Few people liked taking orders less, but Ferro had no wish to stay in this place. She stuffed the lump of rock down inside her shirt. It felt right there, pressed against her stomach. Cool and comforting, for all Bayaz called it dangerous. She took one step, and as her boot slapped down a grating chuckle floated up from the far side of the hall.

From where Quai's ruined corpse had fallen.

Bayaz did not seem surprised. 'So!' he shouted. 'You show yourself at last! I have suspected for some time that you were not who you appeared to be! Where is my apprentice, and when did you replace him?'

'Months ago.' Quai was still chuckling as he pushed himself slowly up from the polished floor. 'Before you left on your fool's errand to the Old Empire.' There was no blood on his smiling face. Not so much as a graze. 'I sat beside you, at the fire. I watched you while you lay helpless in that cart. I was with you all the way, to the edge of the World and back. Your apprentice stayed here. I left his half-eaten corpse in the bushes for the flies, not twenty strides from where you and the Northman soundly slept.'

'Huh.' Bayaz tossed his staff from one hand to the other. 'I thought I noted a sharp improvement in your skills. You should have killed me then, when you had the chance.'

'Oh, there is time now.' Ferro shivered as she watched Quai stand. The hall seemed to have grown suddenly very cold.

'A hundred words? Perhaps. One word?' Bayaz' lip curled. 'I think not. Which of Khalul's creatures are you? The East Wind? One of those damned twins?'

'I am not one of Khalul's creatures.'

The faintest flicker of doubt passed over Bayaz' face. 'Who, then?'

'We knew each other well, in times long past.'

The First of the Magi frowned. 'Who are you? Speak!'

'Taking forms.' A woman's voice, soft and low. Something was happening to Quai's face as he paced slowly forward. His pale skin drooped, twisted. 'A dread and insidious trick.' His nose, his eyes, his lips began to melt, running off his skull like wax down a candle. 'Do you not remember me, Bayaz?' Another face showed itself beneath, a hard face, white as pale marble. 'You said that you would love me forever.' The air was icy chill. Ferro's breath was smoking before her mouth. 'You promised me that we would never be parted. When I opened my father's gate to you…'

'No!' Bayaz took a faltering step back.