With a wince, Lewis felt the thorns of the bush pull at his trousers as he brushed past them, walking half on the path and half off it. Beside him, he felt Olivia twitch; her response was the same as his as she brushed against the bushes on the other side of the path.

For two weeks they had been walking, and minus a couple of occasions, the entire journey so far had been carried out in silence. Despite his questions about where they were heading, Ellen and Wilson remained silent. He hadn't succeeded in getting more than a couple of words out of Olivia, who was currently bound to him by the wrist. To begin with, Lewis had assumed that Ellen had tied them together to prevent him from attempting to escape, but now he wasn't so sure.

From what he had seen, Ellen thought of Olivia as a burden, often only releasing her to help set up camp and cook dinner. It seemed as though they treated her just as badly as he did. On the days he questioned them, he was made to go without meals, left tethered to a nearby tree, or whatever they deemed substantial enough to stop him escaping. Those were the nights that he got the chance to speak to Olivia. She didn't know much about what was going on; Ellen and Wilson were keeping her in the dark as well, but she had been able to tell him a bit about where they were going. If there was a way to get out of this mess, then Olivia might be the key. But for that, he needed to be able to talk to her.

'Ellen, how far left do we have to walk?' He asked loudly.

'A long way,' she replied after a long pause.

'So, where are we right now?'

'West of Porthton,' Ellen said bluntly.

'When are we stopping to make camp?' Lewis asked. He wasn't used to getting answers from Ellen, but now was the one time that he didn't want them. Lewis needed her to push him away from them if he wanted to be able to speak to Olivia again.

'That's enough. No more questions,' Ellen snapped, glancing back at him venomously.

'You don't know then?' he said. Even though he was half a dozen paces behind her, he could almost feel her anger building. One more product should do it. 'Do you?'

'Don't question me!' Ellen shouted, spinning on her heel. With a snap, the back of her hand caught Lewis across the jaw as he almost walked into her. Behind him, he heard Wilson chuckle. On his right, Olivia froze like a startled deer, unsure what to do.

'I was just wondering,' Lewis said, taking a step back carefully.

For a moment, he thought that Ellen was going to hit him again, but instead she turned away from him, dropping the heavy rucksack on her back at his feet. 'Set up camp,' she instructed before striding off the path and into the forest. Wilson followed suit a few seconds later, pausing only to sever the bindings between Lewis and Olivia before heading off in the same direction as Ellen.

'Why did you do that? You know they won't give you anything to eat if you question them,' Olivia whispered, despite the fact that both Ellen and Wilson were well out of earshot.

'It doesn't matter,' Lewis said, although his rumbling stomach disagreed loudly.

'Starving yourself to death won't free you from the bond,' she said, pulling off the rope that had been used to bind their wrists together.

'I didn't think it would,' he sighed, as he opened one of the rucksacks at his feet and began pulling out the tent inside.

'Then why did you do it?'

'Because I can't talk to you when they're around,' he said as he started to slot together the metal poles of the simple A-frame tents they had been living in for the past two weeks.

'What?' Olivia asked, taken aback.

'They treat you just as badly as me,' Lewis said. 'It's as if you're a burden to them as well.'

'And I'm sure that they'll punish me because you started asking questions again,' she snapped bitterly, preferring to watch Lewis fumble with the tent rather than help.

'Why do you stay then? You aren't bound by the bond, are you?' Lewis asked.

'No, I'm not, thank you very much,' Olivia replied, an offended look on her face. 'I live and serve at the tower because it is my calling, my destiny. It is my duty to the great precursors; they chose me to train the offspring of their kind.'

'Really? Or is that just what they told you?' Lewis asked, pausing to look at her once he had secured the canvas to the poles tightly.

'It is,' she replied, hesitating for a moment. 'They told me that as well.'

'Olivia, there's no such thing as destiny,' Lewis said gently.

'And how could you possibly know that?'

'In Tristan, they said it was my destiny to be King,' Lewis explained. 'I can't tell you the number of times I could have and should have died since I found out that I was the heir to the throne.'

'But you didn't die; surely that is proof that you are meant to do something more in this life,' Olivia argued, finally consenting to help Lewis as he pulled the other tent from the second rucksack. Between them, they carried it a short distance from where Lewis had pitched the other one.

'There were many times that I could have given up. But I didn't; I carried on fighting because I didn't want to die,' Lewis said.

'That doesn't mean that there is no such thing as destiny, just that you have the basic human instinct to survive,' Olivia said.

'The point I'm trying to make is that we all have our own free will and the right to choose what we want to do and who we want to become,' he said. 'You don't have to do this. You aren't tied down by the bond; you're free to walk away at any point. They have no right to treat you the way they do. No one does.'

