Pausing for a moment beside Calaras, Draconus frowned at his son. Then he gestured to the low doorway of the squat tower. ‘In here,’ he said. The aperture was narrow and low enough to force him to duck when he stepped within.

After hobbling Besra and Hellar, Arathan followed.

The chamber was dark and vaguely rank, its low ceiling bearing smoke-blackened rafters and beams stained with what looked like bird guano. A high-backed chair was positioned in a corner close to three vertical slits in the wall that passed for windows. The light spilling through ran like bars across a small, high desk, on which sat a stack of vellum as tall as the wine goblet that stood beside it. Roughly made feather quills were scattered about on what remained of the desk’s flat top, with more littering the stone floor underneath the wooden legs. In the corner to the left of the chair, a trap door in the floor had been lifted back, and from somewhere below pale light drifted upward like dust.

Draconus drew off his leather gloves and tucked them behind his sword belt. He looked around, and then said, ‘Wait here. I will go and find us some chairs.’

‘Do we seek an audience, Father? Are we in the gatekeeper’s tower?’

‘No,’ he replied, and made his way outside.

There was a scuffing sound from the trap and a moment later a figure climbed into view. Arathan had never before seen a Jaghut, as he knew this creature to be. Tall, gaunt, with skin the hue of olives, bearing creases and seams similar to those on lizard hide. The tusks curled as they swept up from the lower jaw to either side of a wide, slit mouth. Heavy brow ridges hid the eyes. The Jaghut was wearing a frayed robe of wool, unevenly dyed a watery purple. In one hand he held an ink bottle. His fingers were stained black.

Ignoring Arathan, the Jaghut walked to the desk and set the ink bottle down, and then, as if exhausted by the chore, he sat in the cushioned chair and leaned back to rest his head.

A flicker of dull gold marked his eyes as he studied the desktop. When he spoke, his voice was deep but rough. ‘Some write in wine. But others write in blood. As for me, why, I prefer ink. Less painful that way. I invite no excesses but moderation, but some would view even moderation to be a vice. What think you?’

Arathan cleared his throat. ‘We seek audience with the Lord of Hate.’

The Jaghut snorted. ‘That fool? He bleeds ink like a drunk pissing in the alley. His very meat is sodden with the bile of his dubious wit. He chews arguments like broken glass, and he bathes all too infrequently. What business would you have with him? None of any worth, I imagine. They come seeking a sage, and what do they find? Look at that heap of writing there, on the desk. He writes a suicide note, and it is interminable. His audience blinks, too filled with self-importance to choke out a laugh. Death, he tells them, is the gift of silence. One day we will all roll into that crypt, where the painted walls hide in darkness and even the dust will not stir. Tell me, do you long for peace?’