A slow, almost reverent smile came to the boy’s lips. ‘Well, now,’ he said. ‘Well, well, well.’

Stragen’s eyes also became very bright. ‘Well now indeed, Your Grace,’ he agreed.

‘Never mind, you two,’ Sephrenia said sharply.

‘Stragen,’ Sparhawk added as an afterthought, ‘tell Kring that there’s no real need to hurry. We might as well conserve the horses. Nobody out there is going to go anywhere or do anything until we get to where we want to go anyway.’

It was eerie to canter through that perpetual murky sunrise. It was neither cold nor warm nor damp nor dry. The world around them was silent, and unmoving birds dotted the air. Serfs stood like statues in the fields, and once they passed a tall white birch tree that had been brushed by a passing breeze just before the Troll-God Ghnomb had frozen time. A cloud of motionless golden leaves hung in the air to the leeward side of the tree.

‘What time do you think it is?’ Kalten asked after they had ridden for several leagues.

Ulath squinted at the sky. ‘I make it about sunrise,’ he replied.

‘Oh, very, very funny, Ulath,’ Kalten said sarcastically. ‘I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m starting to get a little hungry.’

‘You were born hungry,’ Sparhawk told him.

They ate trail rations and moved on again. There was no real need to hurry, but the sense of urgency they had all felt since they had left Chyrellos nagged at them, and they were soon cantering. To have proceeded at a leisurely walk would have seemed unnatural.

An hour or so later – though it was really impossible to tell – Kring came up from the rear. ‘I think there’s something behind us, friend Sparhawk,’ he said. Kring’s tone had a respectful awe about it. It’s not every day that one can talk with a man who stops the sun.

Sparhawk looked at him sharply. ‘Are you sure?’ he asked.

‘Not really,’ Kring admitted. ‘It’s a feeling more than anything. There’s a very dark cloud low to the ground off to the south. It’s a goodly way off, so it’s hard to tell for sure, but it seems to be pacing us.’

Sparhawk looked towards the south. It was that same cloud again, larger, blacker and more ominous now. The shadow could follow him even here, it appeared. ‘Have you seen it move at all?’ he asked Kring.

‘No, but we’ve come quite some distance since we stopped to eat, and it’s still just over my right shoulder where it was when we set out.’

‘Keep an eye on it,’ Sparhawk said tersely. ‘See if you can catch it actually moving.’

‘Right,’ the Domi agreed, wheeling his horse.