He thought about Quiverhive and the Murkers being spat onto the Godroad. He thought of the Scuttling Corpseman sparing his mother, even allowing her to sever its arm and take it as a trophy. They all think she sold us out to the Wild when all along it was Lord Rochant. ‘No,’ he replied. ‘Not like this.’

‘Aye,’ she agreed. ‘These are dark days. Six! It’s just not right.’

The two guardians grabbed the bottom of the cage as it came down and guided it in. It was a simple design: one edge of the square base had a bench carved into it, another had a set of posts for tying animals to. Vasin stepped inside and the guardians closed the door behind him.

A signal was given, and the cage began to ascend in slow rhythmic jerks.

He liked the Rubies. They were direct but in a warm, honest fashion. It was refreshing not to be constantly worrying about how he was coming across, or what it was the other person was really saying. He realized he was looking forward to seeing Lady Anuja again. She was the youngest of her house, like he was, and that gave them a certain understanding. And we both know what it’s like to be out of our depth.

As the cage got higher, he could see the way the currents became more violent further out. Directly beneath the floating castle was a whirlpool, and he knew that at the bottom there was a crack that led deep into the earth and beyond. From it, alien mists rose, like ethereal hands of purple, yellow and green. Something of the whirlpool’s frenzy caught them, swirling them together, blending the colours briefly before they faded. The further away from the crack they rose, the harder they were to see, and by the time they reached above the level of the swamp, only slight distortions in the air were discernible to the naked eye. It was the essence in the mists that caught the crystals in the base of the castle and kept it buoyant, like a boat, bobbing on invisible waves.

Because of the interaction between essence mist and whirlpool, the currents spiralled rather than floating straight up. Were it not for the chains that held it in place, the Ruby High Lord’s Castle would be forever spinning. As it was, the castle made a slight twist to the left until the chains tightened, pulling it right again, making it seem to Vasin as if the whole structure were a huge head, subtly shaking in disapproval.