‘There’s no turning circle,’ said Macks. ‘No crush marks or compressed vegetation at the end of the trail where a heavy vehicle turned around. I don’t know about you, Mamzel Jaff, but I don’t drive an ATV several kilometres down a very rough track and then just reverse back the way I came.’

‘Perhaps we put a watch on the head of the track?’ suggested Voriet. ‘See if these visitors come back?’

‘You’re very quiet, Drusher,’ said Eisenhorn.

Drusher was still looking up at the trees.

‘The trees are growing wrong,’ he said.

‘Expand,’ said Eisenhorn.

‘All the trees growing within the ruin site,’ he said. ‘They’re the same species as in the surrounding woods. But they have a slight inclination. You see it if you look. Growth patterning. It’s to do with the elements. Prevailing wind directions, angle to the sun in different seasons, soil, rainfall. Like the hair on a man’s scalp, growing in a natural pattern.’

‘I don’t really see it,’ said Eisenhorn.

‘It’s the sort of thing I’m trained to notice,’ said Drusher. ‘Trust me. The thing is, the trees on this site are all growing to a slightly different pattern. It’s subtle, but distinct.’

‘And what would cause that?’ asked Eisenhorn.

Drusher frowned.

‘It’s like…’ he began. ‘It’s like they are growing in a different environment. Responding to a different sun.’

Eisenhorn looked over at Garofar.

‘In the old stories for children, deputy,’ he asked, ‘how did an outsider find a shade hall? How did an outsider enter one?’

Garofar looked puzzled.

‘Well, sir, they just appeared,’ he replied. ‘You could enter them when they were there. Or you were taken there by the… the monsters who dwelt inside.’

‘Nothing else? No folk tale rhyme or incantation?’

‘I don’t know,’ Garofar said. ‘There was one story about a fellow who called one up. I suppose like an incantation. But I don’t know what words you’d use.’

‘Words…’ murmured Eisenhorn.

‘Do you mean that language thing?’ Drusher asked.

‘I think experimentation would be ill-advised,’ said Jaff.

‘Your objection is noted,’ said Eisenhorn. ‘Sark’s home was well hidden. Unnaturally well hidden. It was a place of retreat. Of escape. It was, in literal terms, occulted. This may be a false trail, or it may be that we are standing on the threshold of Sark’s hall. I’m not leaving until we have exhausted all possibilities of making a definitive determination.’

‘Sir, it is a considerable risk,’ said Jaff.

‘You said it yourself, Audla,’ replied Eisenhorn. ‘The word Keshtre. You said the name translated as a “forbidden speaking place”, or “place of unholy speech”. If the Cognitae are hiding in the Karanines, they have built a place of seclusion and retreat, and proofed it against discovery using their darkest skills.’

‘I also stated that it’s not a physical location, sir,’ said Jaff.