‘I’ve heard nothing of the pipeworks, but I can’t imagine it’s any safer or less beset than any other part of Draconium,’ said Thackeray. ‘Send too small a band of soldiery and we risk being caught or devoured. Send too large a force and we’ll draw the attention of the greenskins from half the city. And Sigmar knows, we can’t let any harm come to Ms VanGhest there – none of the rest of us would have the first notion of how to effect the act of sabotage you just described.’

‘What if we staged a diversionary attack?’ asked Aelyn. ‘Ensure that our enemies are looking anywhere but the pipeworks at the crucial moment?’

‘The square itself?’ suggested Thackeray.

‘Sticking one’s hand into the squig burrow, rather, isn’t it?’ asked Bartiman.

‘Yes, but that’s exactly why it’s a good idea,’ said Marika, sounding excited. ‘Their idol is there, yes? Their poison? If I were to gamble, I would suggest their leaders can’t be far from the site either, or who else would be commanding such industry from such anarchic creatures?’

‘All their most crucial targets, all in one place,’ mused Romilla. ‘That would prompt a response wouldn’t it?’

‘It would be all the more dangerous, that’s for damned sure,’ said Bartiman, but his tone carried more excitement than his words. ‘I mean, you do remember that is the same square that we’re planning to blow up, yes? With fire?’

‘Hit and fade,’ said Aelyn. ‘We muster as much strength as we can, send runners to the other safehouses, to the guild house… we coordinate on a signal, make as much noise as we can on the way in to really draw their attention. Meanwhile, Eleanora and a band of your watchmen make for the pipeworks, reach the controls and do what must be done.’

‘We could instruct the garrisons to evacuate their civilians a short time after the signal, also?’ suggested Marika. ‘It’s the best chance they’re going to have to get the people of Draconium out of here.’

‘Slim chance all the same,’ said Bartiman. ‘And damnation but there’s a lot that could go wrong with this plan. What if the greenskins don’t take the bait? What if Eleanora gets to the pipeworks and finds it seething with monsters, or just wrecked? What if the pipes aren’t up to snuff after all the tremors and explosions and what have you?’

‘That, I’m afraid, is where faith must come in, Bartiman,’ said Romilla. ‘I don’t think anyone else has a better plan?’ She looked around the room, receiving only blank expressions and shaken heads in reply. ‘No, then this is what we will do, and we will offer up prayers to Sigmar, to Grungni, to Alarielle and all the other gods of good that it works.’