Swallow sat down on the other side of Analivia and clasped my hands and hers in his. Gradually Analivia’s wild storm of weeping became less violent until finally she ceased with a little shuddering sigh.

‘He was a monster,’ Swallow said, and never had I heard him speak with such icy rage.

‘He was my brother and I killed him,’ Analivia said. She sounded numb and exhausted.

‘You did not kill him out of hate or the desire for revenge, though you had reason enough to feel both. You killed him to protect Dragon.’

Analivia looked at him for a long moment, her expression unreadable, and then she took her hands from ours, covered her face with them and began to weep again, very softly.

We spent the remainder of the night in the hollow for Dragon’s sake, in the hope that she would wake. Her skin was very cool and pale, a sure sign of shock, Ahmedri said, and Swallow agreed. I felt only a terrible sense of weariness at seeing her lost in sleep yet again. I did not dare try to enter her mind to draw her out. I could only pray, as I had done so many times before, that she would wake and that her mind and memories would be intact.

I had farsent Dameon to let the others know what had happened, and they all hurried back to the hollow. The moon was setting by the time Gavyn and Rasial appeared, with Dameon and the horses. The little owl, which I had not seen for days and had all but forgotten until she attacked Moss, was sitting on Gavyn’s shoulder, her eyes wide and yellow in the darkness.

‘Did you send Fey?’ I asked Rasial, remembering the name Kella had given her.

‘The cub did,’ Rasial said when Gavyn did not even seem to hear the question. ‘We flew with the bird and watched in spirit-form, and when we saw that the funaga-li meant to kill the she-cub we bade her attack.’

I shivered at the thought of being watched by spirit-eyes, and yet had not I watched the world through spirit-eyes more than once, if inexpertly? Besides, if they had not watched and sent the owl flying into Moss’s face, the night might have ended very differently. I thanked Rasial and then Gavyn, but the boy rose and wandered away in the midst of my words to look down at the sleeping Dragon. Then he smiled his soft, strange smile and, to my surprise, he threw the owl into the air. As the tiny bird floated away, Gavyn stretched out on the bare ground alongside Dragon and Rasial went to lie on the other side of the girl. That reminded me of how the beasthealer Darius had summoned this strange pair to help him tend to Miky. Had he been able to see that their spirits were merged, and how or why had he used them to help Miky? But Miky had woken and now I could only hope that they would be able to bring Dragon to wakefulness.