‘The bandage hides most of your face, and the light inside isn’t too good. You should be able to get by if you change your voice a bit. Go on in. I’ll stay out here and keep watch. I know every policeman and spy in Cimmura by sight.’

‘All right.’

‘Have you got the price for a girl? I can lend you some if you need it. Shanda won’t let you see any of her whores unless you pay her first.’

‘I can manage it – unless you’ve picked my pocket again.’

‘Would I do that, my Lord?’

‘Probably, yes. I might be in there for a while.’

‘Enjoy yourself. Naween’s very frisky – or so I’ve been told.’

Sparhawk ignored that. He opened the red-painted door and went inside

The hallway he entered was dim and filled with the cloyingly sweet scent of cheap perfume. Maintaining his pose as a blind man, Sparhawk swung his stick from side to side, tapping the walls. ‘Hello,’ he called in a squeaky voice ‘Is anybody here?’

The door at the far end of the hall opened, and a thin woman in a yellow velvet dress emerged. She had limp, dirty-blonde hair, a disapproving expression, and eyes as hard as agates. ‘What do you want?’ she demanded. ‘You can’t beg in here.’

‘I’m not here to beg,’ Sparhawk replied. ‘I’m here to buy or at least rent.’

‘Have you got money?’

‘Yes.’

‘Let’s see it.’

Sparhawk reached inside his ragged cloak and took several coins out of a pocket. He held them out on the palm of his hand.

The thin woman’s eyes narrowed shrewdly

‘Don’t even think about it,’ he told her.

‘You’re not blind,’ she accused him.

‘You noticed.’

‘What’s your pleasure, then?’ she asked.

‘A friend told me to ask for Naween.’

‘Ah, Naween. She’s been very popular lately I’ll send for her just as soon as you pay’

‘How much?’

‘Ten coppers – or a silver half-crown.’

Sparhawk gave her a small silver coin, and she went back through the door She came back a moment later with a buxom brunette girl of about twenty ‘This is Naween,’ Shanda said. ‘I hope you enjoy yourselves.’ She simpered briefly at Sparhawk, then the smile seemed to drain off her face She turned and went back into the room at the end of the hall.

‘You’re not really blind, are you?’ Naween asked coquettishly. She was wrapped in a sleazy-looking dressing gown of bright red, and her cheeks were dimpled.

‘No,’ Sparhawk admitted, ‘not really’

‘Good. I’ve never done a blind man before, so I wouldn’t know what to expect. Let’s go upstairs, shall we?’ She led him to a stairway that climbed into the upper parts of the house ‘Anything in particular that you’d like?’ she asked, smiling back over her shoulder at him.