Sorrow made a search for Gazrak while Little Fur kept watch on the city, lying on her belly to make sure she was not spotted. But there were no more bells and no sign of trolls moving out beyond the edge of their city. When Sorrow returned it was to say wearily that he had found no trace of the rat. He cast himself down and slept for an hour, then rose and went to relieve Ginger, refusing the food Little Fur had prepared.

Little Fur did not dare insist that he eat, or tell him he ought to have slept longer, for his mood seemed darker than ever. After he had gone, she slept fitfully for a little while and dreamed the Old Ones were calling her. When she woke it was with the distinct feeling that it was Crow who had been calling.

She sat up, stretched, and found Ginger curled beside her. He woke as she prepared them a scanty meal, and she asked if he had seen anything to explain the bells. He did not know what they meant, but did not think they signalled the capture of the spies. Nor did he believe that Gazrak’s disappearance meant the rat was the betrayer the Sett Owl had warned them about.

‘The betrayer had to come because they were needed, and we needed Gazrak to guide us to Underth,’ Little Fur said.

‘I do not know if running away can be called a betrayal,’ Ginger said. ‘Perhaps the rat was merely frightened away by your shout.’

Little Fur flushed. Her readiness to believe ill of the rat made her aware that her troll blood was affecting her in ways other than the improvement in her ability to sense the nature of earth and rock. Suspicion and doubt were part of the heritage of her troll blood, for a troll would need such instincts to survive among other trolls. It was less evil than merely a necessity. This journey was stirring her troll blood very deeply and she wondered what else she would come to learn about herself before it was over.

Ginger ate and curled to sleep again, asking her to waken him in an hour. Little Fur would have liked to lie down with him, but she feared that she would sleep too deeply, so she sat by him and studied the troll city, wondering where Shikra and Kell were, and whether they were really safe. It was harder to wait for someone in danger, than to be the one facing that danger, she decided.

Ginger woke less gracefully than usual at her touch, when she roused him, and for a moment he stared at her blankly, his orange eyes clouded by sleep. Then he said, ‘I dreamed that Crow was calling for me …’

Little Fur gaped. ‘I dreamed of Crow, too.’

Ginger stretched. ‘No doubt his heart aches for us as well.’

When she was alone again, Little Fur set about preparing another tisane for the fox, puzzling over how she might convince him to let her try to heal his spirit. When she heard a sound behind her, she turned to present him with her carefully thought-out argument, only to find it was Ginger returning.

‘Sorrow is gone,’ he said, smelling of concern. ‘His scent trail leads to the city.’

Little Fur felt a sick sense of things going wrong. ‘Maybe Shikra and Kell came to get him.’

‘I will follow his scent trail, but you must come with me and wait in case the ferrets return while I am gone,’ Ginger said.

It took them twenty minutes to reach the boulders the fox had chosen as a rendezvous for the spies. It was a good hiding place because, as well as the rocks, there were pools of bubbling mud from which rose a thick concealing haze of bright steam. Ginger slipped into the city like a grey shadow, and Little Fur squatted down to wait. She was close enough now to see that all Underth was built upon a great slab of what must be natural rock for she could not imagine trolls creating such an immense thing. That explained why the city had such an abrupt edge. No doubt the black stones were too unstable to be built on. The troll dwellings looked even less impressive close up, constructed of black stones carelessly mortared together with mud.

Trolls passed up and down a street that ran for a short way along the very edge of the city. Some were as huge and grotesque as those in the tunnels, but others were much smaller and finer. Like her, they had long hair and, though it was hard to tell, for all of the trolls were filthy and too far away to smell, she thought they might be she-trolls.

As time passed without a sign of any of the others, her unease grew, for surely the expedition was in tatters with Gazrak gone, Sorrow in the city, and Ginger gone after him to face unknown hazards. And what ought she to do if none of them returned? Must she try to complete the quest on her own? But how could she? Even if she managed to creep into the city unnoticed and get the information the Sett Owl needed, could she bypass the troll king’s glamours to get back to the surface?

