A dull ache remained in Karsa’s hands and feet. The inside of his mouth was dry and felt burnt, as if he’d just swallowed hot sand. He rubbed at his tingling face.

A moment later the man tried Malazan, ‘You’d likely understand me if you were Fenn.’

‘I understand you, but I am not one of these Fenn.’

‘I said it sounds like your master isn’t enjoying his stay in the stocks.’

‘He has been arrested?’

‘Of course. The Malazans like arresting people. You’d no brand. At the time. Keeping you as a slave is therefore illegal under imperial law.’

‘Then they should release me.’

‘Little chance of that. Your master confessed that you were being sent to the otataral mines. You were on a ship out of Genabaris that you’d cursed, said curse then leading to the ship’s destruction and the deaths of the crew and the marines. The local garrison is only half-convinced by that tale, but that’s sufficient – you’re on your way to the island. As am I.’

Karsa rose. The low ceiling forced him to stand hunched over. He made his way, hobbling, to the barred door.

‘Aye, you could probably batter it down,’ the stranger said. ‘But then you’ll be cut down before you manage three steps from this gaol. We’re in the middle of the Malazan compound. Besides, we’re about to be taken outside in any case, to join the prisoners’ line chained to a wall. In the morning, they’ll march us down to the imperial jetty and load us onto a transport.’

‘How long have I been unconscious?’

‘The night you were carried in, the day after, the next night. It’s now midday.’

‘And the slavemaster has been in the stocks all this time?’

‘Most of it.’

‘Good,’ Karsa growled. ‘What of his companion? The same?’

‘The same.’

‘And what crime have you committed?’ Karsa asked.

‘I consort with dissidents. Of course,’ he added, ‘I am innocent.’

‘Can you not prove that?’

‘Prove what?’

‘Your innocence.’

‘I could if I was.’

The Teblor glanced back at the figure crouched in the corner. ‘Are you, by any chance, from Darujhistan?’

‘Darujhistan? No, why do you ask?’

Karsa shrugged. He thought back to Torvald Nom’s death. There was a coldness surrounding the memory, but he could sense all that it held at bay. The time for surrender, however, was not now.

The barred door was set in an iron frame, the frame fixed to the stone blocks with large iron bolts. The Teblor gave it a shake. Dust sifted out from around the bolts, pattered onto the floor.

‘I see you’re a man who ignores advice,’ the stranger observed.

‘These Malazans are careless.’