Tarrian’s voice filled Antyr’s mind. It had that emphasis which told him the wolf was speaking to him alone.

‘This is an unusual place.’

‘It looks like any other barn to me,’ Antyr remarked, in like vein. ‘And if Andawyr can really hear you, you can speak to him as well if you wish.’

‘No, not yet. It unsettles him,’ Tarrian replied. ‘He’s unusual, as well. I think we’re going to like it here. It has a distinctly civilized feel to it.’

‘Fit place for wolves, eh?’

There was a thoughtful pause. ‘I’m not sure I’d go that far, but it’s got promise.’

‘What’s he saying?’ Yatsu asked casually, giving Tarrian a suspicious look.

‘Are you sure you can’t hear him?’ Antyr said.

‘Not a word,’ Yatsu replied. ‘But I can tell when the two of you are talking.’

It was not the first time they had had this exchange. Antyr gave an apologetic shrug. ‘He was just saying this is an interesting place, though what he sees special about an ordinary barn he hasn’t bothered to let me know yet.’

Yatsu laughed softly and cast an appreciative glance at the wolf.

‘Come on,’ Andawyr called out, indicating a small battered door at the back of the barn. ‘Cover your eyes,’ he said to Antyr. ‘We never seem to get round to adjusting the lights and you might have difficulty in seeing. Just walk straight ahead.’

Before Antyr could speak, Andawyr had opened the door and was ushering him forward vigorously. Antyr gasped as a brilliant light flooded into the barn. He had no time to hesitate, however, as Andawyr’s firm grip carried him forward a few paces and through a second door. A soft ringing tone greeted him as he emerged, blinking, into a long corridor.

A tall figure rose from a chair to fill his momentarily blurred vision, then it was waving its arms in confusion as Tarrian and Grayle pushed past it and ran off down the corridor.

Antyr shouted after them but to no avail.

‘I’m so sorry,’ he said, turning to Andawyr. ‘I don’t know what…’