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‘I don’t like this!’ whispered Elinor ‘Look at the pair of the friend can coo here as he likes!’

‘He probably knows they won’t hurt hiie whispered back, never taking her eyes off the two s with hier’s hands and nuzzling hi their tails

‘See that?’ hissed Elinor ‘Even those dogs treat him as an old friend Suppose--’

But before she could say any more Basta opened the driver’s door ‘Get out, both of you,’ he ordered

Reluctantly, Elinor swung her legs out of the car Meggie got out too and stood beside her Her heart was thudding She had never seen a un before Well, on TV she had, but not in real life

‘Look, I don’t like your tone!’ Elinor informed Basta ‘We’ve had a strenuous drive, and we only ca your boss or whatever you call hi time So let’s have a little lance that Elinor drew in a sharp breath, and Meggie involuntarily squeezed her hand

‘Where did you pick her up?’ enquired Basta, turning back to Dustfinger, as standing there looking as un at all to do with him

‘She owns that house – you know the one I ie heard hi her, but she insisted’

‘I can iain, then turned to Meggie ‘So this is Silvertongue’s little daughter? Doesn’t look ie ‘How is he?’ These were the first words she had ed to utter Her voice was hoarse, as if she hadn’t used it for a long tier ‘Although he’s saying so little at the ie bit her lip ‘We’ve coh and thin, although she was trying as hard as she could to sound grown-up ‘We have the book, but on’t give it to Capricorn unless he letsabout her does rehten? And that look! Oh yes, anyone can see they’re related’ His voice sounded as if he were joking, but there was nothing funny about his face when he looked at Meggie again It was thin, sharply angular, with close-set eyes He narrowed thehtly as if he could see better that way Basta was not a tall man, and his shoulders were alie held her breath when he took a step towards her She was afraid of him She had never been so afraid of anyone before, and it wasn’t because of the shotgun in his hand He had an aura of fury about hi out of the boot’ As Basta was about to grab Meggie, Elinor pushed herself between theerous in it,’ she said crossly ‘Just e came here to hand over’

By way of answer, Basta pulled the dogs aside, pulling so harshly on their leashes that they yelped out loud

‘Meggie, listen to me!’ whispered Elinor, as they left the car and followed Basta down a steep pathway leading to the lighted s ‘Don’t hand over the book until they let us see your father, understand?’

Meggie nodded, clutching the plastic bag firmly to her chest How stupid did Elinor think she was? On the other hand, hoas she going to hang on to the book if Basta decided to take it away fro through to its conclusion

It was a hot, sultry night The sky above the black hills was sprinkled with stars The path dohich Basta was leading theie could hardly see her own feet, but whenever she stued either to Elinor, walking beside her, or to Dustfinger, as following as silently as if he were her shadoas still in his rucksack, and Basta’s dogs kept raising their noses and sniffing, as if they had picked up the sharp scent of the gie saw old houses of grey, rough-hewn stone, with a pale church tower rising above the rooftops Many of the houses looked eie felt they could close in on her Some of the houses had no roofs, others were little more than a couple of walls partly fallen in It was dark in Capricorn’s village Only a few la from masonry arches above the alleyways At last they reached a small square The church with the tower they had seen from a distance stood on one side of the square, and not far away, divided froe, two-storey house which did not look at all derelict This square was better lit than the rest of the village, with four lanterns casting ht to the big house, where ht showed behind three s on the upper floor Was Mo in there? Meggie listened to herself as if she could find the answer there, but all her heart would tell her was a tale of fear Fear and grief

14

A Mission Acco,’ said Mr Beaver, ‘is that we know already where he’s gone!’ Everyone stared in aone to her, to the White Witch He has betrayed us all’

CS Lewis,

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Hundreds of tiie had tried to picture Capricorn’s face She’d thought about it on the way to Elinor’s house when Mo was sitting beside her in the van, and in the huge bed there, and finally on the drive here Hundreds of tiine it thousands of ti on her ideas of all the villains she had ever read about in books: Captain Hook, crooked-nosed and thin; Long John Silver, a false smile always on his lips; Injun Joe, who had haunted so reasy black hair … But Capricorn looked quite different Meggie soon gave up counting the doors they passed before Basta finally stopped outside one But she did count the black-cladbored Each ainst the ashed wall beside hi black suits they really did look like rooks Only Basta wore a snohite shirt, just as Dustfinger had said, with a red flower in the buttonhole of his jacket, a red flower like a warning

Capricorn’s dressing goas red too He was seated in an armchair when Basta entered the roo in front of hi his toenails The chair seeaunt, as if the skin had been stretched too tight over his bones His skin was pale as parchie couldn’t have said if it was grey or very fair