‘What about your friends?’ she asked, as she wriggled herself comfortable.
‘They’ll follow us,’ the rider replied. ‘And they’ll hide our tracks. Don’t worry.’
Marna raised her eyebrows in surprise. It had never occurred to her to consider hiding her tracks.
A little while later, after a silent and predominantly uphill journey, Marna found herself in the strangers’ camp. To her, it seemed that they came upon it very suddenly, and it was only when she looked around that she realized how simply and yet how cunningly it had been hidden by the careful positioning of a few branches.
The rider introduced himself. ‘I’m Engir,’ he said. ‘This is Aaren. The others are Levrik and Yehna.’ He raised his eyebrows expectantly.
‘Marna,’ came an awkward reply.
Engir smiled and motioned her towards a
