‘They are interested in him,’ Intrepid said and folded himself onto a cushion. ‘To get the obvious question out of the way: why have you come here?’

‘Am I a prisoner?’ Pilgrim said.

‘If you want to walk out of here no one will try to stop you.’

‘Yet there is a guard outside.’

‘To keep you safe, not to keep you from leaving.’

‘Safe from whom? Foeless Landwalker? His followers?’

‘You know, I believe, a person called Gentle. Tall, pale.’

‘Where is he? Can I see him?’

‘He was captured by Foeless’s Night Rider bodyguards when he tried to force his way into Foeless’s presence, and put to the question. When I heard that he had mentioned your name, I arranged a welcoming party to save you from a similar fate, and here we are.’

Pilgrim was reminded of the migrant players who had once visited the Saltmire territory when he was a stripling fresh from the Hearth. They had put on a morality play at Blessed’s lodge, an ogre and a bear and a person meeting in a forest, each taking turns to persuade a sprite to give up the secret locked in the heartwood of the forest’s oldest tree. Afterwards, the players had shared a meal with the lodge’s hands, and although they had not removed the makeup that exaggerated their eyes and mouths, or the blond and auburn tints that coloured the pelts of the two who had played bear and ogre, they had shed their roles and were clearly themselves. It was the same with Intrepid. He had not changed outwardly, but there was no trace of the brash, hectoring pamphleteer in his manner. He was like a courteous host, assured and urbane with a hint of flirtatious whimsy, as if playing a private game.

‘And my friends?’ Pilgrim said.

‘Like you, the women are free to stay or go as they please. Did you find them, or did they find you?’

‘We were thrown together by circumstance.’

Intrepid liked that answer. ‘And do you share a common purpose?’

‘You’ll have to ask them why they are here,’ Pilgrim said, suspecting that Intrepid had already interviewed Poppy and Fragrant. ‘As for me, I have come to meet your master. Perhaps you could take me to him.’

‘I don’t recommend it. Foeless has grown mistrustful and erratic lately, and believes that Gentle is some kind of spy or saboteur. And since Gentle named you in his confession, you’d be hard put to convince Foeless that you aren’t part of a plot against him. As would I.’

‘I thought you were his trusted mouthpiece,’ Pilgrim said, but Intrepid ignored that.