He attempted to step back, but his muscles refused, deaf to his command. Sweat sprang out beneath his clothes, beading the backs of his hands.

A soft voice spoke beside him. ‘There’s such irony in this, my friend. You see, it’s your mind that’s betrayed you. The formidable, deadly mind of the assassin Kalam Mekhar.’ Salk Elan leaned on the rail beside him, studying the city. ‘I’ve admired you for so long, you know. You’re a damned legend, the finest killer the Claw ever had – and lost. Ah, and it’s that loss that rankles the most. Had you the will for it, Kalam, you could now be in command of the entire organization – oh, Topper might disagree, and I’ll grant you, in some ways he’s your superior by far. He would have killed me on the first day, no matter how uncertain he was of whatever risk I might have presented. Even so,’ Salk Elan continued after a moment, ‘knife to knife, you’re his better, friend.

‘Another irony for you, Kalam. I was not in Seven Cities to find you – indeed, we knew nothing of your presence there. Until I came across a certain Red Blade who did, that is. She’d been following you since Erhlitan, before you delivered the Book to Sha’ik – did you know you led the Red Blades directly to that witch? Did you know that they succeeded in assassinating her? That Red Blade would have been here with me, in fact, if not for an unfortunate incident in Aren. But I prefer working alone.

‘Salk Elan, a name I admit to being proud of. But here and now, of course, my vanity insists that you know my true name, which is Pearl.’ He paused, looked around, sighed. ‘You threw me but once, with that sly hint that maybe Quick Ben was hiding in your baggage. I almost panicked then, until I realized if that were true, I’d already be dead – sniffed out and fed to the sharks.

‘You should never have left the Claw, Kalam. We don’t deal with rejection very well. The Empress wants you, you know, wants a conversation with you, in fact. Before skinning you alive, I imagine. Alas, things aren’t so simple, are they?

‘And so, here we are ...’

In his peripheral vision, Kalam saw the man draw forth a dagger. ‘It’s those immutable laws within the Claw, you see. One in particular, which I’m sure you well know ...’