'No, but we each had our part in it, and you more than most. Strange, how I remember things that you leave out. How you squabbled with Khalul. How Juvens determined to separate you. How you sought out the Maker, persuaded him to share his secrets.' Zacharus laughed, a harsh cackle, and his birds croaked and squawked along with him. 'I daresay he never intended to share his daughter with you, eh, Bayaz? The Maker's daughter? Tolomei? Is there room in your memory for her?'

Bayaz' eyes glittered cold. 'Perhaps the blame is mine,' he whispered. 'The solution shall be mine also—'

'Do you think Euz spoke the First Law on a whim? Do you think Juvens put this thing at the edge of the World because it was safe? It is… it is evil!'

'Evil?' Bayaz snorted his contempt. 'A word for children. A word the ignorant use for those who disagree with them. I thought we grew out of such notions long centuries ago.'

'But the risks—'

'I am resolved.' And Bayaz' voice was iron, and well sharpened. 'I have thought for long years upon it. You have said your piece, Zacharus, but you have offered me no other choices. Try and stop me, if you must. Otherwise, stand aside.'

'Then nothing has changed.' The old man turned to look at Ferro, his creased face twitching, and the dark eyes of his birds looked with him. 'And what of you, devil-blood? Do you know what he would have you touch? Do you understand what he would have you carry? Do you have an inkling of the dangers?' A small bird hopped from his shoulder and started twittering round and round Ferro's head in circles. 'You would be better to run, and never to stop running! You all would!'

Ferro's lip curled. She slapped the bird out of the air, and it clattered to the ground, hopping and tweeting away between the corpses. The others squawked and hissed and clucked their anger, but she ignored them. 'You do not know me, old fool pink with a dirty beard. Do not pretend to understand me, or to know what I know, or what I have been offered. Why should I prefer the word of one old liar over another? Take your birds and keep your nose to your own business, then we will have no quarrel. The rest is wasted breath.'