‘Perhaps the answer will come from putting all we know together,’ Swallow said.

‘I thought that Sentinel must be in these mountains at first, else why come here and why would I have dreamed of the Beforetime women talking about it?’ Analivia asked. ‘But after I had spoken to the others about Sentinel, Swallow told us of seeing the ancient promises that were made by his people in the Red Land, about you, and how he had long ago seen a vision of himself there with you. Thus did it seem to me that Sentinel must be there.’

‘We will go there, ere the end, I think,’ Swallow said. ‘Yet there must be a reason why we have come to these mountains, unless it was solely to seek out these wolves.’

For some reason a vivid image came into my mind from my past-dream of the weapons emerging slowly from the opening under the Skylake. But I looked at Dameon, knowing his empathy would tell him that I was addressing him, and said, ‘Tell me what you learned of Dragon when you were in the Westland. I know that Dell saw that she had been there in a vision, but did she see what Dragon had been seeking?’

‘She said Dragon was seeking her past,’ Dameon answered.

I frowned and turned my attention to Analivia. ‘You heard no rumour of her when you travelled to Sawlney?’

Analivia shook her head. ‘But why do you ask about her? Has she some part to play in this as well?’

‘The futuretellers saw us together in the Red Land and I am sure you have heard that she is its rightful queen,’ I said.

Analivia shook her head impatiently. ‘You wish to know what to do next, but surely the answer is simple. The voice will tell us. Either through the wolf or it will speak to you directly.’

Her words told me that neither she nor any of the others, even Swallow, truly understood the nature and complexity of my quest. None of them had any idea of how long I had been travelling along the road to get to this point, nor of how many others had travelled that same road before me, labouring to ensure that I would fulfil my quest. If they were truly to walk that road with me, eventually I would need to tell them about all that Cassy and Hannah had done to prepare the way for me. I would have to tell them of the Govamen compound in Scotia where the Sentinel program had been developed, and of the permanent Sentinel complex that had been established elsewhere. I would have to speak of images of the Great White that I had seen in the Earthtemple, and I would need to explain that Swallow’s ancestor was the Cassy of my past-dreams and had later become the revered Kasanda of Sador. I would have to tell them about Ariel, who was the Destroyer, destined to evoke the dreadful power controlled by Sentinel and the BOT computers if I failed in my quest. And I would need to tell them of the roles played by Maruman and Gahltha.