Before she could decide what to do, the distinct sound of rocks clicking softly together cut into her thoughts. She looked up to see Ginger unravelling himself from cat shadow. To her complete amazement, the one-eyed cat, Sly, was with him! Only then did she remember that the black dog who wanted to kill her had spoken of tracking Sly to the troll hole.

‘Greetings, Little Fur,’ Sly said in her purring voice, her single green eye as bright as a jewel against the sleek black coat. Her long tail twitched, its broken tip the only awkward part of her.

‘Sly! I am glad to see you, but how do you come to be here?’ Little Fur asked, reaching out to stroke the silky pelt.

‘I come here from time to time because it amuses me,’ Sly said lightly. ‘I was surprised to find Ginger’s scent. I thought I must be wrong until I came upon him blundering around.’ Her eye glimmered with amused malice, but Ginger only licked at his paw and explained that he had followed the scent of the fox and Gazrak to the palace.

‘Gazrak must have signalled the fox from the edge of the city. I picked up his scent soon after I entered the outskirts.’

‘But why would Gazrak go into the city, and why call Sorrow in?’ Little Fur asked.

‘The ferrets have not come back?’ was all Ginger said. Little Fur shook her head worriedly and his orange eyes narrowed. ‘Then I will return to Underth. I will go into the palace, for it may be that they are in danger. Perhaps I will find Sorrow and Gazrak there as well.’

Sly coiled around the grey cat, her green eye laughing. ‘If a fox and a rat went to the palace, the fox at least is a prisoner. And you cannot venture there, Ginger, for the troll king’s glamours would see you captured, even were you shrouded in cat shadow. Unless you allow me to help you. We can seek the stink of fox and ferret together. The aroma of rat will be there in abundance, for many rats serve the troll king.’

Something was troubling Little Fur. ‘Sly, we rubbed special leaves on our feet to cover our scent? How can you smell Ginger and how could Ginger have smelled the fox or the ferrets?’

‘I do not know about any leaves,’ Sly said, sounding bored.

‘I do not know either but I could smell both the fox and the ferrets,’ Ginger said.

After the two cats had gone, Little Fur thought about the leaves the owl had given them and wondered if the scent could be wearing off. She had not thought to ask the owl if they must be rubbed on repeatedly. She wished she had at least applied some to Ginger’s paws, for while he could hide in cat shadow, it did not conceal his scent.

Weary hours passed. She saw many trolls, both the great lumbering kind and the thin rather snaky sort. But she also saw several trolls that walked upright but were slender and had long hair, like hers. These, she was sure, were she-trolls. Sometimes they were accompanied by small trolls. The only other thing of interest was that, occasionally, she saw one of the big brutish trolls passing with a lean, long-limbed troll crouching and capering and going before it on a lead.

Finally, worn down by useless worry, Little Fur decided to enter the city herself. She could pass for a troll child, if she dirtied herself and walked with her shoulders hunched. She took off her tunic and hid it with the remaining backpack, and hung her pouch of herbs and the necklet her mother had left her beneath her under-shift. Last of all she tore the sleeves and hem of her dress and smeared mud into her hair to dull its brightness.

But before she could enter the city, Shikra appeared, racing over the jagged stones to the boulders and bubbling mud.

She flung herself into the healer’s arms, trembling violently. Despite her extreme distress, Little Fur could find no serious injury. Yet fear itself was sometimes a deeper kind of wounding. She would need a calmer moment to search out Shikra’s spirit to see if it had been harmed in that way.

The healer bathed the burnt and ruffled pelt gently, using water from her bottle. She could smell that the burns stung. Later she would make a preparation that would numb the soreness. But the main reason for the things she did was to calm the small animal.

At last, Shikra sat up on her hind legs and visibly composed herself. She said, ‘Us hear troll speak of meeting in palace. Us follow troll. He go in palace, then Brave Kell make diversion. When bells ring, troll guards run from posts and us slip inside, too.’

