‘This must be outside, yes?’ Luiza felt the door for the latch, found an iron ring, and twisted it. The door resisted opening, then eased ajar. More of the cold air swirled in.

Stanislav crouched and peered through. ‘No moonlight. We need the lantern, but we must keep it low so that it is not seen. Remember, we must be quick and certain. If someone sees us, they have to be silenced before they can raise the alarm. Afterwards is too late. Once we have crossed the bridge, we search every room in the tower for her. And we take no prisoners but her.’

‘What about her steward?’ asked Dalip.

‘What about him? He is part of this, so you know what to do.’ He took charge of the door from Luiza. ‘I will go first, Dalip will go last. Watch for the dragon.’

Stanislav heaved the door wide and took a moment to check the bridge and the sky above it.

The bridge itself was clear – it ran straight and flat across from the pit to the geomancer’s tower, where there was another door. The waist-high parapet either side was going to give them some cover, but the tower loomed tall, and there were narrow windows that overlooked the bridge: anyone so much as glancing down would see them.

The top of the tower, with its conical slate roof, was almost invisible against the sky. There could have been a dragon wound around it, and none of them would have been any the wiser. The side of the tower to the right flickered with firelight, so they’d have to keep down, but Dalip wasn’t so worried about that as he was by the prospect of that far door being barred shut from the inside. If he was in charge, leaving doors to the slave quarters open seemed not just averagely stupid, but lethally so. It was the whole reason why they’d been going to strike just after one of the fights.

‘Look,’ he said, ‘we don’t even know if we can get into the tower. Why don’t I go across first and check?’

It made sense, and Stanislav could tell by the shifting body-language that the others weren’t now going to cross until they knew the way was clear.

‘Mama, give him the lantern so he can signal. Go, then, and quickly.’

Dalip found himself at the front, the wind dragging at the candle flame inside the lantern. He squeezed the knife handle and took one last look. That he couldn’t see a dragon was no promise that there wasn’t one. The lights at the windows in the door stayed constant, and there was no better time – or at least, it would get worse the longer he left it – to run.