“I prefer to make my own luck,” I muttered.

Ryshad hugged me close. “We know what we’re dealing with and we’ve got Shiv, Sorgrad and ’Gren to back us.”

“Yes, we have.” I craned my head back to kiss his bristly cheek. “You need a shave.”

“In the morning,” he yawned. “Now go to sleep.”

Since there was nothing else I could do, I did.

With everyone agreed that Ilkehan must die, we’d woken to a day of ceaseless activity that somehow managed to be incredibly tedious. By the time we were standing between Larissa and Allin, with Usara and Shiv discussing who should act as focus for their nexus of magic, all I felt was relief that we were finally leaving. That was before I remembered just how revolting it felt to be flung across the leagues by wizardry. I can’t begin to describe the solace of gravel crunching beneath my boots. I ground my feet just to hear the noise again. A few deep breaths helped settle my stomach and the painful ringing in my ears faded to be replaced by a soft murmur of surf. I knuckled my eyes to try and clear the yellow flashes obscuring my vision.

“Are you all right?” Ryshad steadied me with concerned hands.

“Just about,” I said with some irritation. “You seem fine.” He grinned sympathetically. “I don’t get seasick either.” I looked round for the others. “How are you feeling?”

“Fine,” Sorgrad said absently, deep in thought about something.

I managed a slight smile. “How long before you work out that trick?”

“Give me time,” winked Sorgrad.

“Don’t try translocation without me or ’Sar around,” Shiv told him seriously. “Not until you get the hang of it. With a dual affinity, you’ll end up—”

“Why are we waiting for someone to come and cut our throats for us?” demanded ’Gren impatiently.

Ryshad looked around the rocky beach. “Let’s find some cover.”

There was precious little on offer. Dark rubble was strewn over sands the colour of wood ash, the grey sea lapping the shallow shore. Slews of stinking weed tangled between the boulders, hiding hollows and pits to sink the unwary up to their knees. Out to sea, the mists of the late afternoon blurred the line between water and sky. They could have been hiding a double handful of ships for all I could tell. We had to get off this exposed shore.

Ryshad headed for a scar worn by feet, human or animal, where the pebbles rolled up beneath a sharply undercut bank topped with a stretch of dusty green turf. We all looked cautiously over to see a stretch of scrubby grassland running up to a steep ridge of broken rock. Greater heights beyond were blunt and sere and, even in this first half of summer, topped with a rime of white that could only be snow. These dismal islands felt half a world away from the rich lushness of Suthyfer, even if Temar’s charts said different.

“Does this look familiar?” Sorgrad shifted the satchel he wore to his other shoulder.

“Yes.” I’d have laughed in the face of anyone who’d told me I’d come back to these islands. But here I was and, worse, it was my own god-cursed idea.

“Close enough, Shiv.” Ryshad grinned at the mage whose answering smile betrayed his relief.

“Come on.”

’Gren was already on the top of the bank, looking in all directions, dagger ready.

“We want to bear that way.” Shiv had a map, thanks to Pered’s assiduous work with pen and ink all morning while the three of us scoured every memory of our previous visit here. ”That village is over yonder, so hoods up.”

Ryshad and I obliged while Sorgrad ostentatiously ran a hand over his own golden head. “Try to look like we belong, ’Gren.”

“For the moment,” Gren chuckled with happy anticipation.

“Let’s not get close enough for anyone to wonder.” I didn’t imagine there were too many redheads hereabouts and we didn’t want anyone seeing we were armed, never mind Ryshad and Shiv’s dark colouring.

We moved off and, away from the scour of the wind, I saw summer had swathed the few stunted trees in leaves. “There’s barely enough forage for an unfussy donkey,” I said uneasily to Ryshad. “We should have brought more food.”

“Carrying too much will just get us noticed.” He continued scanning the flat plain.

“Don’t worry,” Sorgrad smiled. “We’ll be honoured guests before nightfall and fed to suit.”

“What was that?”

’Gren halted and we all stood still.

I heard a faint scrabbling and what could have been a warning voice, muffled and incomprehensible. “Where’s that coming from?” A faint shiver ran down my spine.

Sorgrad dropped to his knees and we all did the same.

“What are you doing?” he said, surprised.

“The same as you,” I told him tartly. “Why?”

He nodded to a hole in the turf. “Whatever’s making your noise is down there.”

“That’d be a tight fit for a hungry rabbit.” Ryshad got up, brushing fine, dusty earth from his breeches. “I don’t think we need worry.” Wary amusement lessened the tension in the air.

“I wonder what it is.”

’Gren knelt, hand reaching for the burrow.

“Something that could bite your fingers off and leave you with festering stumps?” I suggested. “Just leave well alone.”

“There’s someone coming.” Shiv tucked his map in the breast of his hooded jerkin. We saw a solitary figure carefully removing the larger stones that served for a gate in one of the low walls dividing this barren hinterland.

“Move.” Ryshad set a pace just fast enough to suggest purpose but not so hurried to attract attention.

The edge of my hood hid the figure from me, which left my back itching. “What’s he doing?”

“Nothing. Just keep going.” Sorgrad led us towards a low notch in the jagged ridge. ’Gren didn’t bother with the narrow path, heedless boots crushing the few flowers crouching in the coarse grass, bruised herbs momentarily sweetening the gusting breeze.

“Keep a weather eye out for goats,” I warned him. “We could barely move without tripping over the cursed things last time.”

“Let’s see that map, Shiv.” Sorgrad ducked into a sheltered hollow between two tall boulders sticking through the grass like broken teeth.

Ryshad and I each held a corner flat against the lichen-spotted stone.

“We need to go north.” I traced a line on the parchment.

“Giving that village a wide berth.” Ryshad jabbed it with an emphatic finger.

Shiv ran a thumbnail along a faint blue line and a darker brown one. “Once we’re over that river, we follow the road inland.”

Sorgrad looked dubious. “Follow it or shadow it? I don’t fancy being asked to explain myself if we run into someone nosy.”

Ryshad shook his head. “We’d attract more attention off the road than on it.”

“We have to take the road, regardless. It’s mostly sheer rock and screes where it cuts through the high ground.” I held Sorgrad’s gaze until he decided I was telling him the truth, not just siding with Ryshad.

“Let’s get going,” ’Gren complained.

We crested the ridge and headed down the far side. More stone walls scored dry lines across close-cropped grass. Dark splodges of muck were the only sign of goats and I was wondering where they were, when I nearly tripped headlong into a ditch hidden by rushy grasses.

“Watch your step.” Ryshad caught my hand and we stepped carefully over the dark brown water.

“I can smell food.”

’Gren was looking at the distant roofs of the village we were avoiding. Bluish smoke rose from a few stubby chimneys.

“At this distance?” I scoffed. “You’re imagining it.”

“You’ll have walked up a better appetite by the time we get there,” Sorgrad told him sternly.

“What if this man with the brown troopers doesn’t want to help us?” ’Gren enquired thoughtfully. ”Do we kill him as well?”

Sorgrad shrugged. “Depends what he says, I reckon.”