Felisin became dully aware of something, as if the hot wind breathed a new menace into the night air. The chatter of the militiamen, she noted, had fallen away, and signs of nervousness were evident. She extracted another button of durhang and popped it into her mouth, where it rested cool and sweet between cheek and gum.

‘Watching you do that,’ Beneth muttered, ‘reminds me of Sawark.’

She blinked. ‘Sawark?’

‘Aye. The worse things get, the more he shuts his eyes.’

Her words came out slurred. ‘And what things are getting worse?’

As if in answer, a shout followed by harsh laughter sounded behind them, coming from the front of Suruk’s. Beneth halted his men with a gesture, then walked back to the crossroads they had just passed. From there he could see Suruk’s – and Gunnip’s soldiers.

Like a wraith rising up and stealing through Beneth, tension slowly filled the man’s posture. As she watched, vague alarms rang in Felisin’s skull. She hesitated, then turned to the militiamen. ‘Something’s happened. Go to him.’

They were watching as well. One of them scowled, one hand sliding skittish along his belt to the clout. ‘He ain’t gived us no orders,’ he growled. The others nodded, fidgeting as they waited in the shadows.

‘He’s standing alone,’ she said. ‘Out in the open. I think there’s arrows trained on him—’

‘Shut your face, girl,’ the militiaman snapped. ‘We ain’t going out there.’

Beneth almost backed up a step, then visibly steeled himself.

‘They’re coming for him,’ Felisin hissed.

Gunnip and his Dosii soldiers wandered into view, closing a half-circle around Beneth. Cocked crossbows resting on forearms pointed towards him.

Felisin spun to the militiamen. ‘Back him up, damn you!’

‘Hood take you!’ one of the men spat back. The patrol was scattering, slipping back into the shadows and then into the dark alleyways beyond.

‘You all alone back there, lass?’ Captain Gunnip called out. His soldiers laughed. ‘Come join Beneth here. We’re just telling him some things, that’s all. No worry, lass.’

Beneth turned to speak to her. A Dosii guardsman stepped up and struck him across the face with a gauntleted hand. Beneth staggered, swearing as he brought his hands up to his shattered nose.

Felisin stumbled backward, then twisted and ran, even as crossbows thudded. Quarrels whipped past her on either side as she plunged into an alley mouth. Laughter echoed behind her.

She ran on, the alley paralleling Rust Ramp. A hundred paces ahead waited Darkhall and the barracks. She was out of breath when she stumbled into the open area surrounding the two Malazan buildings, her heart hammering in her chest as if she was fifty years old, not fifteen. Slowly, the shock of seeing Beneth struck down spread through her.