“What’s the matter?” asked Farid anxiously.

“Too many feet. And above all, too many boots.”

Dustfinger swore quietly and began to go faster. Too many boots .. Meggie realized what he meant when the camp appeared among the trees. She saw tents that had been torn down, a trampled campfire ..

“You two stay here!” Dustfinger ordered, and this time they obeyed. They watched anxiously as he stepped out of the shelter of the trees, looked around, raised tent panels, reached his hand into cold ashes – and turned over two bodies lying motionless near the fireplace. Meggie was going to follow him when she saw the corpses, but Farid held her back. When Dustfinger disappeared into a cave and came out again, pale-faced, Meggie tore herself away and ran to him.

“Where are my parents? Are they in there?” She recoiled as her foot struck another dead body.

“No, there’s no one left in there. But I found this.” Dustfinger held out a strip of fabric. Resa had a dress with that pattern. The fabric was bloodstained. “Do you know it?” Meggie nodded.

“Then your parents really were here. The blood is probably your father’s.” Dustfinger passed a hand over his face. “Perhaps someone got away – someone who can tell us what happened here.

I’ll take a look around. Farid!”

Farid hurried to his side. Meggie was going to thrust her way past the two of them, but Dustfinger held her back. “Listen, Meggie!” he said, putting his hands on her shoulders. “The fact that your parents aren’t here is a good sign. It probably means they’re still alive. There’s a bed in the cave; I expect your mother was nursing your father there. And I’ve found a bear’s paw prints, which means the Black Prince was here. Perhaps all this was a plan to capture him, although I don’t know why they would have taken the others . . no, that I don’t understand.”

Before setting off with Farid in search of survivors, Dustfinger told Meggie to wait in the cave.

The entrance was tall and broad enough for a man to stand in it upright. The cave beyond it led deep into the mountain. The ground was strewn with leaves, and blankets and beds of straw were arranged side by side there, some of them just the right size for a child.

It was not difficult to see where Mo had been lying. The straw in that place was bloodstained, like the blanket beside it. A bowl of water, an overturned wooden mug, a bunch of dried flowers

. . Meggie picked them up and ran her fingers over the petals. She kneeled down and stared at the bloodstained straw. Fenoglio’s parchment was close to her breast, but Mo was gone. How could Fenoglio’s words help him now?

Try, something inside her whispered. You can’t tell how powerful his words are in this world. It’s made of them, after all.

She heard footsteps behind her. Farid and Dustfinger were back, and Dustfinger was holding a child in his arms, a little girl. She stared at Meggie, wide-eyed, as if she were in a bad dream and couldn’t wake up.

“She wouldn’t talk to me, but luckily Farid inspires rather more confidence,” said Dustfinger, carefully putting the child down on her feet. “She says her name is Lianna and she’s five years old. And there were a lot of men: silver men with swords, and snakes on their breasts. Not so very surprising, if you ask me. They obviously killed the guards and some of those who defended themselves, and then took the rest away, even the women and children. As for the wounded” –

he glanced briefly at Meggie – “they were clearly loaded onto some kind of cart. The men had no horses with them. The girl is here only because her mother told her to hide among the trees.”

Gwin scurried into the cave, followed by Jink. The little girl jumped when the martens leaped up at Dustfinger. Then she watched, fascinated, as Farid took Gwin off Dustfinger’s shoulder and put him on his own lap.

“Ask her if there were other children here,” said Dustfinger softly.

Farid held up five fingers and showed them to the girl. “How many children, Lianna?”

The child looked at him and tapped first Farid’s forefinger, then his second and third fingers.

“Merle. Fabio. Tinka,” she whispered.

“Three,” said Dustfinger. “Probably no older than she is.”

Timidly, Lianna put out her hand to stroke Gwin’s bushy tail, but Dustfinger held her fingers in a firm grip. “Better not,” he said gently. “He bites. Try the other one.”

“Meggie?” Farid came over to her. But Meggie did not answer him. She wound her arms tightly around her knees and buried her face in her skirt. She didn’t want to see the cave anymore. She didn’t want to see any of Fenoglio’s world anymore, not even Farid and Dustfinger or the girl who didn’t know where her own parents were, either. She wanted to be in Elinor’s library, sitting in the big armchair where Elinor liked to read, and she wanted to see Mo put his head around the door and ask what the book on her lap was. But Mo wasn’t here, perhaps he was gone forever, and Fenoglio’s story held her fast in its black, inky arms, whispering terrible things to her – about armed men who dragged away children, old people, the sick . . mothers and fathers.

“Nettle will soon be here with CloudDancer,” she heard Dustfinger say. “She’ll look after the child.”

“What about us?” asked Farid.

“I’ll follow them,” said Dustfinger. “To find out how many are still alive and where they’re being taken. Although I think I know.”

Meggie raised her head. “To the Castle of Night.” “Good guess.”

The girl put her hand out to Jink; she was still small enough to find comfort for her grief in stroking an animal’s fur. Meggie envied her.

“What do you mean, you’ll follow them?” Farid shooed Gwin off his lap and stood up.

“Exactly what I said.” Dustfinger’s face was as uncommunicative as a closed door. “I will follow them while you two wait here for CloudDancer and Nettle. Tell them I’m trying to follow the trail, and CloudDancer is to take you back to Ombra. He’s not fast enough to follow me with his stiff leg. Then tell Roxane what’s happened, so she doesn’t think I’ve vanished again, and Meggie will stay with Fenoglio.” His face was as well controlled as ever when he looked at her, but in his eyes Meggie saw all that she herself was feeling: fear, anxiety, anger . . helpless anger.

“But we have to help them!” Farid’s voice shook.

“How? The Black Prince might have been able to save them, but they’ve obviously caught him, and I don’t know anyone else ready to risk his life for a few strolling players.”

“What about that robber everyone’s talking about, the Bluejay?”

“There’s no such person.” Meggie’s voice was little more than a whisper. “Fenoglio made him up.”

“Really?” Dustfinger looked at her thoughtfully. “I’ve heard otherwise, but still .. well, as soon as you’re in Ombra, get CloudDancer to go to the strolling players and tell them what’s happened. I know the Prince has men at his command, men who are devoted to him and probably well armed as well, but I’ve no idea where they are. Perhaps one of the strolling players may know.

Or CloudDancer himself. He must try to get word to them somehow. There’s a mill in Argenta called the Spelt-Mill, It’s always been one of the few places south of the forest where people can meet or exchange news without the risk that it will come to the Adderhead’s ears at once. The miller is so rich he doesn’t even have to fear the men-at-arms. So if anyone wants to see me, or has any idea of how we can help the prisoners, let him send news there. I’ll drop in now and then to ask if any messages have come. Understand?”