The assassin refilled their tankards and leaned back. Whatever still afflicted the captain, keeping him to his cot for days now, went beyond the injuries he’d sustained at the hands of the bodyguard. Mind you, head wounds can get complicated. Even so . . . The captain trembled when he spoke, though his speech was in no way slurred or otherwise impaired. The struggle seemed to be in pushing the words out, in linking them into anything resembling a sentence. Yet in his eyes Kalam saw a mind no less sharp than it had been.

The assassin was baffled, yet he felt, on some instinctive level, that his presence gave strength to the captain’s efforts. ‘Lookout sighted a ship in our wake just before sunset yesterday – a Malazan fast trader, he thinks. If it was, it must have passed us without lights or hail in the night. No sign of it this morning.’

The captain grunted. ‘Never made better time. Bet their eyes are wide, too, dropping headless cocks over the starboard side and into Bern’s smiling maw at every blessed bell.’

Kalam took a mouthful of watered wine, studying the captain over the tankard’s dented rim. ‘We lost the last two marines last night. Left me wondering about that ship’s healer of yours.’

‘Been having a run of the Lord’s push, he has. Not like him.’

‘Well, he’s passed out on pirates’ ale right now.’

‘Doesn’t drink.’

‘He does now.’

The look the captain gave him was like a bright, distant flare, a beacon warning of shoals ahead.

‘All’s not well, I take it,’ the assassin quietly rumbled.

‘Captain’s head’s askew, that’s a fact. Tongue full of thorns, close by ears like acorns under the mulch, ready to hatch unseen. Hatch.’

‘You’d tell me if you could.’

‘Tell you what?’ He reached a shaking hand towards the tankard. ‘Can’t hold what’s not there, I always say. Can’t hold in a blow, neither, lo, the acorn’s rolled away, plumb away.’

‘Your hands look well enough mended.’

‘Aye, well enough.’ The captain looked away, as if the effort of conversation had finally become too much.

The assassin hesitated, then said, ‘I’ve heard of a warren ...’

‘Rabbits,’ the captain muttered. ‘Rats.’

‘All right,’ Kalam sighed, rising. ‘We’ll find you a proper healer, a Denul healer, when we get to Falar.’

‘Getting there fast.’

‘Aye, we are.’

‘On the tradewinds.’

‘Aye.’

‘But there aren’t any tradewinds, this close to Falar.’

Kalam emerged onto the deck, held his face to the sky for a moment, then made his way to the forecastle.

‘How does he fare?’ Salk Elan asked.

‘Poorly.’

‘Head injuries are like that. Get knocked wrong and you end up muttering marriage vows to your lapdog.’

‘We’ll see in Falar.’

‘We’d be lucky to find a good healer in Bantra.’