The street narrowed, looped on itself and opened out into a wider space. With a jolt of recognition, Storm slid to a stop. She had somehow circled back to the centre of town: the main square lay dead ahead. She leaned against a shaded wall to catch her breath and placed the boat carefully on the ground. Cloud arrived, and Storm jerked her parcel out of harm’s way as he thudded into the wall and slid to the ground where he sat gasping like a stranded fish. A sweaty fish.

“Are you done then?” he asked, when he could talk.

“We lost them.”

“I nearly lost my stomach as well! And who are ‘them’?”

She just smiled at him. She had Thorn’s boat, a golden monkey and, for a little while, freedom.

“You aren’t going to tell me, are you?”

“No.” She tugged the wire monkey from her waist pouch and held it in her hand.

“What’s that?”

“A gift. I think the old woman must have been an Earth-witch. She made it with magic.

“For you?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Storm stared at the tiny statue. It could not tell her, no matter how lifelike it looked. “I’m not sure yet.” She stowed the toy away. “Come on, let’s explore.” She would search every street in Bellum Town until she found an old man with a monkey.

They wandered among the crowd of shoppers and sightseers, which grew thicker as they got nearer the centre of the square, until they could barely push a way through.

Cloud suddenly stopped. “What’s that?” He pointed. Over the bobbing heads of the crowd, Storm saw the red canvas of an enormous tent.

“Let’s take a look.” She was still worried about a Fire-witch, but it was safer to be part of a crowd, and there was less chance of being spotted by Talon’s guards. “At least we’ll be out of the sun in there.”

They squeezed through the noisy crowd and plunged beneath the stretch of red canvas. Storm sighed with relief as the worst of the sun heat was blocked.

“Wow,” said Cloud. “And that’s an understatement.”

The tent was crammed with stalls. Performers and food sellers had set up shop everywhere.

“Bellum Town is amazing!” said Cloud. “I’d give my teeth to live here always. How does she do that without ripping her gullet?” He pointed to a woman swallowing long iron skewers. “Is it another sort of magic?”

“Don’t know.” Storm watched the skewer-eater but couldn’t get Cloud’s words out of her head. Would I rather live here than Yanlin? Now that she was away from Talon’s guards, she found herself agreeing with Cloud. Bellum Town was the most exciting place in the world. How could she return to Yanlin after this?