“No better basis for an alliance than mutual loathing.” Cosca watched her contortions with an expression stuck between distrust and fascination. “It’s a brave new age, my friends. Time was you had to dig for months, hundreds of strides of mine, tons of wood for props, fill it up with straw and oil, set it on fire, run like merry hell, then half the time it wouldn’t even bring the walls down. This way, all you need do is sink a shaft deep enough, pack the sugar in, strike a spark and—”

“Boom,” sang Ishri, up on her toes and stretching to her fingertips.

“Ker-blow,” returned Cosca. “It’s how everyone’s conducting sieges these days, apparently, and who am I to ignore a trend…” He flicked dust from his velvet jacket. “Sesaria’s a genius at mining. He brought down the bell tower at Gancetta, you know. Somewhat before schedule, admittedly, and a few men did get caught in the collapse. Did I ever tell you—”

“If you bring the wall down?” asked Monza.

“Well, then our men pour through the breach, overwhelm the stunned defenders and the outer ward will be ours. From the gardens within we’ll have level ground to work with and room to bring our numbers to bear. Carrying the inner wall should be a routine matter of ladders, blood and greed. Then storm the palace and, you know, keep it traditional. I’ll get my plunder and you’ll get—”

“My revenge.” Monza narrowed her eyes at the jagged outline of the fortress. Orso was in there, somewhere. Only a few hundred strides away. Perhaps it was the night, the fire, the heady mixture of darkness and danger, but some of that old excitement was building in her now. That fierce fury she’d felt when she hobbled from the bone-thief’s crumbling house and into the rain. “How long until the mine’s ready?”

Friendly looked up from his dice. “Twenty-one days and six hours. At the rate they’re going.”

“A shame.” Ishri pushed out her bottom lip. “I so love fireworks. But I must go back to the South.”

“Tired of our company already?” asked Monza.

“My brother was killed.” Her black eyes showed no sign of emotion. “By a woman seeking vengeance.”

Monza frowned, not sure if she was being mocked or not. “Those bitches find a way of doing damage, don’t they?”

“But always to the wrong people. My brother is the lucky one, he is with God. Or so they tell me. It is the rest of my family that suffer. We must work the harder now.” She swung herself smoothly down onto the ladder, let her head fall sideways. Uncomfortably far, until it was resting on the top rung. “Try not to get yourselves killed. I do not intend that my hard work here be wasted.”

“Your wasted work will be my first concern when they cut my throat.” Nothing but silence. Ishri was gone.

“Looks like you’ve run out of brave men,” came Shivers’ croak.