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With the light came two of Capricorn’sher aching back andcrossly when they heard the footsteps

They weren’t Basta’s footsteps One of the two iant had pressed his face flat with his thuoatee beard on his receding chin He kept fiddling with his shotgun, and glowered unpleasantly at the three of the them on the spot

‘Come on, then Get a ht of day, blinking Meggie tried to remember whether his voice was one of those she had heard in Elinor’s library, but she wasn’t sure Capricorn hadThe sky arched blue and cloudless above Capricorn’s village, and a couple of finches were twittering in a rose bush groild aer in the world but a hungry cat or two Mo took Meggie’s aret her shoes on first, and when the hly out because she didn’t h for hie at hihtened her lips and confined herself to hostile glances

Capricorn’s ie and Elinor back the way Basta had brought theht before The flat-faced ht up the rear, shotgun at the ready He dragged one leg as he walked, but nonetheless he kept urging them on, as if to prove that he could h he lie appeared curiously deserted, and not just because of the ht There was hardly anyone to be seen in the narrow alleys, only a few of the Black Jackets, as Meggie had secretly baptised theie only twice sao or running after their er, tortoiseshell, tabby cats, lying in the warm sun on top of walls, in doorways, on lintels It was deathly quiet a that went on seeuns didn’t hide They hung around together in gateways and at the corners of buildings, leaning lovingly on their weapons as they talked There were no flowers outside the houses, like the flowers Meggie had seen in the towns and villages all along the coast, instead roofs had fallen in and wild bushes were in bloolassless s Soie feel dizzy

When they reached the square outside the church, Meggie thought the two ain, but they passed it on their left and went straight to the big church door The tower of the church looked as if wind and weather had been wearing theunder the pointed roof, and scarcely a rown into a stunted tree that now clung to the sand-coloured stone

There were eyes painted on the church door, narrow red eyes, and ugly stone deht of a man stood on either side of the entrance, their teeth bared like savage dogs

‘Welco bow before opening the heavy door

‘Don’t do that, Cockerell!’ the flat-facedstones at his feet ‘It’s bad luck’

The hed and patted the fat belly of one of the stone figures ‘Oh, come on, Flatnose You’re al a stinking rabbit’s foot round your own neck too’

‘I like to be on the safe side,’ growled Flatnose ‘You hear strange tales’

‘Yes, and who made them up? We did, you fool’