Cait, head still full of wool, tried to make sense of everything. “Wait. How do you know all this stuff? How do you know about Fer? And how come you can speak English? Who are you?”
“Forgive me. Let me introduce myself. People call me Phoenix. Not my real name, you understand. My real name is actually rather dull. Phoenix is more of a title. Actors come and go but the role remains.”
“Actors?”
“I'm the ninth or tenth Phoenix, I think.”
“And you're the leader of the rebels?”
The old man smiled to himself as if she had told a joke. “Yes, that's me. This is us. You see about you the mighty warriors of The Freeborn. The Last True Men. The Smouldering Fire.”
She couldn't stop herself counting. Apart from the old man there were seven of them. A couple lay on the floor as if exhausted. Other
