The Kalds started the line moving again, using the wands like ox-goads. They shuffled off down the gully, going deeper and deeper into the f*******n Plains.
Very softly, so that nobody but Ciaran could hear her, Mouse whispered, “These locks are nothing. I can pick them any time.”
Ciaran squeezed her hand again. It occurred to him that Mouse was a handy girl to have around.
After a while she said, “Kiri—that shadow. We did see it?”
“We did.” He shivered in spite of himself.
“What was it?”
“How should I know? And you better save your breath. Looks like a long walk ahead of us.”
It was. They threaded their way through a growing maze of cracks in the plain, cracks that got deeper and deeper, so you had to look straight up to see the red sky and the little floating suns. Ciaran found hi
