It was enough to bring his hand back to his hilt. Slowly -- silently -- he eased the first few inches of the blade free. Look nonchalant, he thought. It was probably just a vagrant or an early hours thief eager to try his luck on a bloody officer and his lady-escort, who'd wandered too far into the Rookery for their own good.

It didn't occur to him that the world might be a safer place, now. It equally didn't occur to him that it might be the wrong world entirely.

"I wasn't aware you needed a game to do any of those things," he answered -- the barest tension mounting in his voice.