I felt less sanguine about the absence of the boy and the dog, for even though Rheagor had said the wolves would not harm them, what would they do if Rasial decided to attack them for the sake of the boy or out of sheer wildness? After all, I thought, she told me that she wanted to die. I tried to find the white dog, but my farseeking probe would not locate. That meant they had left the valley or, more likely, they slept.

I found Darga and bade him look for them, and he padded off without complaint. Maruman looked across the flames at me.

‘You were brave,’ I sent. ‘How did you resist the wolf musk?’

‘Stupid wolves did not notice clever, quiet Marumanyelloweyes creeping in a tree when they came and when they released their scent,’ the old cat boasted.

‘So they can decide who the wolf musk will affect?’

‘Of course,’ Maruman sent scornfully. ‘Else how would they travel with us if we cannot move when they are near?’

I went on combing, until, wincing at a knot, I laid down my comb to tease out the burr at its centre. I looked into the flames and thought about the city that the wolf had seen. If it was the same city Jacob had seen in his dreams, then he had reached his destination, for there could be no reason we were to go there save to get Cassandra’s key. I had never imagined that I might truly have to go to Jacob’s shining city, and I decided that when day came and we rested, I must read his journal more attentively, so that I could compare it with the things Rheagor had said.

Something else occurred to me. The wolf claimed that his ancestor had been taken captive, before escaping to cross the graag and found the Brildane. It must be the efari that guarded the city who had captured his ancestor, and perhaps they were the descendants of the Beforetimers whose memories and knowledge stretched back unbroken into that time.

I plaited my clean and combed hair, relishing its heavy silky feel and the delicious scent of lemonleaf, thinking that if a wolf and an old man had crossed over the glowing Blacklands to reach the Beforetime city without it killing them, it must be possible for us to do the same.

Certainly, I could cross some Blacklands and recover, but if I had to walk over vast tracts of tainted land, my body would go on healing me relentlessly, until all of my strength and energy and eventually my life were devoured by it. It would be the same for Maruman and Darga, if I was right about their bodies being able to heal as mine did. The three of us could reach Jacob’s city near to death, with all of our other companions lost to us, but what would be the use of that? I might even have strength enough to find Jacob’s body and acquire Cassandra’s key, but how was I then to reach Sentinel?