He assisted each of the girls down from their respective branches, and hugged them to him.

'You are both all right?'

They nodded their breathless assurance, and they took stock of their situation. Behind them, the trail leading out of the forest was quite lost in the undergrowth. Before them was a carpet of giant leaves and trees, above them an impenetrable canopy of green. And with the warmth from the near-equatorial sun, a fog was beginning to form, rising up from the ground and effectively obscuring their vision.

'What do we do?' Avelline asked.

'Under the circumstances, I think there is only one thing we can do,' Talbrik said.

'What is that?'

'Go up,' he replied, raising his eyes skywards. 'There is less likelihood of there being any more of these creatures in the upper reaches of the rain forest. Provided you both have a reasonable head for heights, I think our best bet would be to travel from branch to branch, at least where we can, and if we have to come down, we get back up as soon as possible.'

'It cannot be far through this forest,' Avelline said. Lienne permitted herself a small smile.

'I have heard of men entering the forest and emerging somewhere else several days afterwards,' she said, grinning. 'There again, I have heard of other men entering the forest and not emerging at all.'

Talbrik grinned back, and Avelline smiled.

'I think we will take a chance. Come on, we have to get as far north while there is daylight. With any luck we will be out of the forest by nightfall.'

In the event he was correct. They scaled the nearest tree with decent hand and footholds, Talbrik going first and reaching down to pull the girls up to his branch. Within twenty minutes he was standing on the topmost branch. He caught his breath. Beyond him, stretching out for mile after mile, was the rain forest. To the east, mountains. To the west, more mountains. And behind him, to the south, a small reach of forest, then the foothills from the mountains at the border with Hethoum. He whistled.

'It does not seem too bad up here,' he said. They remained just below the topmost branches and made their way carefully but surely through the trees so that by midday, when he again surfaced to see where they were, they had made decent progress, although he doubted they would actually be outside the forest when the sun disappeared. However, on his third journey to the top, the sky went suddenly dark as an enormous pair of wings flapped overhead. Looking up he saw the speckled plumage of a young silki, the legendary enormous bird of Heraklion. Attached to its leg was a rope of some sort, and he surmised that this particular bird belonged to someone, and was either returning home or on its outward flight. As he watched its graceful flight overhead, a second bird appeared, and a third, and then the sky was full of them, and it was as though night had fallen early, even though he knew it was barely midsun.

'Silkinen!' he called to the others, and anxiously they peered skywards, clambering carefully onto the branch to stand beside him.

'A way out of the forest?' he suggested, half-heartedly, but to his amazement, Lienne cupped her hands together and made a loud whooping noise, and moments later the birds wheeled in flight almost as one. Talbrik's mouth dropped open as he saw their heads turn to look below them, picking up the scent and the call of the diminutive humans.

'You're not serious?'

'Why not?' Lienne said, whooping again. 'They are trained to carry humans.'

'On their backs, surely,' Avelline observed.

'These are domesticated silkinen,' Lienne said. 'They are not far from home. It may be Barbessel, it may be Hethoum. They are trained to carry humans, either on their backs, provided you know how to ride one, or from the strap that is suspended from their chests. If we can get them to come low enough, we should be able to hitch a ride. All we have to hope is that they are not travelling south. We do not want to be taken back to Hethoum!'

'I do not think I want to be taken anywhere suspended from a silki,' Avelline said, shivering.

'It is surely better than taking our chances on the forest floor?' Talbrik said.

'I will try to get them low enough,' Lienne said. She cupped her hands together again and the shrill whoop noise filled the midday air. Again some of the birds heard the call and reacted immediately, and began to circle above them.

'Let me try,' Talbrik said, and attempted to make the same noise as Lienne. At once the huge birds reacted to his call, and began to swoop lower.

'I do not believe I can do this,' Avelline said.

'Of course you can!' Lienne said, grinning. 'There is nothing to it! Just jump for the strap when it comes near enough and let it take you back to wherever it has come from.'

Talbrik nodded.

'I do not see that we have any choice in the matter, Avelline,' he said. 'I have heard noises below us that suggest there may be other creatures after us. I saw a shape just a few branches below us, white, and covered in a shaggy fur.....'

'I will jump,' Avelline said. Six of the birds were circling quite low, now, and Talbrik and Lienne continued to call them until they descended to within ten feet of the branch on which they stood, their giant wings beating so slowly it was a marvel that they managed to stay in the sky at all. Talbrik directed Lienne to climb onto his shoulders, and standing there, she could reach the strap dangling from around the bird's neck.

