Quick Ben glared at the sergeant, then looked around. ‘Where’s Hedge?’

The sapper pushed forward, waddling beneath bulging leather sacks.

‘Did you see the damned sparrows?’ the wizard asked him, making a strange half-shrugging motion with his left shoulder.

‘Aye. We need sharpshooters atop the wall. I got twelve quarrels with sharpers instead of points. We do it right and we can take out that many—’

‘Raining bird-meat,’ Spindle cut in. ‘Burning feathers.’

‘Is that worse than burning hairshirt, Spin?’

‘Quiet,’ Paran snapped. ‘All right, get hooks on the wall and line our brilliant crossbow experts to the top. Hedge, find the right place to set the cusser-bundle and crackers, and do it fast – we’ve got to time this right. I want those birds knocked from their perches, not in the air. Dujek’s first wave is probably already on the way, so let’s move.’

The captain waved Picker to point. They headed towards the keep wall.

Reaching the street’s edge opposite, Picker raised a hand and crouched low. Everyone froze.

Paran moved up to just behind her. She leaned back. ‘Urdomen guards,’ she whispered. ‘The gate’s twenty paces to the left, well lit—’

‘The guards are well lit?’

‘Aye.’

‘Idiots!’

‘Aye, but I’m wondering ...’

‘What?’

‘We switch back and head right, come up again, we’ll be at a corner of the wall. Hedge likes corners...’

‘So we leave the guards where they are.’

‘Aye, Captain. Hood knows, in that light, they won’t see a damned thing. And we’ll be far enough away for the sound the hooks make if they make any not to reach ‘em.’

‘You hope.’

‘They’re all wearing great-helms, sir.’

‘All right, take us round, Lieutenant.’

‘A moment, sir. Blend?’

‘Here.’

‘Stay here. Keep an eye on those guards.’

‘Aye, sir.’

Picker nodded to Paran and headed back down the street. The squads wheeled and followed.

It seemed to the captain as he padded along that he was the only one making a sound – and far too much sound at that. The thirty-odd soldiers around him were ghostly silent. They moved from shadow to shadow without pause.

A sixth of a bell later, Picker once more approached the street facing the compound wall. Directly ahead was a squared corner tower, surmounted by a massive battlement. The squads closed in behind the lieutenant.

Paran heard the sappers whispering with glee upon seeing the tower.

‘Won’t that come down pretty—’

‘Like a potato on a spindly stick—’

‘Brace the crackers, right? Drive the forces in at an angle to meet an arm’s reach inside the cornerstone—’

‘You tellin’ Granda where’s the pretty hole, Runter? Shut up and leave it to me and Spin, right?’

‘I was just sayin’, Hedge—’

Paran cut in, ‘Enough, all of you. Crossbows up top before any of you do anything else.’

‘Aye, sir,’ Hedge agreed. ‘Ready the hooks, dearies. You with the crossbows, line up and get your sharper-quarrels – hey, no cutting in, show some manners, woman!’