"The Brucolac," he snaps to them, "Baron of Srathmarbh, your lord knows me and I will see him." His tongue lashes, antagonised and prickling with nerves. Against his shoulder, Ishtar starts to whine, and he tucks her closer with a pained grimace. "Consider it an exceptional circumstance."

He doesn't even know why he's seeking out Saralegui; what he needs most urgently is the doctor he sent the other guard to find, but someone he knows—he needs to see someone, anyone he knows, to reassure himself he's back in the world above ground, that this isn't some hellish feverdream concocted by the underworld spirits who had been trying to suck the life from his children.