‘She looked like following her brother, but she has rallied since. I think it is Darius’s doing. He was with them both when Angina died. I don’t know what he did exactly, but somehow he used Rasial and Hannay and gradually Miky improved.’

‘She is awake?’

‘Yesterday. She knew Angina was gone. Roland said she told him that she dreamed that her brother bade her goodbye and told her to live a long full life and have children enough for the both of them.’

‘I will go up to the Healing Hall directly,’ Dameon said.

‘I would come with you but I am just on my way to see Maryon, to ask if she has any idea where Elspeth has gone. The most likely thing is that she has gone looking for Dragon. You heard nothing of the girl in the west?’

‘She was there – Dell futuretold it – but no one saw her, so we must suppose she used her Talents to prevent it. Merret and Blyss have promised to find her, if she is in the west, but Dell seemed to think she came back this side of the river.’

‘Yet no one has seen her. You know what she is, of course?’

‘Merret told me and everyone at Oldhaven knows it. At first I was truly astonished, but I have become accustomed to thinking of her as the heir to the Red Land. Dardelan said she is to travel with the expedition.’

Rushton nodded. ‘She will be able to rouse her people so that they can overthrow the slavemasters, thereby averting this invasion all the futuretellers have been seeing. Once I learned who she was, I understood how four ships might free the Redlanders. But Elspeth was worried about finding her in time and no doubt she made up her mind to see if she could locate her. Now they are both missing. My hope is that they will go directly to the ships. They must travel with us, given that the future-tellers saw them together in the Red Land. With luck, Maryon will know something of their whereabouts.’

‘When do you leave?’ asked Dameon.

‘Tomorrow morning at dawn and I will ride straight through,’ Rushton said. ‘I meant to go yesterday but …’ He shrugged and I understood that he had delayed in the hope that I would return.