"Bedlam? That was the palace?"

"Yep. I mean the old palace's long gone, but they left the dungeons. Handy right? Threw the king and his mates straight down into their own dungeons."

Something occurred to Ward. "Nick was imprisoned there."

"Ahuh."

"When he was twelve. And he escaped."

"Right."

"He must've escaped through the Vault."

"Right."

"How?"

"Dunno."

"If he got out, that means there's another way in."

"Guess so. He never said."

"Did he tell you what guards it?"

"Nope. He just called it a Guardian."

"The Corpusant," Ward said. "The Walking Fire."

"I never heard of any fire thing. But I'll tell you one thing. Nick's not afraid of anything that I know of, but he was afraid of this."

"Why'd he tell you about it?"

"He doesn't seem fussed who knows, akshully. Prolly figures nobody'd be stupid enough to try and get in." She gave Ward a bland look. "Asides, anything the Brotherhood wants to keep secret he's more'n happy to tell the world about – you know how it is."

Ward did. The Brotherhood and the State only maintained control because they gave the impression that everything was under control. Anything that cracked that veneer weakened them. So Nick's goal had always been maximum disruption, which included unveiling as many of their secrets as he could.

"It doesn't make sense," Ward said. "If he knew how to get in and out of the Vault, why wouldn't he go back? It's supposed to be full of treasure."

"Maybe he did but didn't tell anyone about it. Would be just like him."

"No, there's something else. Some reason."

Mildew shrugged.

"I have to get those dice back," Ward said.

"And I have to fly to the moon."

"I'm going to do it with or without your help."

"Yeh, I know," she said, sighing.

"I need to know everything Nick told you."

"I just told you it."

"He didn't say where the entrance is exactly?"

"Nope."

"How to get past the Corp – the Guardian?"

She shook her head. She was quiet for a moment. "You gonna ask why I was in his office?"

"Oh, yeh."

"You don't care, do you?"

"Of course I do. I – um, why were you in there?" He cringed inwardly at the way it sounded.

Mildew gave a resigned sigh. "Checking up on Bunker. I wanna know what he's upter. Seems he's got all manner of rackets going on. Stuffed if I can make sense of any of it though. He's literally working for the State now."

That snapped Ward out of his thoughts, which had still been on the dice and the Vault. "What?"

"Calls it a covert operation or some gammon. Intelligence. Spying, you know? Working to bring em down from the inside. Which all sounds good and well, but he could've sent anyone to do that. Why would he risk himself?"

"Do you think he'd rat us out?"

"That's the thing. He's as loyal to Nick as anyone is. I don't see it. But I wanna know what he's upter. He's upter something."

"I didn't find anything like that in Nick's office," Ward said.

"Bunker's too subtle a cove for that. He wouldn't'a left a note on the desk like: Freeday – become a rat. I don't know what I was looking for. A clue maybe."

"One of the Hectors might know something."

She laughed. "Yeh I'll just arks one of me Hector mates. I don't reckon he'd confight in em anyway. No paper trail, no witnesses. He's a subtle cove." Her voice carried a peculiar mixture of awe and loathing.

They both went silent for a while. Like a nine to a bone, Ward's mind had returned to the dice.

"Ward?"

"Yeh?"

"Why'd you leave him?"

Ward knew who she was talking about. That she had wanted to ask him many times before, but had always held back. He had seen it in her eyes: a flash of hurt and disappointment that crossed her face whenever Nick was mentioned.

"I didn't really have a choice," he said.

"Is it to do with the dice?"

He nodded. "They, um – brought me back."

"Okay," she said. She seemed relieved, as if this simple, incomplete explanation was all she had needed to quell her suspicions.

Ward was surprised to discover that she was more interested in Ward's loyalty to Nick than in the dice. Nor did she press him for information about them in the days that followed. He realised he had underestimated his friend, and vowed to make it up to her somehow.

Congratulations, you have reached the end of lucky Chapter 13.