I had one final glimpse of the statue fading like mist in sunlight in a ghostly clearing then I withdrew from Iriny’s memory and mind. Coming back to consciousness of my own body sitting slumped on the porch, I realised that my feet and hands were numb with cold, for we had been sitting in shadow.

‘Better … go inside,’ I said through chattering teeth, and levered myself up. I could tell from the jerky way Iriny rose that she was no less frozen, and we went gladly into the warm watchhut.

Chapter 11

11

‘I was just about to come and get you both,’ Jil said cheerfully. ‘You’d best go over to the fire and warm up. We don’t usually bother keeping it alight after firstmeal, but I have stoked it up for you and there is plenty of wood in the box.’

I was too cold to answer so I merely nodded, dragging off my coat and gloves and kicking my boots onto the hearth before I dropped onto a stool before the fire. I stretched out my hands to it, grimacing at the painful tingling in them. Only then did I become aware of the delicious smells filling the shack. The sight and scents of food made me feel ravenous and I realised I had eaten only one small pie and a couple of sweet rolls the previous night, instead of a proper meal.

Jil urged us to eat and I forced myself to get up and go to the table. There were savoury pan breads as well as the steaming pot of porridge, pancakes drizzled with honey and a platter of nuts and dried berries. I filled my plate, as did Iriny, but Jil shook her head when I asked if she was not eating, saying that she had finished her own firstmeal, for it was her turn at the watch. We were just starting on our food before the fire when Alden appeared. A heavy-set older coercer with a slow highland accent and sun-browned skin near dark as Iriny’s, he greeted us absently as he peeled off two coats, unwound a warm muffler and removed his woollen cap and gloves.

He got some food and brought it to a big chair by the fire, glancing at Iriny. Deciding that I ought to explain our meeting in some innocuous way, I introduced them and then straight away asked if Iriny’s people had any tales or stories about the Red Land. Only as I spoke did it strike me that since Iriny’s people had travelled from the Red Land to our shores they might well have kept some record of that journey. But Iriny shrugged and said, ‘Any memories or maps of that journey are in the keeping of the D’rekta to the Twentyfamilies.’