"You know where we are going, then?"

"I know where you are going, and I do not envy you."

Felix had to fight to keep his eyes fixed ahead and not to look round at her. He remembered what he had sworn to Borek back at the Lonely Tower. He did not really know this woman, and it was possible she was quizzing him for information.

"You know where we are bound?"

"I know you are headed out into the Wastes and that is enough for any sensible body to know. I do not think you will be coming back."

Felix was discouraged to hear an assessment which so closely concurred with his own. He was also disappointed to learn that the woman had no intention of coming with them on their quest.

"I take it you are familiar with the place then?"

"As familiar as anybody can be who is not sworn to the Ruinous Powers. My family estates border the Troll Country which is as close as any mortal dare dwell to the accursed lands. My father is the March Warden there. We have spent much time battling the followers of Chaos when they try to infiltrate the lands of men."

"It must be an interesting life," Felix said ironically.

"You could say that. I doubt that it is any more interesting than yours though. What brings you aboard this vessel? I must admit I was astonished to see a human, and a good-looking one, where I expected only to find Borek and his people."

Felix smiled. It had been a long time since anyone, particularly an attractive woman, had told him he was handsome. He did not let his guard down though. "I am a friend."

"You are a Dwarf Friend? You must have performed some epic deeds then. Ulric knows there have been few enough of those in history."

Felix wondered whether this was true. He had always assumed that it was simply a polite form of address. Now it appeared that it might actually be some form of title. He was about to reply when Makaisson interrupted from behind them.

"Och, the lad has stood beside Gotrek Gurnisson on many an occasion, lassie. And he had a hand in the cleansing of the Sacred Tombs of Karak Eight Peaks. If that is nae grounds for namin' him a Dwarf Friend ah dinna ken what is! Onyway, noo that ye've woke me up wi yer chatter, ye may as well gimme that wheel. Ah'll tak iver noo."

Makaisson stumped over and elbowed Felix from his position at the controls. He gave Felix a broad wink. "Noo you and the lassie can talk tae yer heart's content."

Felix shrugged and turned to smile at the woman. "Felix Jaeger," he said, bowing.

"Ulrika Magdova," she said, smiling back. "I am pleased to make your acquaintance."

There was a formality about the way she spoke the words which showed she was unaccustomed to them. They were like a polite formula she had been taught for dealing with people from the Empire. He thought that in her own land the greeting would be somewhat different.

"Please, take a seat," he said, feeling a certain stupid formality he wished he could have avoided. They both slumped down with their legs stretched out in the overstuffed dwarfish chairs. Felix could see that his earlier guess was correct and she was almost as tall as he. Looking at her face, he revised his earlier opinion of her appearance. It went from merely beautiful up to stunningly beautiful. His mouth felt suddenly dry.

"So what are you doing on this craft?" he asked, just for something to say. She gave him a glance of languid amusement, as if she could read his thoughts exactly.

"I am travelling home to my father's estates."

"I cannot imagine Borek simply letting somebody on to this ship as a passenger for no reason."

She raised her right hand to her mouth and stroked her lip with its forefinger. Felix could see the fingers were callused like a swordsman's, the nails pared very short. "My father and Borek are old friends. They fought together on many occasions in my father's youth. He helped guide Borek's last expedition to the edge of the Wastes. He looked after him and your friend Gotrek when they staggered back with the survivors. He was not surprised. He had warned them not to go. They would not listen."

Felix stared at her. He had not imagined that any humans had been involved in that last expedition. That does not surprise me," Felix said ruefully. He possessed considerable experience of just how stubborn dwarfs could be.

"Some things about it surprised even my father. He had not expected anybody to return from that doomed mission. Few indeed, save the followers of Chaos, ever do."

"How long ago was this mission?"

"Before I was born. Over twenty winters ago."

They have waited a long time to go back then."

"So it would seem. It also seems that they have prepared well. Indeed it was a message from my father to say that he had done what they asked which brought me to Middenheim."

"What do you mean?"

"Borek asked my father to make certain preparations on our estate. To collect the black water. To build a tower. To stockpile certain supplies. At the time, they did not make sense, but now that I have seen this ship I think I understand."

The dwarfs have built a base, a way-station, on your father's land."

"Aye. And paid for it in good dwarfish steel."

Seeing Felix's quizzical look she smiled at him, and unsheathed one of her swords, pulling it part way from its scabbard. Felix noticed dwarf runes along the blade. "We have little use for gold along the Marches of Chaos. Weapons suit us better and the dwarfs are the finest armourers in the world."

"You came a long way from Kislev to Middenheim. That is far for a beautiful young woman travelling on her own."

"Better, Herr Jaeger! I had despaired of ever getting a compliment from you. Men are more forward about such things in Kislev."

"Women too, it seems," Felix said in mild surprise.

"Life is short and winter is long, as they say."

"What does that mean?"

"Are you so obtuse?"

Felix could not help but feel that this conversation was moving out of his control. He had never quite met a woman like this Kislevite before and he wasn't sure he liked it. Imperial women did not behave in quite this way, except perhaps for camp followers and tavern girls, and Ulrika Magdova certainly did not have the manner of either. Or perhaps, he was simply misunderstanding her manner. Maybe this was just the way women behaved in Kislev.

She spoke to fill the silence. "I did not travel to Middenheim on my own—although I could have. I came with a bodyguard of my father's lancers. They departed northward and I waited to return with Borek."

For the first time, she did not meet his gaze. He sensed that she was hiding something and he was not sure what. Certainly there was more going on here than met the eye. Also, for the first time, he started to suspect that she was not quite as confident as her beauty and her boldness had led him to believe. That suddenly made her more approachable and, in a way, more attractive. He smiled at her again and she smiled back, a little ruefully this time. Then she glanced over his shoulder, smoothed her britches with both her hands, and rose to her feet, all the while keeping him fixed with that dazzling smile.

Felix looked over in the direction of her gaze and saw that their other passenger, the sorcerer, had just entered the bridge area. He was looking at them in a puzzled, and Felix thought, perhaps resentful manner. If that was the case, he soon regained control of himself. A look of languid amusement passed over his lean handsome features and he advanced into the room. Ulrika Magdova sauntered past him, pausing only to give him a mildly disdainful glance.

"Good day, Herr Schreiber. A pleasure talking to you, Felix."

"Good day," Felix said weakly, rising just as she vanished from view. The magician threw himself down in the chair she had left.

"So," he said, "you've met the fair Ulrika. What do you think, eh?"