Aelyn nodded and gestured for Thackeray to lead. He set off, back along the alley and away from the gaggle of Moonclan grots. Romilla kept checking their rear as they retreated, alive for any sign that the greenskins might have seen them. There was no sign of pursuit.

They took the left fork and worked their way through several quick switchbacks that ran along the rear of a string of buildings. They passed beneath shattered windows like dark caves, and Romilla watched them intently for any sign of movement. Beneath one lay the corpse of a large man with a wicked grot shiv buried between his shoulder blades. A colony of mushrooms had grown from the wet gap in his cracked skull, and beetles were scurrying busily across his corpse. The sight caused Romilla barely a moment’s revulsion, and she wondered dully whether she was becoming so saturated by horror that she could no longer feel its touch. If so, she doubted it was a good thing.

Stopping again at the last bend in the back alley, they peered out into the narrow street beyond. Shattered spark-lanterns lay scattered around where they had been torn out of the ground and flung. Broken glass twinkled in the moonlight. Some distance away at the street’s far end, several stone-skinned troggoths were hunched over a butcher’s wagon, stuffing fistfuls of spoiled meat into their mouths with noisy relish. Closer, Romilla spotted small bands of grots prowling through the ruins. One group picked through the smashed glass, pocketing the shiniest shards with glee. Another group was ransacking a blacksmith’s partway down the street, while the last band were doing the same to the shop opposite. Romilla’s heart sank as she saw it was the fishmonger’s.

‘We could creep up on them, then rush the ones in the fishmonger’s?’ suggested one of the watchmen, though she sounded singularly unconvinced of the proposition.

‘Not without bringing the rest of them down upon us,’ said Romilla. ‘Those troggoths aren’t as large as the one we saw outside the palace, but still, between them and the greenskins we’d be overrun.’

‘Wait here,’ said Aelyn. ‘When I give the signal, stay low and fast and make for the fishmonger’s. I’ll meet you on the first floor.’