Aerie, with her longer range, had met them after searching all day at eachevening's new camp, ever more exhausted and more driven.

'Apparently we chose wrong,' Quartz said.

'Children,' Lythande said, 'children, frejohans -'

'Frejojani,'' Chan said automatically, then shook his head and spread his handsin apology.

'Your friend is one slave out of many. You could not trace him by his papers,unless you discovered what name they were forged under. For someone to recognizehim by a description would be the greatest luck, even if you had an homuncule toshow. Sisters, brother, you might not recognize him yourselves, by now.'

'I would recognize him,' Aerie said.

'We'd all recognize him, even in a crowd of his own people. But that makes nodifference. Anyone would know him who had seen him. But no one has seen him, orif they have they will not say so to us.' Wess glanced at Aerie.

'You see,' Aerie said, 'he is winged.'

'Winged!' Lythande said.

'Winged folk are rare, I believe, in the south.'

'Winged folk are myths, in the south. Winged? Surely you mean...'

Aerie started to shrug back her cape, but Quartz put her arm around hershoulders again. Wess broke into the conversation quickly.

'The bones are longer,' she said, touching the three outer fingers of her lefthand with the forefinger of her right. 'And stronger. The webs between foldout.'

'And these people fly?'

'Of course. Why else have wings?'

Wess glanced at Chan, who nodded and reached for his pack.

'We have no homuncule,' Wess said. 'But we have a picture. It isn't Satan, butit's very like him.'

Chan pulled out the wooden tube he had carried all the way from Kaimas. Frominside it, he drew the rolled kidskin, which he opened out on to the table. The