He exchanged a glance with Crowflies, knowing that it would disapprove of him making any more promises. ‘No,’ he replied, tucking the left boot under his arm.

Tal grabbed at the right one. ‘But I’m dead without them!’

‘Alright then—’

‘Sa-aat!’

‘I promise I’ll bring back your boots.’

Crowflies squawked again, not angry. Disappointed. Sa-at sighed as he took the second boot. He hadn’t realized how hard it would be keeping friends happy. It seemed that to please Tal he had to upset Crowflies, and it seemed that Tal’s discomfort brought the Birdkin pleasure.

Between them, they began the tricky business of inserting Rochant into the hollow. Unlike Tal, who wore the expression of a man trapped in a nightmare, Rochant was alert, his eyes studying the roots from the inside, flicking from detail to detail. Not from fear, but curiosity. He’s excited! Thought Sa-at, suddenly excited himself. He’s excited because he’s learning something new. He’s just like me!

Rochant’s attention turned back to Sa-at, one set of sparkling eyes mirroring the other, and for a moment he felt that he saw past the man’s guarded mask, truly saw him, and that he too was being seen, and it felt good.

He had the urge to say something, but the words got lost somewhere between his thoughts and his tongue, burrowing themselves deep into the back of his throat like shy animals. By the time he had collected himself enough to speak the tree was shifting, squatting down like a Birdkin over its eggs.

‘Aargh!’ he heard Tal say, before the sound muffled and then abruptly cut off, but it was the sound of fear rather than the sound of someone being crushed to death. The tree may not be the best of its kind, but it would honour their agreement. My friend is safe. No, my friends are safe. I have two friends now.

‘Sa-aat!’

Three friends now. And Murderkind makes four.

After pressing his hand against the its trunk in farewell, Sa-at sped away, skipping from root to stone, swinging from low branches, anything to keep his feet from marking the soft mud. Crowflies flew ahead of him as he ran back towards Sorn, giving the occasional cry to let him know it was safe. He did not know how quickly the two women would come for them, but when he conjured them in his mind again, confident and capable, he felt sure it would not be long.