The guardsman laughed. ‘Give it up. You’ve been identified. We know precisely who you are. Aye, your secret organization is not as seamless as you might think. Betrayed by one of your own – how does that feel? Let’s go, you come out first. Jibb, you and Gullstream keep your crossbows on that Fenn – I don’t like his smile. Especially now,’ he added.

‘Oh look,’ another soldier said, ‘you’ve confused the poor ox. Bet he doesn’t even know his entire face is one big tattoo. Scrawl did good work, though. Best I’ve seen in a long while.’

‘Right,’ another drawled, ‘and how many escaped prisoner tattoos have you seen, Jibb?’

‘Just one, and it’s a work of art.’

The source of the stinging sensation on Karsa’s face was revealed now. He reached up, seeking to feel something of the pattern, and slowly began tracing lines of slightly raised, damp strips of raw skin. They were not contiguous. He could make no sense of what the tattoo portrayed.

‘Shattered,’ the other prisoner said as he walked over to the door, which the first guard unlocked and swung open. ‘The brand makes your face look like it’s been shattered.’

Two guards escorted the man outside, whilst the others, nervously eyeing Karsa, waited for their return. One of the crossbowmen, whose high forehead revealed white blotches – leading the Teblor to speculate that he was the one named Gullstream – leaned back against the opposite wall and said, ‘I don’t know, I’m thinking Scrawl made it too big – he was ugly enough to start with, now he looks damned terrifying.’

‘So what?’ another guard drawled. ‘There’s plenty of hill-grubbing savages that carve up their own faces to frighten weak-kneed recruits like you, Gullstream. Barghast and Semk and Khundryl, but they all break against a Malazan legion just the same.’

‘Well, ain’t none of them being routed these days, though, are they?’

‘That’s only because the Fist’s cowering in his keep and wants us all to put ‘im to bed every night. noble-born officers – what do you expect?’

‘Might change when the reinforcements arrive,’ Gullstream suggested. ‘The Ashok Regiment knows these parts—’

‘And that’s the problem,’ the other retorted. ‘If this rebellion actually happens this time, who’s to say they won’t turn renegade? We could get smilin’ throats in our own barracks. It’s bad enough with the Red Blades stirrin’ things up in the streets ...’

The guards returned.

‘You, Fenn, now it’s your turn. Make it easy for us and it’ll be easy for you. Walk. Slow. Not too close. And trust me, the mines ain’t so bad, considering the alternatives. All right, come forward now.’

Karsa saw no reason to give them trouble.