Analivia must know that her father and brother had not been killed trying to escape the Councilfarm and she could not help but know that Radost was a vengeful, violent man, and that her brother, Moss, was like him as two peas in a pod. She would surely anticipate their wanting to punish her and Bergold for accepting Dardelan as their overlord. Indeed, this might explain why she would have spoken of them coming to live at Obernewtyn. But what if the riders now approaching were led by her father and they had already stopped at Bergold’s farm? Suddenly I felt sick.

‘Elspeth?’ Ceirwan said, touching my arm. ‘Edric is tryin’ to reach ye.’

I opened my mind to the coercer, who explained that he had come down from the roof to farseek me. ‘The riders have just reached the gate, Guildmistress,’ he told me. ‘Some of them are wearing cloaks in Dardelan’s colours, though we can’t see any faces yet. Will you tell my master so he can stand the others down? They will have to be told aloud because of the rain.’ Like many with both coercive and farseeking Talents, Edric had discovered it was less draining and painful to communicate by farseeking rather than with coercion but Gevan was at best a very weak farseeker, so his own guild had got into the habit of using any nearby farseeker as a messenger for their master.

I felt a rush of relief at the news that the riders were not rebels and ruffians set on taking over Obernewtyn, and then a surge of excitement at the possibility that Rushton might have ridden up early with an escort of Dardelan’s armsmen. Then another thought occurred to me. ‘Did you see a wagon among the riders?’ I farsent to Edric.

I was thinking of Dameon, for although the blind empath had recently insisted upon learning to ride, he would never be such a fool as to insist on coming by horse at such speed on such a night.

‘No wagon that I could see,’ the coercer sent. ‘But Declyn was higher and he reckoned there was a smaller group of riders lagging behind the rest. There might be a wagon in their midst.’

I thanked him, and relayed all he had told me to Gevan and the others. The Coercer guildmaster said gruffly, ‘It is good news if these riders are from Dardelan, but a wolf can wear a sheep’s fleece, and other riders behind the first lot means we are looking at over thirty if it comes to a battle. We had best remain ready to fight until we are sure we need not.’ He unclipped the short, metal-shod poles he carried at his belt, and all about me other coercers took their cue from him and readied their weapons.

There was a loud rap at the door and then it burst open and a saturated Leander appeared, beaming. ‘It’s all right!’ he shouted. ‘It’s the Black Dog and a host of the high chieftain’s armsmen!’