‘I don’t understand.’ The young woman bit her lip, evidently wondering if she was receiving a gift or an obligation.

Palemon glanced at the husband, evaluating him along with the wife, and decided the man wouldn’t present any trouble. Inclining his head at Kyphos, he walked a short distance away while the perplexed woman stared at his departing back.

‘She may be, or she may not be,’ Palemon said. ‘But here is what you are going to do. Seize her, seize her parents. If she has eldran blood, then one of her parents will too. There is no point in questioning them; it’s likely that they don’t even know. Kill the husband if he gets in the way—’

Kyphos frowned. ‘And if there are children?’

‘Children?’ Palemon scowled. ‘Use your own judgment.’

He looked back, seeing that the stall was now deserted, the crowd hurrying away as if it was tainted by his visit. The young woman and her husband were still watching with wide eyes.

‘Listen to me, Kyphos. I want you to round up anyone in the city with odd-colored eyes. Hair is easily changed, but the eyes don’t lie. Start immediately. Root them all out. I’m going to speak with Zara. Do not fail me in this. Understood?’

Kyphos hesitated and then nodded. ‘Understood, sire.’

Palemon strode away, leaving Kyphos alone in the market, watching the frightened woman.

Two days later, Palemon stood on the stone ledge that circled the top of the cylindrical Sky Tower, just below the summit.

With Zara’s help, he now understood its purpose.

He gazed down at the ground far below and imagined the sensation of falling. The height was great enough that the plunge would easily kill a man, breaking his body, shattering his skull on the paved stones at the tower’s base.

Lifting his head, he looked across the gap to the far side. Standing on the same ledge and facing him were seven captives, four men and three women, each with a soldier standing beside them. The soldiers held poles with metal clasps gripping their captives’ throats. Some of the people Kyphos’s search had unearthed were old and others young. They all had eyes open wide with terror, wailing and moaning in a way that made Palemon wish he’d thought of gagging them. At the end of the row of captives, first in the line, was the pretty young woman from the market. Streams of tears poured down her face as her lips moved in prayer.

The Sky Tower was the same as it always was – wide enough to easily accommodate the biggest dragon, with a stairway leading down from the stone platform, curling around the edge of the inner wall – except for one change. Just below the ledge, iron chain, strong but easily removed, now stretched across the gap, connected from one hook to another, forming a net over the hole.