She shut her eyes. The steam rising up around her made her seem insubstantial. Yaruk tried hard not to think about her. He shut his eyes and thought about Bladud. He thought of that time Bladud had rescued him from Torna. He thought of the time he had rescued Bladud from the wild boar. Without his meaning them to be, his thoughts were all of dangerous times, times of near disaster and near death. Perhaps this is good, he thought, for it is warning against danger we must project.
He thought until his head ached, and he longed to stop concentrating. Then he heard her moving and he opened his eyes. She was now standing up, looking straight at him.
‘Do you think he heard us?’
‘I can’t be sure. If he is busy with worldly affairs and there are people around him demanding his attention, he wil