'Now!' Talbrik cried, and Lienne was hoisted safely aloft, passing her hand through the loop. 'Now, come, Avelline, before they all take off after that one!' And she, scampering past him onto the topmost part of the branch, launched herself into space, her fingers outstretched. For a brief, awful moment, he thought she had missed the strap, but then she was up, safely, her silki following Lienne's. Four more birds hovered within distance. Talbrik reached up on tiptoe, catching the eye of the largest bird, and passed his hand through the loop. It soared skywards, and its fellows followed suit, carrying him high into the sky so that he could look down on the rainforest. The view was literally breathtaking. He gasped for air as the silki went effortlessly about its business, carrying home an unexpected cargo. Ahead of him was the rest of the flight, some twenty or so birds, and among the lead birds he could see quite clearly the small forms of Lienne and Avelline. There was no doubt in his mind but that they were heading north. Beyond the rainforest he caught a glimpse of a range of smaller hills, not high enough for mountains, and to his left, an enormous lake, and beyond that, the coast. He hoped they had not too far to go, as his arm was beginning to ache, and he could bet that the girls would also be getting tired. At last they flew over the remaining trees of the rain forest and out over the hills, then down into a peaceful looking valley. Now they were not far from the coast, and away in the distance he could just make out the spires and towers of a great city that he assumed was Horta.

He smiled. It seemed that they were going exactly the way he wanted. Then, quite suddenly, the sky blackened and it began to rain, hard, beating down on him, stinging, and the raindrops became harder and harder until he realised that they were hail stones, some as big as eggs. He looked up, seeing beyond the exquisite plumage of his carrier the threatening black of the sky, and a hail stone, hard and white caught him over the eye, knocking him unconscious.

He was not sure how long he had been out, nor how he had managed to hang onto the strap whilst unconscious, but when he opened his eyes, he saw that the silkinen were swooping low over a walled enclosure of some sort, and below him he could see Lienne and Avelline waving excitedly. Eventually, after a further circle, his silki deposited him gently on the formal lawns of an enormous garden. He detached his wrist from the strap and the silki flapped its wings once, then strutted off to join its fellows. There they sat, talking to each other, muttering, pecking at each other with their enormous beaks, clearing parasites, making overtures to the opposite sex of their species.

'Horta?' Talbrik asked.

'I am afraid not,' Lienne said.

'I saw the city.....'

'I, too, thought that was where we were headed,' Lienne said, 'for it is indeed Horta. But at the last minute, they wheeled to the east. We are not far from Horta, but we are not actually in the city itself.'

'Is this another city, on the outskirts of Horta?' Avelline asked.

'There are no such cities,' Lienne said. 'I do not know where we are.'

'What is this symbol in the grass?' Talbrik asked. There were, from where they were looking, two vertical lines, crossed with a diagonal, a large circle in the top and a smaller circle in the bottom half.

'I believe it is a cult sign,' Lienne said. 'I have seen it elsewhere.'

'What cult?'

'The cult of Khamen, the Moon God,' she said.

'Are they friendly?'

'It is a secret society. They are allowed to practise their beliefs and rituals, so I suppose they must be friendly.'

'The silkinen would belong to them?'

'Most definitely. They are among the most accomplished trainers of silkinen.'

'I think we should leave,' Avelline said, shivering in spite of the midsun warmth.

'Why?'

'I do not think it is safe.'

'All we want is food, and shelter, then we will be on our way. We need to rest, we need food, and we need drink,' Talbrik said, taking her hand. They could see a range of outhouses not far away. 'Come on, we have survived the rain forest. Surely we can come to no harm here?' Reluctantly Avelline followed them, keeping a tight hold of Talbrik's hand, as they approached the stout timber door of the nearest building.

Talbrik knocked hard on the door with his fist. For a while nothing happened, then they heard the bolts being thrown open and found themselves face to face with a young man, tall and well-built, with closely-cropped blond hair. His nose was crooked, as though it might have been broken at some point in his comparatively young life. He smiled, revealing a set of perfect, white teeth. He was dressed in a red robe, the hood of which hung loosely over his shoulders.

'Welcome, strangers,' he said.

'Why was the door locked?' Talbrik demanded, immediately on the offensive.

