‘No, I’m not a witch!’ cried the human girl. ‘I’m the Qu—’ She stopped.

‘The what?’ demanded Flax.

The girl looked over her shoulder at the building. She looked back at Flax and the pup. She bit her lip. ‘I’m the qu— the quite ordinary fourth chambermaid.’

Flax decided to believe her, because the day had been long and frightening, and she didn’t think she could deal with a witch right now.

(Or ever, to be honest.)

But the sooner we get away from here, the better, she thought. We’ve got enough problems without getting mixed up with humans. They’re not as bad as witches or dragons or griv. But they’re still trouble.

She sheathed the sword and picked up her satchel. ‘Nice to meet you, quite ordinary fourth chambermaid—’

‘My name is F— er – Rose.’

‘Feroze?’ said the pup.

‘No. Just Rose.’

Flax put on a polite smile. ‘Nice to meet you, Rose. But we must be—’

‘What’s a Spe—?’ asked the human.

‘Nothing,’ Flax said quickly. She definitely wasn’t going to tell the human about Spellhounds. Even if she wasn’t a witch. ‘I mean – um – it’s a special dog. But only because he’s so big. And he can talk. Apart from that, he’s completely ordinary, aren’t you, pup?’

‘I am?’ The pup tipped his head to one side.

‘You are,’ said Flax. ‘Now, we must go.’

‘But where did you come from?’ asked Rose.

The pup, who was much too trusting, wagged his tail. ‘We come from the F—’

‘The Far Away,’ interrupted Flax. ‘The Far, Far Away. Too far for you to bother with. And it’s a completely boring place, no one ever wants to go there. Now, if you’ll excuse us, we must—’

‘Why did you come here?’ asked Rose.

And before Flax could think of an answer, the pup blurted, ‘The dragon.’

Rose’s eyes widened. ‘What dragon?’

‘It stole my parents,’ said the pup. ‘We’re going to find them and get them back.’

Rose put her hand over her mouth. ‘The dragon stole my parents, too! I – I want to go with you!’