34
“I know where we are,” said Tarkyn triumphantly. “We are right back at the place where I recovered from my fall from the oak tree.” He pointed to a huge tangled stand of brambles, “And my shelter is in there.” He swung his arm around to his left, “And the river where we killed all those wolves and where I met the otter and the owl and the old man of the river is just down there. And the heron,” he added as an afterthought.
“Who’s the old man of the river?”
Tarkyn grinned at Harkell’s confusion. “He’s an enormous golden fish, I don’t know what sort. I exchanged images with him last time we were here. This is where I first learnt that I could communicate with birds and animals.”
“And where we discovered that Tarkyn was a forest guardian,” said Waterstone. He smiled in reminiscence. “S
