In less than an hour, he’d likely be dead. And yet all he could think about were his boots. *Why*, he wondered, *had they taken his boots?"

The guards were frogmarching him through the cave. Every few steps one of Otis’s bare feet would slip on a deposit of algae or slime, and the guards would haul him upright again and bark insults or instructions in his ear. “Get up, traitor. It’ll be worse for you if we keep him waiting.”

The cave was lit by a long string of LED bulbs, fixtures drilled into the cave wall every few metres. They cast a dazzling blueish light over the glistening rock, the three figures casting a distorted shadow on the crags of the opposite wall as they marched towards the palace. *God, his feet didn’t half hurt*.

Another stumble and a shouted curse from the guard suddenly made Otis aware of the noise in the cave. The man had to shout to be heard over the din. Otis had dimly registered a hissing as they’d made their halting progress through the tunnel, but it grown to a thunderous, echoing roar. They must be close.

They turned a corner, it was as if earplugs had been removed from Otis’s ears. The roar became louder still, and clearer, and it was immediately obvious why: they had entered a vast circular cavern enclosed on one side by a monstrous waterfall. The shimmering blue cascade formed a semi-circle around them, and even at his current distance Otis could feel a cold mist-like spray of droplets on his bare skin.

Transfixed by the spectacle, he realised his mouth was open. He strained against the grip of the guards on his upper arms. If he could only get to the water, just reach out a hand to feel it rush over him, he could die satisfied, he thought.

“At last!” shouted a high-pitched male voice. Otis peeled his eyes away from the water and saw him: Lord Hemel, dressed in plain black overalls and holding a small cup in long fingered hands. “My poor child, straying so far from the flock. You must be exhausted. Here -“

And to Otis’s astonishment Hemel held out the cup for him to take a sip. He half expected to wretch, for the cup to contain urine or poison or worse, but it was water. Crisp, clean water.