The night had been long and cold. Rochant constantly shivered while he slept. Despite his efforts, Sa-at could not keep him warm. The sunsrise brought light but little heat. It also brought Tal, stumbling through the trees towards them, ushered along by Crowflies, who hopped and flapped behind him.

Sa-at stood up. ‘You’re back!’

Tal crashed down in front of them, his arms full of clothes. ‘Yeah … Managed to grab some things … Got lost … Crowflies found me. Thought it was trying to kill me at first, then I realized it was guiding me back.’ He put down the bundle to pat the Birdkin on the head. ‘Thank you Cro—’

Crowflies’ white beak snapped the air, and Tal snatched his hand back.

That’s nice. My friends are becoming friends, thought Sa-at. Very slowly.

They dressed Rochant in new clothes, wrapping him in several layers. Everything was too big for his wasted frame, hanging oddly, and it wasn’t enough, he still shivered, so they put the things Tal had stolen for Sa-at over the top, puffing him out so that his head and feet seemed far too small. When they were done, Rochant flopped asleep, exhausted. He didn’t look any warmer. It was as if the cold had got inside him. Inside his bones.

‘We need to get Lord Rochant back to his castle,’ whispered Tal.

‘How do we get him up in the sky? He’s too big for Crowflies to carry.’

Tal chuckled. ‘You don’t need wings to go to a floating castle. There’s roads that go up there. Not sure we can drag him that far though.’ He rubbed his hands together for warmth. ‘What we need is a way to carry him. Like a cart or one of those big Dogkin, and don’t even think of asking me to go and steal one. I can’t and I won’t!’

‘We carried him before.’

‘But this is much further, and uphill. It’d take forever.’

No ideas came to them and Tal soon fell asleep, Rochant leaning on his shoulder. Even though they were wearing the same style of clothes, the two looked so different: Tal’s face was pale, the veins a soft blue against his neck, Rochant’s was dark, making the gold tattoo crisscrossing half of his face all the more striking. Though he could not say why, it brought him pleasure to see his friends resting against each other.

Crowflies came and went several times. The first trip brought Sa-at some scavenged meat, the second was heralded by the Birdkin’s squawks of concern.

‘Sa-aat!’

‘What is it?’