‘Nothing happened, little mother.’

‘Don’t be too sure.’

‘Well, let’s go on back. It seems we’re going to have to do this the hard way.’

The party rode out at a brisk trot, moving down the far side of the hill with the pale disc of the new-risen sun hanging behind the clouds on the eastern horizon. The farmland lying to the east of Paler was in the last stages of the harvest, and serfs were already in the fields, small figures in dun or blue looking like immobile toys far back from the road.

‘Serfdom doesn’t seem to encourage much enthusiasm for work,’ Kurik observed critically. ‘Those people out there don’t seem to be moving at all.’

‘If I were a serf, I don’t think I’d be very interested in exerting myself either,’ Kalten said.

They rode on at a canter, crossed a wide valley and climbed a low chain of hills. The clouds were a bit thinner here to the east, and the sun, just above the horizon, was more distinct. Kring sent out his patrols, and they rode on.

Something was wrong, but Sparhawk could not exactly put his finger on what it was. The air was very still, and the sound of the horses’ hooves seemed quite loud and unnaturally crisp in the soft dirt of the road. Sparhawk looked around and saw that his friends’ expressions seemed uneasy.

They were halfway across the next valley when Kurik reined in with a sudden oath. ‘That does it,’ he said.

‘What’s the matter?’ Sparhawk asked him.

‘How long would you say we’ve been on the road?’

‘An hour or so. Why?’

‘Look at the sun, Sparhawk.’

Sparhawk looked at the eastern horizon where the almost obscured disc of the sun hung just over a gently rounded line of hills. ‘It seems to be where it always is, Kurik,’ he said. ‘Nobody’s moved it.’

‘That’s just the point, Sparhawk. It’s not moving. It hasn’t moved an inch since we started. It came up, and then it stopped.’

They all stared towards the east.

‘It’s fairly common, Kurik,’ Tynian said. ‘We’ve been riding up and down hills. That always seems to put the sun in a different position. Where it seems to be depends on how high up – or down – the hill you are.’

‘I thought so myself, Sir Tynian – at first – but I’ll swear to you that the sun hasn’t moved since we left that hilltop to the east of Paler.’

‘Be serious, Kurik,’ Kalten scoffed. ‘The sun has to move.’

‘Not this morning apparently. What’s going on here?’

‘Sir Sparhawk!’ Berit’s voice was shrill, hovering just on the edge of hysteria. ‘Look!’

Sparhawk turned his head in the direction the apprentice knight was pointing a shaking hand.