‘It seems so, for Maryon told me that one spirit can be as strongly linked to another by hatred as by love or friendship,’ I said somewhat bleakly.

‘You did not answer the question Analivia asked before about how you came to learn of the clues left for you by the woman Cassandra,’ Ahmedri asked curiously, using a stick to prod the fire to life. ‘Was it the bird Atthis who told you of them?’

I drank another mug of water, glad that the tribesman had changed the subject, and then I told them about the doors to Obernewtyn; how I had been tortured by Alexi, Madam Vega and Ariel until I had experienced a past-dream that had shown me not only that directions to Sentinel were hidden in the doors, but the very chasm where Sentinel stood. The others gawked at that but I went on quickly leaving them no time to interrupt with questions. ‘The doors also contained a list of clues that would lead me to the things Cassy had left for me.’

On impulse, I bade Swallow bring my pack and dug out the crumpled parchment on which Fian had scribed his translation of the Gadfian words from the doors. They pored over it, and asked questions until they knew all that I knew of the clues. Only, I did not speak of what I had seen and learned in the Earthtemple, for that would require another long tale, and it would mean telling them what I knew of Cassandra’s life after she had been taken by slavers from the Land and about the stone sword. That could wait for another campfire, for even with Ahmedri’s tisane, my throat was sore.

They were still discussing the clues when Rasial arose and came to me, Gavyn trailing after him yawning widely. ‘The wolves are come, ElspethInnle. They await you / us outside.’

That startled me, but I began to pull on my boots.

‘They have come too late,’ Swallow protested. ‘It will be sunrise ere we have gone very far at all. Surely it would be better for them to sleep the day here where they can take shelter from the sunlight and where the ground and the water are clean.’

‘The pack leader says that the sun will not rise this day,’ Rasial said. ‘He said you must hurry.’

In a short while, we had the horses packed up, and Dragon’s travois fastened in place. Outside, the moon had slipped its veil enough that the wolves cast moon shadows, but when I looked to the east, where the sky ought to have been growing lighter beyond the mouth of the canyon, I saw a great tide of black thunderclouds rising like a wall across the horizon, and the breeze of the early hours had become something more forceful.

‘A storm,’ Swallow said flatly. ‘Surely the wolves do not want to set off in this?’