‘Where on earth have you been?’ Tomkin shouted. Flint winced. But, before he could reply, a small, tubby girl dropped down from a swing and charged through the ropes towards him. Her hair was short and wild about her face, as if she’d cut it herself, in a hurry, without a mirror, or even scissors.

‘My brother! You give me happy!’ she cried, flinging her arms round Flint’s waist.

Flint reddened and for a moment he forgot all about the trouble he was in. Instead, he felt Eska’s eyes on him and he wondered whether she could see that Blu was different from everyone else in the tribe, that her eyes were smaller and sloping, like almonds, and that her words came out all jumbled even though she was eight and she should have known better.

But when he glanced at Eska he saw she wasn’t frowning. She wasn’t raising her eyebrows in disgust either, like some people did when they spoke to Blu. She was just watching carefully, as he’d noticed she often did, without saying anything at all.

‘I miss you, brother,’ Blu said.

Flint ruffled her hair. ‘I’m here now.’

Blu tickled Pebble beneath his chin, then she turned to Eska and shot out a little hand. ‘Who you? I’m Blu.’

Eska blinked. ‘I’m—’

Her words were cut short by a thump. Tomkin had leapt down from his swing and was striding across the room. He drew himself up before them – a necklace of razor-sharp bear claws splayed around his neck, a large knife hanging from his belt – and Eska found the words drying up in her mouth.

Tomkin jabbed a finger in Eska’s direction. ‘Who is she?’

‘She’s not a spy, Tomkin,’ Flint said quickly. There were murmurs from the swings around them. ‘At least, I’m almost certain that she’s not. I met her at Winterfang.’

Tomkin’s eyes blazed. ‘Winterfang? Why were you at the Ice Queen’s palace?’

‘I was trying to rescue Ma.’

‘Of all the reckless, stupid, irresponsible things you’ve done,’ Tomkin spat, ‘this is the worst.’

Blu clung on to Flint’s arm. ‘Be nice, Tomkin. Be nice to brother.’

But Tomkin didn’t even look at his sister. Instead, he narrowed his eyes at Flint. ‘You’re still inventing things, aren’t you? Even though I told you to stop.’

‘No . . . Definitely not.’ Flint grimaced, knowing how hollow his words sounded. He’d never been a good liar.

‘You made a bunch of stupid objects that you thought could help rescue Ma,’ Tomkin hissed, ‘but they didn’t work! They never work, Flint! When will you learn that magic can’t be trusted?’

Blu put her hands over her ears.

‘You’re not an inventor. You’re a warrior. Like the rest of the Fur Tribe. Or at least you’re meant to be.’ Tomkin shot a glance at Pebble who was peeping out of Flint’s hood. ‘And it’s high time you dumped that fox pup back in the wild where it belongs. When we found its mother dead last spring, you were told to drown the pup because it wouldn’t survive without her.’ He shook Flint by the shoulders and Pebble leapt down from Flint’s hood and cowered behind Eska. ‘You’re too old for pets now – and you’re too old for me to be rushing around Deeproots, trying to find you.’

Flint shrunk inside his furs. The whole tribe was listening to what a terrible disappointment he was – even Eska now knew it – and the shame burned his cheeks.

Blu let out a whimper and Flint stroked her hair. ‘You’re upsetting Blu,’ he said quietly.

‘I’m upsetting Blu?’ Tomkin spat. ‘You ran away!’ For a moment, his eyes softened. ‘Imagine if you hadn’t come back . . .’

Flint reached out to touch the necklace his little sister wore, the one he had made by attaching a rabbit paw to a loop of willow twine. It was a good-luck talisman, or so the carvings he’d found in the woods claimed, and Flint hoped that it would keep his sister safe.

‘I’d always come back, Blu,’ he whispered. ‘Always.’

Blu wriggled free and poked Tomkin in the stomach. ‘Not nice words. Be friends.’

Tomkin sighed. ‘We spent months and months building this hideaway, Flint. We can’t afford to have the Ice Queen and her spies following your tracks and finding us.’

Flint shook his head. ‘It snowed last night; our tracks are covered – until Deeproots at least. I wouldn’t put us in danger.’

There were more mumblings from the Fur Tribe, then someone called out, ‘What about the girl? Why’s she here? We’ve no room for outsiders!’

Eska took a small step behind Flint.

