'No.' Glokta's eyes drifted over the wreckage. 'I think he might be dead. But how did it happen?'

Frost fixed him with a pink eye and raised a white eyebrow. 'Poithon?'

Severard spluttered with shrill laughter under his mask. Even Glokta allowed himself a chuckle. 'Clearly. But how did our poison get in?'

'Open wi'ow,' mumbled Frost, pointing at the floor.

Glokta limped into the room, careful not to let his feet or his cane touch the sticky mess of blood and feathers. 'So, our poison saw the lamp burning, just as we did. He entered via the downstairs window. He climbed silently up the stairs.' Glokta turned the corpse's hands over with the tip of his cane. A few specks of blood from the neck, but no damage to the knuckles or the fingers. He did not struggle. He was taken by surprise. He craned forward and peered at the gaping wound.

'A single, powerful cut. Probably with a knife.'

'And Villem dan Robb has sprung a most serious leak,' said Severard.

'And we are short one informant,' mused Glokta. There had been no blood in the corridor. Our man took pains not to get his feet wet while searching the room, however messy it may look. He was not angry or afraid. It was just a job.

'The killer was a professional,' murmured Glokta, 'he came here with murder in mind. Then perhaps he made this little effort to give the appearance of a burglary, who can say? Either way, the Arch Lector won't be satisfied with a corpse.' He looked up at his two Practicals. 'Who's next on the list?'

This time there had been a struggle, without a doubt. If a one-sided one. Solimo Scandi was sprawled on his side, facing the wall, as though embarrassed by the state of his slashed and tattered nightshirt. There were deep cuts in his forearms. Where he struggled vainly to ward off the blade. He had crawled across the floor, leaving a bloody trail across the highly polished wood. Where he struggled vainly to get away. He had failed. The four gaping knife wounds in his back had been the end of him.

Glokta felt his face twitching as he looked down at the bloody corpse. One body might just be a coincidence. Two make a conspiracy. His eyelid fluttered. Whoever did this knew we were coming, and when, and precisely who for. They are one step ahead of us. More than likely, our list of accomplices has already become a list of corpses. There was a creaking sound behind Glokta and his head whipped round, sending shooting pains down his stiff neck. Nothing but the open window swinging in the breeze. Calm, now. Calm, and think it out.

'It would seem the honourable Guild of Mercers have been doing a little housekeeping.'

'How could they know?' muttered Severard.

How indeed? 'They must have seen Rews' list, or been told who was on it.' And that means . . . Glokta licked at his empty gums. 'Someone inside the Inquisition has been talking.'

For once, Severard's eyes were not smiling. 'If they know who's on the list, they know who wrote it. They know who we are.'

Three more names on the list, perhaps? Down at the bottom? Glokta grinned. How very exciting. 'You scared?'

'I'm not happy, I'll tell you that.' He nodded down at the corpse. 'A knife in the back isn't part of my plan.'

'Nor mine, Severard, believe me.' No indeed. If I die, I'll never know who betrayed us.

And I want to know.

A bright, cloudless spring day, and the park was busy with fops and idlers of every variety. Glokta sat very still on his bench, in the merciful shade of a spreading tree, and stared out at the shimmering greenery, the sparkling water, the happy, the drunken, the colourful revellers. There were people wedged together on the benches around the lake, pairs and groups scattered around the grass, drinking and talking and basking in the sun. There seemed no space for any more.

But no one came and sat next to Glokta. Occasionally somebody would hurry up, hardly able to believe their luck in finding such a spot, then they would see him sitting there. Their faces would fall and they would swerve away, or walk right past as though they had never meant to sit. I drive them away as surely as the plague, but perhaps that's just as well. I don't need their company.

He watched a group of young soldiers rowing a boat on the lake. One of them stood up, wobbling around, holding forth with a bottle in his hand. The boat rocked alarmingly, and his companions shouted at him to get down. Vague gales of good-natured laughter came wafting through the air, delayed a little by the distance. Children. How young they look. How innocent. And such was I, not long ago. It seems a thousand years, though. Longer. It seems a different world.

