Firestone Hot Springs enthralled

"There's a song for everything, where I come from," Grayday said with a wistful smile. Part of him wished he'd been able to retain them all - but who needed to know seven different songs about digging, and twelve different songs about women, and at least nine for every season? Still, he might ask Sunspot, the next time he saw her, to sing the song of the woman who dies in childbirth.

He fell silent for a moment, thinking of Heartha. Thinking of the tiny babes she should be revelling in. Thinking of poor, broken Howl. Thinking of the curse. Thinking about how seven women, now - seven women that he knows of - had now either died or gone missing shortly after giving birth.

He tucked his nose into Catori's damp fur, glad to escape for a little while.