“Whoever this child is,” Silus said. “I don’t think that she speaks our language.”

“And how do you know it’s a child?” Kelos said.

“Well, I mean… I… I don’t know.”

“Indeed. Never make assumptions.”

“You mean like Bestion did with that dog thing?”

“I mean never make assumptions that turn out be incorrect.”

“Thanks. That’s useful.”

The girl smiled at them and laughed. She said something before reaching out, tapping Silus’s hand and racing away.

“What did that mean?” Silus said.

“I believe,” Bestion said, “that you are ‘it.’ Come on.”

They hurried after the girl and her pet, losing sight of them several times and once going in the wrong direction entirely before they spotted her again, waiting for them atop a dune and gesturing for them to catch up.

Just before they reached her, the girl threw herself down the other side of the sandy slope, rolling over and over with the dog creature still in her arms, giggling hysterically. They were about to follow when what they saw beyond the dune arrested their descent.

There was a vast settlement in the middle of the desert.

As they watched, the girl reached its outskirts, dropped her pet and called out. Soon she was surrounded by a crowd of people, their gazes following the direction of her excited gestures towards where the strangers stood. They stared in silence for a moment before rushing towards them, calling out to others as they came, until there was a veritable tide of people flowing across the sand.

“Bestion, I hope that your assumptions about them being friendly turn out to be correct,” Silus said.

“Yes, so do I.”

CHAPTER FOUR

Emuel had often wondered how it would feel to be back in the arms of the Final Faith.