'Splendid,' said Ghorr. 'What are they doing, Ullii? Surely they know that locking themselves in is useless?'

'Breaking the floor,' said Ullii with lowered head.

'Reinforce the mancers just outside the door,' snapped Ghorr to a messenger, who hurried away. 'Captain,' he turned to a hulking officer, each of whose intricately tooled military boots could have accommodated Ullii's head and neck, 'lead us to the room below Flydd's. Bring two squads. Fusshte, take a third squad down the far stairs and cut off the other exit.'

Ghorr allowed his troops to take the lead, then caught Ullii's arm and hauled her down the stone staircase. As they crossed a landing, a muffled roar shook the building.

'Quick, Captain!' said Ghorr. 'Flydd's broken through. Take him and Irisis alive and there'll be a bonus for you.'

The soldiers hurtled down the steps, swords raised. Ghorr kept well back. The chief scrutator guarded his life like a miser his hoard.

They reached the bottom step, rounded the corner and there, in the flickering light of the soldiers' torches, stood the fugitives. Irisis had stopped dead when she saw the soldiers, then raised her sword. Flydd glanced over his shoulder at the cluster of dancing torches and his skinny shoulders sagged. Scrutator Fusshte and his heavily armed troops blocked the only way out.

Ullii lifted her mask for a moment. Xervish Flydd, a small man of some sixty years, looked more scarred and emaciated than ever. Though it was bitterly cold, he wore just a bedsheet, hastily knotted about his hips. Beautiful Irisis Stirm was dressed in brown woollen pantaloons and a loose shirt which could not conceal her luxurious figure. Her yellow hair was unbound. They were both covered in grey dust.

Ullii pulled the mask down, as if to hide from her former friends, but Flydd had already seen her. He shook his head, a moment of desolation, and Ullii knew she had done a terrible wrong. But what else could I do? she thought plaintively, slipping into the shadow behind Ghorr before Irisis could see her.