A gust of wind and cool air lifted the lank strands of hair from my sticky face and I drew in a deep, glorious breath, uncaring of the pain it caused me. A short time later Faraf ascended a slope that brought us out of the earth into the wide, cold, dark night.

The sun had long set, and there was no more left of it than a dim bloody smear upon the western horizon, illuminating the slight unevenness that was the Blacklands Range far behind us. A dim haze of greenish light marked the end of the glowing Blacklands, but it was too dark to see if there was a white plain to the northeast, for the moon had yet to rise and there were only a few stars pricking the velvet darkness overhead. At least the ground to the north and south and east did not glow. The ground we were on was dark and stony and much as the terrain had been between the mountains and the graag. Darga had pronounced it Blacklands, but Rheagor sent that the taint was so slight as to be no taint at all, and in any case, in a few hours we would come to the white plain, where there was no taint. There was clean water there, too, he added casually, answering another concern.

Then he went to the wolves and I noticed that one of them lay on its side, whining softly. Dameon had mentioned that two wolves had been injured and I realised it must have been the other that Rheagor had sent out to tell the pack about the cave-in. Rheagor was sniffing at the other wolf and as all talk fell silent, I heard the bubbling sound of its breathing with cold dismay.

‘If you can convince them to allow me to examine it…’ Analivia began, but without warning, Rheagor lunged at its throat to deal out his swift and savage mercy. There was a dark gush and the slaty metallic smell of blood made my stomach turn.

Rheagor looked up at me, his muzzle streaked with red. ‘A wolf that cannot run with the pack is better dead,’ he sent.

‘My companion is a healer,’ I said. ‘She might have saved that wolf.’

‘Would tha go on, dinrai?’ Rheagor sent, the cold question my only answer.

I drew a shaken breath and said, ‘I would go on.’

‘Then prepare,’ Rheagor said and led his wolves apart.

I told the others what he had said of the white plain and the water and Analivia asked if it would not be wiser for me to rest for a few hours before we continued.