'Glokta.'

He looked up, shading his eyes with his hand. It was Arch Lector Sult, arrived at last, a tall dark shape against the blue sky. Glokta thought he looked a little more tired, more lined, more drawn than usual as he stared coldly down.

'This had better be interesting.' Sult flicked out the tails of his long white coat and lowered himself gracefully onto the bench. 'The commoners are up in arms again near Keln. Some idiot of a landowner hangs a few peasants and now we have a mess to deal with! How hard can it be to manage a field full of dirt and a couple of farmers? You don't have to treat them well, just as long as you don't hang them!' His mouth was a straight, hard line as he glared out across the lawns. 'This had better be damned interesting.'

Then I'll try not to disappoint you. 'Villem dan Robb is dead.' As though to add emphasis to Glokta's statement, the drunken soldier slipped and toppled over the side of the boat, splashing into the water. His friends' screams of laughter reached Glokta a moment later. 'He was murdered.'

'Huh. It happens. Pick up the next man on the list.' Sult got to his feet, frowning. 'I didn't think you'd need my approval for every little thing. That's why I picked you for this job. Just get on with it!' he snapped as he turned away.

There's no need to rush, Arch Lector. That's the trouble with good legs, you tend to run around too much. If you have trouble moving, on the other hand, you don't move until you damn well know it's time. 'The next man on the list also suffered a mishap.'

Sult turned back, one eyebrow slightly raised. 'He did?'

'They all did.'

The Arch Lector pursed his lips, sat back down on the bench. 'All of them?'

'All of them.'

'Hmm,' mused Sult. 'That is interesting. The Mercers are cleaning up, are they? I hardly expected such ruthlessness. Times have changed, alright, times have certainly . . .' He trailed off, slowly starting to frown. 'You think someone gave them Rews' list, don't you? You think one of ours has been talking. That's why you asked me to come here, isn't it?'

Did you think I was just avoiding the stairs? 'Each one of them killed? Each and every name on our list? The very night we go to arrest them? I am not a great believer in coincidences.' Are you, Arch Lector?

He was evidently not. His face had turned very grim. 'Who saw the confession?'

'Me, and my two Practicals, of course.'

'You have absolute confidence in them?'

'Absolute.' There was a pause. The boat was drifting, rudderless, as the soldiers scrambled about, oars sticking up in the air, the man in the water splashing and laughing, spraying water over his friends.

'The confession was in my office for some time,' murmured the Arch Lector. 'Some members of my staff could have seen it. Could have.'

'You have absolute confidence in them, your Eminence?'

Sult stared at Glokta for a long, icy moment. 'They wouldn't dare. They know me better than that.'

'That leaves Superior Kalyne,' said Glokta quietly.

The Arch Lector's lips hardly moved as he spoke. 'You must tread carefully, Inquisitor, very carefully. The ground is not at all safe where you are walking. Fools do not become Superiors of the Inquisition, despite appearances. Kalyne has many friends, both within the House of Questions and outside it. Powerful friends. Any accusation against him must be backed up by the very strongest of proof.' Sult stopped suddenly, waiting for a small group of ladies to pass out of earshot. 'The very strongest of proof,' he hissed, once they had moved away. 'You must find me this assassin.'

Easier said than done. 'Of course, your Eminence, but my investigation has reached something of a dead end.'

'Not quite. We still have one card left to play. Rews himself.'

Rews? 'But, Arch Lector, he will be in Angland by now.' Sweating down a mine or some such. If he has even lasted this long.

'No. He is here in the Agriont, under lock and key. I thought it best to hold on to him.' Glokta did his utmost to contain his surprise. Clever. Very clever. Fools do not become Arch Lectors either, it seems. 'Rews will be your bait. I will have my secretary carry a message to Kalyne, letting him know that I have relented. That I am prepared to let the Mercers continue to operate, but under tighter control. That as a gesture of goodwill I have let Rews go. If Kalyne is the source of our leak, I daresay he will let the Mercers know that Rews is free. I daresay they will send this assassin to punish him for his loose tongue. I daresay you could take him while he is trying. If the killer doesn't come, well, we might have to look for our traitor elsewhere, and we have lost nothing.'

