“Yes.” Louise nodded.
Titreano glanced at the passive cob, then the stallion. “If you are serious in your intent, you should travel together in your caravan. None of you has a saddle, and this mighty beast has the look of Hercules about him. I’ll wager he can maintain a steady pace for many hours.”
“Brilliant,” Carmitha snorted. She hopped down onto the hard-packed dirt of the road and slapped the side of her ruined caravan. “We’ll just wait here for a wheelwright to come along, shall we?”
Titreano smiled. He walked over to the ditch where the wheel had fallen in.
Carmitha’s next acidic phrase died unspoken as he righted the wheel and pushed it (one-handed!) up out of the ditch, treating it as though it were a child’s hoop. The wheel was five feet in diameter, and made of good, heavy tythorn wood. Three strong men would struggle to lift it between them.
“My God.” She wasn’t sure if she should be thankful or horrified at such a demonstration. If all of them were like him, then hope had deserted Norfolk long ago.
Titreano reached the caravan and bent down.
“You’re not going to . . .”
He lifted it by the front corner—two, three feet off the road. Carmitha watched as the broken axle slowly straightened itself. The splintered fracture in the middle blurred, then for a brief moment the wood appeared to run like a liquid. It solidified. And the axle was whole again.
Titreano jemmied the wheel back onto the bearing.
“What are you?” Carmitha whispered weakly.
“I have already explained, my lady,” Titreano said. “What I can never do is bring you to believe what I am. That must come of its own accord, as God wills.”
He went over to the stallion and held his arms up. “Come on, little one, down you come.”
Genevieve hesitated.
“Go on,” Louise said quietly. Plainly, if Titreano had wanted to harm them, he would have done it by now. The more she saw of these strange people, the more her heart blackened. What could possibly fight such power?
Genevieve smiled scampishly and swung a leg over the stallion. She slithered down his flank into Titreano’s grip.
“Thank you,” she said as he put her down. “And thank you for helping us, too.”
“How could I not? I may be damned, but I am not devoid of honour.”
Louise got most of the way down the stallion before she accepted his steadying hand. She managed a fast, embarrassed grin of thanks.
“I’m sore all over,” Genevieve complained, hands rubbing her bottom.
“Where to?” Louise asked Carmitha.
“I’m not sure,” the Romany replied. “There should be a lot of my folk in the caves above Holbeach. We always gather there if there’s any kind of trouble abroad. You can hold those caves for a long time; they’re high in the cliffs, not easy to reach.”
“It would be a short siege this time, I fear,” Titreano said.
“You got a better idea?” she snapped back.
“You cannot stay on this island, not if you wish to escape possession. Does this world have ships?”
“Some,” Louise said.
“Then you should try to buy passage.”
“To go where?” Carmitha asked. “If your kind really are after bodies, exactly where would be safe?”
“That would depend on how swiftly your leaders rally. There will be war, many dreadful battles. There can be nothing less. Both our kinds are fighting for their very existence.”
“Then we must go to Norwich, the capital,” Louise said decisively. “We must warn the government.”
“Norwich is five thousand miles away,” Carmitha said. “A ship would take weeks.”
“We can’t hide here and do nothing.”
“I’m not risking myself on some foolhardy errand, girl. Fat lot of good you precious landowners will be, anyway. What has Norfolk got which can fight off the likes of him?” She waved a hand towards Titreano.
“The Confederation Navy squadron is still here,” Louise said, her voice raised now. “They have fabulous weapons.”
“Of mass destruction. How’s that going to help people who have been possessed? We need to break the possession, not slaughter the afflicted.”
They glared at each other.
“There’s an aeroambulance based at Bytham,” Genevieve said brightly. “That could reach Norwich in five hours.”
Louise and Carmitha stared at her. Then Louise broke into a grin and kissed her sister. “Now who’s the clever one?”
Genevieve smiled around pertly. Titreano made a face at her, and she giggled.
Carmitha glanced down the road. “Bytham’s about a seven hour journey from here. Assuming we don’t run into any more problems.”
“We won’t,” Genevieve said. She took hold of Titreano’s hand. “Not with you with us.”
He grinned halfheartedly. “I . . .”
“You’re not going to leave us alone,” a suddenly stricken Genevieve asked.
“Of course not, little one.”
“That’s that, then.”
Carmitha shook her head. “I must be bloody mad even thinking of doing this. Louise, tether your horse to the caravan.”
Louise did as she was told. Carmitha climbed back up on the caravan, regarding it suspiciously as she put her weight on the driver’s seat. “How long is that repair going to last for?”
“I’m not quite sure,” Titreano said apologetically. He helped Genevieve up beside Carmitha, then hoisted himself up.
When Louise clambered up, the narrow seat was cramped. She was pressed against Titreano, and not quite sure how she should react to such proximity. If only it were Joshua, she thought wistfully.