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Theodore by the arm, his face earnest.

“I know what I saw, Theodore,” he said urgently. “I tell you it was on the bridge!”

“We are safe here, William,” Theodore replied. “Drezel said so, and he has been here for several years without incident.”

“I hope you are right, Theodore,” William said stiffly, his eyes falling on Kara.

He is sincere, she realised. And afraid.

“Ah, you worry too much,” Doric said as he patted William on the back.

Unprepared, William jumped suddenly.

“Don’t touch me!” he said angrily. “Just don’t touch me…” The nobleman calmed himself, gave a sigh, and fingered his silver brooch.

“I am sorry, Doric,” he said. “I am. Please, forgive me, but I am very tired. I am not used to such long rides. I shall go and take a wash. Goodnight.”

At least I’m not the only one with fraught nerves, Kara thought as she followed Martin up the stairs. She was aware of Theodore behind her.

“Kara, we need to talk,” the knight said gently as she entered the room offered her by the monk. Gar’rth waited in the passageway, his escorts nearby.

Even now they don’t trust him, she observed. And neither does Theodore. I know him too well.

“What about?” she asked bluntly.

“About you and Gar’rth, Kara. I-”

“There is nothing to say, Theodore.” Kara cut him off. “And it is childish and stupid, this obsession of yours.” She nodded to Gar’rth in the passage. “And so is his.”

“It is not that, Kara!” Theodore protested angrily before stepping forward and lowering his voice. “I know you were planning to run today, both of you. I am surprised you didn’t after what Arisha did to the horses.”

“Arisha? What did she do?” Kara frowned at him. “She has nothing to do with this, Theodore. It was my decision-and Gar’rth’s. I will not leave a friend to face certain death. But he has made his choice, Gar’rth has decided to stay. He will not run, and nor will I, which is what you are really worried about.”

Theodore drew a sharp breath and his eyes grew cold.

I have hurt him, she knew. Yet I am glad of it. He thinks it his duty to watch me, as if I am a possession. He has always thought like that, ever since he found me. Always judging, always protecting.

“You think ill of me, Kara,” he said finally. “You are wrong.”

Theodore left the room, his hand across his face. Kara exhaled loudly, frustrated, her sudden elation turned to anger and guilt.

We are all tired. And afraid. It makes everyone ill-tempered. I need to sleep.

She reached into her satchel and pulled out two pieces of a broken golden ring with a diamond still whole at the break. It had been her father’s most precious gift to her, for it was his Ring of Life, that had spent its power sending her to Falador, even as her life ebbed away.

She knew she would sleep better with it by her side.

21

Theodore’s eyes widened and he dropped his sword with a cry. His hand closed around his throat as blood flowed unchecked from his rendered flesh, a crimson jet shooting down over his white breastplate.

“Kara…” He fell to his knees, too weak to fight.

Gar’rth turned his attention away from the dying man and back to Kara. She crawled away from him, her adamant sword broken as his feet.

“No,” she said. “Theodore.”

Gar’rth reached down and took Kara by the hair as she screamed. She lashed out, kicking and punching, but her strength wasn’t sufficient to fight back. When she finally stopped, it was his turn.

And when he had finished, the girl that was Kara-Meir, heroine of Falador, lay still on the ground, her blood mingling with the mud, her breathing slow and weakening by the moment.

Gar’rth revelled in the power. He had never felt its like before. Then he turned as the scent of blood threatened to drive him into a frenzy.

They were all there.

My keepers!

Castimir’s corpse lay with Arisha’s head on his chest, her face even more pale in death than it had been in life. Doric’s head was sickeningly twisted, his neck broken. Theodore had slumped back into the mud as his torn throat had allowed his life to flow away, a life haunted in its final moments by the image of the ferocious attack on Kara.

And then his gaze came to rest on Ebenezer. Suddenly the blood lost its sweet smell, his frenzy died, and a great weight settled upon him.

“No!” he cried in spite of himself. “No, I won’t, I didn’t…”

And a voice replied.

“But you will, Gar’rth. You will-and soon.”

He awoke with a cry, drenched in sweat, his heart bruising his ribs. As he yelled one of his guards stood, his hand on the wolfbane dagger at his belt.

“No. No…” Gar’rth gasped. “It was a dream. Just a dream…”

But it was so real.

He could even smell the blood that had stained his hands. Gradually the sensation passed.

Then a cry from outside in the passageway roused the remaining escort. Fists pounded on doors as people ran back and forth shouting. Drezel burst into the room.

“We have an answer! Morytania has answered us,” the monk said over the din. All of the escorts leapt up, and the group followed him to the eastern balcony-the one that overlooked the bridge where Kara had stood only a few hours before.

It was dawn. The sun rose from the east above the blurred landscape that lay beyond the river. It was a blood-red circle that coloured the dawn pink, and although Gar’rth had slept for several hours he felt fatigued and fearful.

That dream. What I did to Kara… and the voice.

He saw the worn faces of his friends, who seemed similarly sapped, and wondered what this meant for their mission. Then he heard Martin’s voice, and turned to listen.

“A mist came up in the night, covering the eastern bank entirely,” he said. “When it broke a few moments ago, as the sun rose, it was as you see it now.”

A skeleton lay impaled upon the bank, at the exact spot where Kara had stood. The stake was large, waist- height, and made of a pale wood.

“It is the ravenous that attacked Kara,” Drezel observed. “It wears the same clothing.”

“But where is the message?” Theodore asked groggily, rubbing his eyes to see more clearly.

Martin gave a nervous cough.

“When I first saw it I ran half-way across the bridge to see. There is a note clutched in the hand of the skeleton, though I could not bring myself to retrieve it. Surely it means that our attempt has been answered, one way or another. Doesn’t it?”

“We need to know for certain,” Gar’rth said. “I shall get it.”

“Then I shall call the blood mark upon you,” Drezel said firmly. “We cannot take unnecessary risks. Reldo, we must act quickly.”

I don’t know if it will have any effect, but it’s best to be cautious, he thought.

Nobody tried to argue, and as they left the balcony Gar’rth was aware that Kara was staring at him in an odd fashion.