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(“He kept a whole cabin to himself, too!” said Scatter). When he came back on deck he’d forgotten about the pillow, which had impaled itself on his spines and was still on top of his head, and when they managed to pull it off, you couldn’t see His Lordship for feathers.
    Scatter giggled. She asked Urchin and Needle about their part in the battle for Mistmantle, and listened with fascination. She sucked stickiness from her clawtips; Bronze told another funny story; he and Needle got hiccups; and Trail told them how Lord Treeth had tried to be heroic and help to furl the sails, and ended up hanging on with all four paws to the mast and waiting to be rescued.
    Urchin laughed politely, but unease was slowly creeping into him. This didn’t feel right. He wouldn’t tell stories about Padra the way these animals told them about Lord Treeth. But then, Padra wouldn’t do silly things like that in the first place.
    Needle moved away to the window. Urchin could tell she was tired of Scatter giggling and Bronze telling his tales, but unfortunately Bronze followed her.
    “The nights are drawing in earlier now,” he said. “Sunset’s beginning.” Trickles of gold were spreading across the blue evening light.
    “Ooh, do you think we’ll see that riding stars thing?” said Scatter in excitement. “When the stars all dance around the sky and everything? That happens in Mistmantle, doesn’t it? I’d love to see that.”
    “It won’t be tonight,” said Needle, and explained patiently as if she were speaking to a small child. “Brother Fir would have told us. Riding stars don’t happen often, and when it does it always means something, for good or for harm. We’ve had enough harm on Mistmantle.”
    “But it’ll be a lovely sunset,” said Trail. “We’d see it better from the other side of the tower. Shall we go and see King’s Arrow by sunset?”
    “What by sunset?” said Needle.
    “It’s the name of our ship,” said Trail. “King’s Arrow. She looks wonderful in this sort of light. Shall we go and see?”
    “Shouldn’t somebody know where we are?” said Scatter nervously, and looked to Needle for help. “We should tell Lord Treeth, but we can’t interrupt them while they’re in the Throne Room. He’d get cross.”
    “I’ll tell them,” said Needle, and couldn’t resist adding, “Our king won’t get cross. I’ll catch up with you later.”
    Urchin was pretty sure she wouldn’t hurry. She’d probably had enough of the company by now, and he’d better get them out of her way before she forgot to be polite. He gathered up the visitors’cloaks, and they pattered down the stairs and out of the tower. The fresh air was still pleasantly warm, the summer evening was scented with thyme and chamomile, and the ship lay calm after her wild crossing, with the fire-bright sky beyond her. Her lifeboat nestled half-screened behind her like a shy child with its mother.
    “That boat should have been raised back to the deck,” said Bronze.
    “She’s a beauty, though!” said Urchin, looking with admiration at the little lifeboat. Her lines were sleek, her sail was furled, and she even had a canopy folded back against the starboard side.
    “She’s small, but she’s built to be a boat we could survive in after shipwreck, even on a long crossing,” said Trail. “She has that canopy for shelter, and there are storage boxes under the rowing benches and the seats in the stern, to make room for cloaks and provisions. Shall we show you?”
    “I’ll go first!” called Scatter, and ran along the jetty, wobbling a bit on the wooden slats. “Somebody give me a paw?”
    Bronze sighed. “I don’t know why we had to bring her,” he said. “Clueless. Can’t get in and out of a boat without falling in. Give her a paw, would you, Urchin?”

    Juniper dashed along the path that wound from Falls Cliffs and darted up the first tall tree he found. The quickest way to the bay was through the pine treetops to