‘The Wards.’ He nodded at the settlement on the hill overlooking the city. ‘Merenghi’s proprietors. Now can we get moving? I’m freezing my tits off.’ He turned in the direction of the huts, some hundred strides around the span of the walls from the gatehouse. Chel saw odd shuffles of movement within them, a suggestion of lean and hungry figures inside. The more he stared, the less he liked them.

Tarfel tapped at Rennic’s shoulder. ‘Is it safe? Where we’re going.’

The big man’s eyes were wide and incredulous. ‘Safe, princeling? I doubt there’s a square foot in this corner of the kingdom you could call safe. Maybe if we dug a pit deep enough, but then the water would get in …’

‘If it’s not safe,’ Chel said, ‘should we really be bringing Tarfel along? I’m guessing there’s no mercenary law of hospitality in play down there.’

Rennic nodded. ‘That’d be a fair guess.’

‘So you and Whisper go and sort this leaf out, the prince and I stay out here?’

‘Fuck that, little man, the two of you’d be fatally mauled by rogue marmots the moment my back was turned. If anyone stays out with him, it’s Whisp. At least then he’d be in safe hands.’

Whisper offered an apologetic shrug.

‘Hey!’ Chel could hear the pitch of his voice rising like the traitor it was. ‘I can handle myself, and I’ve kept him more alive than any of you!’

Rennic simply stared at him, eyes narrow and crinkled at the corners, then stood. ‘Coming then, fuck-stick?’

Chel felt cornered by his own bravado. He turned to the prince. ‘Will you be—’

Tarfel nodded, although the smile he managed was narrow and drawn at the corners. ‘As the man says, Vedren, I’ll be in safe hands. Just don’t … don’t take too long.’

***

‘Remember, little man, this is a free city. It’s not part of the kingdom, at least as far as those living here are concerned. They have their own way of doing things, and they don’t like people like us.’

‘Rebels?’

‘Mercenaries. Officially they’re not allowed within the walls, along with visible weapons and armour. So once we’re in, keep that cloak tight and your head down, and don’t start any shit with anyone who looks at you cross-wise, understand?’

‘You worry about yourself,’ Chel grumped. He was already feeling like a fool and a traitor for abandoning Tarfel, and had to keep reassuring himself that the prince was indeed safe with Whisper. ‘Who are we going to see in the city?’

‘Some old friends of Loveless’s. People in the trade.’

‘Ah. The “leaf-merchants and poppy-peddlers” you mentioned.’