'An excellent plan, your Eminence.'

Sult stared at him coldly. 'Of course. You will need somewhere to operate, somewhere far from the House of Questions. I will make the funds available, have Rews delivered to your Practicals, and let you know when Kalyne has the information. Find me this assassin, Glokta, and squeeze him. Squeeze him until the pips squeak.' The boat lurched wildly as the soldiers tried to haul their wet companion in, then it suddenly turned right over, dumping them all into the water.

'I want names,' hissed Sult, glowering at the splashing soldiers, 'I want names, and evidence, and documents, and people who will stand up in Open Council and point fingers.' He stood up smoothly from the bench. 'Keep me informed.' He strode off towards the House of Questions, feet crunching on the gravel of the path, and Glokta watched him go. An excellent plan. I'm glad you're on my side, Arch Lector. You are on my side, aren't you?

The soldiers had succeeded in hauling the upended boat onto the bank and were standing, dripping wet, shouting at one another, no longer so good-humoured. One of the oars was still floating, abandoned in the water, drifting gradually towards the point where the stream flowed from the lake. Soon it would pass under the bridge and be carried out, beneath the great walls of the Agriont and into the moat. Glokta watched it turning slowly round in the water. A mistake. One should attend to the details. It is easy to forget the little things, but without the oar, the boat is useless.

He let his gaze wander across some of the other faces in the park. His eye alighted on a handsome pair sitting on a bench by the lake. The young man was speaking quietly to the girl, a sad and earnest expression on his face. She got up quickly, moving away from him with her hands over her face. Ah, the pain of the jilted lover. The loss, the anger, the shame. It seems as though you'll never recover. What poet was it who wrote there's no pain worse than the pain of a broken heart? Sentimental shit. He should have spent more time in the Emperor's prisons. He smiled, opening his mouth and licking the empty gums where his front teeth used to be. Broken hearts heal with time, but broken teeth never do.

Glokta looked at the young man. He had an expression of slight amusement on his face as he watched the weeping girl walk away. The young bastard! I wonder if he's broken as many hearts as I did, in my youth? It hardly seems possible now. It takes me half an hour just to pluck up the courage to stand. The only women I've made cry lately have been the wives of those I've had exiled to Angland- 'Sand.'

Glokta turned around. 'Lord Marshal Varuz, what an honour. '

'Oh no, no,' said the old soldier, sitting down on the bench with the swift, precise movements of the fencing master. 'You look well,' he said, but without really looking. I look crippled, you mean. 'How are you, my old friend?' I'm crippled, you pompous old ass. And friend, is it? All those years since I came back, and you have never sought me out, not once. Is that a friendship?

'Well enough, thank you, Lord Marshal.'

Varuz shifted uncomfortably on the bench. 'My latest student, Captain Luthar . . . perhaps you know him?'

'We are acquainted.'

'You should see his forms.' Varuz shook his head sadly. 'He has the talent, alright, though he will never be in your class, Sand.' I don't know. I hope some day he'll be just as crippled as I am. 'But he has plenty of talent, enough to win. Only he's wasting it. Throwing it away.' Oh, the tragedy of it. I am so upset I could be sick. Had I eaten anything this morning.

'He is lazy, Sand, and stubborn. He lacks courage. He lacks dedication. His heart is just not in it, and time is running out. I was wondering, if you have the time of course,' Varuz looked Glokta in the eye for just an instant, 'whether you might be able to speak to him for me.'

I can hardly wait! Lecturing that whining ass would be the realisation of all my dreams. You arrogant old dolt, how dare you? You built your reputation on my successes, then when I needed your help you cut me off. And now you come to me, and seek my help, and call me friend?

'Of course, Marshal Varuz, I would be glad to speak to him. Anything for an old friend.'

'Excellent, excellent! I'm sure you'll make all the difference! I train him every morning, in that courtyard near the House of the Maker, where I used to train you . . .' The old Marshal trailed off awkwardly.

