It was now evening. The sun had set and the room was lit merely by the hearth. The innkeeper had replaced the sheets after much complaint about disease. Money stilled his tongue, however, and now Adam slept there, hugging a pillow. The boy was so shaken he only had one serving of his dinner.

Tynan sat up, leaning against the wall at the foot of the bed, still feeling weak, but unable to sleep. He idly listened to Feather stir from her bed, where he had placed her to let her sleep. He had spent quite alot of the quiet solitary evening thinking about the incident. Firstly, those four people weren't human. Whatever they were, nothing stank of more death and malice than they had. Secondly, and this was the most worrying bit, when Feather had come to save him, he had two voices - her own, and something that seemed close to panic. So that little passenger in her head was definitely there...

She tossed in her bes, possibly dreaming. He stood up, holding the wall for support, and walked slowly over. He pulled the tossed aside blanket up to her chin, and looked down at her with gentle eyes as behind him the fire burned merrily.