Ilandeh grimaced and shifted. ‘We don’t know that anything’s happened to my Second Flight,’ she said, her tone neutral. ‘Besides, we were in much deeper back then. We were among the Tokob for a year, tasked with making friends and earning trust by any means necessary. And during that time we were confronted with the slaughter of the holy Setatmeh and the abomination of the ejab. It would unsettle anyone. These Whispers will be in Tokob towns a matter of days, and those towns will be under assault. It’s a completely different situation.’

He nodded. ‘Do it. Flight, pick the smallest and lightest we’ve got, all genders. Get collars on them and get them out there – they’re not to take food or water with them; I want them thirsty, filthy, and vulnerable. They’re to stay a few days ahead of our front line – and any who get caught by our advance scouts get a beating. It needs to look real, and they need to be desperate to get out of harm’s way.’

‘As the High Feather commands.’

‘And the slave brands?’ Feather Calan asked. They stilled at that. Pilos watched Ilandeh; her nostrils flared but her face was smooth and blank.

‘No. Put them in sleeves or bandages. They’re to say, only if questioned, that they’re hiding their brands the better to escape the Melody. But not to mention it at all unless they have no other choice.’

Ilandeh coughed again and then exhaled raggedly. She met Pilos’s eyes. ‘Thank you, High Feather.’

He looked at them both. ‘It’s going to be bloody and I want us ready to support our Whispers. I want us taking – and holding – territory, not just the towns; we want the people and we want the harvest. Easiest way to control a population?’ he asked and looked to Calan.

The Feather grinned. It was one of the first lessons young eagles learnt when they joined the Melody. ‘Control the children; control the council. No one fights when their offspring’s at risk.’

Pilos smiled. ‘All right, we have a plan and we have a set number of days to accomplish it. We move in an hour. Under the song.’

LILLA

Melody fortress, the dead plains, Tlalotlan, Empire of Songs

12th day of the grand absence of the Great Star

The Melody fortress was immense, and it sat among huge fields ripe with corn and peas. South, in the shadow of tall hills that reminded Lilla of home, a salt pan stretched, white and flat. The dead plains.

The fortress’s walls were tall and patrolled by warriors armed with bows. There was a wide training ground outside where the eagles practised; the slave and dog warriors’ own training areas were behind the walls, cut off from the horizon and any slender possibility of escape.