14
Toby dropped onto the soft sand under Blackfriars Bridge, relieved that they were finally going to rest. They had been dodging Oberon’s sentinels for hours. Now, as twilight broke, Nicko had given the go-ahead to make camp, watching the bone-coloured sky darken.
There, on the embankment next to the Thames, they kept a lookout for inquisitive eyes. Several of London’s homeless were already dotted around, huddled under the supporting beams, possibly unwilling to sleep in the city streets for fear of the trees.
‘… and then you did that spin and the man with the beak mask screamed so high!’ Toby was saying to Harry. ‘Oberon isn’t going to know what’s hit him!’
‘I’m afraid he’s not so easily taken down,’ said Nicko, looking back the way they had come.
He untied the boards around his wai
