I looked up at the sky again and frowned. I had intended to ride higher up the mountain valley before doing what I had left Obernewtyn to do, but the storm clouds I had seen earlier were beginning to swell inexorably and the breeze had freshened. I rummaged in my bag for an apple I had filched from the kitchen and tossed it to Gahltha. He crunched the fruit with relish, looking around, ears pricked and nostrils quivering. I did not need to enter his thoughts to know that he was trying to scent the freerunning herd. I had never dared ask if he knew when and if Avra would return to Obernewtyn with their son. Indeed, it was quite likely that Gahltha had not asked her. He did not see himself as worthy of the freeborn mountain mare or of the wild herd, having been owned and broken in by humans.

Sometimes I wondered if this was why he had accepted the charge of the mystic Agyllian birds to watch over me, why he had become Daywatcher to the Seeker. Any purpose was better than none.

My stomach growled and I took out a spiced bun and settled my back against the pale, smooth trunk of a single ur tree growing alongside the stream, for I did not wish to be distracted from my purpose by a rumbling belly. The sun shone, but it was cool enough that I pulled my coat closed and turned up the collar before I relaxed. I watched a glistening thread of spider silk drift past my nose and snag on the grass. Somewhere near, a bird burst into ecstatic song, perhaps sensing as I did that the bright day would soon cloud over.

As the tranquillity of the little glade settled into me, the band of pain around my head finally eased. The breeze caused a tendril of hair to tickle my cheek and even as I reached up to push it behind my ear, I shivered at a memory of Rushton doing the same thing. Rather than indulging in the memory, which would only lead to more memories and more longing, I closed my eyes and steered my thoughts into the creation of a probe attuned to Maruman’s mind. Once formed, I sent it down the valley to Obernewtyn – first to the house and then through the numerous outbuildings and extensive grounds. Of course I had searched them already but probes created away from distraction and human settlements were always stronger, and their strength increased when I was on higher ground than the object I was seeking.