Cosca looked at him for a long time. His eyes were bloodshot, sunken, heavy-lidded. And yet there is a certain calculation there. Not half as drunk as he pretends, perhaps. 'The same one who fought in Gurkhul? The Colonel of Horse?'

Glokta felt his eyelid flicker. You could hardly say the same man, but surprisingly well remembered, nonetheless. 'I gave up soldiery some years ago. I'm surprised you've heard of me.'

'A fighting man should know his enemies, and a hired man never knows who his next enemy might be. It's worth taking notice of who's who, in military circles. I heard your name mentioned, some time ago, as a man worth taking notice of. Bold and clever, I heard, but reckless. That was the last I heard. And now here you are, in a different line of work. Asking questions.'

'Recklessness didn't work out for me in the end.' Glokta shrugged. 'And a man needs something to do with his time.'

'Of course. Never doubt another's choices, I say. You can't know his reasons. You come here for a drink, Superior? They've nothing but this piss, I'm afraid.' He waved the bottle. 'Or have you questions for me?'

That I have, and plenty of them. 'Do you have any experience with sieges?'

'Experience?' spluttered Cosca, 'Experience, you ask? Hah! Experience is one thing I am not short of—'

'No,' murmured Vitari over her shoulder, 'just discipline and loyalty.'

'Yes, well,' Cosca frowned up at her back, 'that all depends on who you ask. But I was at Etrina, and at Muris. Serious pair of sieges, those. And I besieged Visserine myself for a few months and nearly had it, except that she-devil Mercatto caught me unawares. Came on us with cavalry before dawn, sun behind and all, damned unfriendly trick, the bitch—'

'I heard you were passed out drunk at the time,' muttered Vitari.

'Yes, well… Then I held Borletta against Grand Duke Orso for six months—'

Vitari snorted. 'Until he paid you to open the gates.'

Cosca gave a sheepish grin. 'It was an awful lot of money. But he never fought his way in! You'd have to give me that, eh, Shylo?'

'No one needs to fight you, providing they bring their purse.'

The mercenary grinned. 'I am what I am, and never claimed to be anything else.'

'So you've been known to betray an employer?' asked Glokta.

The Styrian paused, the bottle halfway to his mouth. 'I am thoroughly offended, Superior. Nicomo Cosca may be a mercenary, but there are still rules. I could only turn my back on an employer under one condition.'

'Which is?'

Cosca grinned. 'If someone else were to offer me more.'