For a moment, Olivia paused, considering him as he stood in front of her, his hand outstretched with a small bundle of tent pegs resting on his palm. 'That might just be the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me,' she said quietly.

'I can show you that world, the world you deserve to live in,' Lewis whispered, checking to make sure that Ellen and Wilson were still out of sight. 'All you have to do is tell me how to break the bond.'

Before Olivia could respond, there was a crack from behind him as a branch broke. Looking around, Lewis saw Wilson trampling through the low undergrowth, a stack of dead branches cradled in his arms. 'What's going on here?' he demanded, freezing when he saw the two of them standing so close together.

'I was just giving Olivia the pegs for the tent,' Lewis said quickly, pushing the pegs into her hands before she could say anything.

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'Right,' Wilson muttered as he seemed to lose interest in the conversation, preferring to turn his attention to the bundle of wood in his arms. 'You had better get started on the fire before Ellen comes back. Don't think it will get you any sympathy from her, though,' he added, dropping the wood at Lewis' feet before turning and disappearing into the tent that Lewis had already set up.

With a glance in Olivia's direction, Lewis scooped up the firewood, moving away from the tents in search of a suitable place to light the campfire. He might not have had much time to speak to her, but it seemed like he might have managed to sway her a little with the talk of freedom. Now he just needed the opportunity to find out if she could help him get out of this stupid bond that was keeping him tied to Ellen and her bizarre cult. How long would it be before he got that chance, though? Surely Wilson would tell Ellen what he had seen at the first opportunity.

'Why isn't that fire lit yet?' Ellen demanded, appearing from the trees to his left.

'Wilson only just got back with the wood,' Lewis muttered, preparing himself for another strike from the back of her hand. Instead of hitting him, she huffed loudly and stormed off in the direction of the tent Wilson had disappeared into earlier. For the first time in two weeks, Lewis felt hope as he dropped the wood in a heap and began making the fire.

In the last half-year, Lewis had had plenty of practise making fires while he and Emily had been on the run. Now, it had become second nature to him as he crouched down on the dry ground, a small pile of dry ferns beside him, to get the fire started.

For the first time in two weeks, he found himself completely alone. On their journey north, there had always been at least one member of The Dawn with him at all times. As he looked around the forest, he considered simply standing up and walking off into the trees. The urge to leave had almost overtaken him when he heard soft footsteps behind him.

'Don't do it,' Olivia said quietly, stopping at his side.

'Don't do what?' he asked, looking up at her.

'What you're thinking about doing,' she said.

'How do you know what I'm thinking?' Lewis said as he began to build the fire with one hand while he rummaged through one of the rucksacks with the other, searching for the box of matches.

'It's all you ever think about,' Olivia said gently.

'Don't tell me you don't think of your home as well,' he said as he pulled a box-like object from the book.

'The tower is my home,' she said.

'You must have had a home before that, though; what about family?' he asked as he looked down at the object. It wasn't the box of matches he had been looking for. Instead, it was a black, leather-bound book. Across both covers, there were a series of ridges forming a pattern.

'I don't remember; my family has been dead since before I can remember,' she said quietly as she watched him turn the book over. 'What are you doing with that?'

'What is it?' he asked, lifting the front cover gently.

Lewis had barely opened the cover far enough to catch a glimpse of the yellowish paper inside when there was a tremendous bang, and with a flash of light, he found himself thrown backwards, crashing against the side of the tent he had set up with Olivia. With a clatter of poles, the tent collapsed on top of him, the canvas engulfing him.

'What in the name of the precursors is going on out here?' a woman screamed. Lewis knew that there was only going to be one person wanting answers as he untangled himself from the collapsed tent. Standing over Olivia beside the unlit fire was Ellen. He thought he had seen her angry before, but this was a whole different level.

'It was my fault,' Lewis said, getting to his feet unsteadily. With a wince, he hobbled back towards the fire. He was halfway across the clearing when Ellen's eyes fell on the black book at her feet.

In an instant, she had turned on Lewis. As she raised her hand as if she were holding someone at arm’s length, he felt intense pressure on his own throat. He could barely breathe, trying to claw at the invisible hand on his neck. Through watering eyes, he saw Olivia scrambling to her feet.

'Let him go!' she shouted, throwing all her weight at Ellen. The grip on Lewis' neck released as the two women tumbled to the ground. Holding his throat, Lewis gasped for air.

At the sound of the commotion, Wilson bundled out of his tent, surveying the scene. On the ground, Ellen threw Olivia off her roughly, getting her to her feet again. No longer interested in Lewis, Ellen stared Olivia down as she got to her feet carefully. It was only while standing away from them that Lewis spotted a dark figure on the edge of the treeline, partly concealed in the darkness. Although he couldn't make out much, he saw a bow poking out into the clearing, an arrow aimed at Ellen's back.

