But this morning there are only the lyrical whistles of crimson rosellas and king parrots. We leave in groups – first the three teams, spread no more than two minutes apart from first soldier to last, vital to ensure the three main teams travel through the same landscape and arrive together. Gabriel and Uri have each brought eight of their best soldiers, making nine per team, called A and B. They will support Team One – my team of Michael, Isaac, Shae, Tash, Jez, Solomon and my brother Jerome and his wife Sami, the pair whose ability to become invisible will be invaluable on this mission. Close behind the teams are the rest of Gabriel’s soldiers. They will follow in staggered units of five hundred at a time, until eventually ten thousand will set up camp at the blue light, the only Crossing landscape that doesn’t shift. There, they will split into two units. One will build the wall that will reinforce the gates once we bring Ebony through and I have fulfilled my promise to the High King, the other will patrol the gates before, during and after construction, no matter how long it takes, ensuring nothing leaves Skade for the next hundred years.
