Chapter 1, End

But the time he actually came to like me, and I him, was only a day later, when I went down to the Mezem to visit. I’d gone down the same evening but was told he’d been flogged, so I made some mess to distract them. When I came back I was so confident that Karas Raikas's door would open that I bruised a knuckle when it proved to be... well, not opening. I couldn't conceive of a door locked against me. "What's wrong with this door! It’s stuck!"

His slightly hoarse voice came through the wood