He remembered the bond suddenly. If Ellen died, then so would Emily. Dropping his head, Lewis sprinted across the clearing. It wasn't until the last moment that Ellen and Olivia looked around, just as he collided with them, forcing them both to the ground. As they fell, Lewis heard the arrow zip over their heads, striking something with a thud.

'What are you doing?' Ellen demanded, shoving him as hard as she could.

'Shut up and stay behind me,' Lewis snapped, holding Olivia back for good measure as he looked at the spot where he had seen the figure in the darkness.

No longer lingering on the edge of the clearing, a man a good six inches taller than Lewis stood out in the open, a fresh arrow trained on the three of them. Behind him, half a dozen men appeared, each armed with a bow of their own and as huge as the man leading them. Unlike the clothes Lewis was wearing, their clothes looked to be made from animal hides, but it was the white markings painted on their dark skin that drew his attention.

'What are you doing so deep in our forest, outsiders?' The man at the front asked, his bow not leaving Ellen, who was half hidden behind Lewis.

'Your forest?' Lewis asked.

'This is the Cimant Forest. I am Nirra Ceoceo, chief warrior and hunter of the Cimant Tribe. You are trespassing on our land, outsider,' Nirra said as he stepped forward.

'I'm sorry, we didn't know this was your land,' Lewis said.

'This isn't your land; it belongs to the world,' Ellen snapped, pushing her way past Lewis. In an instant, she had seven arrows trained on her.

'No, no!' Lewis said, dragging her back before any more arrows were let loose. 'She doesn't know what she's talking about.'

'She is dangerous,' Nirra noted. He must have seen what she had done to him. 'She should be eliminated.'

'No,' Lewis said quickly, stepping in front of her.

'You think you can bargain with us? On our land?' Nirra demanded.

'If I can't, then why haven't you killed the four of us already?' Lewis asked.

'But I have killed one of you,' Nirra said. Wait, Ellen and Olivia were right behind him, Lewis thought. Wilson, he realised suddenly.

He had heard the arrow hit something and just assumed that it was a tree on the other side of the clearing. Turning, he saw Wilson lying on his back in the dirt, Nirra's arrow buried in his chest. It had pierced his skin right above his heart.

'You will pay for this!' Ellen shouted as she forced her way past Lewis while he was distracted. For a moment, she seemed so full of confidence as she strode towards Nirra, at least until he lifted his bow, pressing the tip of the arrow against her forehead when she got close enough.

'Your life does not matter to me, woman!' Nirra spoke menacingly. 'We want him.'

'Well, you can't have him,' Ellen snapped childishly. 'I found him first; he belongs to The Dawn.'

'He is on our territory; he belongs to us,' Nirra said, nodding in Lewis' direction. 'As do both of you.'

'We belong to The Dawn,' Ellen said forcefully.

'Then I hope they will accept you in the next world,' Nirra said as he tightened his grip on the arrow.

'Wait!' Lewis said desperately, pulling Ellen away from Nirra roughly and placing himself at the tip of the arrow. 'Why do you want me?'

'Elder Eal'vara seeks a husband for his daughter. You have been selected,' Nirra said. 'You will come with us to the village.'

'And if I refuse?'

'Your friends will die, starting with the angry one,' Nirra said, nodding at Ellen. 'Then we will take you to the village by force.'

'If I consent to come with you, then they will be spared,' Lewis said. He had to keep Ellen alive somehow. Not for her sake but for Emily's.

'I guess we could allow them to leave,' Nirra said hesitantly, glancing at the warriors behind him.

'No, they come with me as well,' Lewis said. He didn't trust Ellen to leave her bond with Emily alone if he let her out of his sight.

'They are not wanted by the village.'

'Then make them want it,' Lewis said. 'Either they come with me or we all walk out of here freely.'

'And how would you possibly walk free? All three of you are unarmed against the seven finest warriors and hunters the Cimant Tribe has to offer,' Nirra said.

'You saw what she did before you attacked; that is why you targeted her,' Lewis said. 'What you saw scared you. How do you know that I don't possess powers far worse?'

Silently, Nirra turned his back on the three of them, wordlessly consulting with the six men behind him. After a minute or so, he turned back to Lewis. 'They will be taken to the village also,' he said.

'Good,' Lewis said.

'We leave for the village now,' Nirra said. 'If they impede our progress, then they will be killed.'

With Nirra's threat hanging in the air, he turned, striding into the forest as the six men parted to allow him through. 'Come on,' Lewis muttered as he watched Ellen scramble to collect all her possessions.

'What are you doing?' Olivia asked quietly as Ellen shoved the black book back into her backpack.

'Keeping you alive,' he said, ushering Ellen ahead of him as they followed Nirra into the forest.