Gwyn nodded. He whispered to Seren, ‘Take care.’

‘We will! See you later. At the Ball.’

Then they were out of the iron-hung gate and running across the lawn.

‘Which way?’

‘West,’ the Crow snapped. ‘Through the wood.’

9

A red boat

In the world of song and flight

Birds decide what’s wrong or right.

Seren was a little worried, remembering her encounter with Them among the trees, but this time the wood was empty and softly lit with golden afternoon light. They ran through glades of oak and under the great smooth boughs of beech, where the ground was bare underneath.

Beyond the wood was a gate in the wall. Beyond this, to left and right, a cart track ran between the fields. The Crow flapped left.

It was still very warm. Soon the Crow got tired. ‘I’ll have to ride on your shoulder, Seren. Or else my clockwork will run down.’

Seren nodded. As he flew down and settled himself, she looked up and saw that the whole of the sky in front of them was red, and that the track led down to a small river, running between willows.

‘Down there?’ Tomos said. ‘That’s the stream.’

‘Quite right,’ the Crow muttered.

‘So you do know the way?’

The Crow shrugged. ‘The other world is always very close. Turn a corner, cross a field, and you find it. You just have to want to. West is always a good way to start.’

The stream was clear. Weed streamed green along its shallow bed.

They scrambled down the bank and Seren said, ‘Yes, look. There!’

Two boats were tied alongside the bank. One was blue and one was painted red like a child’s toy, and each had two oars folded neatly in the bottom.

‘Blue,’ Tomos said at once.

‘Red,’ the Crow commanded.

They climbed in. ‘I want to row!’ Tomos and Seren said at the same time.

Seren grinned. She took an oar and Tomos took the other and they pushed the red boat away into the small stream and started to row. She had never done it before. It wasn’t at all easy. She kept missing the water altogether and splashing herself, and Tomos was no better. They giggled and the Crow got cross.

‘Why are you even bothering?’ it said. ‘The stream is taking us along quite fast enough.’

That was true. At first the water had flowed gently between the banks, but now Seren realised that it was faster and a lot deeper. Also, the trees on each side were closing in, so that the river ran through a green tunnel of branches.

A kingfisher watched them pass underneath its branch.

‘Is this right? How far do we have to go?’

‘Until we get there.’ Now that they had started the Crow seemed to be more uneasy. He perched on the stern and kept looking back over his shoulder.

‘What’s wrong?’ Seren asked.

She frowned and looked back too. The stream had twisted so she couldn’t see far, but she thought she heard, a long way behind, the swish of oars. ‘Do you think some of Them have got in that other boat?’