I was a little staggered to realise that I had never once considered how Dragon might feel at being told over and over that she had forgotten great portions of her life. Rushton had been convinced from the start that she had gone back to the west coast where I had found her, and it shamed me that I had never guessed that she might have done so in the hope of retrieving her memories.

If she had gone to Oldhaven, Dameon would be the best person to try to convince her to return, for although she had forgotten everything, Dragon had been no more immune to the blind empath’s gentle charm than anyone else.

‘Do you think she will remember much of the Red Land? Even if her memory is restored, she must have been very young when she was taken from it,’ Cinda said.

‘Whatever she remembers or not of the Red Land, she is its queen,’ I said, thinking of what had been discussed in the guildmerge. ‘When her people see her, they will know who she is immediately because she bears a striking resemblance to her mother, whose face is carved here and there about the Red City. I think once they see her there, they will rise against the slavemasters as they have always sworn to do.’

There was a knock at the door, and we heard Elkar say, ‘I am sorry to disturb you, Lady Elspeth …’

‘Come in,’ I called.

‘I am looking for …’ he stopped, seeing Cinda rise from the seat by the fire, and smiled, saying, ‘I thought you might have come here, my love.’

I offered him the last of the ferment but he declined politely, saying his head was still spinning from his hours with the teknoguilders, and that was only partly the result of the mead they had been drinking. ‘Sometimes it truly seemed to me that they do not think of this world we live in now, with all its wonders and difficulties, but only of the world destroyed by the Great White.’

Cinda laid her hand on the Norselander’s arm and moved her fingers in what was obviously a question, for Elkar gave me an apologetic glance and began flicking his fingers. I bent to put more wood on the fire, giving them a moment of privacy, and stifled a yawn.

Presently Elkar said, ‘Cinda tells me you are riding out at dawn tomorrow, so it seems we must say goodbye now.’