'I will come as soon as my duties permit.'

'Of course, your duties . . .' Varuz was already getting up, evidently keen to be on his way. Glokta held out his hand, making the old soldier pause for a moment. You needn't worry, Lord Marshal, I am not contagious. Varuz gave it a limp shake, as though worried it might snap off, then he mumbled his excuses and strode away, head held high. The dripping soldiers bowed and saluted as he walked past, somewhat embarrassed.

Glokta stretched out his leg, wondering whether to get up. And go where? The world will not end if I sit here a moment longer. There is no rush. No rush.

An Offer and a Gift 'And, forward!' bellowed Marshal Varuz. Jezal lurched at him, toes curling round the edges of the beam, trying desperately to keep his balance, making a clumsy lunge or two just to give the impression of his heart being in Four hours of training a day were taking their toll on him, and he felt beyond mere exhaustion.

Varuz frowned and flicked Jezal's blunted steel aside, moving effortlessly along the beam as though it was a garden path. 'And back!'

Jezal stumbled back on his heels, left arm waving stupidly around him in an attempt to keep his balance. Everything above his knees was aching terribly from the effort. Below the knees it was much, much worse. Varuz was over sixty, but he showed no signs of fatigue. He wasn't even sweating as he danced forward down the beam, swishing his steels around. Jezal himself was gasping for air as he parried desperately with his left hand, badly off balance, his right foot fishing in space for the safety of the beam behind him.

'And, forward!' Jezal's calves were agony as he stumbled to change his direction and shove a blow at the infuriating old man, but Varuz did not move back. Instead he ducked under the despairing cut and used the back of his arm to sweep Jezal's feet away.

Jezal let out a howl as the courtyard turned over around him. His leg smacked painfully against the edge of the beam, then he sprawled on his face on the grass, chin thumping into the turf and making his teeth rattle. He rolled a short distance then lay there on his back, gasping like a fish snatched suddenly from the water, leg throbbing where it had collided with the beam on his way down. He would have yet another ugly bruise in the morning.

'Awful, Jezal, awful!' cried the old soldier as he sprang nimbly down onto the lawn. 'You teeter about the beam as though it were a tightrope!' Jezal rolled over, cursing, and started to climb stiffly to his feet. 'It is a solid piece of oak, wide enough to get lost in!' The Lord Marshal illustrated his point by whacking at the beam with his short steel, making splinters fly.

'I thought you said forward,' moaned Jezal.

Varuz' eyebrows went up sharply. 'Do you seriously suppose, Captain Luthar, that Bremer dan Gorst gives his opponents reliable information as to his intentions?'

'Bremer dan Gorst will be trying to beat me, you old shit! You are supposed to be helping me to beat him!' That was what Jezal thought, but he knew better than to say it. He just shook his head dumbly.

'No! No indeed he does not! He makes every effort to deceive and confuse his opponents, as all great swordsmen must!' The Lord Marshal paced up and down, shaking his head. Jezal considered again whether to give it all up. He was sick of falling into bed exhausted each night, at a time when he should have been just starting to get drunk. He was sick of waking up every morning, bruised and aching, to face another four interminable hours of running, beam, bar, forms. He was sick of being knocked on his arse by Major West. Most of all he was sick of being bullied by this old fool.

' . . . A depressing display, Captain, very depressing. I do believe you are actually getting worse ...'

Jezal would never win the Contest. No one expected him to, himself least of all. So why not give it up, and go back to his cards and late nights? Wasn't that all he really wanted from life? But then what would mark him out from a thousand other noble younger sons? He had decided long ago that he wanted to be something special. A Lord Marshal himself perhaps, and then Lord Chamberlain. Something big and important anyway. He wanted a big chair on the Closed Council, and to make big decisions. He wanted people to fawn and smile around him and hang on his every word. He wanted people to whisper, 'There goes Lord Luthar!' as he swept past. Could he be happy being forever a richer, cleverer, better-looking version of Lieutenant Brint? Ugh! It was not to be thought of.

