‘The sooner I get out of here the better,’ she whispered to herself, thinking of the gold Kargrin had promised, and the disguising spell that would help her away.

But first she had to help find the Free Magic creature on the Islet. That task was to be done next morning. Which meant that there was a chance Clariel could be away tomorrow afternoon. The next time she sat down for her evening meal, it might be under a tree by the roadside, out in the open air. Leaving all these problems, these mysteries and plots, behind her.

Clariel smiled, took another asparagus spear, and bit into it with a great deal of satisfaction.

With the need to rise well before the dawn and sneak out before Valannie awoke, Clariel had a very restless night, waking every hour or so to take a panicked look at the Charter-Magicked crystal by her bedside that marked the hour. Finally, at the fourth hour past midnight she got up, dressed in her familiar hunting clothes and buckled on a falchion, a heavy broad-bladed sword she had used in the past to good effect to finish boars or to fight off wolves. With her smallest knife in her sleeve and the medium one in her boot, she felt well armed to face a mortal enemy. She was less confident about confronting a Free Magic creature, but then Magister Kargrin and his companions would be there for that.

Roban was waiting for her in the courtyard, near the front gate, a dim shadow she recognised by his size more than anything else. He spoke to the other gate guard, who Clariel couldn’t identify in the dark, and the woman strode over to the workshop doors and rather ostentatiously rattled the great chain and padlock. The workshop was locked until the dawn, when whichever senior apprentice was keybearer this week would come yawning to open up, kicking the junior apprentices ahead to fire up the forges. Jaciel herself would not come down until the ninth or tenth hour.

‘Heyren is outside,’ whispered Roban. ‘He’ll look the other way. Follow me.’

Like the magister’s house, there was a small sally port set into the greater gate. It was already unbolted and the hinges had been newly greased, so that it opened without a sound. Roban looked out and made a clicking noise with his tongue, which was returned in kind by someone a few paces away. Reassured, he stepped through, Clariel following close behind.

It was strange to be out on the street in the relative darkness of the night. There were lights in and outside some of the houses along the street – Charter lights for the most part, though here and there a few duller, more yellow spots of illumination were the result of oil lanterns hung over front gates or doors.