Something Iriny had said outside came back to me then, and when Alden got up to fetch a second helping of food, I asked her quietly, ‘You said that Swallow sent you ahead. Is he to come up to the mountains as well?’

She nodded. ‘Our elders have asked him to seek a vision so that he can name an heir, and our people have always come to the White Valley for such things.’

That startled me. ‘But surely Swallow is not too old to father a child,’ I said.

‘Perhaps he is unable to father a child, for most gypsy men have already done so by my brother’s age, even if they have not bonded. I think the elders fear it, in any case, and so they asked our seers to look into Swallow’s future. They were told that no heir of my brother’s loins will ever become D’rekta.’ Iriny gave me a sombre look and I thought suddenly of Swallow’s certainty that he would be with me on the final stage of my quest.

Very soon after we first met, he had spoken of a dream he had experienced in which he had seen himself standing with me in the place where the ancient promises had first been made. The formulation of the ancient promises had almost certainly happened in the Red Land before Cassy had sailed to the Land with those who were to become the Twentyfamilies. Was it possible that the Twentyfamily seers had foreseen not that Swallow was unable to father a child, but that he would travel with me to the Red Land to play a part long before assigned to him in my quest, and for this reason he would produce no heir to rule his people? Certainly something had changed, because not long ago the elders had refused to allow him to cross the Suggredoon during the battle over the west coast because he had not yet an heir and might not be risked. That was why he had sent Iriny in his place.

‘I need to speak with your brother, Iriny,’ I said, as Alden resumed his seat. ‘Will you ask him to ride up to Obernewtyn to meet me as soon as he comes to the White Valley.’

She frowned. ‘The choosing of a heartson or daughter is no small thing for any gypsy, much less a D’rekta, whose child must someday rule us. I will tell him your request after he has made his spirit journey.’

‘Then I pray his spirit journey will be short and fruitful.’