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was staring at him intently. Be careful what you say – or even think , that was what his father had told him. Twig stared back at the quivering-eared nightwaif and shivered with anxiety.

    ‘The rudder-wheel, eh?’ he heard Mother Horsefeather saying. The pleasantries were clearly over. ‘It sounds important.’
    ‘It is,’ Cloud Wolf agreed.
    ‘And therefore costly?’
    Cloud Wolf nodded.
    ‘Well, I’m sure we can come to some agreement,’ she said brightly. ‘So long as the quality of the ironwood lives up to my expectations.’
    Twig felt the blood drain from his face as the enormity of what he had done suddenly struck home. Because of him, the Stormchaser would never fly again. His heart pounded loudly. And when Forficule leaned across and whispered to Mother Horsefeather behind his hand, it pounded louder still.
    The bird-woman's eyes gleamed. ‘So, Wolfie,’ she said, ‘ will it live up to my expectations, do you think?’ She leaned forwards and thrust her beak into his face. ‘Or is there something you’d like to tell me?’ she demanded, her voice suddenly clipped and hard.
    ‘Tell you? I…’ he began, scratching behind his eye-patch. ‘That is…’ He glanced round at his son. Twighad never seen him look so weary, so old before.
    ‘Well?’ Mother Horsefeather demanded.
    ‘We did have rather an unfortunate set-back,’ Cloud Wolf agreed. ‘But nothing that can’t be put right on our next voyage…’
    ‘You seem to forget,’ she interrupted brusquely, ‘that you owe me ten thousand already. And that's before interest. Plus, of course, the cost of a new rudder-wheel…’ She paused dramatically, and began preening her neck feathers carelessly. ‘I’m not sure there should be a next voyage.’
    Twig shrivelled up inside.
    ‘Unless,’ she went on slyly, ‘it is on my terms.’
    Cloud Wolf did not flinch. ‘And those terms would be?’ he said calmly.
    Mother Horsefeather pulled herself to her scaly feet and turned around. She clasped her hands behind her. Cloud Wolf and Twig stared at her back expectantly. A half-smile played over Forficule's lips.
    ‘We go back a long way, Cloud Wolf; you and I,’ she said. ‘Despite your current, unfortunate financial problems, you are still the finest sky pirate captain there is – after all, it was hardly your fault that the Stormchaser became riddled with woodbugs.’ She stepped forwards. ‘Therefore it is to you that I come with what will surely prove to be your greatest challenge. If you are successful, your debts will be cancelled at a stroke.’
    Cloud Wolf eyed her mistrustfully. ‘And what's in it for you?’
    ‘Oh, Wolfie, Wolfie,’ she said, and cackled withlaughter. ‘You know me so well.’ Her beady eyes glinted. ‘A great deal, that's all I am prepared to say for now.’
    ‘But…’
    ‘Save your questions until I have explained,’ Mother Horsefeather interrupted sharply. She breathed in. ‘I have been approached,’ she said, ‘by the P…’
    Forficule coughed loudly.
    ‘… by … a Sanctaphrax academic,’ Mother Horsefeather continued. ‘He wishes to get his hands on some stormphrax – lots of it – and he will pay handsomely for the privilege.’
    Cloud Wolf snorted. ‘If he needs stormphrax, then why doesn’t he simply raid the treasury,’ he said. ‘From what I’ve heard, everyone else does these days.’
    Mother Horsefeather stared at him impassively. ‘It is to replenish the depleted stocks in the treasury that the stormphrax is needed,’ she said. ‘Too much has been taken for phraxdust already,’ she continued, glancing down at the silver medallion around her own neck. ‘Not that anyone has actually been successful – but if nothing is done, then the floating rock will break its moorings and Sanctaphrax will drift off. Into open sky. For ever.’
    ‘Pah,’ Cloud Wolf spat. ‘Sanctaphrax. What good has that place ever done me?’
    Mother Horsefeather clucked with irritation. ‘Sanctaphrax