'I did not expect…' she worked her icy fingers into a trembling fist. 'This.'

'What did you expect, then? I must confess I thought you made of harder stuff. Let us leave the philosophising to those with more time and fewer scores to settle. Guilt, and regret, and righteousness? It is like talking with the great King Jezal. And who has the patience for that?' He turned towards the door. 'You should stay near me. Perhaps, in time, Khalul will send other agents. Then I will have need of your talents once again.'

She snorted. 'And until then? Sit here with the shadows for company?'

'Until then, smile, Ferro, if you can remember how.' Bayaz flashed his white grin at her. 'You have your vengeance.'

The wind tore around her, rushed around her, full of shadows. She knelt at one end of a screaming tunnel, touching the very sky. The world was thin and brittle as a sheet of glass, ready to crack. Beyond it a bottomless void, filled with voices.

'Let us in…'

'No!' She thrashed her way free and struggled up, stood panting on the floor beside her bed, every muscle rigid. But there was no one to fight. Another dream, only.

Her own fault, for letting herself sleep.

A long strip of moonlight reached towards her across the tiles. The window at its end stood ajar, a cold night breeze washed through and chilled her sweat-beaded skin. She walked to it, frowning, pushed it shut and slid the bolt. She turned around.

A figure stood in the thick shadows beside the door. A one-armed figure, swathed in rags. The few pieces of armour still strapped to him were scuffed and gouged. His face was a dusty ruin, torn skin hanging in scraps from white bone, but even so, Ferro knew him.

Mamun.

'We meet again, devil-blood.' His dry voice rustled like old paper.

'I am dreaming,' she hissed.

'You will wish that you were.' He was across the room in a breathless instant. His one hand closed round her throat like a lock snapping shut. 'Digging my way out of that ruination one handful of dirt at a time has given me a hunger.' His dry breath tickled at her face. 'I will make myself a new arm from your flesh, and with it I will strike down Bayaz and take vengeance for great Juvens. The Prophet has seen it, and I will turn his vision into truth.' He lifted her, effortlessly, crushed her back against the wall, her heels kicking against the panelling.