"You fools, " he shouted. He knew he should restrain himself but he could not. "Godsdammit, listen to me. There is a militia squad on your tail which has come through the cacotopic godsdamned stain, do you understand? They’ve crossed the world and back again just to kill you. And there are thousands more of them in New Crobuzon. You have to turn." He shouted over their anger. "I’m your friend, I ain’t your enemy. Didn’t I cross the fucking desert? I’m trying to fucking save you. You cannot fight them, and you godsdamned well can’t fight their paymasters."

A clutch of Council wyrmen flew to see. The Councillors debated. But it was a one-sided argument, to Cutter’s rage.

"We beat the militia before, years ago."

"No you didn’t," he said. "I know the damn story. You blocked them just enough that you could run away-that ain’t the same thing. This is the flatlands. You ain’t got nowhere to run. You face them now, they’ll kill you."

"We’re stronger now, and we’ve got our own hexes."

"I don’t know what the militia are carrying, but godsdammit, you think your fucking moss magic is going to stop a New Crobuzon murder squad? Go. Get out. Regroup. Hide. You cannot do this."

"What about Judah’s mirrors?"

"I don’t know," Cutter said. "I don’t even know if I can make them work."

"Better try," said Ann-Hari. "Better get ready. We haven’t come this far to run. If we can’t shake them off, we take them down."

Cutter had lost.

"The Collective sends its solidarity, its love," the pilot shouted. His voice was shaking. "We need you. We need you to join us, as fast as you can. Your fight’s ours. Come be part of our fight," he said, and though Cutter was shouting, "Their fight is over," he was not heard.

Ann-Hari came to him. He was almost weeping in frustration.

"We were meant to do this," she said.

"There’s no plan to history," he shouted. "You’ll die."

"No. Some of us will, but we can’t turn away now. You knew we wouldn’t." It was true. He had always known. The wyrmen returned as the light came down.

"Enough to fill a carriage," one shouted. There were only a few score militia, it seemed, and at that the Councillors shouted derision. They had many times that number.

"Yes but gods it ain’t just about that," Cutter shouted. "You think they won’t have something on their side?"

"So you better be ready," Ann-Hari said. "You better practise with Judah’s mirrors."