Whiskeyjack sighed. ‘Return to your position, sir Fiddler, and not another sound from you, understood?’

‘One thing, sir. I got a bad feeling. . . about. . . about all of this.’

‘You’re not alone in that, soldier.’

‘Well, uh, it’s just that—’

‘Commander!’ the soldier named Hedge called out, nudging his mount forward. ‘The lad’s hunches, sir, they ain’t missed yet. He told Sergeant Nubber not to drink from that jug, but Nubber did anyway, and now he’s dead, sir.’

‘Poisoned?’

‘No, sir. A dead lizard. Got stuck in his throat. Nubber choked to death on a dead lizard! Hey, Fiddler – a good name, that. Fiddler. Hah!’

‘Gods,’ Whiskeyjack breathed. ‘Enough.’ He faced Kalam again. ‘Ride on.’

The man nodded, climbed back in his saddle.

Eleven mages on foot, without supplies, fleeing across a lifeless desert, the hunt should have been completed quickly. Late in the afternoon they came upon another body, as shrivelled as the first one; then, with the sun spreading crimson on the west horizon, a third corpse was found on the trail. Directly ahead, half a league distant, rose the bleached, jagged teeth of limestone cliffs, tinted red with the sunset. The trail of the surviving wizards, Kalam informed the commander, led towards them.

The horses were exhausted, as were the soldiers. Water was becoming a concern. Whiskeyjack called a halt, and camp was prepared.

After the meal, and with soldiers stationed at pickets, the commander joined Kalam Mekhar at the hearth.

The assassin tossed another brick of dung onto the flames, then checked the water in the battered pot suspended by a tripod over the fire. ‘The herbs in this tea will lessen the loss of water come the morrow,’ the Seven Cities native rumbled. ‘I’m lucky to have it – it’s rare and getting rarer. Makes your piss thick as soup, but short. You’ll still sweat, but you need that—’

‘I know,’ Whiskeyjack interjected. ‘We’ve been on this damned continent long enough to learn a few things, Clawleader.’

The man glanced over at the settling soldiers. ‘I keep forget’ ting that, Commander. You’re all so . . . young.’

‘As young as you, Kalam Mekhar.’

‘And what have I seen of the world, sir? Scant little. Bodyguard to a Holy Falah in Aren—’

‘Bodyguard? Why mince words? You were his private assassin.’

‘My journey has just begun, is what I was trying to say, sir. You – your soldiers – what you’ve seen, what you’ve been through . . .’ He shook his head. ‘It’s all there, in your eyes.’

Whiskeyjack studied the man, the silence stretching.

Kalam removed the pot and poured out two cups of the medicinal-smelling brew, handed one up to the commander. ‘We’ll catch up with them tomorrow.’

‘Indeed. We’ve ridden steady the day through, twice the pace of a soldier’s jog. How much distance have we closed with these damned mages? A bell’s worth? Two? No more than two. They’re using warrens . . .’