'So he's going to ensure that you get a fair say, eh?' Cosca shrugged and examined his dirty fingernails. 'And what of the writ, signed by all twelve chairs on the Closed Council?'

'Your paper will not save us from the Emperor's vengeance if the Gurkish take the city.'

'I see. So you have it in mind to defy me, to defy the Arch Lector, to defy the King?'

'I have it in mind to hear out the Gurkish emissary, and to consider the facts.'

'Very well,' said Glokta. He stepped forwards and upended the bag. 'Give him your ear.' Islik's head dropped onto the table with a hollow clonking sound. It had no expression to speak of, beyond an awful slackness, eyes open and staring off in different directions, tongue lolling slightly. It rolled awkwardly along the beautiful table top, leaving an uneven curve of bloody smears on the brightly polished wood, and came to rest, face up, just in front of General Vissbruck.

A touch theatrical, perhaps, but dramatic. You'd have to give me that. No one can be left in any doubt as to my level of commitment. Vissbruck gawped down at the bloody head on the table before him, his mouth slowly falling further and further open. He started up from his seat and stumbled back, his chair clattering over on the tiles. He raised a shaking finger to point at Glokta.

'You're mad! You're mad! There'll be no mercy for anyone! Every man, woman, and child in Dagoska! If the city falls now, there's no hope for any of us!'

Glokta smiled his toothless smile. 'Then I suggest that every one of you commits themselves wholeheartedly to ensuring that the city does not fall.' He looked over at Korsten dan Vurms. 'Unless it's already too late for that, eh? Unless you've already sold the city to the Gurkish, and you can't go back!'

Vurms' eyes flickered to the door, to Cosca, to the horrified General Vissbruck, to Frost, hulking ominous in the corner, and finally to Magister Eider, still sitting steely calm and composed. And our little conspiracy is jerked from the shadows.

'He knows!' screamed Vurms, shoving back his chair and stumbling up, taking a step towards the windows.

'Clearly he knows.'

'Then do something, damn it!'

'I already have,' said Eider. 'By now, Cosca's men will have seized the land walls, bridged your channel, and opened the gates to the Gurkish. The docks, the Great Temple, and even the Citadel itself, are also in their hands.' There was a faint rattling beyond the door. 'I do believe that I can hear them now, just outside. I am sorry, Superior Glokta, indeed I am. You have done everything his Eminence could have expected, and more, but the Gurkish will already be pouring into the city. You see that further resistance is pointless.'