Lutek was on Lilla’s left, Tiamoko to his right, and the rest of the Paw stretched out to either side. Kux’s Paw was to their left, and the others had stealthily, slowly fanned out on three sides of the clearing. The fire and the torches around the pyramid had burnt low, barely casting enough light to show the long lines of sleeping slaves, huddled on beds of palm leaves, and the warriors in hammocks strung in the edges of the treeline.

Lutek shifted, just a fraction, and her fingers tightened on Lilla’s arm. She tapped it, a slow countdown from ten, and fear surged in his gut. He swallowed three times, his mouth dry, and when they reached zero the two of them rose a heartbeat ahead of the rest. They crept through the jungle, slow and sure.

Kill the warriors. Free the slaves. Smash the stone.

And the slaves who don’t want freedom? The slaves who now outnumber us two to one? Who will have told the story of our destruction of their pyramid and that the Xentib have run for the Sky City with our blessing? What of them?

The enemy camp was quiet but for a dozen warriors on guard, making slow rounds of the clearing, stepping between the rows of sleeping slaves with as little care as if they walked past rolls of woven cloth. They had no fear the slaves might rise up and attack them; Lilla marvelled at their arrogance.

Kux’s Paw shot first, arrows and poisoned darts thumping into the figures in the hammocks and then the moving guards. The other Paws shot and alarm calls went up through the jungle as screams tore the last of the night into rags. One volley from three sides of the clearing and the war party charged into the burgeoning chaos, their cries ringing from beneath the trees like vengeful spirits.

A man reared up out of the gloom, a wicked hatchet in his hand and already swinging for Lilla’s chest. Lilla pivoted away from the weapon, smashing his spear down onto his attacker’s wrist, and then stabbed him in the gut, out and into the thigh. The hatchet came in again, a strike that would open him up, armour or not, but Lilla spun the spear and cracked the butt into the side of the man’s jaw. He fell, limp, and Lilla stabbed him in the throat and leapt past him.