Alice hesitated. Dex, she wanted to say, and Isaac, and Soranna, and even Ellen. After what they’d gone through in Esau’s labyrinth, she thought of them all as friends. But while they’d been friendly to her, they were all Readers—they’d all used the prison-books, and showed as little concern as Alice had for cutting their way through the vicious creatures that had swarmed them on the fortress bridges. Would they be willing to sit and talk with Flicker? She didn’t know.

Isaac would, she decided. Even if I had to bash him over the head until he got the idea.

“Maybe,” she said. “I’m not sure.”

“But not Geryon.”

“No.”

His name gave Alice a twinge of renewed anger. Her rage had been buried under the worries and trials it had taken to get this far, but it was still there, a red-hot coal hissing under a shovel-full of soil. Soon or later, it would surface.

“And you’re going to . . . what, fight him?”

“If I can,” she said.

“What happens if you win?” Flicker said. “To us, I mean.”

“No more tribute,” Alice said. “No more prison-books. I would never do that to you.”

“But will you protect us?”

“Does Geryon?”

“Not against things like the bluechill,” Flicker said. “I asked Pyros why we didn’t hide from Geryon, or try to fight him, instead of giving him tribute. He said that if it wasn’t Geryon, it would be some other Reader. Only the threat of Geryon’s protection keeps the others from coming by and demanding their own tribute, or just taking what they want.” He looked at Alice. “So if you win, will you be able to keep them away? All of the others?”

“I . . .” Alice shook her head. “I haven’t thought about it.”

Flicker shot her an unreadable look. “Maybe you should.”

When the sun went down, they made camp amid a copse of trees, at the top of another hill. Erdrodr pitched the tent, which turned out to be a spacious thing, intended for several ice giants and more than big enough for her and two human-sized companions. Flicker built a fire in front of it, and Alice and the ice giant warmed their dinners over it while the fire-sprite picked up bits of the flame itself and licked them from his fingers. The stars here, Alice was pleased to see, stayed still like proper celestial bodies.

So far, they hadn’t seen anything dangerous, which ought to have been reassuring. Alice couldn’t put Pyros’ and Helga’s warnings out of her mind, though, and she kept a suspicious eye on the shadows around the camp. As she washed down some of the giants’ hard bread with a swallow from her canteen, she felt suddenly, unutterably tired.