‘We know,’ Fiddler said. ‘We worked that much out, lad. The point is, it’s up to her, isn’t it?’

Mappo glanced at him in surprise. The sapper shrugged. Late in this wisdom, but I got there eventually.

‘I have been used by an Ascendant once,’ Apsalar said. ‘I’ll not willingly be used again.’

‘You are not to be used,’ Iskaral Pust hissed, beginning a strange dance, ‘you lead! You command! You impose your will! Dictate terms! Free to express every tantrum, enforce every whim, act like a spoiled child and be worshipped for it!’ He ducked down suddenly, paused, then said in a whisper, ‘Such lures as to entice! Self-examination is dispensed with at the beck and at the call of privileges unfettered! She wavers, she leans – see it in her eyes!’

‘I do not,’ Apsalar said coolly.

‘She does! Such percipience in the lass as to sense my every thought – as if she could hear them aloud! The Rope’s shadow remains within her, a linkage not to be denied! Gods, I am brilliant!’

With a disgusted snort Apsalar strode from the chamber.

Iskaral Pust scurried after her.

Fiddler held back the Daru’s attempt to pursue. ‘She can handle him, Crokus,’ the sapper said. ‘That should be plain – even to you.’

‘There are more mysteries here than you imagine,’ Mappo said, frowning after the High Priest.

They heard voices in the hall, then Icarium appeared at the entrance, wearing his deer-hide cloak with the dust of the desert on his dusky green skin. He saw the question in Mappo’s eyes and shrugged. ‘He’s left the temple – I trailed him as far as the storm’s edge.’

Fiddler asked, ‘Who are you talking about?’

‘Servant,’ Mappo answered, his frown deepening. He glanced at Crokus. ‘We think he’s Apsalar’s father.’

The lad’s eyes widened. ‘Is he one-armed?’

‘No,’ Icarium replied. ‘Iskaral Pust’s servant is a fisherman, however. Indeed, his barque can be found in a lower chamber of this temple. He speaks Malazan—’

‘Her father lost an arm at the siege of Li Heng,’ Crokus said, shaking his head. ‘He was among the rebels who held the walls, and had his arm burned off when the Imperial Army retook the city.’

‘When a god intervenes...’ Mappo said, then shrugged. ‘One of his arms looks ... young ... younger than the other, Crokus. Servant was sent into hiding when we brought you back here. Pust was hiding him from you. Why?’

Icarium spoke. ‘Was it not Shadowthrone who arranged the possession? When Cotillion took her, Shadowthrone may well have taken him. There is little point in trying to guess at motivations – the Lord of the Shadow Realm is notoriously obscure. Nonetheless, I see a certain logic in the possibility.’

Crokus had gone pale. His gaze snapped to the vacant entranceway. ‘Leverage,’ he whispered.