to the castle opposite where helmeted heads bobbed and pointed. Piro nudged the healer. 'Look. They've seen her on the castle battlements.'
'They'll be sending for Steerden now.'
After that it was all a blur. When Lady Unace reached her snow-cave, an area was cleared for the unistag. Then her supporters crowded around. While Unace debated the best course of action with her supporters, Piro cared for the unistag, rubbing him down and sneaking him treats. The unistag was unsettled by the many visitors.
The healer joined her, studying the unistag with great interest. 'I find it hard to believe this is the creature King Byren the Fourth captured thirty... nearly forty years ago,' he whispered. 'The beast looks so well. I'm sure they don't live that long in the wild.'
'Good food and a safe life,' Piro said, growing uncomfortable.
'We should all be so lucky,' he said, with a grin.
She smiled. She liked him, couldn't help it. With his crooked back, he was only a little taller than her and he reminded her of a fragile but clever bird.
'The unistag is an Affinity beast. I suspect that he needs more than food and a warm stall.' Seagrass stepped closer, offering his palm to the unistag who snuffled hopefully. 'I've read of rare people who could share Affinity with the god-touched beasts.'
Pretending she did not understand what he was hinting at, Piro yawned and stretched. 'I'm tired. Where do I sleep?'
The healer glanced down to the carpet-covered ground. 'Here, beside the unistag would be best.' He lowered his voice. 'Don't worry, your secret is safe with me.'
Her guilty gaze flew to his face, then she realised she had given herself away.
'In Rolencia all those with Affinity must serve the abbey or choose between death or banishment,' she whispered. 'The warlords all agreed to follow father's law on this. Why risk yourself to keep my secret?'
'I have seen Unace and her brothers grow into adults, seen their children born.' Tears glistened in his old eyes and his chin trembled. 'I never thought I'd see the day they were all murdered by a kin-slayer!'
Tears of empathy blurred Piro's vision.
He managed a sad smile. 'Sleep, little goatherd. You can trust me.'
Piro nodded. It would kill her to lose her family.
'Sleep,' he repeated.
Piro made herself comfortable with a rolled-up blanket for a pillow. The unistag knelt beside her and dozed. The drone of the adults' strategy discussion echoed in her ears but Piro did not mind. She was finally living out an adventure as she had always longed for.
It felt as if she had only just fallen asleep when there was a distant but ferocious clashing of metal and yelling.
Piro rolled to her knees, calming the unistag reflexively. Unace opened the canvas flap. The healer lit a lamp and joined her at the entrance. Piro went over to peer into the night.
'An uprising in Unistag Stronghold,' Seagrass said.
Around the camp, people came out of their snow-caves, trying to see what was going on. But, though the stars were bright enough to cast shadows, events in the Stronghold remained obscure.
'I can't tell what's going on,' Piro whispered in frustration.
'They deal in death,' Unace replied with a shiver. 'I've known the Stronghold men-at-arms and servants all my life. I'm guessing they've turned on Steerden and his warriors.'
'Will they succeed?' Piro asked, then cursed herself. How would Unace know the answer?
'We'll know tomorrow,' Seagrass said softly as he draped a blanket over both their shoulders.
'Thank you,' Unace whispered.
'It is cold, you haven't had much sleep, Unace,' he said.
'I can't sleep, not while my supporters are fighting for their lives,' she replied.
Like Unace, Piro felt she couldn't sleep. So they huddled under the blanket, watching the Stronghold. Light gleamed in a row of high windows.
'Those are the warlord's private chambers,' Unace whispered. Her small son woke and cried. She fed him.
Piro let his tiny fingers curl around her little finger. He was a marvel. 'So small but strong.'
'He will have to be, with his father and brother dead,' Unace muttered.
'Byren told me,' Piro whispered. 'I'm so sorry.'
'I can grieve later. Right now I must avenge them.'
Piro couldn't bear to think of anything happening to her family.
A fire broke out, sending sparks showering up through one of the stronghold's slate roofs.
'The armoury,' Unace whispered.
Eventually the stars faded and the world took on grey form as dawn crept across the hillside. By the time the sun had come up, the fire was under control and only a smudge of dirty grey smoke hung over