'It is our practice to keep ourselves well protected. This retreat is far from the walls of the city. There are brigands hereabouts. It is not safe to leave the door open.'

'We seek food, and shelter. We have journeyed far, from southern Hethoum.'

'We saw you descend on our birds.'

'All we seek is food, and shelter.'

'You are welcome to stay as long as you wish. I can see you are no brigand. Follow me.'

The youth allowed them to cross the threshold, then bolted the door again behind them. This was something Talbrik was immediately suspicious of, but he said nothing, and allowed himself and the two girls to be led to a small room in which there were two couches, and soft cushions on the floor.

'I will have food and wine brought to you directly.'

'What is your name?'

'Parvel.'

'I am.....I am Marcellus, and this is my companion, Avelline, and my niece, Lienne.'

'You are most welcome, Marcellus. I will send food and wine to you shortly. Now, if you will excuse me, I am wanted elsewhere in the complex. There are silkinen to be attended to.'

'Of course. Our gratitude to you and your company.'

The youth smiled and inclined his head. Talbrik removed his weapons and sank back onto the comparative luxury of the couch.

'I do not like it here,' Avelline said. Lienne also reclined on the other couch, her eyes closing in a few seconds. She was clearly exhausted.

'They will give us food and drink, we can rest for a few hours, then we can be on our way. What is the problem?'

'I am uneasy.'

'Rest, and be thankful, Avelline!' Talbrik said, although he also felt extremely uneasy about the place they had been forced to come to. He pulled her onto the couch beside him and put his arm around her, reassuringly, stroking her shoulders, feeling the soft, silky luxury of her red hair. She turned an anxious face to him.

'I think we should leave now.'

'I do not think we would get far in our present state. Look at.....look at my niece, there. She is fast asleep already! And I am so hungry I could eat a deichus!'

This brought a laugh from Avelline, but she continued to keep her eyes firmly open, resisting the temptation to fall into the sleep of exhaustion that threatened to overtake them all. A few minutes passed, then Parvel returned with a tray of food and wine. The food was some kind of roast fowl, with vegetables, and smelt delicious.

'Shall we wake Lienne?' Avelline asked.

'Leave her to sleep. The food will keep. She needs to sleep. Leave her.'

'Do you think the wine is drugged?'

'As I see it, it makes little difference whether it is drugged or not. We are effectively imprisoned here until they allow us to leave. The walls we flew over were easily twenty feet high, and unscalable. If they intend keeping us here, I have no doubt there are plenty of men, heavily armed. We may as well eat their food, drink their drink, and wait to see what they have in mind for us.'

He raised the wine to his lips and drank it. It was red, cool, and refreshing.

'I wish we had not come here.'

'We are here, we may as well make the best of it. I intend sleeping right through until tomorrow,' Talbrik said, and closed his eyes. When he next opened them, Avelline was asleep, her luxuriant red hair cascading across his chest, her arm across his neck, soft, and smooth, her breasts pressed against his side. He lifted her arm carefully and slipped out from underneath her, marvelling at her great beauty and wondering how she had come to earn her keep as an unpaid prostitute. He bent to touch her face with his lips, and she stirred, but did not wake. Outside it was getting dark. He stood by the door for a while, listening to the birds and the nocturnal insects in the fields and hills beyond the complex. Away to the right, he could see the shadows of people moving by candlelight inside one of the other buildings, and decided to take a look.

Crossing the courtyard he arrived at a window set low in the wall of the building, and crouched low so that he would not be seen. Then, raising his head he peered in through the window. Inside were twenty men and women, kneeling on the floor, chanting, whilst another man stood at the end of the room leading the assembly. Finally, there was a pause in the ceremony. Talbrik eased the window open a fraction. The man on his own addressed the others.

'Many of you will know that we have visitors. A man and a woman, and a young girl. The man calls himself Marcellus of Barbessel, and is our sworn enemy, though I understand he has made no effort to do anything to harm any of our number. It is my intention that we should surprise him and his companions while they yet sleep, and.....'

Talbrik did not wait to hear any more, but dashed back to wake the others and to retrieve his weapons.

'They are coming for us now!' he hissed. We must be ready for them!'

'Why? What have we done?'

'Nothing. It seems that Marcellus of Barbessel is their sworn enemy. They are trying to ascertain why I have not so far moved against them. Rather than wait for me to make a move, they are coming after us. Wake Lienne.'

'What will we do?'

'Wake her while I decide what to do!'

