"Oh, not robbed, surely," Byerly replies. "Robbery requires the application or fear of violence. Unless, perhaps, you propose that the poor, sweet little girl threatened you?"

His voice is severe, but when no one save Octavius himself is looking, Byerly winks. It's hard to tell whether the wink is conspiratorial - don't worry yourself, boyo - or threatening - things are about to get a lot worse for you, boyo. There's definitely a boyo in there somewhere, though.

"Would you help me get him to the ferry? No black eyes," he says, with a sigh that shows quite clearly just how disappointing this fact is to Byerly. "The Riftwatch bigwigs want prisoners intact."