Elowen gave a gentle smile. She moved to rest a hand on Embla’s arm. ‘Well, I know the ceremony. I can make you and Nammu join as one, if you wish it. Then you will both live on.’

‘What?’ Liska couldn’t believe what she was hearing. ‘How can you do that? Only an elder arbomancer has that power and there hasn’t been one around for—.’

‘Five hundred years?’ Elowen smiled. ‘Before our accident, my family were the elders. We knew all of the forms magic can take. We made the treekeepers soon after we arrived at the Undrentree.’

‘You? Made the . . .? You know the . . .?’ Liska gave up trying to speak and just stood with her mouth open. Of all the powers she expected Elowen to have, she had never imagined that.

‘Yes, we made them from members of our family. Edda is actually my uncle.’

Liska tried to close her mouth but failed. All this time she had been walking around, talking to, sleeping beside . . . Edda’s niece?

‘Now, my powers have been slow in returning since I last woke,’ Elowen continued. ‘But being this close to another sacred tree . . . I can feel them waking, finally.’

To demonstrate, she closed her eyes and moved her hands through the air, tracing out an intricate pattern. As her fingers danced around each other, they left traces of blue light. A web of magical energy, hanging in space, quietly crackling. Liska smelt the familiar scent of potent magic tingling in her nostrils, sending sparks spiralling down her spine.

‘Can you really do it?’ Liska whispered to her. ‘Are you sure you’re strong enough to turn Embla into a treekeeper?’

‘I think so.’ Elowen was smiling at the thought but Liska wasn’t quite as confident. She had seen how weak her friend’s magic had been on the journey here. What if the process went wrong? What if something terrible happened to Embla? But then again . . . if it did work . . . they would have a treekeeper on their side. That would even up the odds against Thresher, for sure . . .

Oblivious to their conversation, Embla had been kneeling, pressing one of her hands to a root of Nammu. Now she stood again, a broad grin on her face.

‘Nammu and I accept your offer with honour. We would like to join our souls together. And then we can face the walking ice and die as one.’

‘Oh, you won’t have to die,’ said Elowen. ‘You could come and live in Arborven, along with our treekeepers. You would be most welcome, wouldn’t she, Liska?’

Liska was still having doubts about it, but she managed a nod. If only Lug was able to hear this, she thought. Elowen – an elder arbomancer – he wouldn’t believe it!

‘How long will this take?’ she asked, trying to judge how far away Thresher was.