' . . . We have a terribly long way to go, and not enough time to get there, not unless you change your attitude. Your sparring is lamentable, your stamina is still weak, and as for your balance, the less said about that the better ...'

And what would everyone else think if he gave up? What would his father do? What would his brothers say? What about the other officers? He would look a coward. And then there was Ardee West. She seemed to have been much on his mind during the past couple of days. Would she lean so close to him if he didn't fence? Would she talk to him in such soft tones? Would she laugh at his jokes? Would she look up at him with those big, dark eyes, so he could almost feel her breath on his face- 'Are you listening, boy?' thundered Varuz. Jezal felt a bit of his breath on his face alright, and a deal of spit too.

'Yes, sir! Sparring lamentable, stamina weak!' Jezal swallowed nervously. 'Less said about balance the better.'

'That's right! I am beginning to think, though I can hardly believe it after the trouble you have put me to, that your heart really isn't in this.' He glared into Jezal's eyes. 'What do you think, Major?'

There was no reply. West was slumped in his chair, arms folded, frowning grimly and staring into space.

'Major West?' snapped the Lord Marshal.

He looked up suddenly, as though he had only just become aware of their presence. 'I'm sorry, sir, I had become distracted.'

'So I see.' Varuz sucked his teeth. 'It seems that nobody has been concentrating this morning.' It was a great relief that some of the old man's anger had been deflected elsewhere, but Jezal's happiness was not long-lived.

'Very well,' snapped the old Marshal, 'if that's the way you want it. Starting tomorrow we will begin each session with a swim in the moat. A mile or two should do it.' Jezal squeezed his teeth together to keep from screaming. 'Cold water has a wonderful way of sharpening the senses. And perhaps we need to start a little earlier, to catch you in your most receptive frame of mind. That means we begin at five. In the meantime, Captain Luthar, I suggest that you consider whether you are here in order to win the Contest, or simply for the pleasure of my company.' And he turned on his heel and stalked off.

Jezal waited until Varuz had left the courtyard before losing his temper, but once he was sure the old man was out of earshot he flung his steels against the wall in a fury.

'Damn it!' he shouted as the swords rattled to the ground. 'Shit!' He looked around for something to kick that wouldn't hurt too much. His eye lighted on the leg of the beam, but he misjudged the kick badly and had to stifle the urge to grab his bruised foot and hop around like an idiot. 'Shit, shit!' he raged.

West was disappointingly unimpressed. He got up, frowning, and made to follow Marshal Varuz.

'Where are you off to?' asked Jezal.

'Away,' said West, over his shoulder, 'I've seen enough.'

'What does that mean?'

West stopped and turned to face him. 'Amazing though it may seem, there are bigger problems in the world than this.'

Jezal stood there open mouthed as West stalked from the courtyard. 'Just who do you think you are?' he shouted after him, once he was sure he was gone. 'Shit, shit!' He considered giving the beam another kick, but thought better of it.

Jezal was in a foul mood on his way back to his quarters, so he stayed away from the busier parts of the Agriont, sticking to the quieter lanes and gardens to the side of the Kingsway. He glowered down at his feet as he walked, to further discourage any social encounter. But luck was not on his side.

'Jezal!' It was Kaspa, out for a stroll with a yellow-haired girl in expensive clothes. They had a severe-looking middle-aged woman with them, no doubt the girl's governess or some such. They had stopped to admire some piece of minor sculpture in a little-visited yard.

'Jezal!' Kaspa shouted again, waving his hat above his head. There was no avoiding them. He plastered an unconvincing smile onto his face and stalked over. The pale girl smiled at him as he approached, but if he was meant to be charmed he didn't feel it.

'Been fencing again, Luthar?' asked Kaspa pointlessly. Jezal was sweating and holding a pair of fencing steels. It was well known that he fenced every morning. You didn't need a fine mind to make the connection, which was fortunate, because Kaspa certainly didn't have one.

'Yes. How did you guess?' Jezal hadn't meant to kill the conversation quite so dead, but he passed it off with a false chuckle, and the smiles of the ladies soon returned.