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“They kneould be travelling with you,” he said to Astorek during his twice-daily rowing shift The shaman spoke little on the water, his face set in a mask of constant concentration as he worked to keep his wolves in check

“Hawks can dohis head at the sky where a great swirling flock of spear-hawks kept track of the convoy At night they would descend to the forest of perches that sprouted fro down the slivers of meat provided by their shaes?” Vaelin asked “But your people have no writing”

“No, we have no books” Astorek pulled so froth of elk bone, etched frole line “Each ether and you have a word”

“What does it say?”

“‘Long Knife is shas carved it when I reached manhood and sent copies to all the settlee in boasting”

Vaelin glanced around at the other packs on the canoe, noting how s more than a dozen “It must be a trial to coht word Theyaccepthow their gaze was unifor “They can hear it,” he realised “The echo of the wolf’s call It’s still in you”

Astorek’s expression flickered intowards Vaelin with a snarl burgeoning on its lips It calazing up at him in wide-mouthed adoration “They can hear it in you, also, Raven’s Shadow Sos never fade froathering ever more Wolf People on the way By the time the broad coast of the mainland came into view Vaelin estimated their total nu on the shoreline where settleer and covering round than those on Wolf Home

“Why not live here all the time?” Cara asked Astorek as they neared the shore “It seems a more comfortable place”

“The elk roam south in the winter,” he replied “Too far for us to follow, leaving a frozen wilderness in their wake But in the isles walrus and whales appear when the ice for saw a celebratory feast where the last of the winter stocks were consue fires to roast theiraway in their indecipherable tongue as they exchanged tales of winter hardship Despite the generally convivial air Vaelin knew this to be ahim with tense expectation As they had no word for lie these people also had no word for secret They had been e to the painted cave for centuries and knew his face, and his na a smaller fire so they could share a supper of walrus stew He did the cooking, slicing theit with herbs and the last of the salt he had carried from the Realm “I knew brothers ould rather abandon their sword than their salt,” he told her, with only slight exaggeration Life in the Order made most brothers skilled in the art of campfire cookery, and appreciative of the precious co

“Do you evera bowl of stew “You were raised to a life in the Order It must have been hard to leave it behind”

“I had already lostwithto return to” He settled beside her and they ate in silence for a ti banished his worries with co ease When he ith her it was al so easily read He could see it now, the faint tension in her face as she ate, the way her eyes strayed constantly to his face

“You worry for the future,” he said

“The world is in chaos,” she replied “Worry seeht quote a pertinent catechism about the virtues of hope”

“You believe the queen’s invasion will succeed?”

“I believe in her She ismore than she was”

“And if we do succeed, what then?”