Perhaps there really was a God, and He was just as cruel as the humans He made in His form. - Ian Tregillis

Salazar consulted the map again. “Almost there,” he whispered. “Just another mile.”
Arthur sighed. “Wonderful.”
Anastasia rounded on him. “Go wander the tunnels on your own, you useless pencil pusher. You have zero skills of value to offer to our current situation. Perhaps you haven’t noticed, but of all the problems currently facing the city, the Guild, and the Empire, not to mention ourselves, a lack of properly filed paperwork is not one of them.”

But the speculation was pointless. The past was forever in the past.

He’d expected torture. He hadn’t expected surgery.