She didn’t answer, just stared back at him. He was leaning over and partially into the window, so there was some sort of walkway up there, suggesting she might be in the base of a tower and not a pit. Though she supposed it still could be a pit, with a raised upper portion. Like a well. It could be a well. A very wide one. Which might mean it extended much deeper below, and that could be useful …

‘Lady Clariel,’ Kilp said again. ‘May I say that I regret the circumstances that have led you here. They were not of my choosing.’

Clariel didn’t answer. She looked away from him, up and along the brickwork. The bricks were small and very tightly packed, with hard mortar in between. But perhaps if she could pick that mortar out, to make toe- and fingerholds, then she could climb to the skylight window above. If she had something hard she could turn into a mortar-picking tool …

‘Regrettable things have happened,’ continued Kilp. ‘But let me assure that your mother is receiving the best care, a healer –’

‘What!’ exclaimed Clariel, goaded into talking to him. ‘Mother’s dead.’

‘No, she is badly wounded, I grant you, but the healer says she will live,’ said Kilp. ‘And your father’s death was an accident. If only we could have all just talked about it!’

‘Talked about consorting with Free Magic creatures,’ snapped Clariel. ‘Against every law of the Kingdom and all common sense!’

‘In many ways I am now the law of the Kingdom,’ said Kilp. ‘And this so-called Free Magic, how does it differ from Charter Magic really? I employ Charter Mages. Why should I not employ a Free Magic entity?’

‘Because they are inimical to mortal life,’ said Clariel.

‘That is a story we are often told,’ replied Kilp easily. ‘But Az, as we called it, never harmed anyone, and it did much useful work.’

‘And how did you pay her … pay it?’ asked Clariel. ‘Blood?’

‘No, no. Some gold, some gems, nothing much different than any other in my employ.’

‘You’re lying!’ screamed Clariel. ‘Lying about everything!’

‘No,’ said Kilp. ‘I speak the truth. I deal with the world as it is, not as some would wish it to be. I would like to make an arrangement with you, Clariel. One of benefit to both of us, as all good trades are. But we cannot talk about it while you are in this aggressive frame of mind. I will come back tomorrow. And to help you concentrate your thoughts, I think we’d best give you more shade down there.’

He snapped his fingers. Guards moved up next to him, lifting across large sections of planks. Shutters, Clariel saw with dread, shutters that were quickly fixed across two of the panes so that only the central, open window still admitted any sunlight.