'No wonder you've been miserable company.'
Fiddler squinted over at him. 'You ain't been much better.'
The assassin grimaced. 'Pearl. He's keeping out of my sight, but he's hovering nonetheless. You'd think that Pardu woman – what's her name?'
'Lostara Yil.'
'Her. You'd think she'd have unhorsed him by now.'
'The game those two play is all their own,' Fiddler said, 'and they're welcome to it. Anyway, it's clear he's still here because the Empress wants someone close to Tavore.'
'That was always her problem,' Kalam said, sighing.
'Trust.'
Kalam regarded the sapper. 'You've marched with Tavore since Aren. Any sense of her? Any at all?'
'I'm a sergeant, Kalam.'
'Exactly.' The assassin waited.
Fiddler scratched his beard, tugged at the strap of his battered helm, then unclasped it and tossed it to one side. He continued pacing, kicking at the leaves and nutshells in the sand. He waved at an errant bloodfly hovering in front of his face. 'She's cold iron, Kalam. But it's untested. Can she think in battle? Can she command on the run?
Hood knows, her favoured Fist, that old man Gamet, he couldn't. Which doesn't bode well for her judgement.'
'She knew him from before, didn't she?'
'Someone she trusted, aye, there's that. He was worn out, that's all.
I ain't as generous as I used to be.'
Kalam grinned, looking away. 'Oh yes, generous, that's Fid all right.'
He gestured at the finger bones hanging from the sapper's belt. 'What about those?'
'She walked straight with that, it's true. Oponn's shove, maybe.'
'Or maybe not.'
Fiddler shrugged. His hand snapped out and closed on the bloodfly. He smeared it to death between his palms with evident satisfaction.
Looking older, true enough, but fast and mean as ever. A wash of gritty, dead air sent the leaves scrabbling over the sand, the air audibly splitting a few paces away, and Quick Ben emerged from a warren. Coughing.
Kalam collected the jug of ale and walked over. 'Here.'
The wizard drank, coughed once more, then spat. 'Gods below, that imperial warren is awful.' He swallowed another mouthful.
'Send me in there,' Fiddler said, striding over, 'then I can drink some of that, too.'
'Glad to see your mood's improved,' Quick Ben said, handing the jug over. 'We will be having some company in a short while… after we eat, that is,' he added, spying the wrapped foodstuffs and heading over. 'I'm so hungry I could eat bloodflies.'
'Lick my palm,' Fiddler said.
The wizard halted, looked over. 'You've lost your mind. I'd sooner lick the hand of a camel-dung hawker.' He began unwrapping the leaves protecting the food.
'How was your meeting with Tavore?' Kalam asked, joining him.
'Your guess is as good as mine,' Quick Ben replied. 'I've seen people under siege before, but she's raised walls so thick and so high I doubt a dozen irate dragons would get through… and not an enemy in sight, either.'
'You might be wrong there,' the assassin said. 'Was Pearl around?'
'Well, one curtain moved a bit.'
Fiddler snorted. 'He ain't that obvious. Was probably T'amber.'
'I wasn't being literal, Fid. Somebody in a warren, close and watchful.'
'Tavore wasn't wearing her sword, then,' Kalam said.
'No, she never does when talking with me, thank the gods.'
'Ah, considerate, then!'
The wizard shot a dark glare at Kalam. 'Doesn't want to suck everything out of her High Mage, you mean.'
'Stop,' Fiddler said. 'I don't like the images popping into my head.
Hand me a chunk of that sepah bread – no, not the one you've taken a bite out of, Quick, thanks anyway. There – oh, never mind.' He reached across.
'Hey, you're raining sand on my food!'
Kalam settled back on his haunches. Fiddler was looking younger by the minute. Especially with that scowl. This break away from the army and all that went with it was long overdue.
'What?' Fiddler demanded. 'Worried you'll wear your teeth down? Better stop chewing on that bread, then.'
'It's not that hard,' the wizard replied in a mouth-full muffle.
'No, but it's full of grit, Quick Ben. From the millstones. Anyway, I' m always raining sand these days. I got sand in places you wouldn't imagine-'