‘Whatever foul weapon it was that turned this region into a black wasteland,’ I said. ‘What else could it be? The thing I would like to know is the original purpose of these pipes.’

‘I should like to know where they go,’ Dameon said.

‘Maybe the efari will tell us,’ Analivia said. ‘But I have been thinking, couldn’t you just beastspeak the rhenlings if they try to attack us?’

‘Rheagor said they would react to the touch of a mind as if it were the touch of a hand, and what is worse, they would be able to fix on my mind if I did, and find me even days later.’

‘Well at least we know they are not roused by light or sound,’ Swallow said.

‘Not during the hours of day,’ Ahmedri said. ‘But what happens when the sun sets? They do not fly by moonlight, but mayhap they sleep light enough to be disturbed by it.’

‘I don’t believe the torchlight will trouble the rhenlings unless they actually open their eyes,’ I said. ‘Rheagor told me they use a combination of hearing and sound to hunt prey, so it seems to me that their eyes are simply vulnerabilities.’

‘Which means light could be a weapon against them,’ Swallow said.

‘Only sunlight, for apparently if they are roused to swarm and feed, they will endure all lesser lights and attack,’ I said. ‘Indeed it seems to me those lesser lights might even infuriate them enough to make them attack whoever bears them. I hope we can simply slip through their territory like shadows, unseen and unnoticed.’

We walked a while in silence and then Analivia said, ‘Couldn’t we just lie down and be still if they flew? After all, if we had not touched them and showed no light and made no noise or movement, wouldn’t they just fly over us and not even notice we were there?’

‘I will ask Rheagor,’ I said, pleased to see Analivia beginning to rouse from her morose lethargy. I had already become accustomed to the way her quick, clever mind leapt in unexpected directions and although she had rallied from her initial shock after seeing the Blacklands for the first time and making her brave little speech, she had continued to be withdrawn. Whether or not it was shame as Dameon had suggested, or shock at the fact that she had killed her brother, she had cut herself off from the rest of us. Now, for the first time in days, she seemed as sharply inquisitive as before Moss appeared.

We had passed two more pipes clogged with rhenlings when Dameon stopped abruptly, saying something was coming towards us. We stood frozen and speechless until Darga beastspoke me to say that it was only one of the wolves, come with a message from the pack leader. The bright place was not more than an hour ahead, if we wished to rest before going on.