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“The poppies”

“I didn’t see any poppies” Row upon row of green things growing, here under Builder-lights My Uncle Hertert—the heir-apparently-not, as Father liked to call him—had made countless initiatives to cut the opiu God kno many miles of the Seleen, convinced it carew his own Right here Under Hertert’s nose and ready to go up everyone else’s “I didn’t see a thing, Maeres I ran into a door, for godsakes Blind drunk”

“You sobered up rerette to his nose, as if the stink of me offended him Which it probably did “In any event it’s a risk I can’t run, and if we have to part company we may as well make it a memorable event, no?” He tilted his head at Cutter John

That was enough to let o It wasn’t as if anyone would notice, soaked and reeking as I was “C-co? I owe you money Who’ll pay if Iif I don’t pay?” He needed me

“Well, Jalan, the thing is, I don’t think you can pay If a man owes me a thousand crowns he’s in trouble If he owes me a hundred thousand, then I’ht hundred and six crowns, less so Norseman All of which makes you a small fish that can neither s me nor feed me”

“ButI can pay I’ood for the debt!”

“One of many, Jalan Too much of any denomination waters down the currency I’d call ‘prince’ an overvalued commodity in Red March these days”

“But—” I’d always known Maeres Allus for a businessman, a cruel and implacable one of a certainty, but sane Now it see behind those dark little eyes Too much blood in the water for the shark in hi me do?” He couldn’t ever tell anyone My death wouldn’t serve him

“You died in the fire, Prince Jalan Everyone knows that None ofAnd if a hint of a rumour floated behind Verht have died elsewhere, in even less pleasant circuhts ht my clients reach in their efforts not to disappoint ht there be ladies of ill repute ould recognize Cutter’s latest bracelet and spread the word as they spread their legs?” He glanced towards Cutter John, who raised his right arainst each other, dozens of the past his elbow

“Wh-what?” I didn’t understand what I was seeing, or perhaps so

Cutter John circled his own lips with one finger The trophies along his arether as he did so “Open wide” His voice slithered as though he were so not human

“You shouldn’t have come here, Jalan” Maeres spoke into the silence of my horror “It’s unfortunate that you can’t unsee my poppies, but the world is full of misfortunes” He stepped back to stand by Daveet at the door—the lights flickering across his face providing the only anione

“No!” For the first ti was better than being abandoned to Cutter John “No! I won’t talk! I won’t Not ever” I put soth? “I’ the table back against its legs “Pullit from me”

“How about cold ones?” Cutter John raised the short-handled iron pincers he’d been holding all this time in his other hand

I roared at the, useless in the ropes If one of Maeres’s s, it would have tipped forwards and I’d have gone face first into the flagstones, which bad as it sounds would have been far less painful than what Cutter John had in, when a hot wet soh to h I’d stopped yelling the din was no less deafening, only noasn’topen, too far gone in my terror to notice it Only Daveet stood there now, framed in the doorway He turned as I watched, slit frouts to the floor To the left a large figure e of my vision As I turned my head the action shifted behind the table; another scream and a pale arstones about a foot from where Daveet’s head hit the stone when he tripped on his intestines And in onefar down the corridor outside, echoey in the distance Daveet appeared to have knocked himself out or died from sudden blood loss If Cutter JohnI could see one ht be dead behindfor the hills If I hadn’t been tied to the da them on the way to the aforementioned hills myself