It was Helsarn who recovered first. He glanced up and down the street and, in a sinister echo of the call that Hagen himself had made, he shouted, ‘Stay where you are, all of you!’ The crowd however, already motivated to movement by the murder of Hagen, and suddenly unified in their intention by the appearance of the Guards, had used their momentary paralysis to escape. Thus the Captain found himself addressing a dwindling number of distant and fleeing backs and a handful of individuals who were already converging on the carriage. Obediently, these all stopped, obliging him then to motion them forward angrily, while the rest continued their flight.

He opened his mouth again, but for a moment no sound came as he searched for something to say. Finally he managed to demand, ‘What’s happened here?’

There was some dumb shaking of heads but the Captain was already bringing his thoughts to more urgent needs. He turned to one of his men, a heavy-set and powerful-looking individual. ‘Low-Captain Vintre, get this carriage righted, then use it to bring the Lord Counsellor’s body back to the Citadel.’

‘And these?’ The Low-Captain indicated the remains of the crowd.

The Captain frowned as though irritated at having to deal with such obvious matters.

‘They’re all under arrest, of course,’ he snapped. ‘They’re witnesses. Bring them as well. They’ll have to be questioned. I’ll go ahead and tell Commander Gidlon what’s happened.’ He looked down at the body and briefly his inner fears showed through. Though he spoke softly to Vintre and did not move, his eyes flicked from side to side, as if spies and denouncers might be all around him. ‘This is unbelievable. I hope someone hasn’t struck a match in this tinderbox.’

The Low-Captain responded in kind, but more prosaically. ‘Let’s just thank our fates we weren’t Lord Hagen’s duty escort today.’