There was a knock on the door, and a Pandion Knight entered. He was holding Talen by the arm, and the boy from the streets of Cimmura had a disgusted expression on his face and a fair-sized sack in one hand. ‘You wanted to see this young fellow, Sir Sparhawk?’ the Pandion asked.

‘Yes,’ Sparhawk replied. ‘Thank you, Sir Knight.’ He looked rather sternly at Talen. ‘Where have you been?’ he asked directly.

Talen’s expression grew evasive. ‘Ah – here and there, My Lord,’ he replied.

‘You know that’s not going to work, Talen,’ Sparhawk said wearily. ‘I’ll get the answer out of you eventually anyway, so why bother trying to hide it?’

‘To keep in practice, I suppose,’ Talen shrugged. ‘You’ll twist my arm until I tell you, won’t you, Sparhawk?’

‘Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.’

‘All right,’ Talen sighed. ‘There are thieves in the streets of the inner city, and there are a lot of interesting things going on out beyond the walls. I managed to find a way to slip out there. I’ve been selling that information.’

‘How’s business?’ Patriarch Emban asked him. Emban’s eyes were bright.

‘Not too bad, actually,’ Talen said professionally. ‘Most of the thieves here inside the walls don’t have too much to bargain with. You don’t make much profit sitting on the things you’ve stolen, but I’m easy to do business with. I just charge them a percentage of what they’re able to steal from the soldiers outside the walls.’

‘Open the sack, Talen,’ Sparhawk ordered him.

‘I’m really shocked at you, Sparhawk,’ Talen said. ‘There are holy men in this room. Is it really proper to expose them to – well, you know.’

‘Open the sack, Talen.’

The boy sighed, laid the sack on Sir Nashan’s desk and opened it. There were a number of largely decorative items inside – metal goblets, small statues, thick chains, assorted eating utensils and a rather intricately engraved tray about the size of a dinner plate. All of the items appeared to be made of solid gold.

‘You got all this just for selling information?’ Tynian asked incredulously.

‘Information’s the most valuable thing in the world, Sir Tynian,’ Talen replied loftily, ‘and I’m not doing anything immoral or illegal. My conscience is perfectly clear. Not only that, I’m making my contribution to the defence of the city.’

‘I don’t quite follow that reasoning,’ Sir Nashan said.

‘The soldiers out there aren’t giving up what they’ve stolen willingly, Sir Knight,’ Talen smirked. “The thieves know they’ll feel that way, so they don’t bother to make requests. Martel’s lost a fair number of his troops since the sun went down.’

‘Most reprehensible, young man,’ Ortzel said reprovingly.