Also except for the fourth man sitting at the table, whom Stenwold was trying not to think about right now.

‘You’re not denying you were part of this theft?’ Achaeos accused the prisoner.

The Wasp shook his head. ‘Your man spotted me right off,’ he shrugged, ‘so what can I say?’

‘You can tell us exactly what you thought you were stealing.’

‘I have no idea what it was,’ Gaved replied. ‘I didn’t even get a good look at it before your mob came piling in.’

Achaeos glanced at Stenwold, who spread his hands cluelessly.

‘Who wanted it?’ Tisamon asked. ‘You must know that.’

The Wasp shrugged. ‘We weren’t told. You don’t ask that in my line of work.’ So far as Stenwold could tell, he was not genuinely holding anything back. Gaved was simply a mercenary, a hunter of fugitives by preference. Stenwold, looking at him, saw a man who knew he was in serious trouble, but without that desperation he would expect of a captured enemy agent with Tisamon at his back. There was, so Stenwold guessed, no great secret that Gaved was holding close.

‘I can tell you what we reckoned,’ the Wasp added, unexpectedly. ‘It makes no difference to me now. The Empire wanted this thing of yours for someone important. Someone really high up, like a general, perhaps, or someone in the Imperial Court. The fellow who gave us our marching orders said as much.’

Achaeos bit his lip anxiously, leaning imperceptibly into Che, who sat very close to him. Their reunion had brought Stenwold more vicarious joy than almost anything else that had happened recently. It had been Che, too, who had unexpectedly spoken up for their captive, so that Gaved was sitting under guard but not bound.