Little Fur wanted to ask what sort of diversion Kell had arranged, but decided she had better let the ferret tell her story first.

‘Inside,’ Shikra continued, ‘no troll looking properly at us. Maybe they think no one can get inside palace. Or maybe they think us rats. Or maybe some ferrets serve troll king.’

‘What happened in the meeting room?’ Little Fur prompted.

‘Long argument,’ Shikra said. ‘Trolls argue about which troll in control while troll king away. If something happen to king, whoever in charge becomes king. Big troll say he is master while master away. Brod is name. He say his blood same as troll king’s blood. He say Brod perform great service for king in carrying sickness of cats to human city. Us not know if what he say true. Impossible to smell if troll lie or not for much they say is nonsense they think true.’

‘Did they say why the troll king wanted to make cats sick?’ Little Fur asked.

Shikra said, ‘Trolls speak of experiment and of animal called Indyk and of king’s plan to destroy earth spirit.’ She hesitated. ‘Trolls also speak of … Little Fur.’

Little Fur stared at her in astonishment. ‘A troll said my name?’

‘Brod say Little Fur most bitter enemy of troll king. King want …’ she stopped.

‘He wants to kill me,’ Little Fur whispered, feeling very small and frightened.

‘Brod say Little Fur ruin troll king’s last plan and work against him each day of living,’ Shikra said. ‘But when trolls speak of killing earth spirit, they speak of Indyk and of cat sickness.’

‘What is an indyk?’ Little Fur murmured, tasting the strange word and finding no flavour she recognised. She shook her head and asked, ‘What happened to you and Brave Kell?’

Shikra shuddered deeply again. ‘After talking, another fight. Shikra and Brave Kell creep away but rats outside the chamber in hall smell us spies. Us taken prisoner. Us carried down many stairs into vast chamber where are many cages. All creatures in them smell of fear and sickness and pain. Us very frightened. They put us in cage. Bird in next cage scream that troll king will hurt us to make us sing song of pain. Bird say human taught song to troll king. Bird smelled of madness but also of truth.’

Little Fur said, ‘How did you get away?’

‘Gazrak and Sorrow come. Rat gnawed cage binding so Shikra and Kell free. Other animals scream and cry and beg: Free! Free us! Noise bring troll guard, then another. Sorrow commands: Ferrets go before more come. Do not look back. Find healer and flee. Then Sorrow attack troll.’

‘Then what happened?’ Little Fur cried, breathless.

‘Shikra obey Sorrow. But Brave Kell being hero! Troll strike him hard. Kell hit wall of cavern with terrible crunch. Shikra cannot feel mind any more! Shikra want to go where brother lying, but Gazrak scream: Follow! Shikra obey.’ This last was uttered with a heart-rending sob.

‘Shikra, do you know what happened to Sorrow? Was he …?’ She found she could not say the word.

‘Not know,’ Shikra cried. ‘Gazrak led Shikra to crack in wall. Crack brings us to passage close to door leading out of palace, but there stand guards. Gazrak order Shikra wait until guards gone, then run. Then rat go running to troll. He crying out that intruders are in palace. When they gone, Shikra run. Not knowing what happened to Gazrak. Shikra never see brother again …’ She wept and Little Fur could not comfort her.

Perhaps an hour passed and a hard and terrible hour it was with Little Fur not knowing if either the fox or the ferret were dead, or what had happened to Gazrak. And what of Ginger and Sly? Was it possible they had been exposed too?

Shikra had fallen into a restless whimpering sleep, and Little Fur thought again of going into the city, when Ginger appeared around the boulders with Gazrak scuttling by his side. Little Fur saw that the grey cat carried the limp form of Brave Kell in his mouth. He laid the ferret very gently at her feet. Smelling her brother, Shikra woke and gave a cry of anguish, but Little Fur hushed her, promising that her brother was not dead. He was unconscious and badly bruised but his worst injury was a broken leg.

