand suns. Amber could feel the heat pouring from it as all of its energy was expended in one great burst. But would it be enough?

Amber looked back at the guards, feeling relief when she saw that all of them were in varying stages of blindness, their hands held to the eyes and screams of pain bringing even more guards.

"Amber, come on!" Beatta said.

The Halrana woman kicked at the fence, and Amber breathed a sigh of relief when Beatta swiftly opened up a small hole. It would be a tight fit, but surely they would be able to squeeze through?

Amber ran forward and pulled at the broken metal, scratching her hands bloody but enlarging the hole. "You go first," she said to Beatta.

Beatta wormed her way through the fence, and then it was Amber's turn. Beatta held out her hand for her friend, helping Amber get to her feet, and then they were both running.

"We're free!" Beatta turned and called to Amber, a broad smile on her face.

The ground fell away from Beatta's feet, and an expression of astonishment crossed her face as the woman vanished into the earth.

Amber suddenly teetered on the edge of a wide ditch, waving her arms to regain her balance and halt her momentum. She looked down, and Beatta looked up at her with eyes wide with pain.