For another moment or two, he saw nothing. Then a shadowy figure came round the castle corner and began to hurry across the courtyard in front of him, every now and then looking back as if in fear of pursuit. He debated whether to call out, bring their presence here out into the open as surely whoever it was could not be here for any legitimate reason. The Lammassers rarely travelled at night as it was too dangerous, or had been before and during the wars. However, he himself had been an interloper once, so what right did he have to call attention to another? But he needed to know who it was, come what may. He leant further out of the window but still could not see enough, only that it was a woman and she was carrying something in her arms. By now she was nearly at the stream and then his chance would have gone, and something in his mind and the way the cane was flooding its warmth through him told him more than anything how important this might be. At the last moment, before she disappeared from view, white feathers swept across the moon and dazzled the water where the unknown woman was poised to cross.
