‘Trouble? What kind of trouble?’

‘Not sure. It’s gone . . . foul. Somehow. Infected ... by something. Spindle’s got the same problem with his warren. Might be what’s delaying Quick Ben.’

Picker grunted. ‘Could’ve mentioned this at the start, Mallet.’

‘Too busy recovering from my sunburn, Corporal.’

Her eyes narrowed. ‘If not sun scorching you, then what happened?’

‘Whatever’s poisoned my warren can cross over. Or so I found.’

‘Mallet,’ Picker said after a moment, ‘there’s a rumour going around, says we maybe ain’t as outlawed as Dujek and Whiskeyjack are making out. Maybe the Empress nodded her head in our direction, in fact.’

In the firelight the healer’s round face was blank as he shrugged. ‘That’s a new one to me, Corporal. Sounds like something Antsy would think up.’

‘No, but he’ll love it when he hears it.’

Mallet’s small eyes settled on Picker’s face. ‘Now why would you do that?’

Picker raised her brows. ‘Why would I tell Antsy? The answer should be obvious, Healer. I love watching him panic. Besides,’ she shrugged, ‘it’s just an empty rumour, right?’ She straightened. ‘Make sure the sapper’s ready to march tomorrow.’

‘We going somewhere, Corporal?’

‘In case the mage shows up.’

‘Right. I’ll do what I can.’

Hands clawing rotted, stained energy, Quick Ben dragged himself from his warren. Gagging, spitting the bitter, sicky taste from his mouth, the mage staggered forward a few paces, until the clear night air flowed into his lungs and he halted, waiting for his thoughts to clear.

The last half-day had been spent in a desperate, seemingly endless struggle to extricate himself from Hood’s realm, yet he knew it to be the least poisoned among all the warrens he commonly used. The others would have killed him. The realization left him feeling bereft – a mage stripped of his power, his vast command of his own discipline made meaningless, impotent.

The sharp, cool air of the steppes flowed over him, plucking the sweat from his trembling limbs. Stars glittered overhead. A thousand paces to the north, beyond the scrub-brush and grassy humps, rose a line of hills. Dull yellow firelight bathed the base of the nearest hill.

Quick Ben sighed. He’d been unable to establish sorcer-ous contact with anyone since beginning his journey. Paran’s left me a squad . . . better than I could have hoped for. I wonder how many days we’ve lost. I was supposed to be Trotts’s back-up, in case things went wrong . . .

He shook himself and strode forward, still fighting the remnants of the enervating influence of Hood’s infected warren. This is the Crippled God’s assault, a war against the warrens themselves. Sorcery was the sword that struck him down. Now he seeks to destroy that weapon, and so leave his enemies unarmed. Helpless.