Later, as we climbed up from the ridge to yet another pass, I tried to learn – without aggravating Maruman by asking specific questions – if the old cat actually knew how much longer it would take to reach the place to which he was leading us. Certainly I no longer had the slightest doubt that he was leading me to Cassandra’s key, but the old cat merely gave me a cold, knowing look and did not respond. It was frustrating and yet knowing where we were going would not shorten the journey so I schooled myself to patience. That night we camped out in the open in a hollow on the ridge. It was too windy to waste wood on a fire nor was it as cold as it had been when we had slept in the high pass.

The next day we set off before dusk and by midnight we were following a broken slope running north-east along the base of a sheer cliff. We were nearing the top of the slope when the sun rose, cold shafts of sunlight cutting through the shadows. A wave of sunlight began to flow down the peaks to the west. We turned and began to move along the side of the mountain and when night fell again we continued climbing by moonlight. It was only a fingernail moon but it cast light enough for us to go on until we came to a flat place where we could stop. It was a good hour before dawn when Maruman clawed me to wakefulness and as we set off again up the slope I wondered if I was right in feeling that there was an urgency in the old cat’s exhortations to move faster. Was it possible that Atthis had given him a time limit?

We were making directly for another high pass to the north-west, and I was soon sweating and panting hard in the thin air. I was walking to spare Gahltha and twice I insisted that we stop to rest. Hence it was night before we reached the pass. Instead of finding a long descending slope on the other side, I was startled to see a wide ridge running north, bounded by higher mountains either side. Those on the west were snow-capped and I could see pockets of snow lower down. The dim lume of the slender moon made the stone look black but when I cast a questioning look at Darga, he made no comment. We pitched camp there out of the wind at the side of the pass, and I was able to make another fire. Darga could not smell water but we had passed so many small springs that day I did not doubt we would find more water soon enough.