Drusher crept to the head of the stairs. There appeared to be no one else around. His heart racing, he climbed down the stairs.

Macks looked up and saw him as he stepped onto the platform. She lurched to the front bars of the cage and peered out at him.

‘Valentin? Oh Holy Throne! Valentin!’

He smiled at her and put his finger to his lips. The pistol was still in his hand. He put it in his pocket and shushed her properly.

‘Keep your voice down, Germaine,’ he hissed.

He hurried over to her cage. She looked up at him with wild eyes. She was filthy, and the side of her face was swollen and badly bruised. He knelt down and looked in at her. She grabbed his hand through the bars.

‘What did they do to you?’ he asked.

‘Hit me,’ she said. ‘Clubbed me with a rifle stock. I’m all right. Don’t look so worried, Valentin. Just get me out of here.’

He let go of her hand and started to examine the cage. There was plainly a door, but there was no lock, no keyhole. He tried to pull the door open.

‘I’ve tried that,’ she said sarcastically.

‘I’m sure you have.’

‘He closed it with a word,’ she said.

‘Who did?’

‘The one who clubbed me. Big bastard. Black hair. Freaky violet eyes.’

‘Gobleka,’ said Drusher.

‘Well, when I get out of here, he’s a dead man,’ she said. ‘He killed Garofar and Edde.’

‘Both of them?’ asked Drusher.

‘Cold blood. I had surrendered, and he just…’

Her voice trailed off.

‘Hadeed deserved a better end than that,’ she said miserably. ‘They both did.’

‘What do you mean he closed it with a word?’ asked Drusher, trying the cage door again.

‘I came to as he was putting me in here,’ she said. ‘He swung the door shut, then said a word, and it was locked fast.’

‘Enuncia,’ said a hoarse voice from the next cage. Drusher looked up. The other prisoner was Voriet. He was a mess. His throat and forehead were black with bruises, and his eyes were halfway swollen shut. The interrogator tried to struggle into a sitting position, but he was clearly in agony.

‘They used Enuncia,’ Voriet said. It sounded like his throat was full of blood.

‘Do you remember the word he used?’ Drusher asked Macks.

She shook her head.

‘It wasn’t really a word,’ she said. ‘I didn’t understand it.’

‘Do you know anything of Enuncia that might help us, Voriet?’ Drusher asked.

‘I would have used it already if I did,’ Voriet replied. ‘Eisenhorn keeps that knowledge to himself.’

‘How are you hurt?’

‘Broken arm, smashed hand,’ replied Voriet. He gestured to his face and throat with his left hand. ‘And this.’

‘Where is everyone else?’ Macks asked Drusher urgently.

‘Nayl’s dead,’ said Drusher. ‘Jaff too. She was the one who betrayed us.’

‘Jaff?’ Voriet said.