‘Marumanyelloweyes does not like it here,’ Maruman beastspoke me.

I looked down at him. ‘I should have thought this moonless night would please you.’

‘There is evil in the whiteface, ElspethInnle, but there are other evils, too, that fear the whiteface and hunt only when its face is covered.’

His words made my skin rise up into goose flesh, and though I suspected he just wanted me back inside the cave so he could curl up on my lap to sleep, I followed him back along the passage.

‘Swallow told us of the clues left by his people, but how did you find out about them?’ Analivia asked, the moment I sat down. ‘Was it the voice in a dream?’

Ahmedri handed me a mug of steaming liquid, saying drily that it would ease my throat. I accepted it gratefully and said, ‘I do not think the wolves will come tonight, and so perhaps this is a good time for storytelling; in particular for a tale that all of you may find hard to accept.

‘I will begin it by telling you that the dream voice which summoned you and which guided me was that of a futuretelling Agyllian bird called Atthis. She was the leader of her flock – the Elder – and her mind held the memories of all other Elders before her right back to the Beforetime, when they were called flame birds. Flame birds were much smaller than the Agyllians are today, though they had the same distinctive plumage and some similar rare abilities. It was because of these that the Beforetimers caught them so that they could be tested and experimented upon to see if their abilities could be used as weapons. I do not know how the teknoguilders learned of them in the first place. I suspect that one of them made the mistake of farseeking or empathising or beastspeaking to a human, then the Beforetime teknoguilders altered them to enhance their abilities. Whatever the teknoguilders did strengthened the birds’ Talents, but it also produced deadly illnesses and most of them died.’

‘But not all?’ Dameon murmured.

‘All but three, and two were dying when the third beastspoke Cassandra, for she was living in the same place as the birds and some Misfits who were secretly being held captive.’

‘You mean the Govamen place where they were working on Sentinel?’ Analivia asked.

I nodded. ‘It was the last healthy bird that told Cassandra about the captive Misfits, and it was the bird that sent her in search of Hannah.’

‘The bird sought to help them even though they were humans,’ Dameon marvelled. ‘What happened to it?’