Linnet arrived and said without preamble, ‘I just saw Gevan. He says Declyn can see the riders and reckons their number at thirty. It’s impossible to tell if they have barrels of black powder but if they do, it’ll be useless in this rain, and without it, there are more than enough coercers and knights to deal with them.’

‘If there are Hedra among them, they may have weapons that the rain won’t hinder,’ I said, remembering the golden liquid called honeyfire that I had seen demonstrated in the mind of a Herder priest. Once ignited, it would burn anything and it could not be extinguished with water. The effect of it would be unthinkably horrifying were it to be thrown onto a person.

‘The only one close enough to be hurt will be you, mistress, if they seek parley, which is why we will precede you out the door. Whoever would speak with you had better be prepared to dismount and put their hands atop their heads.’

Ceirwan stiffened and after a distracted moment, he said, ‘That was Lina. Alad sent her because he thought we might need a beastspeaker who can also farseek, since you are likely to be too busy to deal with the horses. She just farsought me to say that Jaygar and some of the other horses are going to come through the farm gate and round to the front entrance so that they can communicate with the riders’ horses in case they have been demon-banded. If they have, Lina will go out and make physical contact with Jaygar to find out what he has learned.’

‘Why do you speak of demon bands?’ I asked. ‘Surely they have long since been rounded up and put in caves where the taint-devouring insects can cleanse them?’

Catrin came to join us. She was wet to the skin, hair slicked against her scalp. ‘I might as well have bathed fully clothed!’ she muttered, wiping a sodden sleeve over her face.