‘This is Eska,’ Flint said to his brother. ‘I don’t really know who she is, but she was the Ice Queen’s prisoner and I think she knows things that could help us.’

There was a long and painful silence, then Blu turned to Eska, shot out her hand once again and said, ‘I Blu.’

Eska took her hand and tried to smile, but one by one the Fur Tribe stood up on their swings. And that’s when the shouting began.

‘Look at her eyes!’ one girl cried. ‘She’s a Tusk spy!’

‘She’s not welcome here!’ a boy shrieked.

‘She’s the Ice Queen’s pet!’

‘Tell her to leave!’

‘We can fight our rebellion without an outsider!’

Tomkin put up his hand and the voices were quelled. ‘That’s enough. I need to speak with my brother alone.’

Flint turned to Eska, then pointed to an empty hammock beside them. ‘Sit there,’ he said, ‘and don’t attempt any conversations.’

Eska seemed about to say something, but Tomkin was already marching off between the swings and Flint had to hurry to keep up. The tribe were muttering now, casting fierce looks towards the visitor sitting by the door, but Flint ignored them. He ignored Tomkin whispering to Blade, Tomkin’s second in command, as they passed, too, but, as he stooped to enter a small tent made of caribou skins at the far end of the room, he glanced back towards Eska. Blu was chattering away to her and Pebble was hopping between them. He paused for a second. There was something about this girl, something he couldn’t put his finger on. She wasn’t strong or impressive and yet he was starting to believe that there was something special about her voice, something secret and important.

He ducked inside the tent to find his brother sitting on a stool. Barely taking a breath, Tomkin launched into his lecture.

‘The Fur Tribe fight with weapons, not far-fetched ideas. And you need to remember that.’

Flint wanted to tell Tomkin about how well his gyrfalcon whistle had worked, and about how he had so nearly managed to reach their ma. But Tomkin raised a hand before those sentences could unravel and, with a heavy heart, Flint filled his brother in on all that he had seen and heard in Winterfang Palace and about the things Eska had told him of the Ice Queen’s plans.

‘What if Eska could help us?’ Flint said.

Tomkin snorted. ‘That runt you dragged in? She’d be of no help to anyone. And a voice, Flint? Even from you, that type of thinking is ridiculous. How could a voice beat the Ice Queen? You’ve been spun a line by that girl.’

‘At least speak to Eska,’ Flint muttered. He got up to go. ‘Just listen to what she has to say, then you can decide.’

Tomkin sighed. ‘There’s no point, Flint.’

‘There might be!’ With that, he hurried from the tent to go and find Eska, but, as he wove through the ropes, he noticed how quiet the room was. The rest of the Fur Tribe were crouched on their swings, watching him with slitted eyes, and, when Flint reached the door, he saw that only Blu and Pebble were on the hammock.

Eska was nowhere to be seen.

Flint made a dash towards the door, but a bulky boy clad in lynx furs blocked his way.

‘Whose side are you on, Flint?’ Blade asked.

And Flint realised then what had happened, why Tomkin had whispered to Blade on his way to the tent.

‘You made her leave, didn’t you?’ he said quietly. ‘On Tomkin’s orders.’

Blade raised his chin. ‘She didn’t belong here. Tomkin’s right. We can’t trust outsiders at a time like this.’

Flint chewed his lip. Back at the food store he had planned to abandon Eska if Tomkin saw no use for her, but then he’d seen her with the eagle – so stubborn and fierce – and something inside him had shifted. There was more to Eska than first met the eye. Yes, she’d messed up his chances of freeing his ma, but did she really deserve to be cast out? And what if her voice really was the key to defeating the Ice Queen? Flint glanced up at the Fur Tribe and tried to read their faces, but one by one they turned away so that he was left looking at a sea of backs.

And then Tomkin emerged from the tent and made his way through the swings towards his brother. ‘It’s time to grow up, Flint. We need warriors, not dreamers, to bring the rest of our tribe home.’

Blu picked up Pebble and stroked his head. ‘Where your friend, Flint? I like friend.’

Flint felt something tug inside him, but he shook it away, remembering instead the humiliation of being shouted at by Tomkin in front of everyone – and he turned his heart in the direction of his tribe.

‘She wasn’t my friend,’ he muttered. ‘She was a stupid Tusk spy.’