Heboric returned with a pack slung over each forearm. He set them down, then moved close to Kulp. ‘We’re in no shape to help you, but after crossing this damned desert the thought of death by drowning is oddly appealing.’ He stared out over the thrashing waves. ‘What’s out there?’

‘Imagine a child holding a leash and at the other end is a Hound of Shadow. The child’s the mage, the Hound’s his warren. Too long in the mines before making his escape, is my guess. We need to rest before trying to run his storm again.’

‘How bad are things on the mainland?’

Kulp shrugged. ‘I don’t know. We saw Hissar in flames. Duiker went to rejoin Coltaine and the Seventh – that old man’s got a streak of optimism that’ll get him stuck on a sliding bed. I’d say the Seventh’s history, and so’s Coltaine and his Wickans.’

‘Ah, that Coltaine. When I was chained at the base of the crevasse behind Laseen’s Palace I half expected to meet the man as a neighbour. Hood knows there was worthy enough company down there.’ After a moment he shook his head. ‘Coltaine’s alive, Mage. You don’t kill men like that easily.’

‘If that’s true, then I’m bound to rejoin him.’

Heboric nodded.

‘He was excommunicated,’ Felisin said loudly.

Both men turned to see Gesler facing the girl. She continued, ‘More than that, he’s the bane of his own god. Of yours, I gather. Beware scorned priests. You’ll have to lead your own prayers to Fener, lads, and I’d advise you to pray. A lot.’

The ex-priest swung back to Kulp with a sigh. ‘You opened your warren to look upon me. What did you see?’

Kulp scowled. ‘I saw,’ he said after a moment, ‘a child dragging a Hound as big as a Hood-damned mountain. In one hand.’

Heboric’s expression tightened. ‘And in the other?’

‘Sorry,’ Kulp replied, ‘no easy answer there.’

‘I’d let go ...’

‘If you could.’

Heboric nodded.

Kulp lowered his voice. ‘If Gesler realized ...’

‘He’d cut me loose.’

‘Messily.’

‘I take it we’re understood,’ Heboric said with a faint smile.

‘Not really, but I’ll let it lie for now.’

The ex-priest acknowledged him with a nod.

‘Did you choose your company here, Heboric?’ Kulp asked, eyes on Baudin and Felisin.

‘Aye, I did. More or less. Hard to believe, isn’t it?’

‘Walk up the beach with me,’ the mage said, heading off. The tattooed man followed. ‘Tell me about them,’ Kulp said after they’d gone a distance.

Heboric shrugged. ‘You have to compromise to stay alive in the mines,’ he said. ‘And that which one person thinks of value, another is the first to sell. Cheap. Well, that’s what they are now. What they were before ...’ He shrugged again.

‘Do you trust them?’