“I will miss you, my friend, I will miss you.”

“And I you.”

“But not so much I can persuade you to remain in my company?”

“No.”

For Friendly, this was a homecoming long anticipated. He knew the number of trees on the road leading to the gate, the warmth welling up in his chest as he counted them off. He stood eagerly in his stirrups, caught a tingling glimpse of the gatehouse, a looming corner of dark brickwork above the greenery. Hardly architecture to fill most convicted men with joy, but Friendly’s heart leaped at the sight of it. He knew the number of bricks in the archway, had been waiting for them, longing for them, dreaming of them for so long. He knew the number of iron studs on the great doors, he knew—

Friendly frowned as the track curved about to face the gate. The doors stood open. A terrible foreboding crowded his joy away. What could be more wrong in a prison than that its doors should stand open and unlocked? That was not part of the grand routine.

He slid from his horse, wincing at the pain in his stiff right arm, still healing even though the splints were off. He walked slowly to the gate, almost scared to look inside. A ragged-looking man sat on the steps of the hut where the guards should have been watching, all alone.

“I’ve done nothing!” He held up his hands. “I swear!”

“I have a letter signed by the Grand Duchess of Talins.” Friendly unfolded the treasured document and held it out, still hoping. “I am to be taken into custody at once.”

The man stared at him for a moment. “I’m no guard, friend. Just using the hut to sleep in.”

“Where are the guards?”

“Gone.”

“Gone?”

“With riots in Musselia I reckon no one was paying ’em, so… they up and left.”

Friendly felt a cold prickle of horror on the back of his neck. “The prisoners?”

“They got free. Most of ’em ran right off. Some of ’em waited. Shut ’emselves into their own cells at night, only imagine that!”

“Only imagine,” said Friendly, with deep longing.

“Didn’t know where to run to, I guess. But they got hungry, in the end. Now they’ve gone too. There’s no one here.”

“No one?”

“Only me.”

Friendly looked up the narrow track to the archway in the rocky hillside. All empty. The halls were silent. The circle of sky still looked down into the old quarry, maybe, but there was no rattling of bars as the prisoners were locked up safe and sound each night. No comforting routine, enfolding their lives as tightly as a mother holds her child. No more would each day, each month, each year be measured out into neat little parcels. The great clock had stopped.

“All change,” whispered Friendly.

He felt Cosca’s hand on his shoulder. “The world is all change, my friend. We all would like to go back, but the past is done. We must look forwards. We must change ourselves, however painful it may be, or be left behind.”