'Can we escape from the complex?'

'I do not know.'

'The walls were particularly high, as I recall.' She shook Lienne gently awake and briefed her on the situation.

'The first thing to do is to get out of this building. They will not expect that,' Talbrik said.

'Could we free some of the giant birds, and get airborne again?' Avelline asked.

'No,' was the short answer from Lienne. 'They are not capable of more than one long flight in a day. They sleep for very long periods after flights such as the ones we made.'

'We will wait until it is absolutely dark, then we will attempt to find a way out of the complex,' Talbrik said. 'We will find another building where they will not find us, a stable, or a barn or something.....'

'The silkinen stables!' Lienne said. 'Come on, I know where they are!'

'How do you know?'

'I watched where they landed.'

They followed her out of the building, keeping low so as not to be seen. To the far north of the complex, they came upon a series of outhouses in which they occasionally heard the soft fluttering and flapping of wings, and the cawing of the birds as they conversed with each other.

'Why will they not think to look for us in the silkinen stables?' Talbrik asked.

'Because we are not versed in the ways of silkinen. They would not even know how we came to be brought here.'

'They said they saw us descend, on their silkinen.'

'If that is true, then they would know that we know nothing of silkinen, or their flying, and the last place they would expect to find us is here with the silkinen.'

'Why?'

'They are dangerous animals in the dark. They are unpredictable.'

'Then is it safe for us to go into the stables?'

'It is our only hope. Come!'

Talbrik pushed open the door of the nearest stable, and the three of them entered, quietly and slowly, making no sudden moves. Inside there were three birds, each as big as draft deichen, their wings folded and tethered, their eyes, limpid and yellow, gazing at the intruders with a small amount of anxiety, but aware that they should be able to defend themselves against such puny adversaries.

'Do we talk to them, try to make friends, do you think?' Talbrik asked.

'Best to keep quiet, really,' a voice said, and they turned to see Parvel standing in the shadows. Talbrik drew his sword.

'I mean you no harm,' Parvel said, but Talbrik was taking no chances.

'I heard what they said,' he muttered. 'You are trying to delay our escape.'

'No, I assure you I am not. I have been working undercover. I do not really follow their sect. I can help you to escape.'

'We cannot trust you,' Talbrik said, and advanced again, raising his sword.

Parvel held up his hands in a gesture of total surrender.

'There are ways out of the complex without going over the walls,' he whispered. 'The gate is locked, always, but I can get you out. You have to believe me, and take me with you. I need to return to Horta.'

'You are from Horta?'

'Yes. Trust me. Follow me now, and I will get you safely out of the complex.'

'We must take a chance!' Avelline said.

'I do not trust him,' Talbrik said emphatically.

'Equally, I do not trust you,' Parvel said. 'You told me you were Marcellus of Barbessel. I know for a fact you are not. Have you killed him and usurped his name, perhaps?'

Talbrik's eyes narrowed.

'How do you know I am not Marcellus?'

'I know Marcellus of Barbessel. I was there when the senator Octavius Kestren was assassinated. I saw Marcellus of Barbessel.'

'You saw him assassinate the senator?'

'I did not say that.'

'What, then?'

'We cannot talk here, they will be looking for you soon. Believe me, you have to trust me to get you out of the complex.'

'Where is the way out? Show us.'

Parvel shook his head, smiling.

'No, you will leave me here.'

'I give you my word.....'

'You expect me to believe that, when you are not who you say you are?'

'Trust him, Talbrik. Let him come with us. Please! I am frightened,' Avelline said. Beside her, holding on to her, Lienne nodded her agreement. She too was clearly terrified.

'Very well. Take us to this secret exit.'

'It is not secret. Come with me. It is the last place they will think of to look for us.'

They followed him past the stables and into a bath house. At the far end were situated the latrines, and it was through this door that he led them.

'He is taking us through the sewers!' Lienne gasped.

'It is the only way. Only I know of this route out of the complex. I discovered it during the course of my duties. I watched the rats coming and going, and eventually I found this enormous hole behind one of the blocks. Help me to move it.'

He and Talbrik bent to move a loose stone in the back wall, leaving it pivoting between the others so that they could easily move it back into position once they were on the other side.

'The sewer runs out under the northern wall. The main gate is in the southern wall. Providing we are quick, and they do not search the bathhouse, we can gain several minutes on them before they can get round to the north. Come on, it won't kill you!'