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Phaedra’s people being allowed in the valley, the earth still belonged to their Lumateran neighbours. Through a narrow walkway, the cave opened up to another smaller chamber. It had a wind hole that gave a view of downstream, but most of the time they kept it covered with vines and shrubs to keep out the cold. No one dared sleep in the shrine room, so here they were, living in too small a space for five women who could hardly endure each other’s company.
    ‘I can’t stand this,’ Phaedra heard Ginny cry. ‘I didn’t ask to save Charyn. When Rafuel returns I’m going to ask him to tell Gies that I’m alive. I don’t like being without my man.’
    ‘From the flirting I saw the fool do with those Mont girls, I dare say he’ll cope,’ Cora said in a nasty tone.
    Cora loved nothing more than riling Ginny, whose only sense of worth came from having a man. Phaedra had known girls like Ginny in Alonso. The type who rarely took the side of women in an argument. They feared it would make them unpopular in the eyes of men. She remembered Ginny in the camp and realised that most of the acquaintances the girl had struck up were with the camp leaders Gies seemed drawn to.
    ‘You’re a liar,’ Ginny shouted at Cora, who was still taunting her about the Mont girls.
    ‘And you’re one of the greatest idiots I’ve come across, and believe me when I say I’ve come across many.’
    ‘Enough!’ Phaedra said from the entrance. ‘Our voices will carry upstream.’
    They stared at the Princess over Phaedra’s shoulder.
    ‘Tell her to stay put,’ Cora said.
    ‘You’ll have to tell her yourself, Cora,’ Phaedra said firmly. ‘She’s not deaf to your voice, you know. Now, enough of this fighting. We have a little king to protect.’
    ‘If you ask me, the only thing keeping her alive is that little king,’ Ginny said. ‘That’s what my Gies would say.’
    ‘Shut it, you idiot girl,’ Cora said.
    ‘You shut it. You’re an ugly hag. There were women in my village just like you. Hags with nothing left to offer a man.’
    ‘Well, it’s a good thing the men in the village had you,’ Cora said.
    ‘Shut up, both of you,’ Jorja hissed. ‘I’d crawl through those sewers one hundred times over not to have to listen to any of you.’
    This was Phaedra’s life now and she wondered what she had done to the gods for them to punish her in such a way. And in the corner, Quintana of Charyn sat staring at her, shaking her head. Phaedra recognised the look directed at her. She had seen it on the mountain before she had proven her worth. It was disappointment.
You’re useless, Phaedra. Useless.
    She closed her eyes and went to sleep with the sound of Florenza’s retching in her ears. And a small part of her begged the gods not to let her wake.

 
     
     
    F roi was summoned to see the elder of the compound, Simeon of Nebia. The Priest had come to visit him once when he lay injured and in pain, but Froi remembered little of that time except for the constant questions regarding Quintana’s whereabouts.
    But this time Froi was well enough to visit the leader’s residence and it was the first time he was able to study the underground galleries. They were unlike Tariq’s compound under the Citavita. Here the ceilings were high and the rooms were wide. Froi could see that they had not always been a hiding place. The archways seemed about six feet high and large enough for a pushcart to fit through them. The walls were made of limestone and Arjuro had mentioned the galleries were once used to quarry chalk.
    They entered a long, wide corridor with a dozen or so small alcoves on either side where the
collegiati
slept. In each cubicle was a bedroll, a stool and books scattered around. The passageway led to another cavern referred to as the chamber of reflection, which was much like a small godshouse where they assembledfor prayer or to find solitude. Froi watched as Arjuro stood at the wall and traced his finger against the