“It’s already started to heal,” Brennock said, dabbing the wound with ointment. He wrapped Vex’s leg with a bandage and gave him a pouch of leaves. “Chew one every hour,” he instructed. “It’ll be fine, so long as you don’t get shot in the same place.”

“You’re a good man, Doc,” said Vex. He put his weight on his leg and it wasn’t bad at all.

“You’ll be leaving now, I expect?”

“Absolutely,” said Vex. “Leaving soon, anyway. As soon as it gets dark.”

“You’re spending the day here?”

“Ah, you’re very kind. Thank you. But I have to insist, the moment night falls we are gone. Midnight at the very latest.”

Brennock glowered. “In that case, I think I shall go for a very long walk.”

“Probably wise.”

Brennock left and Vex joined the others in the kitchen. By the time he got there he wasn’t even limping any more.

“Dexter,” said Gracious, “I was just telling the others here – I talked to my friend. He says there have been no recent disturbances inside the Sanctuary.”

Vex nodded. “Hopefully that means Tanith hasn’t broken in yet. Which means she’s going in tonight, and so are we. This friend of yours – do you think he’ll be able to let us in?”

“Not without getting himself arrested. But don’t worry, I have a few tricks up my sleeve that I’ve been working on. You leave it to me.”

“Fair enough,” said Vex. “But I have to admit, now I’m slightly nervous. Whatever you have planned, keep in mind that we need to be stealthy. In and out without making anyone suspicious. It’s going to be risky, and if we’re caught, we’re going to prison. Or we’re going to get killed. So anyone who thinks they have better things to do on a Saturday night, now is the time to walk away.”

No one moved. No one spoke. Until Saracen leaned in towards Aurora.

“We might die tonight.”

She glared at him, then shrugged. “Help me up.”

He took her hand and they walked out, and Gracious hung his head.

There’d been all kinds of plans for how to sneak into the Sanctuary, but each one was discarded because either it wasn’t very good or it wasn’t very possible. In the end, they just walked up to the side door and knocked.

The door opened and the Administrator, Merriwyn Hyphenate-Bash, looked out. Her gaze took them all in, and then settled on Frightening.

“Mr Jones,” she said, “I wasn’t aware of an appointment.”

“No appointment,” said Frightening, “but I need to gain entry nonetheless.”