If the treasurer intended a challenge, it was pre-empted by his sudden collapse onto the deck. The two bodyguards spun about at the loud thump, then stood stock still, staring down at their unconscious master.

After a moment, the captain said, ‘Well, not all, it seems. Get the coin-stacker below and get him out of those sealskins. Ship’s cutter has more work to do, and we ain’t even cast off yet.’ He swung to Salk Elan and Kalam. ‘Now, you two gentlemen can join me in my cabin.’

The room was not much larger than the assassin’s own, and almost empty of possessions. It was a few minutes before the captain managed to find three tankards into which he poured local sour ale from a clay jug. Without offering a toast, the man drained half his tankard’s contents, then wiped his mouth with the back of one hand. His eyes roved restlessly, not once settling on the two men before him. ‘The rules,’ he said, grimacing. ‘Simple. Stay out of the treasurer’s way. The situation is ... confused. With the Admiral under arrest—’

Kalam choked on the ale, then managed to rasp, ‘What? By whose command?’

The captain was frowning down at Elan’s shoes. ‘That would be the High Fist’s, of course. No other means, you see, of keeping the fleet in the bay.’

‘The Empress—’

‘Probably doesn’t know. There’s been no Claw in the city for months – no-one knows why.’

‘And their absence,’ Elan said, ‘gives implicit authority to Pormqual’s decisions, I take it.’

‘More or less,’ the captain conceded, his eyes now fixed on a crossbeam. He finished his ale, poured more. ‘In any case, the High Fist’s personal treasurer has arrived with a writ granting him commander status for this voyage, meaning he has the privilege of overriding me if he so chooses. Now, while I hold an Imperial charter, neither me nor my ship and crew are actually in the Imperial Navy, which leaves things, like I said earlier, confused.’

Kalam set his tankard down on the room’s lone table. ‘Right opposite us is an Imperial transport ship, getting ready to leave as much as we are. Why in Hood’s name hasn’t Pormqual sent his treasurer and his loot there? It’s bigger and better defended, after all—’

‘So it is. And it has indeed been commandeered by the High Fist, and will depart for Unta shortly after we do, loaded with Pormqual’s household and his precious breeding stallions, meaning it will be very crowded, and rank to boot.’ He shrugged as if his shoulders had been tugged upwards by invisible hands. He glanced nervously towards the door before returning his somewhat desperate gaze to the cross-beam overhead. ‘Ragstopper’s fast when she has to be. Now, that’s all. Drink up. The marines will board any moment now, and I mean for us to cast off within the hour.’