Liska looked and could see only thick dark branches. But she didn’t want to argue. At the speed they were going they would be back in the Blasted Waste by morning.

Letting the rocking motion of Embla’s footsteps soothe her, she curled herself up in between Elowen and Lug. She could feel the hum of energy from the heart, still tightly clenched in Lug’s grip, and it gave her dreams of lost ages and secret veins of crackling power hidden beneath the ground.

At some point in the night she awoke and peered through Embla’s wooden fingers to see she was passing through a clearing, dotted all around with lopsided huts of mossy stone.

‘The shapewalkers’ village,’ she whispered.

‘There is nobody here,’ Embla replied as she strode through.

Liska sniffed the air and picked up traces of human and animal, the charred smell of spent fires and cooked food. But they were all cold scents, days old. The tribe must have taken her advice and headed for Arborven. Which meant her message might have been passed on to her family.

Liska snuggled back down, a warm tingle of excitement in her bones. I’ll see you all soon, she thought, picturing her mother, father and sister in her mind. Please be safe. Please be there to meet me. Please don’t hate me for running off.

*

Sunlight woke her next. She could feel warm rays, toasty on her fur. Hot – uncomfortable even. On instinct, she shifted back to her human shape, forgetting that there wasn’t much space within the curled arms of Embla the treekeeper.

‘Ow! Watch out!’ Lug said, wriggling out of her way. ‘You almost made me drop the heart!’

‘Sorry,’ said Liska, and then, ‘good morning.’ She yawned and stretched, look around her as the dry, dusty wastes rolled by. Elowen had moved to sit up on Embla’s shoulder and Fishbone was hidden in the mass of red ivy that was now her hair. Two slitted eyes peered out at Liska and gave her a wink.

‘We’re through the forest then,’ she said, enjoying the feeling of warm air on her skin for a change. ‘I was getting fed up of being so cold.’

‘You were fed up of it,’ said Lug. ‘I nearly died.’

Liska looked at his hands and was amazed to see them pink and healthy. Not a trace of frostbite in sight. ‘Your hands, Lug! They’re better!’

‘Yes,’ he said, smiling and flexing his fingers. ‘Thank the Tree.’

‘I was hoping the heart might have a healing effect,’ said Elowen from her perch. ‘It worked even better than I expected.’

‘It is so hot here!’ Embla’s booming voice made them all jump. ‘Is it like this where you live? Because I think I might shrivel and die if it is.’

‘No,’ said Liska. ‘It’s much cooler in the mountains. Not as chilly as the tundra, but I think you will like it.’