‘I didn’t always look this way,’ began Rochant. ‘In my first lifecycle, I was road-born, in a place called Veren and I was as pale as Tal.’

‘What has this got to do with the Corpseman?’ asked Sa-at.

‘You’ll see. Now, where was I?’

‘You were in Veren.’

‘Ah yes. I was not like the other children. You see, in my first life, I was smaller than the others, weaker.’

Like me, thought Sa-at.

‘This meant I was slower to complete my tasks. And when I had ideas of how to tackle a job differently, I was told to stop being lazy and get on with it. I soon learned to keep my thoughts to myself.

‘At that time, Veren was overseen by a Deathless called Lord Yadavendra Sapphire, and we were generous in our gifts to him. Because of this, he often sent his hunters to visit. I knew from the first time I saw them that I wanted to be one. You can’t imagine the excitement every time they came. They were so big on their Sky-legs, bigger than the adults of our village in every way. There was a directness in their manner, a crispness, a … purpose. Yes, it was their purposefulness that I loved most, even more than seeing them fly.

‘I wasn’t the only child of Veren who wanted to be lifted to the sky. It was well known that a Deathless could elevate someone if they were deemed worthy. However, none of us could name a single road-born who had become a hunter in our lifetimes. We asked our parents but they couldn’t either. So we asked our grandparents, and when they couldn’t, most gave up on the dream.’

‘But you didn’t.’

‘No.’

‘Why?’

‘That’s a good question. In part because I wasn’t as happy as the others, and that motivated me to want to change things.’

‘What’s “motivated”?’

‘Encouraged, inspired … Ah, I have it! When you’re comfortable and warm after a sleep, it’s hard to get up, yes?’

‘Yes, but then you get hungry or you need to pee and you have to.’

‘That isn’t quite where I was going but it will do. The other children of Veren were comfortable and warm, but it was like I needed to pee.’

‘All the time?’

‘Yes, all the time.’ Sa-at sniggered. ‘But even that wasn’t enough on its own. Without the Corpseman things would have been very different.’

‘When is it coming into the story?’