‘It’s dry,’ Ulath noted, ‘and it’s out of sight. We could go back in there a little way and build a fire. If we don’t dry our clothes off, these mail-shirts are going to be solid rust by morning.’

‘Let’s cover this opening first, though,’ Kurik said. He didn’t sound too hopeful about the notion of trying to hide behind a brush-pile from the shadowy cloud which had followed them since Thalesia, however.

After they had covered the opening, they took torches from one of the packs, lit them and followed the narrow passageway a hundred yards or so to a place where it widened out.

‘Good enough?’ Kurik asked.

‘At least it’s dry,’ Kalten said. He kicked at the sandy floor of the passage, turning up a chunk of bleached wood buried there. ‘We might even be able to find enough wood for a fire.’

They set up their camp in the somewhat confined space, and they soon had a small fire going.

Talen came back from the passageway on ahead. ‘It goes on for another few hundred yards,’ he reported. ‘The upper end’s blocked with brush the same way the lower one was. Kring’s very careful to keep this passage hidden.’

‘What’s the weather like on up ahead?’ Kurik asked.

‘There’s some snow mixed with the rain now, father.’

‘It looks as if I was right then. Oh, well, we’ve all been snowed on before, I guess.’

‘Whose turn is it to do the cooking?’ Kalten asked.

‘Yours,’ Ulath told him.

‘It can’t be mine again already.’

‘Sorry, but it is.’

Grumbling, Kalten went to the packs and began to rummage around.

The meal consisted of Peloi trail rations, smoked mutton, dark bread and a thick soup made from dried peas. It was nourishing, but the flavour was hardly spectacular. After they had finished eating, Kalten began to clean up. He was gathering their plates when he suddenly stopped. ‘Ulath?’ he said suspiciously.

‘Yes, Kalten?’

‘In all the time we’ve been travelling together, I haven’t seen you cook more than once or twice.’

‘No, you probably haven’t.’

‘When does your turn come?’

‘It doesn’t. My job is to keep track of whose turn it is. You wouldn’t really expect me to do that and cook too, would you? Fair is fair, after all.’

‘Who appointed you?’

‘I volunteered. Church Knights are supposed to do that when unpleasant tasks come up. That’s one of the reasons people respect us so much.’

They sat around after that, staring moodily into the fire. ‘It’s days like today that make me wonder why I took up knighting for a career,’ Tynian said. ‘I had a chance to go into law when I was younger. I thought it would be boring, so I chose this instead. I wonder why.’

There was a general murmur of agreement.