The taste of the slurry in the air made Lin feel nearly as queasy as Isaac. By the time they stepped onto the other side of the wooden slats, both Lin’s and Isaac’s good humour had entirely worn off. They trudged in silence into the maze.

Lin found it easy to orient herself with such low buildings: the copse of blocks they sought was clearly visible just before the station. Sometimes she walked ahead of Isaac, sometimes he ahead of her. They picked their way over channels of sewage that ran between houses. They were unmoved. They were beyond disgust.

The inhabitants of Spatters came to stare.

Sour-faced men and women, and hundreds of children, all dressed in bizarre combinations of rescued clothes and sewn sackcloth. Little hands and fingers clutched at Lin as she passed. She slapped at them, walked in front of Isaac. Voices all around them started murmuring, and then a clamouring for money started up. No one made any attempt to stop them.

Isaac and Lin trudged stolidly through the twisted streets, keeping the towerblocks in their sights. They trailed a crowd. As they grew closer, the shapes of the garuda fleeting through the air above became clear.

A fat man nearly as large as Isaac stepped out in front of them.

“Squire, bugger,” he shouted curtly, nodding at both of them. His eyes were quick. Isaac nudged Lin, indicated her to stop.

“What d’you want?” said Isaac impatiently.

The man spoke very quickly.

“Well, visitors being unco down the Spatters I was chewing on whether you’d fancy a little helpster, like.”

“Don’t be an arse, man,” Isaac roared. “I’m not a visitor. Last time I was here I was the guest of Savage Peter,” he continued ostentatiously. He paused for the whispers that the name invoked. “Now, at the present I’m after a little chinwag with them.” He jerked his finger at the garuda. The fat man recoiled slightly.

“You’re for conflabbing with the bird-boys? What’s that about, squire?”

“None of your sodding business! Question is, do you want to take me to their mansion?”

The man held up his hands, conciliatory.

“Shouldn’t have pried, squire, none of my concerns. Smiley to take you to the bird-boxes, for a measly little recompo.”

“Oh, for Jabber’s sake. Don’t worry, you’ll be taken care of. Just don’t,” yelled Isaac at everyone in the staring crowd, “be arsing around with ideas of muggery and thievery. I’ve just enough to pay a decent guide on me, not a stiver more, and I know that Savage will be screaming fucking livid if anything happened to an old mate on his turf.”

“Please, guvvo, you’re insultering the Spatterkin. Not another sound, just be tracing on me tail, how’s that?”

“Lead on, man,” said Isaac.

As they wound through the dripping concrete and rusted iron roofs, Lin turned to Isaac.