By the time she reached Ironfield she was caked in mud up to her knees, scratched, grazed, and covered with mosquito bites. The docks were bustling with shouting men and rattling chains and crashing pallets, but north towards Bedlam all was quiet and still.

She momentarily considered going home, but remembered that the prison guard had recognised her. The Reds might be waiting for her there. Her greatest hope was that Ward had found the dice and used them to escape. Perhaps he was already back at the Cathedral. It was a wild hope, but it was enough to get her back on her feet and moving through Ironfield towards the city.

She knew of only one entrance to the underworld: that which lay beneath the abandoned bath-house on the other side of the city. When she got there half an hour later, weary and anxious, she found a Doodle loitering in the ruins. He would not let her pass. This she had expected.

"I need to see Mildew," she said.

"Whozat?" the Doodle said. It was about eight years old, possibly male, though its long hair concealed most of its face. It smelled like a tannery.

"She's an Okie," Carmen said.

"What's a Okie? This's a bathhouse, lady." The Doodle watched her dolefully, its eyes unblinking.

"Bunker sent me," she tried.

"What's a bunker?"

She wondered if she could overpower the Doodle. It was smaller than her, but she had heard rumour of the clan's ferocity, and, in her current state at least, wasn't game to find out what this one was capable of. So she pulled the barking iron on it.

The Doodle's eyebrows rose, but that was all. "Nice piece," it said.

She opened the chamber, turned it, noted the five bullets still inside, pushed it back into the body of the gun, and cocked it halfway.

"You're gonna shoot yourself with that," the Doodle observed.

"I'm going to shoot somebody with it. I've just escaped Bedlam Prison. What makes you think I'm going to be held up by the likes of you?"

That got its attention. "Bedlam?" it said.

A voice from below. "Carmen, that you?"

The Doodle tried to mask the voice with a series of loud coughs, stepping casually sideways onto the old door that covered the manhole. It looked up and around, as if inspecting the rafters. "This old place makes some mighty queer sounds," it observed.

"Get out of her way ya pillock," said the voice from below, and there were two hard thumps on the bottom of the door.

The Doodle shrugged, stepped off the door, retreated into a dark corner, and took immediately to digging about in one of its nostrils with a dirty finger, as if Carmen had ceased to exist.

The door slid aside and Mildew's head popped up out of the hole like a loon-in-a-box. Carmen had never been so happy to see her.

"You gonna shoot him?" Mildew said.

Carmen realised she still had the barker pointed at the Doodle. She quickly de-cocked the gun and returned it to her pocket. "Was considering it," she said.

Mildew nodded approvingly before turning to the Doodle. "Don't you know who this is?"

"Why would I?" It had ceased mining its nose and was now examining something on the end of its finger.

"Lucky for you I got here in time. She's a crack shot."

"And I'm Vernon Dervish." The Doodle wiped its finger on the front of its shirt.

Mildew seemed suddenly to realise Carmen was alone. Her face fell. "Where's Ward?"

"Tell you in a minute." Carmen glanced sideways at the Doodle, whom she knew was listening closely.

As they hurried through the tunnels below Carmen filled Mildew in on everything that had happened. Mildew listened closely. She didn't interrupt.

"He should be back by now," Carmen finished.

"May've taken him a while to find the dice," Mildew said. "Vault's sposed to be big. And there's meant to be a billion things in there."

"He can sense them or something," Carmen said. "Least he said he could. I'm sure it won't take long for him to find them. If he -"

"- got past the chick in the chair," Mildew finished. "You say she burned you?"

"Something did."

"Hmmm." She must have noticed the worried look on Carmen's face, because her voice brightened. "Well, I'm sure he knows what he's upter. All we can do's wait for him."

Fidelma appeared suddenly from Mildew's breast pocket, climbed up onto her shoulder, then ran down her arm to her hand, which Mildew held out to Carmen.

"Well at least you're safe," Carmen said to the dore.

Fidelma watched her for a moment, her black eyes shiny with intelligence, then turned about and returned to Mildew's pocket by the same route.

All was quiet at the Cathedral. Carmen wondered if news of the raid had reached the clans. Bunker would surely know about it. He knew about everything.

Sure enough, before they were halfway up the stairs that led to the Okies' dorm, an Argie (at least Carmen thought it was an Argie) came puffing up the stairs behind them. It coughed to get their attention. Carmen and Mildew turned around.

"Kidsman wants ter see ya."

"Nick ent here," Mildew said.

The Argie rolled its eyes. "You know what I mean."

"I don't call him by that name."

"Don't care if you call him the Archminster of the Land of Silver Sloughs. He wants ter see ya. Both a'ya." The Argie coughed again, as if to sign off, and puffed its way back down the stairs.

"Better get it over with then," Mildew said.

They followed the Argie back down the stairs.

When they reached Nick's office Mildew knocked on the door.

"Come in," Bunker said from inside.

Mildew pushed the door open and they went in. They both stopped and stared.

It was not at the sight of Bunker seated behind the desk as before, looking as secure and comfortable as ever. Carmen barely registered him. No, they were staring at the thing that sat on the desktop.

An old leather pouch.

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By order of The Archminster of the Land of Silver Sloughs.