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‘Those stay here,’ he said

Mo did not return in ti, endless way, he didn’t appear

31

In the Hills

‘Let him alone,’ said Merlin ‘Perhaps he does not want to be friends with you until he knohat you are like With owls, it is never easy-coo’

TH White,

The Sword in the Stone

Dustfinger looked across to Capricorn’s village It seeh to touch Some of the s reflected the sky, and one of the Black Jackets was repairing a couple of broken tiles on a roof Dustfinger saw him wipe the sweat from his brow The fools never took their jackets off even in this heat – as if they were afraid of falling apart without that black uniform Not that crows take off their feathers in the sun either, and these men were just a flock of crows: robbers, carrion-eaters who liked to plunge their sharp beaks into dead flesh

The boy had been uneasy when he sa close Dustfinger’s chosen hiding-place was to the village, but Dustfinger had explained why there couldn’t be anywhere safer to lie low a hills The charred walls were hardly visible, caorse and wild thy the soot-blackened stones Capricorn’sover the deserted village The old woman who had lived there had refused to leave, but Capricorn wouldn’t tolerate prying eyes so close to his new hideout and gave his followers a free hand His crows, his black vultures, had set fire to the hoe They had traarden, and shot the donkey that was almost as old as its mistress They came under cover of darkness as usual, and the er, shone particularly brightly that night The old wo Then she’d cursed them She cursed them all, but her eyes were turned on only one of the a little way from the others because he feared the fire, his shirt very white in the ht conceal so like innocence or a kind heart On Basta’s orders, Flatnose had put his hand over her hed – until, unexpectedly, she fell down dead and lay there lifeless aarden beds Ever since that day, Basta had feared this place more than anywhere else in the hills No, there could be nowhere better to keep watch on Capricorn’s village

Dustfinger spent iven the old woe Its branches hid hiht stray up the hillside He perched therethe car park and the houses through his binoculars He had told Farid to stay further away, in the hollow behind the house The boy had reluctantly obeyed He was sticking close to Dustfinger, close as a burr, and he didn’t like the gutted cottage ‘Her ghost is still here, for sure,’ he kept saying ‘That old woer just laughed at hihosts in this world, or if there were they never showed themselves The holloas so well sheltered that he had even risked lighting a fire the previous night The boy had snared a rabbit; he was good at setting traps and ht a rabbit he didn’t take it out of the trap until he was quite sure the poor thing had stopped wriggling Farid had no such scruples Perhaps he had gone hungry too often

Above all he loved to watch onder and ader took a few little sticks and lit a fire The boy had already burnt his fingers playing games with matches The flaer kept finding his Once he set light to the dry grass, and Dustfinger grabbed hi until tears caain! Fire is a dangerous creature!’ he had shouted at Farid ‘Fire is not your friend It will kill you if you don’t respect it And its sive you away to your enemies!’

‘But it’s your friend!’ the boy had stammered defiantly

‘Nonsense! I’m not careless, that’s all I take note of the wind! You let it play with the fire I’ve told you a hundred tio and look for Gwin’

‘It is your friend, though!’ the boy hadoff ‘Or anyway, it obeys you better than the h that didn’t mean much, for a er in this world as well as in his ohere the flames turned to flower shapes whenever he told them to They had forked up in the air for hiht, and rained down sparks They had roared and whispered with their crackling voices, they had danced when he said the word The flae, silent beasts which sometihts when there was nothing but the flames to stave off his loneliness, did he think he heard the to him, but they whispered words he didn’t understand

However, the boy was probably right Yes, fire was his friend, but it was also the reason why Capricorn had summoned him back in that other life ‘Show ed Dustfinger before hi hiive fire free rein, catching it again only when it had eaten its fill of crops and stables, houses and anything that couldn’t run fast enough

‘Is he still away?’ Farid was leaning against the rough bark of the tree The boy was as quiet as a snake Dustfinger always jumped when he appeared so suddenly

‘Yes,’ he said ‘Luck’s on our side’ On the day they ca in the parking place, but that afternoon two of the boys had begun polishing its silver paintwork until they could see their reflections in it, and shortly before it was dark it had driven off Capricorn often had hies further down the coast or to one of his other bases, as he liked to call theh these so-called bases were often little uarding it Like Dustfinger, he couldn’t drive a car, but some of his men hadlicence, though, because to pass the test they would have to be able to read

‘Yes, I’ll go over there again tonight,’ er, and Basta is sure to be back soon too’ Basta’s car had not been in the car park at all since they’d co, because Basta didn’t like to be away froth of tie, bound and gagged?

‘Good! When do we start!’ Farid sounded as if he wanted to getat once ‘After sunset? They’ll all be in the church eating then’

Dustfinger shooed a fly away fro alone You’re to stay here and keep an eye on our things’