‘That be the doing of the dinrai,’ she snarled, drawing herself up. ‘This one do ask what is this one’s right, Rheagor, pack leader of the Brildane. Will tha say nah nah for the sake of a dinrai?’

‘For the sake of the Brildane, this one will go seliga,’ he said with deep solemnity.

I was startled to hear him use a beast symbol I had only ever heard used to describe Maruman’s fey mental wanderings. Behind, it meant, but also under and back and even between. Given what the wolf leader now said, perhaps it simply meant he would enter a trance that would enable him to spirit-travel while he was awake.

‘Journey tha seliga and this time tha may find tha doom, pack leader,’ Descantra said coldly, and she turned away and stalked into the trees. As if her departure was a signal, the rest of the pack melted into the trees, too. Only the pack leader remained.

‘There be much anger and sorrow in the pack for tha kind, an’ Descantra do rightly claim blood, but maybe tha do speak true and so this one must journey seliga to see if tha words have merit. Go tha to the Skylake an’ wait. This one will come to tha there. But if tha has spoken luring lies, the pack will want blood and this one will lead them to the kill.’

A red flame flickered in the wolf’s eyes for a moment, and then he padded away.

Maruman led us from the other end of the fissure into a canyon that ran north-west. The air felt bitterly cold after the hot dampness of the spring-fed forest in the crevice, and the mountains rearing up on all sides seemed darker and more barren than ever. There was no sign of a lake, but Maruman said we would reach the valley where it lay before the day ended. Darga said nothing and it struck me that he had not spoken since the encounter with the wolves. Perhaps it had shattered him to find how much contempt the wolves had for dogs, or maybe he had simply been afraid. The sun rose and the sky lightened but neither its light nor its warmth reached into the canyon, so it was a cold walk made all the colder by the memory of the previous night. But there were patches of blue sky between great banks of grey cloud overhead and the brisk chill wind might rout them yet.

My coat was buttoned and as well as wearing gloves and my woollen cap, I had raised my hood to encompass Maruman who was draped around my neck and over one shoulder. For once he was gazing forward instead of sleeping and it struck me that the encounter with the Brildane had shaken the old cat, too. He had told me that it was the wolf musk that had paralysed us, but for all he claimed not to have been intimidated, it must have terrified him to have the wolf looming over him, when he could not run or lift a claw to defend himself.