Little Fur washed Kell’s wounds and treated them, and all the time he slept. He was in shock, she knew. She bade his sister cuddle up to him. The need to care for her injured brother steadied Shikra, and their bond would help to mend both of their spirits.

Only when the two were settled did she allow herself to question Ginger, who explained that he and Sly had entered the palace by an obscure door, and had hidden, mantled in cat shadow, until they had heard enough to know that intruders had been captured. Sly knew where they would be taken and they had gone there only to find Gazrak sniffing at the unconscious Kell.

‘Sorrow …’

‘Sorrow was caged and badly hurt,’ Ginger said. ‘He commanded us to take Kell and leave Underth with you. He said the trolls were terrified of what their king would say when he learned that spies had entered the city in his absence. Very soon they would begin to scour the city for intruders. Sorrow said Gazrak must go too, for the trolls know his name.’

Little Fur looked at the rat, who glared at her defiantly.

Ginger continued. ‘Sorrow said we must go before we are trapped here. We tried to open his cage, but the knot was too strong. Again he bade us go. He said that he did not fear to die.’

‘It is too late already to use the tunnel,’ Gazrak said suddenly.

‘What do you think we should do then?’ Little Fur asked him.

‘We must use the under-road,’ Gazrak said.

‘But that is the way the troll king and his warriors will return,’ Little Fur protested.

‘We have only to travel on the under-road to places where the earth is cracked open and there are narrow fissure paths leading to the surface,’ Gazrak said eagerly.

Kell groaned and opened his eyes. He saw his sister bending over him and murmured, ‘Kell was a fool.’

‘Brave Kell,’ she whispered, taking his paw and nibbling it tenderly.

‘Wise Shikra,’ he answered softly and rubbed his head against her. Then he grimaced. ‘Ugh, leg hurts.’

Little Fur asked Ginger what had happened to Sly.

She half-expected that he would tell her the one-eyed cat had vanished inexplicably again, but to her great surprise, he said, ‘It was hard to carry the ferret swiftly without hurting him further and my cat shadow would not cover him. Sly ran out of the gates and made the guards chase her so that I could slip out unnoticed with Gazrak and Kell.’

‘The guards will come back,’ Gazrak warned miserably. ‘We are all doomed.’

Little Fur could smell that the others were looking to her to decide what they should do. She wanted to say that she had only come on the expedition to heal the fox and keep him well but in this she had failed utterly. Perhaps she ought to do as he had commanded, in penance. Yet it was wrong to let one so sick decide a thing they might decide differently if they were well. And it was wrong to abandon a companion. And last of all, they had not done what they had come to do.

‘Listen,’ she said, trying to sound stern and calm.

‘That is not what the fox ordered,’ Ginger said mildly.

‘Sorrow no longer leads us,’ Little Fur answered. ‘I do. All of you must take the under-road. Before you go, a trail must be laid to draw the trolls after you. It must be laid carefully so that they will not discover it leads to the under-road too swiftly. You must have time to get to safety.’

‘What will you do?’ Ginger asked.

‘I will enter the city disguised as a troll child, and try to learn more of the troll king’s plans for the earth spirit. And I will try to free Sorrow.’

‘How will Little Fur escape from Underth?’ Shikra asked, for now both ferrets were listening closely as well.

‘I will go out the same way we came in, for the trolls who guard that way will have followed you.’

‘If we would go we must go now!’ Gazrak said urgently.

Little Fur nodded, her eyes on Ginger, for despite his silence, she knew he was the one she had to convince. ‘You have to go because Kell cannot walk and you must carry him,’ she said gently.

The grey cat gave a soft sigh that smelled of surrender and said very softly, ‘I do not want to leave you here.’

‘Neither did Crow want us to leave him, yet we left because it was needful.’

Ginger lowered his head and Little Fur put her arms around him.