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the truth, I can try to help you. We’re only enemies if you choose to make it so.”
    His shadow moved away from the door. I listened for footsteps, but there were none. The man really was as silent as a bird of prey. I’d best remember that.
    I waited a count of sixty before I stood, went to the door and peered out of the gap. One or two people were passing by, intent on their own business; there was no sign of Luca or his goatherd guardian.
    I picked up the blanket and waterskin and checked them over carefully. The blanket was thick, double-woven wool, grey and soft with washing. The waterskin was well sealed, with no drips, and full.
    Luca had just given me everything I needed to make my escape a success. This was too easy. Why would he give me these things? Not out of kindness. Not when the Wolf and I had attacked him and his man twice now. It made no sense. But he already had me locked up: luring me out only to chase me down again made no sense either.
    No, it must be that these hill guards wanted me alive for more questioning. They thought I was a spy – someone with valuable information, perhaps. It was unlucky for them that I didn’t intend to wait around until they realized they were wrong.
    By the time night fell, my shoulders, arms and back were quivering with tiredness. My fingers no longer had the strength to grasp the digging implements. Blisters were rising up on both my palms, and I had been forced to re-bandage my right hand and use the damp herbal compress Livia had made on the left.
    But the gap under the wall was big enough for me to squeeze through.
    I moved the mattress again, kicking and shoving at it with my feet so that it sat askew across the floor, hopefully concealing as much of the mess I had made as possible. Then I arranged myself on top of it and lay still, gingerly opening and closing my hands to try and work some strength back into them.
    Someone walked past the cell and shone a lamp in. I tensed as I followed the path of their eyes in my imagination.
    They moved on. I waited as long as I could bear, listening to the noises of the camp change with the darkness. When everything had been peaceful for some time, I went to the door and peered out again.
    The camp was still under the cold blue starlight. I couldn’t see anyone near by, but that didn’t mean there was no one there – it was just too dark to be sure. I couldn’t afford to delay any longer, though. I needed to put the furthest possible distance between me and these people before sunrise.
    I took the waterskin and blanket and pushed them out of the gap. Then I flattened myself against the dusty earth, pressing my belly and shoulders down and turning my face sideways. The rough wooden planks ripped out hairs from my braid and scraped my ear and cheek as I wriggled through the gap. I could feel the seams of my shirt strain across my back. The sensation of the wall pressing down on me, trapping me against the dirt, made me feel sick. I sucked in a deep breath, making myself as thin as possible – and popped out on the other side.
    I lay face down in the dirty hollow I had made until the panic had passed away and my heart had slowed a little. Then I pulled myself into a crouch and looked around.
    I couldn’t believe my luck. My cell was at the end of a long, single-storey building, and immediately behind it rose a little hill, covered in scrubby grass, weeds and bushes. I could be out of the camp and under cover in moments. I draped the blanket over one shoulder, put the strap of the waterskin across my body to hold the blanket in place and crept up the slope.
    The sound of water reached my ears around halfway up. My heart sank. By the time I got to the top of the hill it was obvious why the prison had been built here. It wasn’t a hill at all. It was the edge of a ravine.
    The river cut a winding channel through the rock at the bottom of a sheer, forty-foot drop. The tree cover on the other side of the ravine might as well