Wila gave a huff of excitement and abandoned her half-filled plate of food to rifle through her notes. She read out a true dream in which Matthew had gazed in shock at an immense wall carving of the Red Queen in the main square of the Red Land settlement. Then her eyes narrowed and she looked at me. ‘This was your dream?’

I nodded and Tomash said, ‘No wonder Matthew went from trying to force the Redlanders to rise against their oppressors, to plotting to steal a ship. I bet he was planning to fetch Dragon and bring her back to the Red Land!’ Then his face fell. ‘But what if he escapes before you arrive?’

I shook my head. ‘Since Matthew likely dreams of those he knew at Obernewtyn just as we dream of him, I think he probably knows that we are mounting an expedition to the Red Land, and given that Rushton and the others know Dragon’s true identity, he might even know that she is to come with us.’

I was unwilling to tell them that I had made contact with Matthew and that I had commanded the farseeker not to try to escape, because we had both been on the dreamtrails at the time. In truth it had been a brief and unstable encounter because Matthew’s presence there had clearly been the result of illness and he had no control over himself. I was not even sure if he had taken in my command. I had striven several times to reach him since, but unless Matthew learned to build a spirit-form consciously, the chance of meeting him again was slight. More recently, I had given up trying because of Atthis’s warning to avoid the dreamtrails.

‘Do recent dreams suggest that Matthew is still looking to steal a ship?’ I asked after a pause.

‘They don’t, in fact,’ Wila admitted.

‘Then he must believe we are bringing her,’ Tomash said. ‘It would be an ill thing, truly, if he were killed trying to escape. But here, what will happen if Dragon is not found before the ships have to leave?’

‘She must be found and she will be found, since both Dell and Maryon have foreseen that she and I will be together in the Red Land,’ I said firmly.

I had forgotten that neither of them knew I would take part in the expedition, and I let them gape at one another as I busied myself laying more wood on the fire. It struck me suddenly that if I was going to strive on the dreamtrails for Atthis, I might just as well try again to reach Matthew as well. Of course, the chances were slim that the farseeker would be in spirit-form at the moment I was seeking him, but if he could be warned of our plans he could prepare the enslaved Redlanders for the arrival of their queen.