He crumpled up like discarded paper, was ripped from his feet and flung away the whole width of the vast room in the time it took Ferro to drag in one stunned breath. He hit the wall just below the lowest balcony with an echoing crunch. She watched open-mouthed as his shattered body bounced off and tumbled to the ground, broken limbs flopping.
Bayaz stepped forward, his staff clenched tightly in his fist. The air around his shoulders was still shimmering ever so slightly. Ferro had killed many men, of course, and shed no tears. But the speed of this shocked even her.
'What did you do?' she hissed, the echoes of Quai's fatal impact with the far wall still thudding about them.
'What I had to. Get to the palace. Now.' Bayaz stabbed at one of the archways with a heavy finger, and Ferro saw the faintest glimmer of light inside it. 'Put that thing into the box! You cannot imagine how dangerous it is!'
Few people liked taking orders less, but Ferro had no wish to stay in this place. She stuffed the lump of rock down inside her shirt. It felt right there, pressed against her stomach. Cool and comforting, for all Bayaz called it dangerous. She took one step, and as her boot slapped down a grating chuckle floated up from the far side of the hall.
From where Quai's ruined corpse had fallen.
Bayaz did not seem surprised. 'So!' he shouted. 'You show yourself at last! I have suspected for some time that you were not who you appeared to be! Where is my apprentice, and when did you replace him?'
'Months ago.' Quai was still chuckling as he pushed himself slowly up from the polished floor.
- Last Argument of Kings, Part II, Better Left Buried