‘Please, calm yourself. I swore to tell you everything about the Corpseman and answer your questions about it. This is my way of doing that. It may be frustrating now, but in the long term, it will help you to understand. I’m trying to do more than just give information, I’m trying to ignite the spark within you.’ He looked at Sa-at’s face and added. ‘Not literally. I mean I want to help you become more than you are. That’s what friends do for each other.’

Sa-at tucked his arms behind his back and thought hard, the way Crowflies did when it was pondering a problem. He liked the sound of Rochant’s words but he still felt like he’d been tricked. ‘What is the other reason you named it the Scuttling Corpseman?’

‘There are two. It’s an unusual name and I’d hoped it wouldn’t be associated with the strange Flykin my friend was related to. Something had gone to a great deal of effort to wipe them out and I didn’t want it coming back for my friend. This name was new. I hoped this meant the Wild would take it as a new creature, rather than the spawn of an old one.

‘The second reason is that I suggested it was male. It’s not. It’s asexual. I wanted to suggest it was a lone wanderer, a freakish anomaly. Something unique and singular rather than the progenitor of a new line.’

‘Why is that important?’

‘Because of the agreement my friend and I had made. One just as binding as the one between us, but without words. I would help it grow to its full strength, and then I would find a way for it to breed and restore its kind to power. And that’s exactly what I did.’

‘Won’t the thing that killed them before be angry?’

‘Yes.’

‘Will they fight?’

‘Yes. But I have a feeling it will go differently this time.’

‘Why?’

‘Because the Corpseman is not what it was before. Its injuries made it weaker in some ways, stronger in others. It doesn’t think like a thing of the Wild any more, nor does it think like we do. It’s something new, and is evolving in ways even I can’t predict.’