‘Let’s wait until morning,’ said Elowen. ‘Things always look better in the morning. And at the very least we’ll have some light to see by. I want to get a close look at the giant if I can.’

‘Why do you always want to look at things that are going to kill us?’ Lug flapped his robes about, trying to get comfortable. ‘And just how am I supposed to sleep in this place?’

‘I’d have thought you’d be right at home,’ said Liska. Although she wondered the same thing. It was damp and cramped, and the fear of what might happen to them bubbled at the edge of her mind, threatening to take over and make her start screaming for help.

Don’t do that, she told herself. There’s nobody out there to hear you, anyway. And you might make the giant angry. Wait for a chance and then escape if you can.

She secretly knew that if she could somehow get above the trees, she could fly out of the giant’s reach. It would mean leaving the others behind, which would be cruel and awful. But she might be able to find the forest people again and persuade them to try a rescue. As horrible as the idea of leaving her friends behind was, it was the only thing she could come up with.

You’ll think of something else, she told herself. After all, you’ve got all night.

Curling herself in her tail and wings, she tried to get comfortable and in spite of all the reasons not to, she somehow drifted off to sleep.

*

Liska woke with a jolt some unknown time later. Had there been a sound? A shout?

She could see a ghostly outline that was the pale face of Elowen, facing her on the other side of the pit. Her finger was raised to her lips. The yellow cat eyes of Fishbone blinked open beside her, seeming to float in the blackness.

‘What is happening?’ he whispered.

‘Hush,’ said Elowen. ‘The giant is speaking. I think someone else is here.’

Liska froze, holding her breath, straining her ears. She could just about make out the sound of movement above their prison. Creaking and shuffling and . . . an animal sniffing?

Then a deep, thundering voice boomed out, making her jump out of both her skins.

‘I ASK AGAIN. WHO DARES COME INTO MY HOME UNINVITED?’

‘Forgive me, great one. I am just a hunter tracking my prey. I follow the laws of the wild places. Once a hunt begins it must carry on to the end.’

The answering voice sounded strangled, raspy. As if the speaker had a hand clutched around their throat. Or as if their throat was damaged somehow. Say, torn through by a wyvern claw, perhaps.

Liska tried to stop her fox snout from snarling. She had a very good idea who the hunter was.