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Tal Like his own Sunstone - now just a dead piece of rock since he'd used all its power to blind the Merwin Milla's huge extended family, the clan of the Far Raiders, had had a Sunstone on its iceship, though it was fading He'd even becoht of the Icecarls' h

Despite the fact that he was a prisoner of the Shield Maidens, Tal felt surprisingly secure At least they would protect hiue Selski and whatever other awful Ice creatures they ht come across Then, once he made it to the Ruin Ship, he was fairly sure that the Mother Crone of the Mountain of Light would believe his story and let hio home

He felt a fa could have happened to his faone His father, Rerem, had disappeared His er brother, Gref, had been captured by a Spiritshadohile following Tal as he cli even , there were powerful Chosen in the Castle ere definitely Tal's eneh the boy didn't knohy

He had tried to tell hi bad temper or boredom But deep down, he knew that wasn't so He couldn't stop thinking about it, even though itto think of reasons why someone would want him to dim down to the Red orthe consequences of that thought further

After all, it was simply impossible that any Chosen would want his father never to return and his mother to die

"I have to get back," he whispered to himself Milla rustled at his side, and he knew that shehe hadn't spoken Milla would just think he was being weak

"Quiet," snapped Aria Tal flinched He hadn't realized the Shield Mother was still in the sleigh with them She was so quiet All of them were

They traveled in silence for so down into the valley Finally, it stopped Tal could hear the Wreska being unharnessed and led away, their sharp X-toed hooves distinctive on the ice

"Takeher hand around Tal's "Milla, you will be carried"

"I can walk!" Milla protested, though Tal knew she could barely sit up The Merwin horn had cut her whole side open, and though the Shield Maidens had healed the actual wound very rapidly - with a treat - Milla had still lost an awful lot of blood and was very weak

Tal closed his hand, clulove, around Arla's and let her lead hih At first they walked on ice, with Tal slipping and sliding, and Arla completely balanced

Then Arla said, "Ware steps!" and Tal's bone-nailed boots were no longer crunching on ice, but on so, as if he trod on a metal plate Tal was surprised - he hadn't seen the Icecarls usethey had was ut, teeth, and other bits and pieces of animals

Still, the sound continued The wind that had blown around them suddenly cut off, too - they must have entered some sort of shelter Perhaps they were already inside the ship…

Tal put out his free hand and touched an entirely shly worked stone or wood… orsound He would have done the sarip he could not evade

The noise changed again, and the ground felt softer under Tal's feet Alarden caverns of the Chosen But surely it was too cold for anything to grow here, even out of the wind?

They kept walking, with sudden changes of direction that totally confused Tal Every now and then he was spun around several times, and made to climb up and down steps

Tal desperately wanted to see, but he made no move toward his blindfold It wasn't worth the risk

Finally, they stopped Arla let go of his hand, and then Tal felt fingers at the back of his head, undoing the blindfold Light streamed in, and he blinked

He was in a large, perfectly rectangular rooolden h so that he could see his own reflection The floor was covered in a thick carpet of stitched-together squares of fur

There was a Merwin horn in each corner of the roo the rooht, there could be no shadows save for Tal's shadowguard, which was doing its best to be small and stay close to its master's heels

A long table of yellow bone stood in the middle of the rooetable roots, and a large chunk of pale pinkthe meat into paper-thin slices with a sharp knife olden metal as the walls It was the firstthe Castle

It wasn't until he looked up from the hypnotic rise and fall of the knife that Tal noticed the old woman had the same milky eyes as the Mother Crone on the Far Raiders' ship She had to be blind, though she didn't wield the knife as if she were It chopped up and doith the rhyth perfect slices of alers

There was only one other person in the roo on a stool in the corner She looked at Tal, and he saw the liquid silver flash of her eyes All the Crones were very creepy If they didn't have ht ones, which seeht inside him

As well as cutting the meat without difficulty, the milky-eyed Crone also see, she looked across and said, "Arla You have brought our visitors Welcome to the Ruin Ship, Milla and Tal"

She raised her blade, and the ht

"I've been expecting you," added the Crone, bringing the knife slashing back down

CHAPTER

TWO

"We greet you, Mother Crone," said Milla, clapping her clenched fists together Tal reached f

or his Sunstone to give light as a sign of respect, then remembered that it was dead He quickly bowed his head instead

The Mother Crone stopped cutting the etable She put the resulting parcels on plates of translucent bone

"Come, eat," she said "We will talk"

There were no chairs, so Tal and Milla approached the table Arla and the other Crone on the stool didn't move Obviously the invitation didn't apply to them

Tal looked down at his plate and wished the invitation didn't apply to him, either Not only was the nized It et, for a start, and looked sticky He closed his eyes and sed the lump all in one mouthful It went down so quickly he hardly tasted it

"A rare treat," the Mother Crone said with a smile that made the wrinkles around her clouded eyes stand out even more "Kerusk fish and seaweed, from under the Ice"

"Under the Ice?" Tal blurted out How could you get under the Ice? He could understand catching fish by cutting a hole where the ice was thin and using a hook and line, but hoould you harvest this seaweed?

"We have our ways," said the Mother Crone "Noish to see your shadow, Tal"

"It's there," said Tal nervously, pointing down to where his shadowguard lay next to Milla's feet It see out his shadow to a blind woman

"No," said the Mother Crone "I wish to see it ithout you"

She sounded quite stern now Tal looked at her, wondering how herOr perhaps the Mother Crone had another s?

"Shadowguard, shadowguard," he whispered, after a glance at Arla and Milla "Make me a shape, as meek as you can"

As he spoke, the shadowguard lost its boy shape and slowly shifted into soe, innocuous rodent that lived in the grassy hills of Aenir, the spirit world of the Chosen

"Beware the shadow that walks alone," uard help Milla stay alive after the Merwin attack But after that, the Shield Mother had warned Tal that he would die if his shadow left him for an instant