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‘I know only a little of Hust iron, milady, but what I do know is the anger within those swords, and now, perhaps, that armour. It is my belief that the Tiste have possessed sorcery for some time now, much longer than most would believe. There is something elemental in those weapons, in that iron.’
She stepped back, slipping free of his hands and shaking her head. ‘Their rightful owners are all dead, Rancept. Now criminals carry them!’
‘Indeed, and what will come of that?’
‘Your faith is misplaced.’
He shrugged. ‘Milady, I served my own time in the mining pits – a criminal, as you say.’
What?
His smile was a terrible thing to witness. ‘Think you this bent frame was the one I was born with? I was a lead rock-biter. Five years in the tunnels.’
‘What did you do?’
‘I was a thief.’
‘Does Lady Hish Tulla know this?’
‘Of course.’
‘Yet … she made you castellan!’
‘Not at first,’ he said. ‘I needed to earn her trust, of course. Well, her mother’s trust, come to that. It was all long ago.’
‘I don’t want you to go.’
He nodded. ‘I know.’
‘I want to say how much I hate you right now.’
‘Aye.’
‘But it’s the opposite of hate.’
‘I suppose it is, milady.’
‘Don’t get killed.’
‘I won’t. Now, can you tie those strings? But not too tightly. My muscles swell with swinging that mace.’
He turned again and crouched down. She looked at his broad back, the massive bulges of strange muscles, so uneven, like knots on a tree trunk. ‘Rancept,’ she asked as she stepped forward, ‘how old were you, when you were in the mines?’
‘Eleven. Left when I was sixteen.’
‘A lead rock-biter – is that what it was called? You were made that at eleven?’
‘No. Had to earn that, too. But I was a big lad even then.’
‘What did you steal?’
‘Food.’
‘Rancept.’ She pulled at the strings, tied a knot.
‘Milady.’
‘Ours is a cruel civilization, isn’t it?’
